Ohio congressman wants action to impeach IRS commissioner
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Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) this week called for movement on legislation to impeach Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen during a special order on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Jordan was joined by Reps. Ron DeSantis, Ted Yoho, Doug Lamborn and Jody Hice.
Under Commissioner Koskinen’s watch, with congressional subpoena and preservation order in place and with Congress, the Department of Justice and the IRS inspector general asking for documents, the IRS destroyed 422 backup tapes that contained potentially 24,000 e-mails.
Three weeks after learning of the problem, Koskinen told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he intended to produce “all” documents related to former IRS employee Lois Lerner, who was at the heart of the IRS targeting of conservatives. He said this despite the fact that without those tapes he would be unable to provide all documents.
During the special order, Rep. Jordan made the following statement:
“When you have individuals running an agency with the power of the Internal Revenue Service doing what was done under Commissioner Koskinen’s watch, he in fact should be impeached. ...
“The very lady (Lois Lerner) who was at the center of the storm, who lied when she first made this public, gets brought in front of the Congress and what’s she do? She takes the Fifth. So when you have the central figure exercising their Fifth Amendment right, not willing to testify in public and answer the people’s representatives’ questions, it sort of puts a premium on getting the documents and the communications that the IRS had relative to this issue. …
“So three preservation orders, two subpoenas in place, and the commissioner, under his watch, 422 back-up tapes are destroyed containing 24,000 emails. And what’s Mr. Koskinen do when he learns about problems with these tapes and problems with Ms. Lerner’s hard drive? He waits four months before he tells Congress. …
“That’s why we filed these articles of impeachment and that’s why we are asking that they move forward in the Judiciary Committee and we do what the American people sent us here to do.”
Rep. Jordan was joined by Reps. Ron DeSantis, Ted Yoho, Doug Lamborn and Jody Hice.
Under Commissioner Koskinen’s watch, with congressional subpoena and preservation order in place and with Congress, the Department of Justice and the IRS inspector general asking for documents, the IRS destroyed 422 backup tapes that contained potentially 24,000 e-mails.
Three weeks after learning of the problem, Koskinen told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he intended to produce “all” documents related to former IRS employee Lois Lerner, who was at the heart of the IRS targeting of conservatives. He said this despite the fact that without those tapes he would be unable to provide all documents.
During the special order, Rep. Jordan made the following statement:
“When you have individuals running an agency with the power of the Internal Revenue Service doing what was done under Commissioner Koskinen’s watch, he in fact should be impeached. ...
“The very lady (Lois Lerner) who was at the center of the storm, who lied when she first made this public, gets brought in front of the Congress and what’s she do? She takes the Fifth. So when you have the central figure exercising their Fifth Amendment right, not willing to testify in public and answer the people’s representatives’ questions, it sort of puts a premium on getting the documents and the communications that the IRS had relative to this issue. …
“So three preservation orders, two subpoenas in place, and the commissioner, under his watch, 422 back-up tapes are destroyed containing 24,000 emails. And what’s Mr. Koskinen do when he learns about problems with these tapes and problems with Ms. Lerner’s hard drive? He waits four months before he tells Congress. …
“That’s why we filed these articles of impeachment and that’s why we are asking that they move forward in the Judiciary Committee and we do what the American people sent us here to do.”