First on CNN: Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman will testify next week
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) (L) and U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) talk during a break in a five-hour mark up hearing on Capitol Hill June 20, 2012 in Washington, DC.
May 16th, 2013
05:13 PM ET
9 years ago

First on CNN: Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman will testify next week

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Washington (CNN) - Former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman, who was at the helm of the IRS during most of the period agents were targeting conservative groups, will testify before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, a House GOP aide tells CNN.

Shulman – no longer in the government – agreed to attend voluntarily.

Another official at the heart of the scandal, Lois Lerner, has told the committee through an attorney that she is currently in Montreal, and it's unclear if she can make the hearing. Lerner is the head of the IRS tax exempt division. She learned her employees were singling out conservative groups for excessive scrutiny in June of 2011, and Republican congressional investigators say she never told Congress – despite at least one face-to-face meeting.

Lerner has hired heavy hitter attorney Billy Taylor, who represented former International Monetary Fund Director Dominique Strass-Kahn in his sexual assault case.

Also testifying: Deputy Treasury Secretary Neil Wolin and the IRS inspector general.
Filed under: House • IRS
soundoff (11 Responses)
  1. You Have Got To Be Kidding

    "Another official at the heart of the scandal, Lois Lerner, has told the committee through an attorney that she is currently in Montreal, and it's unclear if she can make the hearing."

    We have extradition policies with Canada, right?

    May 16, 2013 05:17 pm at 5:17 pm |
  2. Bootstomper

    Chaffetz auditioning for VP in 2016. What a hack.

    May 16, 2013 05:25 pm at 5:25 pm |
  3. California Gary

    In their haste to make trouble for the president and the Dems, I think the GOP committee chairmen are opening a can of worms. I think that as testimony comes out and questions are answered, they will find that many groups other than the Tea Party have come under extra scrutiny over the years, many of them "liberal leaning groups" at that. And when asked why the extra attention on the Tea Party, they risk having the Tea Party exposed for what it really is.....and they may bring unwanted attention on their tax-exempt status......which despite the scrutiny, was approved.

    May 16, 2013 05:30 pm at 5:30 pm |
  4. PJ

    Shulman will testify: Good, I hope he tells the truth with no prompting from the GOP.
    Lerner in Montreal : "Its unclear if she can make the hearing...." – Fire her and let her "heavy hitter" go to bat
    for her. Enough of this!

    May 16, 2013 05:42 pm at 5:42 pm |
  5. Data Driven

    Fire her for what, PJ? Do you have evidence that she did anything wrong?

    May 16, 2013 06:07 pm at 6:07 pm |
  6. Iamnotfooled

    I blame it on the Republican austerity measures. These workers were over worked. Their budgets were cut substancially and they were short handed.

    May 16, 2013 06:24 pm at 6:24 pm |
  7. YO

    "Lerner has hired heavy hitter attorney Billy Taylor, who represented former International Monetary Fund Director Dominique Strass-Kahn"

    You don't hire a big name attorney like this unless you have something to hide!!!!!

    May 16, 2013 06:30 pm at 6:30 pm |
  8. Ghostwriter

    Good. Let's get some real questions in there. Nothing like, "So did Obama himself put you up to this or did Holder?"

    May 16, 2013 06:31 pm at 6:31 pm |
  9. Sandman

    Let's back up for a second. Aren't the congressional looney republicans out on the stump today at a TEA PARTY rally with their normal anti-Obama lies???.Isn't this about whether the Tea Parties should be tax exempt? Isn't the Tea Party claiming they should be tax exempt because they are not a political organization?

    May 16, 2013 06:43 pm at 6:43 pm |
  10. rs

    "Another official at the heart of the scandal, Lois Lerner, has told the committee through an attorney that she is currently in Montreal, and it's unclear if she can make the hearing."

    We have extradition policies with Canada, right?
    __________________________
    Indeed we do- but only for real court actions- not those of the House kangaroo variety. Really, let's think this one through for a moment. The person in charge of the IRS until December was a Republican, George W. Bush appointee. How do we think THIS might play out? Probably about as well as the GOP's Bengahzi fantasy.

    May 16, 2013 07:17 pm at 7:17 pm |
  11. GRAMMMY

    Revoke Lois Lerner's passport until she "can make it back from Montreal"'. ! Supeona her and audit her tax returns!!

    May 16, 2013 09:26 pm at 9:26 pm |
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