A tense scene erupted after a former IRS official probed by Republicans in an investigation into the agency's targeting of conservative groups refused to testify before a House committed on Wednesday. Lois Lerner, the former director of exempt organizations for the IRS, invoked the Fifth Amendment during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. What ensued was a tense scene where Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) immediately gaveled the hearing closed after asking Lerner a series of questions she refused to answer. Rep. Elijah Cummings, (D-Md.) protested that he should be allowed to speak, telling Issa, “Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a committee like this."
