March 5, 2014

Rep. Daryl Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee told the world that he planned hundreds of hearings and investigations when he took over in 2010 and has been holding bogus hearing after bogus hearing ever since, tampering with the evidence as he tries to damage President Obama at every turn. In the last three years has come up empty each time. After Benghazi, his number two priority has been the phony IRS scandal which he keeps trying to portray as an attack on conservatives.

On Fox News Sunday, he either lied or was misinformed when he told Chris Wallace that Lois Lerner was going to to testify to his group:

Former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, a central figure in the IRS scandal, will appear before Congress on Wednesday after refusing to testify last year on the matter, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., claimed Sunday -- though Lerner's attorney and Issa may still be at odds over the timing.Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told “Fox News Sunday” that Lerner’s lawyers have indicated she will testify before his committee, after saying last week that she would not.“It’s going to be a good, fact-finding hearing,” he said.

Obviously that was never going to happen and today Lerner took the Fifth, so Issa tried to end the hearing before a Democrat could say anything. Rep. Elijah Cummings was having none of that and wanted to make a statement. Once he started attacking the ludicrous hearing, Rep. Darrell Issa cut off his microphone..

And while Lerner refused to answer questions last year during her first appearance before the committee, Republicans had spent months arguing that she had actually waived her Fifth Amendment rights by giving a statement before invoking them. Issa recalled her, and on Sunday, he appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and stated that Lerner would in fact testify.

But things did not go according to plan for Issa. Lerner once again invoked her Fifth Amendment rights. And then, despite Issa's attempts to wrap things up quickly, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the ranking member of the committee, hijacked the hearing.

"I am a member of the Congress of the United States of America! I am tired of this," Cummings said, even after Issa tried to adjourn the hearing and cut off Cummings' microphone. "You cannot just have a one-sided investigation."

Cummings went on to say that, over the past year, the committee has obtained hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and interviewed dozens of witnesses, that the IRS had spent millions of dollars, and that "we have found no evidence to support allegations of a political conspiracy against conservative groups."

Rep. Issa whipped up conservative backlash politics with his claims that the IRS only targeted conservative groups when it came to granting non-profit status, but that was never the case. After granting Cummings request to ask his question, Issa cut the mics anyway..

Cummings: Let me say what I have to say. I've listened to you for the past fifteen or twenty minutes. Let me say what I have to say. I have one procedural question..

Issa: Ms. Lerner, you're released. You may...

Cummings: But first I'd like to use my time to make some brief points. For the past year, the central republican accusation in this investigation..

Issa: We're adjourned. Close it down.

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