Alan Dershowitz: Lois Lerner can be held in contempt.

One imagines that liberals wish Alan Dershowitz would keep his mouth shut. After all his remarks do reflect on Harvard. Last week he told the Daily Caller;

“He had brilliant insights and he was clearly among the top students, as revealed by his class responses,” and
“Without a doubt he is among the smartest students I’ve ever had… I’ve had great students but he has to be at the top of anyone’s short list, in terms of raw brain power.”

Today he opined that Lois Lerner had relinquished her 5th amendment protection by giving a self serving, exculpatory opening statement.

“She’s in trouble. She can be held in contempt.”
“Congress . . . can actually hold you in contempt and put you in the Congressional jail.”
Lerner, grilled Wednesday on the IRS’ targeting of conservative organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — but not before insisting “I have done nothing wrong.”
Her brief statement of innocence has opened a legal Pandora’s Box, according to Dershowitz.
“You can’t simply make statements about a subject and then plead the Fifth in response to questions about the very same subject,” the renowned Harvard Law professor said.
“Once you open the door to an area of inquiry, you have waived your Fifth Amendment right . . . you’ve waived your self-incrimination right on that subject matter.”
"It should never have been allowed. She should have been told by her attorney that the law is clear, that once you open up an area of inquiry for interrogation, you have to respond," he said.