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"Absolutely un-American!" After Darrell Issa closes the IRS hearing without allowing the minority party to ask questions Rep. Elijah Cummings explodes in anger. Update!

Courtesy of Mediaite:

During a hearing of the House Oversight Committee into allegations that the Internal Revenue Service scrutinized conservative groups’ tax-exempt status filings unduly, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) exploded at Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Cummings charged that the way in which the proceedings were being conducted were “Un-American.” In apparent protest, Issa then walked out of the committee hearing.

While making a statement before the committee, Issa stood up and asked Cummings to yield.

“If you will sit down and allow me to ask a question,” Cummings insisted. “I am a member of a Congress of the United States of America.”

“I am tired of this,” he continued. “You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that, and it is absolutely un-American.”

“We had a hearing. It was adjourned,” Issa replied. “I gave you an opportunity to ask your questions. You had no questions.”

“I do have questions,” Elijah replied. “Chairman, what are you hiding?”

At this stage, Issa walked out of the hearing

"He's taking the fifth Elijah." I LOVED that!

I had the opportunity to see a longer clip from MSNBC this morning, and what Mediaite and this shorter clip leave out is that Issa adjourned the hearing right as Rep. Cummings started to make his statement, and then cut his mic.

I mean no wonder Cummings was pissed, but what angered him just as much was the fact that this whole hearing was a waste of time as the attorney for Lois Lerner stated that she would not be testifying today.

Update: Now Issa is claiming that Cummings slandered him:

“He was talking into a mic in an adjourned meeting,” Issa said. “The fact is Mr. Cummings came to make a point of his objections to the process we have been going through. He was actually slandering me at the moment that the mics did go off by claiming that this had not been a real investigation.”

Ahh, somebody got hims feelings hurted.

Update 2: Here is the longer version of Issa's tantrum courtesy of MSNBC.

(By the way I just noticed that Lois Lerner sat and listened to Elijah Cummings entire statement about the Republican IRS witch hunt even though Issa had dismissed her. For some reason that really tickled me.)

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