By Melanie Hunter.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) – at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee business meeting on Thursday – said he counted “17 separate factual assertions” Lois Lerner made in her opening statement before invoking the Fifth Amendment when she was subpoenaed to testify last year on the congressional probe of the IRS scandal.

“Mr. Chairman, I counted 17 separate factual assertions by Ms. Lerner – not those three little sentences that my colleagues like to cite – 17 separate factual assertions. That is a lot of talking for somebody who wants to remain silent. That’s a lot of talking,” Gowdy said.

“If you honestly believe that you can make 17 separate factual assertions and still invoke your right to remain silent, then please tell me what waiver is. Please tell me what constitutes waiver if saying 17 separate factual things does not,” Gowdy added.

Thursday’s meeting was convened to consider a resolution to hold Lerner, former IRS director of exempt organizations, in contempt of Congress.

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Republicans Raise ‘Disturbing Concerns’ About Cummings’ Contacts With Lois Lerner’s Office

By Susan Jones.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says the public “deserves a full and truthful explanation” for the actions of its ranking member, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), whose staff “surreptitiously contacted the IRS” about a conservative group that was seeking tax-exempt status — and was subjected to inappropriate scrutiny.

Cummings never told committee Republicans about his contacts with the IRS concerning the group True the Vote. In fact, he has denied any such contact.

In a letter to Cummings on Wednesday, Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and other committee Republicans said Cummings’ inquiries about True the Vote may have prompted additional IRS scrutiny of the group.

The letter also notes that Cummings’ email communications with the IRS “raise disturbing concerns about your possible motivations for opposing this investigation and your unwillingness to lend your support to efforts to obtain the testimony of former IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois G. Lerner.”

Committee Republicans also question whether the IRS had “improperly shared protected taxpayer information” with Cummings’ staff.

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After five hours of debate, the House Oversight Committee has voted along party lines 21-12 to hold former IRS Director of Tax Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress. The charges come after Lerner failed to answer questions about the IRS targeting of conservative groups and after failure to cooperate with the Committee investigation into the targeting.

Before the vote, Democrats repeatedly defended the rights of Lois Lerner, arguing she did not waive her Fifth Amendment rights even though she made a statement before declaring she would not answer questions last year and again in early 2014. Republicans argued Lerner did in fact waive her Fifth Amendment rights due to making a statement and defended the rights of taxpayers who were targeted by her organization.

The contempt charge will now go to the full House for a vote. A date for when that vote will happen has not been set. If the House votes to hold her in contempt, the charge will then go to the court system. Yesterday the House Ways and Means Committee referred Lerner to the Department of Justice for criminal charges.

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Photo Credit: Reuters On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing on the IRS’ targeting of conservative non-profit applicants. The hearing, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), quickly devolved into chaos after former IRS official Lois Lerner repeatedly used the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions about her involvement in the targeting. When Issa rose for adjournment, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) went berserk: “I am tired of this. You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that, and it is absolutely un-American.” When Issa maintained that Cummings had asked no questions, Cummings said, “Chairman, what are you hiding?”

Afterward, Issa approached the media and explained, “He was talking into a mic in an adjourned meeting. The fact is Mr. Cummings came to make a point of his objections to the process we have been going through. He was actually slandering me at the moment that the mics did go off by claiming that this had not been a real investigation.”

But Cummings does not care about the truth. Nor does he care about the rise of an arbitrary and capricious executive branch willing to manipulate the law at will. For too many Democrats, America under President Obama has become a government of men, not of laws – and they’re just fine with that.

Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) revealed on Wednesday that the Obama administration lied when it said that Obama aides would cooperate with the investigation into the IRS scandal. Instead, the Obama administration has claimed that the IRS scandal is in fact a non-scandal – a “phony scandal,” in the words of White House press secretary Jay Carney. Camp pointed out that the committee still did not have Lerner’s full emails. “I still don’t have all for the documents that I’ve requested,” Camp stated. “The administration promised a quick action, and I’m still waiting for her emails. I need all of those, before I can conclude.”

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