House Oversight Committee Moves to Impeach IRS Commissioner

The House Oversight  & Government Reform Committee led by Chairman Jason Chaffetz introduced on Tuesday a resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, accusing him of making “false statements” under oath, failing to comply with a lawful subpoena, and overseeing the destruction of documents that were being sought under a congressional subpoena.

The move comes less than a week after the Justice Department issued a report finding no criminal behavior in the IRS’s decision to target conservative groups for improper scrutiny.  The DOJ investigation was led by a career Justice Department lawyer in the Civil Rights Division who happened to be a “maxed-out” Obama campaign donor.

Via Fox News:

“Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust,” Chaffetz said in a statement Tuesday. “He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled.

“Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress.”

The resolution contains articles of impeachment accusing Koskinen of “high crimes and misdemeanors” over the following allegations:

• That he failed to preserve IRS records in accordance with a congressional subpoena; the resolution notes the IRS erased hundreds of backup tapes containing potentially thousands of emails from Lois Lerner, the former official at the heart of the controversy.
• That he made “false and misleading statements” to Congress, including claiming “nothing” had been “lost” or “destroyed.”
• That he did not notify Congress of missing emails until June 2014, despite allegedly being aware earlier.

“John Andrew Koskinen engaged in a pattern of deception that demonstrates his unfitness to serve as Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service,” the resolution states.

Last July, Chairman Chaffetz, along with 51 members of Congress, sent a letter to President Obama calling for the removal of Koskinen, but the White House did not respond.

The IRS issued the following statement in response to the impeachment resolution:

The IRS vigorously disputes the allegations in the resolution. We have fully cooperated with all of the investigations.

The Oversight & Government Reform Committee released the following video timeline of key events in the IRS targeting scandal, highlighting Koskinen’s deceptive appearances before Congress.