White House Attorney Jennifer O'Connor will testify on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning after being subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee yesterday. Her testimony comes less than 24-hours after IRS Commissioner John Koskinen faced tough questions from law makers about the IRS targeting scandal and thousands of "lost" emails.
Before taking her current position as White House counsel, O'Connor was responsible for leading the IRS response to Congressional inquiry on the issue from May to November 2013. Chairman Darrell Issa originally asked O'Connor to voluntarily testify about the targeting of tea party groups. White House Counsel Neil Eggleston blocked O'Connor from doing so.
“A year ago, when news broke that the IRS had targeted Americans because of their political beliefs, President Obama pledged, ‘we will work with Congress as it performs its oversight role.’ I’m disappointed that one year later, the White House has attempted to block this Committee’s first request for voluntary cooperation from a White House official," Issa said after issuing the subpoena yesterday. "Before her promotion to the White House, Ms. O’Connor led the response to the Congressional targeting inquiry and she is uniquely qualified to explain why attorneys did not focus on and flag Lerner’s ‘lost’ e-mails at the outset.”
Archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration David S. Ferriero will also testify. The hearing starts at 9:30 and you can watch here.
