Darrell Issa Tries Tactic In IRS Probe Last Used In McCarthyism
Michael McAuliff, HuffPost
Posted: 04/09/2014 12:00 am EDT Updated: 04/09/2014 6:59 am EDT
WASHINGTON -- A new report by the Congressional Research Service finds that Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) probe of the Internal Revenue Service is veering into territory last trod by Congress in the McCarthy era.
Issa, chairman of the House Committee On Oversight and Government Reform, has been investigating the IRS's botched scrutiny of tax-exempt groups -- most of them conservative, as well as a handful of progressive groups. He has suggested the White House may have been involved in targeting groups for IRS inquiry.
Key to Issa's case is former IRS official Lois Lerner, who at one point ran the department in charge of determining whether organizations qualified for tax-exempt status as "social welfare" groups under section 501(c)4 of the tax code, or whether they carry out too much political activity, which is illegal.
Lerner has twice invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself in response to Issa's questions. During her first appearance before his committee, she maintained that she had done nothing wrong.
(More here.)
Posted: 04/09/2014 12:00 am EDT Updated: 04/09/2014 6:59 am EDT
WASHINGTON -- A new report by the Congressional Research Service finds that Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) probe of the Internal Revenue Service is veering into territory last trod by Congress in the McCarthy era.
Issa, chairman of the House Committee On Oversight and Government Reform, has been investigating the IRS's botched scrutiny of tax-exempt groups -- most of them conservative, as well as a handful of progressive groups. He has suggested the White House may have been involved in targeting groups for IRS inquiry.
Key to Issa's case is former IRS official Lois Lerner, who at one point ran the department in charge of determining whether organizations qualified for tax-exempt status as "social welfare" groups under section 501(c)4 of the tax code, or whether they carry out too much political activity, which is illegal.
Lerner has twice invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself in response to Issa's questions. During her first appearance before his committee, she maintained that she had done nothing wrong.
(More here.)
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