GIMME FIVE: IRS official Lois Lerner invokes the Fifth Amendment yesterday before a House panel investigating the targeting of Tea Party groups. (
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WASHINGTON — Her lips are sealed.
Lois Lerner, head of the tax-exempt office at the heart of the IRS scandal, yesterday stared down a House panel and invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify.
But before she shut her mouth, the tax lady professed her innocence.
“I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee,” Lerner told the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee.
“I’m asserting my right not to testify,” she continued. “I know some people will assume I’ve done something wrong. I have not. One of the basic functions of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent individuals.”
Lerner then refused to answer any questions about the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups or her past testimony denying the wrongdoing.
But committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination were voided when she gave an opening statement yesterday denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.
Issa vowed to haul Lerner back before his panel.
Lerner took advantage of a constitutional protection that taxpayers can’t really use when facing an IRS audit.
“You couldn’t plead the Fifth and win against the IRS,” said David DeWitt, a certified public accountant. “In an audit, it’s your burden to prove. So if you don’t cooperate, you pretty much lose.”
The silent treatment outraged lawmakers.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said, “Ironically Ms. Lerner invoked her constitutional rights to not testify about denying Americans their constitutional rights.”