House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa should not have adjourned Wednesday's hearing after former IRS official Lois Lerner repeatedly refused to answer questions, says Republican former U.S. Rep. Allen West.
"Well, that is going to play bad as far as the optics. What I would have done is keep the pressure on Lois Lerner, because now no one is going to be talking about Lois Lerner. As a matter of fact, if Lois Lerner does not want to answer the questions of the American people, then she should not be getting that six-figure, taxpayer-funded pension that she is receiving.
"Now everyone is going to be talking about Darrell Issa and how he reacted," West told Newsmax TV's J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" Tuesday.
As for what should happen next to put the spotlight back on Lerner, West said Republicans should move to hold her in contempt of Congress.
"That's the only way you get it back on her. And really, she is thumbing her nose. When you think about what President Obama recently said in his interview with Bill O'Reilly, that there's not a smidgen of corruption in the IRS. Well, then, why is Lois Lerner pleading the Fifth? And so, somehow you got to retake that high ground and you got to do it quickly," he said.
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Lerner, who headed the IRS division that targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, pleaded the Fifth Amendment in response to several questions by Issa, a California Republican, about her role in the scandal. It was her second appearance before the committee.
West, who represented Florida's 22nd Congressional District from 2011 to 2013, also said Issa should have let Rep. Elijah Cummings finish speaking after the Maryland Democrat objected to the adjournment.
"I would have allowed Elijah Cummings to make his statement, to talk, because just the same as we've seen with Harry Reid on the Senate floor, give them the microphone. Let them use their own words to, you know, really tie themselves in a knot.
"But now he's lost that high ground. Now he's going to have to come out and defend ... Why did you turn off the microphone? Why not allow the ranking member to speak? So, again, this is one of those things where you've got to understand D.C. politics, you've got to understand optics."
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