Gee, I wonder why.
Former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, a central figure in the IRS scandal, will appear before Congress Wednesday after refusing to testify last year on the matter, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Sunday.
[snip]
Issa said he didn’t know why Lerner’s lawyers changed their mind, but suggested Lerner testifying was “in her best interest,” considering the recent evidence the committee had gathered.
Really, what did they expect?
This is the story of the House Oversight Committee’s request to have White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park appear at a Wednesday hearing about the rollout of HealthCare.gov. The hearing, announced last Thursday, listed Park among the five witnesses – all members of the Obama administration – called to testify.
The White House had attempted to decline the invitation the day before, in a letter to Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
[snip]
Issa responded the next day, noting that he was “disappointed” to receive the aforementioned letter and, as a means of expressing his disappointment, he issued a subpoena for Park’s appearance.
It’s more on the epic blowup between local DC Democrats and national ones, and Darrell Issa is more than happy to pick a side:
This incident shows very clearly how unwilling @SenatorReid is to negotiate. He's even holding #DC budget hostage >> http://t.co/wlNFDC2Vol
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) October 10, 2013
Continue reading This is probably going to be a story in 2014.
I have been doing this gig for over a decade now; and I was engrossed by this press conference. Short version: DC Delegate Norton joined with DC Mayor Gray and House Oversight Chair Issa to rip Senate Democrats a new one over their refusal to pass a special House bill that would release DC’s funds.
Let that word roll off of your tongue. It’s smooth. Silky. Rich. It’s a word that gets the attention of people like me… particularly when it’s brought up in the context of a government probe. And if this story checks out – big if, of course; rumors in This Town spawn like maggots on rotten meat* – then expect to hear that word coming to an Oversight Committee meeting near you:
IRS scandal figure Lois Lerner is negotiating through her lawyers with Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about possibly gaining immunity to testify again in the committee’s investigative hearings.
“The Chairman did not adjourn the hearing, he recessed it. Ms. Lerner remains under subpoena[**]. The Committee has not made any offer of immunity to Ms. Lerner. The Committee has, however, indicated a willingness to listen to any offers from her attorney about what she would testify to if it was offered,” Oversight Committee adviser Ali Ahmad told The Daily Caller.
Can’t say that I blame him: the executive branch has thoroughly fornicated the canine on this one.
Darrell Issa is scheduled to travel to Libya next week as part of his investigation into the attack last year on the Benghazi consulate, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.
The California Republican, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, did not invite Democratic counterparts on the trip, which has been in the works for over a week and begins on Sunday with stops in Italy and Egypt.
Having seen the Democrats that got assigned Oversight… can’t say that I blame Issa for that, either. The only way any of them would discover a clue to what happened in Benghazi would be if one of the Democrats tried to obscure an incriminating footprint, over-balanced, and fell through a false wall and right into al-Qaeda’s hidden lair. That’s not quite likely enough to be a reliable strategy, though.
Alas.
Moe Lane
Ooh. I wonder if Issa will have to go as far as a subpoena:
Republicans are mulling whether to demand former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s return to Capitol Hill to face more tough questions about her agency’s failure to protect diplomats and security staff in Benghazi, Libya a year ago.
An aide to a high-ranking GOP member of the House Oversight and Government Affairs committee told MailOnline that the committee’s chairman, California Rep. Darrell Issa, ‘is dead serious’ about raking the likely 2016 presidential candidate over the coals in the future.
‘Look, it’s not like we’re getting great answers from the deputies and under secretaries,’ the staffer said on Wednesday. ‘So eventually you have to climb the ladder and swear Hillary in again.’
Not to distract from the Supreme Court wars, but there’s an ostensibly nonpartisan situation going on over at House Oversight:
A second IRS employee summoned to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday and refused to answer questions — a flashback to Lois Lerner, who did the same during a hearing on the agency’s scandal last month.
Gregory Roseman, who worked as a deputy director of acquisitions at the IRS, exercised his constitutional rights when Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) started interrogating him about panel findings that he helped a friend procure potentially $500 million worth of IRS contracts.
But DAMN.
This is a MUST WATCH: @RepDuckworth deplores witness for claiming veterans disability http://t.co/D4NeAA8poa
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) June 26, 2013
Rep. Tammy Duckworth, for the record, is a combat veteran who lost both feet (and most of the use of her arm) to enemy action. Braulio Castillo is a reported crony capitalist who allegedly used his IRS buddy to get a half-billion dollar contract. Castillo also apparently used a prep school foot injury to claim disabled veteran status, which is why Duckworth was using the rhetorical equivalent of an autopsy saw on him like that. Continue reading For the record: I do not like @RepDuckworth very much.
Well, this should be fascinating to watch.
A letter obtained by The Los Angeles Times reveals that Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of overseeing requests for tax-exempt status who first broke the news of that division’s targeting of conservative groups, plans to invoke her right against self-incrimination in scheduled testimony before a House committee on Wednesday.
And here’s your moment of comedy! Continue reading Lois Lerner to take the Fifth tomorrow on role in IRS attacks on Tea Party.
