IRS Executive To Plead The Fifth

A mid-level IRS executive will follow a time-honored tradition when she appears before Congress today. Lois Lerner will plead the Fifth. Her lawyer says Lerner will refuse to answer questions before the House oversight committee because the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation. Lerner heads the IRS exempt organizations unit. She's at the center of a controversy over how IRS handled applications from conservative groups. Yesterday, former IRS Commissioner Douglas Schulman said he kept mum about the affair, knowing the Treasury Inspector General was looking into it.