Impeach the IRS Commissioner: Coverage from Across the Country

This week, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and 18 members of the Committee introduced H. Res. 494, a resolution to begin proceedings in the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen. H. Res. 494 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee for further action. Check out the video above and see below for coverage from across the country.

Mr. Koskinen was not at the IRS during the targeting, but the former Freddie Mac executive has become the single greatest hurdle to public accountability. He was touted as a reformer in his 2013 confirmation hearings. Instead he has helped the Administration stonewall Congress’s investigation. Mr. Chaffetz’s four articles of impeachment assert that Mr. Koskinen “engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties as an Officer of the United States.”

A group of House Republicans led by the chairman of a powerful committee moved Tuesday to impeach the head of the Internal Revenue Service, saying he violated the public trust and lied to Congress as it investigated the treatment of conservative groups.

In his impeachment resolution, Chaffetz said Koskinen violated the public trust in at least three ways: He failed to comply with a subpoena resulting in destruction of key evidence containing thousands of Lerner’s emails; failed to testify truthfully to Congress about IRS handling of emails involving Lerner and other officials; and failed to notify Congress that key evidence was missing.

In July, Chaffetz’s panel indicated it could pursue action against Koskinen, after arguing he had misled the committee and impeded its investigation into the improper scrutiny. The committee had previously called for Koskinen to be fired.

But they took it a step further, four days after the Justice Department announced it was closing its investigation of the IRS’s handling of nonprofit political groups without bringing criminal charges.

A group of House Republicans moved Tuesday to impeach the head of the IRS, the tax agency struggling to recover from scandal.