Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee have asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch for an update on whether she will pursue criminal charges against former IRS employee Lois Lerner for her role in the IRS targeting scandal.
The committee last year identified three possible criminal charges that could be brought against Lerner, and asked the Department of Justice to consider bringing those charges. At the time, the attorney general was Eric Holder, and the committee chairman was Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich.
The new chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., asked Lynch on Thursday where that criminal referral stands.
“The committee continues to believe that these serious charges should be [pursued] by the Department of Justice,” the letter said. “We would appreciate receiving an update on the status of the referral as soon as possible.”
Last year, the committee said Lerner used her position to delay decisions on the tax-exempt status of conservative groups. Ryan’s letter said those efforts denied these groups “due process and equal protection rights under the law.”
The committee also said Lerner provided misleading statements to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration when it was investigating the scandal, and that Lerner may have exposed confidential taxpayer information in the course of her tenure at the IRS.
In March, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that no charges would be brought against Lerner for her failure to testify in Congress about the scandal.
But Ryan’s letter noted that the U.S. attorney was silent on the committee’s criminal referral of Lerner on the other three charges. Ryan’s letter was signed by 23 other Republicans, and can be seen here:
