Contempt of Congress

Posted on | May 8, 2014 | 28 Comments

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to hold a former Internal Revenue Service official in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with an ongoing investigation into the agency’s special targeting of groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names that were seeking tax-exempt status.
On a 231 to 187 vote, the House approved a contempt citation against Lois G. Lerner, whose admission last year that the tax-enforcement agency had targeted conservative groups infuriated lawmakers in both parties, led to an overhaul of the IRS and Lerner’s eventual retirement from government service.

The sacrificing of Lois Lerner as a scapegoat is necessary to the Obama administration’s IRS cover-up strategy. If she told the truth — that the IRS targeting of conservative groups was a political response to pressure from administration officials and Democrats in Congress — this would be bad for Democrats. Therefore, Lerner must remain silent, even if her silence puts her at risk of criminal prosecution.

Category: Scandal, Taxes

Comments

28 Responses to “Contempt of Congress”

ariyadesai01
May 8th, 2014 @ 9:26 am

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Contempt of Congress http://t.co/rnivj75M9h #TCOT
Dana
May 8th, 2014 @ 9:28 am

She will be taken care of, and pardoned on January 19, 2017.
CONTEMPTIBLE | Batshit Crazy News
May 8th, 2014 @ 9:36 am

[…] TOM: Lois Lerner under the bus… […]
Evi L. Bloggerlady
May 8th, 2014 @ 9:37 am

http://batshitcrazynews.com/2014/05/contemptible/ http://batshitcrazynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Screen-Shot-2014-05-07-at-6.15.48-PM.png

What we hope for is Lerner cuts a deal for immunity and spills the beans. And it is not just the IRS, it is the EPA too, there is a pattern of abuse.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
May 8th, 2014 @ 9:37 am

Sadly that is a definite possibility.
Quartermaster
May 8th, 2014 @ 9:52 am

When that happens, call her back to testify and if she doesn’t then, vote her in contempt again. If you have a GOP POTUS then, perhaps she will be prosecuted.

But, then, it’s just possible Zer0 doesn’t pardon her. The a GOP POTUS can order prosecution since the statute of limitations doesn’t kick in before that.
Abner "Call me Abby" Normal
May 8th, 2014 @ 10:14 am

“even if her silence puts her at risk of criminal prosecution.” Stop it. Stop it, just STOP IT! You are killing me here! Please, let me know where your next stand-up gig is. I want to be there.

“at risk of criminal prosecution” from an Attorney General who is also under contempt of Congress. You are such a KIDDER!!!
Evi L. Bloggerlady
May 8th, 2014 @ 10:30 am

If we get control of the Senate we can impeach Holder.
Dana
May 8th, 2014 @ 10:31 am

Well, the hope is that we’ll have an actually responsible Attorney General come January of 2017.

The lovely Miss Lerner’s big mistake was to take the oath and make a statement before taking the Fifth Amendment. Her attorney should have told her to swear to tell the truth, and to take the Fifth without saying anything else.

Not swearing to tell the truth before taking the Fifth also opens the door to a contempt charge.
Art Deco
May 8th, 2014 @ 12:09 pm

Will the President’s brother-in-law get a six figure finder’s fee? There’s precedent….
G Joubert
May 8th, 2014 @ 12:50 pm

Some speculate she’s angling for an immunity deal so she can then confess fully and take the fall for the whole thing, and thereby letting all those above her skate free. More gaming from the O’Bama administration.
Kirby McCain
May 8th, 2014 @ 1:01 pm

Are you referring to Eric ‘The Broom’ Holder?
David R. Graham
May 8th, 2014 @ 1:09 pm

Something is fishy about this whole Lerner business. She self-outed in a contrived manner. That suggests to me the whole business is a diversionary tactic, probably from Benghazi, which I think is the gang’s jugular. Also, self-exposing IRS targeting is an excellent intimidation tactic without appearing to be such.

I suspect Lerner was told to throw herself under the bus and then gang would save her. I suspect this is why Issa and troops have gotten effectively nowhere on this. Nothing substantive has come of their deliberations, or will. Both Lerner and her husband are big shot lawyers in the gang, for the gang.

The gang, incidentally, is huge and still making the news/discussions for this and virtually every other blog and news aggregator. When we make our own discussions, such as holding onto that which is good, describing it, valuing it, preserving it, making it safe, then I think we will be getting somewhere substantively. We will have a sense of accomplishment.

Right now, most all of us are responding too news made by criminals. Merely reacting. We need intellectual weight, depth and height. A gang must first be out-thought, preempted intellectually as well as morally. Most of us are still merely kicking against the goad.
Wombat_socho
May 8th, 2014 @ 1:19 pm

You think Obama is energetic enough to actually sign the hundreds, maybe thousands of pardons necessary for this crime syndicate posing as an Administration? No, she’s going under the bus.
Wombat_socho
May 8th, 2014 @ 1:19 pm

These things go to the District Attorney of DC, not Eric Holder.
Wombat_socho
May 8th, 2014 @ 1:20 pm

“It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks”?
David R. Graham
May 8th, 2014 @ 1:32 pm

I’m sorry, I am dense. I feel there are levels of meaning in that query but my intellect is insufficiently subtle to grasp them. I am relatively competent with straight-forward language and meaning.
Quartermaster
May 8th, 2014 @ 6:24 pm

Her tactics have been wrong for an immunity deal. She should have tried for that without making the statement that’s gotten her held in contempt.
Quartermaster
May 8th, 2014 @ 6:25 pm

I predict he declines to prosecute.
Quartermaster
May 8th, 2014 @ 6:26 pm

It’s a biblical reference to Paul’s Road to Damascus experience.
Bob Belvedere
May 8th, 2014 @ 7:17 pm

He has a machine that can do it for him, don’t forget.
Bob Belvedere
May 8th, 2014 @ 7:21 pm

Evi, Evi, Evi…do you really think the GOP Establishment, which will control the Senate, will impeach anybody? Especially considering there is a possibility that the McConnell and Boehner Crime Familes knew what was going on at the IRS?
richard mcenroe
May 8th, 2014 @ 8:32 pm

Plus the usual gang of idiots will reach across the. Aisle for collegiality…
David R. Graham
May 8th, 2014 @ 9:18 pm

OK, I do not see that, but, as I said, I am not the world’s brightest bulb.
Adjoran
May 9th, 2014 @ 12:13 am

“This sounds like a job for – Autopen™!’
Adjoran
May 9th, 2014 @ 12:19 am

No, they go to the United States Attorney for the District, who works for Holder and Obama.

However, the USAtty has never in the past failed to present a congressional contempt citation to a grand jury. Of course, he can also attempt to influence the GJ’s deliberations, but there is some risk of “unprecedented” behavior here.
Adjoran
May 9th, 2014 @ 12:27 am

No sane prosecutor grants immunity to a witness without having a very good idea of what that witness is going to say. In fact, most cooperating witnesses will submit a proffer, or statement of what they can offer in evidence, through their attorney when requesting immunity.

Lerner was only two steps beneath Shulman, the IRS Commissioner who visited the White House on average once a week, but can’t remember what he discussed or who he met there. He’s the obvious link to Obama here but we have nothing on him without Lerner’s testimony. Also, she performed basically the same function at the FEC – harassing Republicans, granting warnings or waivers to Democrats – before she was brought into IRS. The circumstances surrounding her transfer and promotion are fertile ground for exploration.

But it is possible, given her background and known propensity to act like a fascist and target Republicans, all she may have needed to hear was Obama lamenting the Citizens United decision and the “dark money” that might enter politics. If she were acting on her own authority without direct orders, giving her immunity is a sucker play.

So no deal until we know what she will say.

And I agree with Dana, she will likely be on Obama’s pardon list if she hasn’t already made a deal or won a walk.
Adjoran
May 9th, 2014 @ 12:30 am

The House can impeach, but it would be pointless, as it takes 67 Senate votes to convict and remove. As we have seen, the public doesn’t approve and there would be a backlash. Smart people don’t bang their heads against brick walls just because it feels good when they stop.