Lois Lerner fears for her life if she testifies at Wednesday’s oversight hearing

[Forever_frost]

Lois Lerner fears for her life if she testifies openly before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday, according to her attorney.

House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa announced Sunday that Lerner will testify at Wednesday’s hearing, but Lerner’s attorney Bill Taylor said that Lerner will seek to continue invoking her Fifth Amendment rights and will also seek a one-week delay of her testimony.

Oversight members are reportedly open to granting Lerner a one-week delay if she petitions for one in person at Wednesday’s hearing. The delay would allow Lerner’s lawyers to continue negotiating for immunity, which they have been doing since at least September.

“I advised the staff that calling Ms. Lerner knowing that she will assert her rights was not only improper but dangerous. Ms. Lerner has been the subject of numerous threats on her life and safety, and on the life and safety of her family. I left with the staff recent evidence of those threats,” said Taylor in a letter to Issa.

But Oversight previously determined that Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights when she made a statement attesting to her innocence at a May 2013 hearing.

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Jason Chaffetz, both Oversight members, said recently that they were considering holding Lerner in contempt of Congress if she does not testify.

Issa said on the subject, ”We want her to come back and answer questions. We’ll see on contempt.”

http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/04/lois-lerner-fears-for-her-life-if-she-testifies-at-wednesdays-oversight-hearing/

[Forever_frost]

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/03/119367-lerner-refuses-testify-cummings-flips-issa-abruptly-adjourns-hearing/

Former IRS official Lois Lerner once again refused to testify before the Congressional Oversight Committee, after which, chairman Darrell Issa abruptly adjourned the hearing. That’s when the real fireworks began.

Doing what appeared to be his best Kanye West ‘Imma let you finish’ impersonation, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) lost his temper and went on a minutes-long tirade on the IRS investigation being a ‘witch hunt’ as Rep. Issa tried in vain to mute him and then walked away.

Some might question Issa shutting down the hearing in the middle of Cummings’ speech, but if Lois Lerner is not willing to give the committee any new information, then what’s the point in continuing the hearing?

[Forever_frost]

House Oversight: FEC Official Who Campaigned for Obama Not Prosecuted After Hard Drive Recycled
Another day, another federal official's hard drive is destroyed.

by
Paula Bolyard

Bio
July 14, 2014 - 3:06 pm

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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-OH), today exposed yet another federal hard disappearance. This time the missing data involves a federal employee who used Twitter and a webcam for campaign activities during work hours in violation of the Hatch Act. Jordan and Issa today sent a letter to Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee Goodman asking for an investigation into the “recycled” hard drive of an employee who campaigned for President Obama and solicited donations for his campaign in violation of the Hatch Act, which states that federal employees may not conduct political activities during work hours.

“As a part of a settlement agreement with the [Office of Special Counsel], Ms. [April] Sands admitted to violating the Hatch Act by soliciting political contributions via Twitter, conducting political activity through her Twitter account, and participating in a political discussion ‘via webcam from an FEC conference room . . . while on duty,’” Issa and Jordan wrote in their letter. “The FEC [Office of Inspector General] sought to pursue criminal charges stemming from Ms. Sands’s solicitation of political contributions while on duty inside the FEC building. However, the FEC recycled Ms. Sands’s hard drive before the OIG was able to seize it, and therefore the OIG was unable to show that Ms. Sands’s solicitations and political activity were done from an FEC computer. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia thereafter declined criminal prosecution.”

April Sands utilized a Twitter handle, @ReignOfApril, from which she engaged in overtly partisan political attacks on Republicans and endorsements of President Obama and other Democrats candidates. She also solicited financial donations.


Keep in mind that this federal employee, who refers to Republicans as her enemy, is an attorney charged with the responsibility to enforce federal election laws fairly and dispassionately.

“Although we recognize and appreciate the right of every citizen to participate in the political process, the Hatch Act limits certain political activities conducted by employees of the Executive Branch,” the House Oversight Committee letter said. ”In particular, the Act prohibits Executive Branch employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on official duty at a federal workplace. Certain employees, including FEC employees, are further restricted by the Hatch Act from engaging in partisan political campaigns or management. Additionally, federal law makes it a crime for a federal employee “to solicit or receive a donation of money or other thing of value in connection with a Federal, State, or local election, while in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties . . . .”

To make matters worse, according to the letter from Issa and Jordan, “Ms. Sands worked for former IRS official Lois Lerner when Ms. Lerner served as the FEC’s Associate General Counsel for Enforcement.” Though it is unclear whether Ms. Sands ever communicated with Ms. Lerner after Ms. Lerner moved to the IRS, “The Committee is aware that Ms. Lerner maintained communication with some former FEC colleagues.”

The House Oversight Committee is asking FEC Chairman Lee Goodman for all documents and communications related to the recycling of Ms. Sands’s hard drive, the FEC’s practices and policies for retaining FEC documents responsive to investigations, including congressional requests and inspector general investigations, and all documents and communications for retaining and archiving FEC electronic information, including emails, instant messages, and internet browsing histories.

“Like the IRS’s destruction of Lois Lerner’s hard drive, the FEC’s recycling of Ms. Sands’s hard drive may have also destroyed material responsive to Freedom of Information Act and congressional oversight requests,” the letter explains.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/07/14/another-day-another-federal-officials-hard-drive-crashes/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[turboford]

The whole has to have a bottom one of these days. This whole administration seems to be a criminal organization.