Rep. Trey Gowdy: How does Lois Lerner Still Have the Right to Remain Silent?

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) challenged the notion that former IRS official Lois Lerner still had the right to remain silent since she had made factual assertions since she invoked her Fifth Amendment right. 

Gowdy said that he counted 17 separate factual assertions by Lerner which in his opinion was enough to force her to be cross-examined.

“That’s a lot of talking for someone who wants to remain silent. That’s a lot of talking!” Gowdy thundered. “If you honestly that you can make 17 separate factual assertions and still invoke your right to remain silent, then please tell me what waiver is?”

Lerner, the former Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations at the center of the IRS scandal resigned in September 2013, after coming under fire for targeting additional IRS scrutiny of conservative and Tea Party groups.

Lerner cited her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in a May 2013 House Oversight Committee hearing when she was first called to testify on the matter.

“I have not done anything wrong,” she said during the hearing. “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.”