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| IRS official Lois Lerner is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, before the House Oversight Committee hearing to investigate the extra scrutiny IRS gave to Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status. Lerner told the committee she did nothing wrong and then invoked her constitutional right to not answer lawmakers' questions. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- At the center of a political storm, an Internal Revenue Service
supervisor whose agents targeted conservative groups swore Wednesday she
did nothing wrong, broke no laws and never lied to Congress. Then she
refused to answer lawmakers' further questions, citing her Fifth
Amendment right not to incriminate herself.
In
one of the most electric moments since the IRS controversy erupted
nearly two weeks ago, Lois Lerner unwaveringly - but briefly - defended
herself before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. But
she would say no more, citing legal advice in the face of a federal
investigation.
Members of Congress have
angrily complained that Lerner and other high-ranking IRS officials did
not inform them that conservative groups were singled out, even though
lawmakers repeatedly asked the IRS about it after hearing complaints
from local tea party groups.
The Justice
Department has launched a criminal probe of the murky events over the
2010 and 2012 election campaigns, saying it is looking into potential
civil rights violations. Top IRS officials say Lerner didn't tell them
for nearly a year after she learned that agents working under her had
improperly singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny when
they applied for tax-exempt status.
Under
unrelenting criticism - most forcefully from Republicans but also from
Democrats and people outside politics - administration officials from
President Barack Obama on down have denounced the targeting as
inappropriate and inexcusable.
Lerner, who
heads the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status
and first disclosed the targeting at a legal conference, has said the
same. But she also spoke up for herself Wednesday, sitting stern-faced
at the committee witness table.
"I have not
done anything wrong," she said. "I have not broken any laws, I have not
violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false
information to this or any other congressional committee."
By
one lawmaker's count, Lerner was asked 14 times by members of Congress
or their staffs without revealing that the groups had been targeted. On
Wednesday, lawmakers didn't get a chance to ask Lerner again.
Nine
minutes after she began speaking, Lerner was excused, though committee
Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said he might recall her. He and other
Republicans say they believe she forfeited her Fifth Amendment privilege
not to testify by giving an opening statement in which she proclaimed
her innocence, but several law professors were skeptical they could make
that stick.
Issa later said he would consult
with others - including her lawyer and House attorneys - before
determining whether to summon her again, hopefully deciding by the time
Congress returns from an upcoming recess early next month.
"She's a fact witness with a tremendous amount that she could tell us," Issa said.
By leaving early, Lerner missed out on a six-hour grilling that three other witnesses endured.
The
hearing was Congress' third on the IRS controversy in the past week.
Taken together, testimony by current and former officials indicates that
Lerner's actions were consistent with theirs: Once officials learned
that conservative groups were being targeted, they say they made sure
the practice was stopped, but they were slow to tell superiors, if they
did so at all.
They also didn't tell Congress, until Lerner herself made it public at a May 10 legal conference.
"Think
about it. For more than a year, the IRS knew that it had
inappropriately targeted groups of Americans based on their political
beliefs without mentioning it," Issa said. "There seemed to be a culture
of insulation that puts higher priority on deniability than addressing
blatant wrongdoing."
The hearings have been
notable for what they have not shown as well as what they have. No
evidence has emerged that anyone outside the IRS, including the White
House, directed agents to go after conservative groups. And there has
been no evidence that anyone outside the IRS was made aware that the
groups were being targeted until a few weeks before the inspector
general released his report on the situation last week.
Still,
Obama's top spokesman said Wednesday the White House is facing
"legitimate criticisms" for its shifting accounts about who knew what,
and when they knew it.
Press secretary Jay
Carney first said only Obama's top lawyer knew the IRS was being
investigated in the weeks before the inspector general's report was
released. Later, he said the chief of staff and other top officials also
knew.
"There have been some legitimate
criticisms about how we're handling this," Carney said. "And I say
`legitimate' because I mean it."
The report
said IRS agents in a Cincinnati office started targeting tea party and
other conservative groups for additional scrutiny in March or April of
2010. By August 2010, "tea party" became part of a "be on the lookout,"
or "BOLO" list of terms to flag for additional screening.
Lerner
learned in June 2011 that agents in her division were singling out
groups with "Tea Party" and "Patriots" in their applications for
tax-exempt status, the report said. She ordered agents to scrap the
criteria immediately, but later it evolved to include groups that
promoted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
"After
that date, Ms. Lerner had 14 opportunities - in direct and distinct
interactions with the Ways & Means Committee and with this committee
- 14 different occasions where she could have set the record straight,
and she chose not to do it," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Lerner,
62, is an attorney who joined the IRS in 2001. She expressed pride in
her 34-year career in federal government, which has included work at the
Justice Department and Federal Election Commission, and she said she
currently oversees 900 workers and a budget approaching $100 million.
She
has faced no discipline for her actions, IRS officials said. A new
acting commissioner is conducting a 30-day review of the division.
J.
Russell George, the Treasury Department inspector general for tax
administration, has blamed ineffective management for allowing agents to
improperly target conservative groups for more than 18 months.
On
Wednesday, he hinted that there may be more revelations to come. He
told the oversight committee that his office has since uncovered other
questionable criteria used by agents to screen applications for
tax-exempt status. But he refused to elaborate.
"As
we continue our review of this matter, we have recently identified some
other BOLOs that raised concerns about political factors," George said.
"I can't get into more detail at this time as to the information that
is there because it's still incomplete.
Lerner's
supervisors said they, too, were kept in the dark for nearly a year.
One of those supervisors was Deputy IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who
later became acting head of the agency. He was forced last week to
resign.
Miller said he first learned in May
2012 that conservative groups had been singled out. He promptly told his
boss, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.
But
for the second straight day, Shulman testified that he didn't tell
anyone in the Treasury Department or the White House because he was
awaiting the results of an audit by the agency's inspector general. The
IRS is part of the Treasury Department.
Shulman stood by that Wednesday, and was pressed once again by lawmakers about why he didn't say anything.
"At
the time I learned about this list, I felt I was taking the appropriate
actions and that my course was the proper one, and I still feel that
way today," Shulman said.
Shulman, who was
appointed by President George W. Bush, left in November when his
five-year term expired. Miller became acting commissioner when Shulman
left.
In the spring of 2012, George told a top
Treasury official that the inspector general's office was investigating
complaints by conservative groups. George, however, did not reveal any
details about what he had uncovered, said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal
Wolin, who also testified Wednesday.
"He told
me only of the fact that he had undertaken such an audit, and he did
not provide any findings," Wolin testified. "I told him that he should
follow the facts wherever they lead. I told him that our job is to stay
out of the way and let him do his work."
Wolin said he didn't tell any of his superiors at Treasury or the White House about the investigation.
