IRS Director Pleads Fifth On Harassment Charges

IRS Director Lois Lerner

Lois Lerner, director of the IRS division that singled out conservative groups for harassment, invoked the Fifth Amendment today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Lerner, head of the exempt organizations division, refuses to answer questions about what she knew about IRS agents going after Tea Party-related groups or why she sat on the information for so long before it became public.

Adding to the outrage, Lerner’s attorney, William Taylor III, asked committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in a letter if Lerner could skip the hearing altogether since she would be pleading the Fifth.

Taylor argued in the letter that forcing Lerner to appear “would have no purpose other than to embarrass or burden her.”

Late Tuesday, the House oversight committee released a statement saying Lerner was still under subpoena and would be required to appear in the morning.

Of course, Lerner's response simply adds fuel to the already blazing fire of scandals within the Obama administration -- which appears to have adopted a strategy of simply refusing to honestly discuss any matter that puts its actions in a poor light.

Our freedoms and our republic are crumbling before our very eyes.