Former IRS official Lois Lerner will be held in contempt of Congress "in the very near future," Rep. Trey Gowdy told Fox News on Wednesday.
The South Carolina Republican sits on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and told
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" that he wants to see an end to the delay in providing subpoenaed emails from Lerner over the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
IRS Chief John Koskinen was grilled Wednesday by the committee over his agency's failure to produce the emails. Koskinen said it could take years to comply with the committee's request.
"All we want are the emails to or from Lois Lerner. I'm not talking about private taxpayer information," Gowdy told Van Susteren.
"Just emails like the one she sent celebrating a Democrat victory in a special election, calling on the FEC to save the day – overtly political, nothing to do with her job. We'll just settle for those," Gowdy added.
He is even willing to take emails starting in January 2010, when the alleged targeting began, Gowdy said, even though the subpoena reaches into 2009.
Gowdy said he told committee Chairman Darrell Issa he should give Koskinen a deadline for the information, then call him before the committee and not let him leave until the documents are produced, even if it takes days.
Gowdy said he personally wants the emails by Friday. Asked by Van Susteren whether contempt of Congress charges would be considered, Gowdy indicated that they would.
"We're already going to do contempt of Congress for Lois Lerner. That's coming up in the very near future," he said.
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