host: representative john mica of florida. he sits on the oversight and reform committee and he's the chairman of the government operations subcommittee. ray from new hampshire. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to talk about privacy. theres, the were looking at celebrity tax returns. some safeguards were put in to keep this from happening. the irs will be the enforcement arm with making sure we have health insurance and they will have access to our health records to determine our we eligible for tax credits or will we be paying taxes if we do not have health insurance. what kind of assurances do the american people have that this information is not going to be leaked? how is it going to be safeguarded? what kind of training and ethics are they going to have so we can be sure our most sensitive information is going to be kept secret? guest: very good point. the caller raises a host of issues. you cannot take things for granted with these 501c4 applications. enforces 16,000 irs have access to all kinds of information

our guest is congressman john mica.rom the oversight and government reform committee, he's the chairman of the government operations subcommittee. will we see your committee take this up? guest: we'll look at it. dave camp is the chairman of ways and means. talked to dave yesterday. you couldn't have a fairer, bert respected individual heading the investigation. the i.r.s. is under ways and means authority. our committee has very broad jurisdiction government and reform oversight. we can investigate just about anything. we'll see if there's some things actually that -- sometimes these matters go beyond one particular area of jurisdiction. and that's where we would probably come in. it's up to mr. issa. i understand mr. issa had asked some questions. mr. boustany from louisiana had been in there. senator hatch. and it appears they were not given the proper information, which raises a lot of questions. i think our committee with the leadership of mr. issa also has role in the future. one of the key questions here is how f

let's ask john mica.gressman, welcome. >> good to be with you. >> i want to take a step back before i ask you those questions and there was a bipartisan report that was issued on may 14th that found that these conservative groups were being targeted. why was that report initially done and did you expect to get the findings you did? >> well, there was several reports done. first of all, our committee government reform and oversight has been trying to get information for several years now on the targeting. as you know the inspector general produced an audit that was the report. it wasn't an investigation but an audit of the matter which was released. of course lerner and company and that we learn the white house was involved in great choreography of their rollout trying to temper the media and also the public when this is going to be released a little bit later. just as she did before our committee the other day, she had that all planned and plotted. that was another one her performance choreography she hel

engineers water projects. 10:00 on c-span the committee3, but on the farm bill. 45 minutes, congressman john mica of florida about the irs targeting conservative groups. brian higgins of new york, the top democrats on the homeland security committee on the libya investigation and the boston marathon bombings. a spotlight on magazine series continues with week magazine that senior editor on the piece about the effects of the $833 billion stimulus. host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal" on this wednesday, may 15, 2013. the house judiciary committee takes testimony today from the u.s. attorney general. eric holder addressed controversial topics at a press briefing yesterday, including accusations the i.r.s. unfairly targeted conservative groups and the justice department's seizure of associated press reporters' phone records. we'd like to hear from enthuse morning, what you think of how the obama administration is handling civil liberties. here are the numbers to call to share your thoughts. democrats, 202-585-3

here's what congressman john mica had to say about the strategy with my colleague peter alexand alexander take a listen. >> our president doesn't seem to get the message that all wars must come to an end, but he obviously fails to understand that the other side hasn't gotten that message. i think we should be using more drones. >> also just for context, republican senators mccain and graham have voiced their opinion on the president and this is what they had to say after that speech. >> what would i have the united states of america do? lead, l-e-a-d. the president does not lead. >> i support the context that the president does in many ways, but if he doesn't change his policies, the middle east is going to blow up and we're going to get hit here at home. >> and reaction from your democratic congressman barbara lee, she released a statement saying i continue to have grave concerns over the use of drone strikes and i will continue to fight for a full and public debate on the issue. where do you stand? >> i think there's no denying that the development of the drones has given our military m

so it is a touchy one under, you know, the -- >> geraldo: i have to leave you there, congressman john micam orlando, florida. thanks, congressman. (little gi! saw her first day of school. (little girl) bye bye! made a best friend forever. the back seat of my subaru is where she grew up. what? (announcer) designed for your most precious cargo. (girl) what? (announcer) the all-new subaru forester. (announcer) designed for your most precious cargo. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. here at the hutchison household. but one dark stormy evening... there were two things i could tell: she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her what our other cats love, purina cat chow complete. it's the best because it has something for all of our cats! and after a couple of weeks she was healthy, happy, and definitely part of the family. we're so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. always there for you. a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using

she ought to stand here and answer our questions. [ applause ] >> megyn: congressman john mica is member of the government reform committee. representative, thank you for being here. your feelings on first of all where they left off whether she waived her fifth amendment privilege by making an opening statement they would be serving to her but not subjecting herself to questioning? >> i think trey was right. i think she did try to get her points across and then she exited and exercised her fifth amendment rights. now i'm not an attorney. i can't sort that out. we will be called back and she will be held accountable. with a irs has done is an audit. we are doing an investigation. as you heard the inspector general say there may be in the future criminal referrals. >> megyn: her lawyer says she hasn't committed any crimes, made any misrepresentations but she has no choice of asserting the fifth amendment right. we played on the soundbite from john boehner saying, we can talk all you want who is getting fired. i want to know who is going to jail. does her lawyer and ms. lerner that she migh

coming up on the next washington journal, congressman john mica of florida, chairman of an oversight subcommittee, will discuss the irs investigation. then representative brian higgins of new york about the benghazi hearings and homeland security after the boston marathon bombings. rs later magazine features -- our spotlight on magazine peter suderman. we will hear from attorney general eric holder at a news conference today where he answers questions about the irs probe of the justice department ap'sbpoena sap's -- of phone records. >> if you question on the subpoenas of the aps own record. did you sign off on this subpoena for two months of recrods? records? to whom did you delegate authority for the information? the ap call this a violation of the department own guidelines and asked you to return the records and destroy all copies. would you consider doing so? in june 2012d that i've been interviewed by the fbi in connection with this matter. potential conflict of interest and to make sure the investigation was seen as independent, i recused myself from the matter. we will get to