http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=A38472E2-C3E7-4F35-B715-3A8A2902D826 John Boehner: IRS hiding something
By: Kevin Cirilli
May 23, 2013 07:54 AM EDT
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) says its looks as if “the IRS has got something to hide” after one of its top officials invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer lawmakers’ questions about why conservative groups were targeted.
“Well, [it] looks to me like the IRS has got something to hide here. The White House has changed the story of what happened and what they knew and when they knew it about half a dozen times already,” Boehner said on Fox News on Wednesday.
He continued: “And it’s clear that this appears to be a pervasive problem. As I said last week, I’m not interested in who’s going to resign, I’m interested in who’s going to jail. There are specific laws that pertain to IRS employees… There’s a serious problem, and I think it’s our job to get to the bottom of it.”
Lois Lerner — the IRS director who oversees nonprofit groups — pleaded the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday when she appeared at a Congressional hearing about the matter.
Boehner also said it was “inconceivable” that President Barack Obama wouldn’t know about what was going on in the IRS.
“It’s pretty inconceivable to me that the president wouldn’t know. I’m just putting myself in his shoes. I deal with my senior staff every day,” Boehner said. “[…They] could have attempted to insulate the president from this news. But with as many people that were involved in the audit, the number of people involved in the investigation, somebody — and the number of people in the White House that knew — it really is inconceivable that he wouldn’t have known about it.”
