House GOP renews push for Lerner prosecution

House Republicans didn’t get anywhere when they asked then-Attorney General Eric Holder last year to criminally prosecute former IRS official Lois Lerner.

Now they’re trying their luck with Holder’s successor, Loretta Lynch.

All 24 Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the newly confirmed AG on Thursday, asking her to respond to the panel’s 2014 request to charge Lerner for possible crimes, including using her position to have the Internal Revenue Service target conservative groups; impeding investigations by giving misleading information; and disclosing confidential taxpayer information.
 
{mosads}Lerner has denied any wrongdoing.
 
And before Holder stepped down last month, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen informed Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that his office would not prosecute Lerner for obstructing Congress due to her refusal to testify at a congressional hearing.

Thursday’s letter, circulated by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis), was backed up in statements by both Boehner and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

“The American people deserve the truth as to how the IRS was used as a political tool to target and harass Americans for their beliefs. … It is outrageous that despite having evidence right at their fingertips, the DOJ has refused to investigate potential criminal acts taken by Lois Lerner at the IRS,” Boehner said in a statement.

“The administration’s silence on this targeting might as well imply its consent of these abusive actions,” the Speaker continued. “I hope the new attorney general will take this investigation seriously.  The American people deserve answers and to know that justice will be served.”