Trey Gowdy Questions Law Professor Over Need For Special Counsel In IRS Scandal

Professor Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor, was brought in by Democrats to testify as an expert on whether the House Judiciary Committee should appoint a special counsel to investigate the IRS - however, he appeared caught completely off guard when Rep. Trey Gowdy's (R-S.C.) grilled him on the Lois Lerner IRS scandal. "Professor Tiefer, would you seat a juror who referred to your client as an obscene body part?" Gowdy asked, referring indirectly to emails where former IRS official Lois Lerner called conservatives "a**holes," "terrorists" and "crazies." Like a deer in headlights, Professor Tiefer took a long pause before muttering, "I'm sorry...uh?" "Would you seat a juror, in a trial, who referred to your client as an obscene body part?" Gowdy asked again. "I really have trouble ... giving you an answer ..." Tiefer said. Gowdy: "Well, then you would starve to death as a lawyer, if you can't answer that question, professor. You would seriously consider seating a juror, in a trial, a criminal trial where your client was accused of a crime, if that juror had referred to your client as an obscene body part, you would struggle with whether or not to strike that juror?" Tiefer: "Well, it doesn't sound too good..." "No, it's not," Gowdy said. "And I'll give you some free litigation advice: You're going to want to use one of your strikes on that juror. How about if you were a prosecutor, and one of the potential jurors referred to the police as 'terrorists' who were gonna bring the country down, would you seat that juror in a criminal prosecution, if you were a prosecutor?" "I wish I saw the connection here, but..." said Tiefer. "I'll give you the connection!" Gowdy said. "Lois Lerner just referred to conservatives as an obscene body part and she said we were 'crazies' and likened us to terrorists!" At this point, a Democrat congressman from Georgia attempted to rescue the witness, but Gowdy wouldn't yield the floor, as he continued to attempt to get Professor Tiefer to acknowledge that there's an obvious conflict of interest in the Department of Justice handling of the IRS investigation. CNS News: New Emails: Lois Lerner Referred to Conservatives as '***holes' and 'TeRrorists' http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/new-emails-lois-lerner-referred-conservatives-holes-and-terrorists CNS News: Rep. Gowdy Humiliates Dem's Legal Expert Defending Lerner's 'A**hole' Slur of Conservatives http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/barbara-boland/rep-gowdy-humiliates-dems-legal-expert-defending-lerners-ahole-slur