Nothing to see here, move along: #IRS official to plead the 5th over targeting scandal

**Posted by Phineas

But, really, this is all just some wingnut fantasy aiming to destroy the fourth-greatest president ever.

Which is why Lois Lerner is invoking her right not to incriminate herself:

A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions before a House committee investigating the agency’s improper screening of conservative nonprofit groups.

Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening – or why she didn’t reveal it to Congress, according to a letter from her defense lawyer, William W. Taylor 3rd.

“She has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course,” said a letter by Taylor to committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif. The letter, sent Monday, was obtained Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.

Taylor, a criminal defense attorney from the Washington firm of Zuckerman Spaeder, said that the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation, and that the House committee has asked Lerner to explain why she provided “false or misleading information” to the committee four times last year.

You see? Just a bunch of nothing. In fact, all these questions about all these cooked-up “scandals” are nothing more than the new birtherism.

Between this and Roger Simon teasing us with the prospect of new Benghazi whistleblowers, I may have to double my reserves of popcorn for all the hearings.

via a gazillion people on Twitter

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

Drew the Infidel says:

May 21, 2013 at 4:20 pm

This scandalous WH is looking more and more like the Nixon WH during Watergate. Every dodge and evasive maneuver imaginable is being employed like a magician’s hat tricks. The cover-up and subsequent and almost daily revelations will cause things to come unglued.

The biggest problem is the explanations are cobbled from conflicting reports, fragmentary evidence, and outright lies presented hoping there will be faith in the teller and a degree of belief by the listener.

“Who was the a*shole that ordered it?”–Richard M. Nixon to WH Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman about the Watergate break-in

Medbob says:

May 21, 2013 at 5:46 pm

We need a Special Prosecutor and a Federal Grand Jury NOW!!!!

Carlos says:

May 21, 2013 at 8:50 pm

So, let’s cut to the chase: Give Lerner immunity with the proviso she resign her current government post and cannot work for another government agency, federal, state or local, for ten years. The immunity would remove her ability to use the Fifth, and then all hell could break loose.

And that way we wouldn’t have to go through the next 18 months (which just happens to put the next national election in the rear-view mirror) fighting the current administration about every dotted “i” or crossed “t” and then we could get down to the business of the people. (After impeaching the president, then prosecuting the president and half his cabinet and most of his staff for crimes we already know about, let alone the ones we don’t know about!)

Claymores says:

May 21, 2013 at 9:45 pm

Any government employee…
Using the fifth amendment in a criminal investigation should be immediately removed from work,
And placed in no pay status until the problem is resolved,
Or they are in prison, whichever occurs first.

Brontefan says:

May 22, 2013 at 8:41 am

You don’t take the 5th unless you are guilty of something… and I don’t care about the Nixon administration or Watergate. This is now and this administration has surpassed all others because 0bama believes he’s immune to impeachment because he’s the first black president. Therefore, he thinks he has a free hand. It’s pretty frightening.

May 22, 2013 at 12:05 pm

“Nothing to see here, move along”

That’s because this is the most transparent administration in history! (Excuse me while I go barf…again.)

May 22, 2013 at 12:53 pm

The dirty politics to “destroy political opponents” to which Obhammud has stooped are a matter of record just like the “ratfu*king” Donald Segretti engaged in for Nixon. The forged “Canuck Letter” alleging Muskie had insulted the French Canadiens (Romney and the “47% lie”), another alleging Scoop Jackson had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old, and still another accusing Humphrey of sexual misconduct (Herman Cain)?

The worst and most cowardly was the insinuation Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be presidential candidate, was mentally imbalanced. Remember the gender-specific migraines Michelle Bachmann was alleged to suffer? Is any of this sounding familiar? Still don’t care about Watergate and its lessons?