Rep. Elijah Cummings, who sparred passionately with House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa during a public hearing last week, is questioning whether Issa’s actions to end the hearing may have let former IRS official Lois Lerner off the hook from potential criminal contempt proceedings.
Cummings continued his showdown with Issa in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner Wednesday that argues Lerner’s potential prosecution would likely be dismissed because of a procedural technicality if the House were to move forward with a resolution of contempt.
Lerner, the former IRS director of exempt organizations, first refused to answer questions from members of the committee at the May 22 hearing last year. But that day, when Lerner read a statement aloud and authenticated a document for the record under oath, questions arose surrounding the validity of her assertion of her Fifth Amendment rights. Republicans then ruled her actions waived her right to refuse to testify.
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http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/did-darrell-issa-botch-lois-lerner-irs-contempt-proceedings/