GOP Congressman: ‘We Just Filed a Resolution Directing the Sergeant-at-Arms to Arrest Lois Lerner for Contempt’

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced on Thursday that he has filed a resolution directing the House sergeant-at-arms to “arrest Lois Lerner for contempt of Congress” over the IRS targeting scandal.
Stockman said in a statement that asking the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute Lerner for “admittedly illegal activity” is a “joke.” Instead, the Republican said it is up to the U.S. House to “uphold the rule of law and hold accountable those who illegally targeted American citizens for simply having different ideas than the President.”
Under the proposed resolution, Lerner would be held in a Washington, D.C., jail and would be given access to an attorney and all her constitutional rights.
Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Credit: AFP/Getty Images
“It’s time to for House to stop tacitly endorsing this administration’s illegal activity by refusing to hold him accountable,” Stockman said. “I expect Democrats to defend and even praise criminal activity. The question is whether Republican leadership will join them in mocking the House and breaking the law.”
Stockman first made the announcement on Twitter:
Contempt of Congress is an actual criminal offense and the Supreme Court has previously upheld the right of Congress to hold people in contempt and even imprison them, the New York Times wrote in an editorial.

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