Now that some time has passed we know that CJ, WTF, and others were wrong. If you take the fifth then you say nothing at any time, understand gentlemen, YOU SAY NOTHING! What she did was tatamount to being questioned in a court room by her lawyer and then saying you want to take the fifth. It doesn't work that way and apparently Chairman Issa thinks the same way. She is being recalled since she started talking, they will give her a chance to continue. Now she can respond to each individual question (and look guiltier by the second) by taking the fifth but that is her choice.
On the other point this is Congress and not a criminal court and there different rules. People lie in front of Congress all the time (see Hillary) and walk away. It depends on if you're under oath (Hillary wasn't) and this is only fact finding. Now if they can prove that you lied and that lie was used to attempt to derail an investigation or hide criminality then criminal charges can preferred against you. Still the parallels are astounding...
Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
didn't read the link did ya sport? Figures you would correct a lawyer with more congressional trials under his belt than you have IQ points
lemme help
Like many legal questions, it depends on whom you ask.
Stanley M. Brand, who has represented several clients that have faced congressional scrutiny, wrote in an e-mail he did not believe she provided “a waiver” for lawmakers to ask her questions by broaching the subject of her division’s activities before invoking the Fifth Amendment.
“The question would be whether she made statements about the factual substance of the subject, but courts will be loath to divest someone of their rights absent a clear and unequivocal waiver,” Brand wrote.
Brand raises a key point—in order to compel Lerner to testify, Congress would have to hold her in contempt.