IRS Staffer Pleads Fifth During Questioning About Contracts

Accusation that he helped his friend secure them

A second IRS employee summoned to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday and refused to answer questions — a flashback to Lois Lerner, who did the same during a hearing on the agency's scandal last month.

Gregory Roseman, who worked as a deputy director of acquisitions at the IRS, exercised his constitutional rights when Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) started interrogating him about panel findings that he helped a friend procure potentially $500 million worth of IRS contracts.

"On the advice of the counsel, I respectfully decline to answer any questions and invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent," Roseman said when Issa asked to whom he reported at the IRS.