There's a "growing crescendo" to hold retired IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for her repeated refusal to testify about the tax agency's targeted scrutiny of tea party groups, one House Oversight Committee member said Wednesday.
In the wake of a contentious less-than-10-minute hearing where Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — triggering an angry exchange between committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa and ranking Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings — North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows said "The American people … want to hold those people accountable.. and make sure it doesn't happen again."
"There is a growing crescendo that they should hold her in contempt of Congress and the American people get what they deserve," Meadows told Fox News.
Among the GOP chorus calling for a contempt charge is House Speaker John Boehner.
"She has to testify or she should be held in contempt," the Ohio Republican said after the hearing, saying he'd wait for a report from Issa.
A contempt vote could lead to a criminal prosecution — and fan the controversy that erupted last year when the agency's
extra scrutiny of tea party-backed nonprofits came to light.
Issa's committee since then has held five hearings, issued three subpoenas for documents and interviewed IRS officials.
Democrats howled after the hearing, where Cummings had demanded he be given a right to speak before adjournment — but instead had his microphone turned off.
"I am a member of the Congress of the United States of America," Cummings yelled as Issa dismissed the meeting and cut of microphones. "I am tired of this.
"We have members over here, each who represent 700,000 people. You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that. And, it's absolutely un-American," Cummings yelled.
"We had a hearing. We are adjourned. I gave you an opportunity to ask a question. You had no questions," Issa, a Republican from California, responded.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, slammed Issa for conducting a "witch hunt."
"What we're seeing in the House today is a sign of larger dysfunction and partisanship on behalf of Republicans," Van Hollen told MSNBC's "Daily Rundown,"
according to Politico.
"Darrell Issa has been conducting this political witch hunt for a long time now. He's frustrated because he hasn't been able to come up with any evidence of intentional political wrongdoing on the part of the Obama administration, and so he's getting frustrated and making stuff up."
Democratic National Committee chair, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, called Issa's conduct at the Wednesday hearing comparable to oppression in Ukraine and Venezuela,
according to Politico, saying she was "stunned" that Issa would try to silence Cummings by cutting off his mic.
Cummings continued speaking for about 10 minutes; Lerner remained seated.
Issa said he'll decide by next week whether his committee will seek to hold Lerner in contempt.
Lerner first appeared before the committee last May, when she also invoked the Fifth Amendment after maintaining that she was innocent of wrongdoing. The committee determined the following month that Lerner
waived her right against self-incrimination by making that statement.
A Treasury inspector general's report has since determined the IRS had
used inappropriate criteria to scrutinize groups, though it found no evidence of a political motivation.
The Justice Department is involved in a
criminal probe of the matter.
The IRS has since proposed
new rules for handling social welfare groups engaged in political activity, though conservative groups have called them too restrictive.
Bloomberg news contributed to this report
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