And she also professed her innocence. Pure and simple. 30 independent legal experts have said the proceedings were constitutionally deficient to bring a contempt proceeding. They were constitutionally deficient because the chair did not overrule ms. Lerners fifth amendment assertion and order her to answer the question. And as long as that deficiency is there, there is no reason to move forward with this effort today. But lets move on to the bigger picture. Every single 501c4 that was in the queue before the i. R. S. Could have selfcertified. They didnt even need to be in that queue. So whether or not there was a list of progressive organizations and conservative organizations that they were through omehow get the thousands of applications they had, they could have moved aside and selfcertified. There have been 39 witnesses before this committee, there have been 530 pages of documents. There is no smoking gun. But the other side is locked and loaded, theyre just shooting blanks. I yiel
Because the gentleman from georgia said, if about eight different ifs, thans, they would vote for this. The gentleman from vermont said, we shouldnt be doing this or finding her guilty, this should be before a judge. He may not have understood because what we are doing is putting the question did she properly waive or not and should she be back before us or be held in contempt and punished for not giving it . This wont be my decision, this will be a lifetime appointment nonpartisan federal judge. The only thing we are doing today is sending it for that consideration. And if the court rules that, in fact, her conduct was not a waiver, then we will have a modern update to understand the set of events here. But well still have the same problem, which is lois lerner was at the center of an operation that abused americans for their political beliefs. Asked them inappropriate questions, delayed and denied their aprovals. The minority asserted well they could have selfselected. Maybe they cou
He referred to the issue of her making statements to the Justice Department. With that, i yield to the distinguished gentlelady, a member of our committee, ms. Speer for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the entlelady is recognized. Ms. Speier i thank the gentleman for his leadership and to say a few minutes here on the floor. Im not here to defend lois lerner today but i am here to defend the constitution and every americans right to assert the fifth amendment so as not to incriminate themselves. And every Single Member of this body should be as committed to doing the same thing. Im also here to defend the integrity of the committee and the rules of that committee. Lois lerner pled the fifth amendment before our committee. And she also professed her innocence. Pure and simple. 30 independent legal experts have said the proceedings were constitutionally deficient to bring a contempt proceeding. They were constitutionally deficient because the chair did not overrule ms. Lerners fifth
That all happens tonight on cspan2s booktv. John fund and hans von von sa cover are next von spakovsky are next on booktv. They argue thatni eric holder ad the lawyers he surrounds himself with have transformed the Justice Department into a stronghold of legal activism. They also talk about attorney general holders involvement with recent scandals surrounding the atf and the surveillance of journalist james rosen. This is about an hour. Why dont we go ahead and get, get started. I would remind people if they would just take a moment to turn off their cell phones, id appreciate that. Sww there we go, somebodys listening to me. [laughter] im john malcolm, im the director of the Edwin Meese Center for legal and judicial studies. We are here today to discuss a new book entitled obamas enforcer eric holders Justice Department. T the book is a thorough, provocative and unsparing account of the department of justice under the tenure of attorney general eric holder. It describes a Justice Depa
We are finding it back. Thank you for what you do. The door is always welcome. Thank you, mr. Chairman. God bless all of you. I thank the gentleman from michigan. I go to the gentleman from texas, the hon. Judge engelbrecht. Thank you for letting me sit and the committee today. We have some questions for you. A short answer for you. After you started team street patriots, were you vested by the fbi . Were you visited by the fbi terrorist squad, to investigate terrorists . How many times did you have meetings with the fbi . Six times. We visited how many times . Five. The a tee at . How many times were you visited or audited by the atf . Twice. And you were visited by the Texas Commission on environmental quality. Yes, sir. State agency of the epa. Yes, sir. The irs how many times . Two business office. How many times we wonder criminal investigation . Some didnt know what to think. Did you ask to see if you were investigated . We got a response from the fbi. They said what . That they