Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., responded Monday to disgraced former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner breaking her silence.
“The American people deserve the opportunity to hear Lois Lerner’s testimony under oath,” Issa, the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement. “If Lerner had nothing to hide and did nothing wrong in the IRS targeting scandal, she would have chosen to answer basic questions about her conduct instead of obstructing Congress’ investigation. Her decision to make unsubstantiated claims to a media outlet while claiming Fifth Amendment protections from answering Congress’ questions is telling. She appears to have great confidence that her allies in the Obama Administration will not consider legal action after she resigned and declined to discuss the IRS’ actions against private citizens.”
Lerner gained national attention in 2013 after she admitted during a staged apology that the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Shortly after revealing the targeting scandal, Lerner was called to appear before Congress. However, after making a short statement wherein she declared her total innocence, Lerner pled her Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and has since refused to cooperate with congressional investigators as they attempted to explore just how deep the targeting scandal went.
Congress voted in May to hold Lerner in contempt, apparently causing the now-disgraced former federal official to feel persecuted by Congress.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lerner told Politico in an article appearing Monday. “I’m proud of my career and the job I did for this country.”
“Regardless of whatever else happens, I know I did the best I could under the circumstances and am not sorry for anything I did,” the 63-year-old said.
