Rep. Darrel Issa is finally admitting that his dog and pony show starring the IRS is finally coming to a close.

Following a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday in which a star witness again invoked her Fifth Amendment rights, and the Democratic ranking member denounced a "one-sided investigation," committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) told reporters that his long-running investigation into the IRS may have hit a "dead end."

"As you can see from our questioning today, we have continued to gather facts around Ms. Lerner's absence of testimony," Issa replied. "It would have allowed us to bring this investigation to a -- probably pretty quick close if she had been willing to answers those questions. Without it we will undoubtedly have a few more questions to try to find out things that she could have answered quickly today."A reporter than asked Issa if he was still "confident" the investigation would "get to the bottom of this."

"It may well be we have gotten to the bottom of it," Issa said. "At this point, roads lead to Ms. Lerner. The witness who to took the Fifth. That becomes -- she becomes one of the key characters at this point. Had she been willing to explain those emails which were provided through separate subpoenas, then we could have perhaps brought this to a close. Without that, it may dead end with Ms. Lerner."

Issa has had a bad time of it recently. On Sunday, Chris Wallace asked him to get honest about Benghazi and Hillary Clinton:

"But to be honest, you do not have any evidence that secretary Clinton told Leon Panetta to stand down,"

Then Rep. Issa told Chris Wallace that Lois Lerner was indeed testifying today which was untrue. Then after making himself look like a fool, he tried to shut the hearing down, but was buffeted by Rep. Elijah Cummings, who again made him look silly.