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(Graphic courtesy of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
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Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after joining 18 other members of the House in introducing legislation that will initiate articles of impeachment against John Koskinen, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for high crimes and misdemeanors:
“On Koskinen’s watch, the IRS intentionally destroyed nearly 24,000 emails from Lois Lerner and failed to comply with a Congressional subpoena. To make matters worse, Commissioner Koskinen made a series of false and misleading statements, under oath, to Congress at multiple committee hearings on this matter. Koskinen said in March 2014 that the IRS had turned over all Lerner’s emails and all requested information, yet, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration uncovered more than 1,000 emails that the IRS tried to hide. As a result of this despicable conduct and his fraudulent statements under oath, Koskinen is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and must be impeached.
“Under the direction of Commissioner John Koskinen, IRS officials have led a coordinated effort to hide the truth about this rogue agency’s targeting of innocent Americans based on their political beliefs. There is an old saying in Washington that ‘It's not the crime, it's the cover up’... In this case, it’s both. Commissioner Koskinen’s crimes are a scar on our Republic and an affront to the first amendment protections of our Constitution. Make no mistake, unelected bureaucrats, such as Commissioner Koskinen, will continue to freely violate the rule of law until the House enforces its sovereign power of impeachment under Article I, Section 2, Clause 5. These bureaucratic henchmen haven’t suffered any negative consequences for their corruption. That must end now.”
Background:
The text of the legislation initiating impeachment proceedings against Commissioner Koskinen can be found HERE.
At hearings on June 24, 2014, and on March 26, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen made a series of false and misleading statements under oath to Congress.
In a letter sent on March 19, 2014, to Senator Wyden of the Senate Committee on Finance, Commissioner Koskinen said, “We are transmitting today additional information that we believe completes our production to your committee and the House Ways and Means [C]ommittee.”
Koskinen’s statements in the March letter were proven false when the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found over 1,000 of Lois Lerner’s emails that the Internal Revenue Service had failed to produce. Those discoveries took only 15 days of investigation to uncover. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration searched a number of available sources, including disaster backup tapes, Lois Lerner’s Blackberry, the email server, backup tapes for the email server and Lois Lerner’s temporary replacement laptop. The IRS failed to examine any of those sources in its own investigation.
In July 2014, Congressman Gosar passed an amendment that cut the IRS budget by $353 million in order to hold the IRS accountable for multiple scandals. Click HERE to read more.
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