Free Republic

While acknowledging that the IRS bungled tea party applications, and that he himself gave wrong information to Congress, agency Commissioner John Koskinen told lawmakers Wednesday he needs to remain at the IRS in order to clean it up. At a hearing designed to lay the ground for his possible impeachment, Mr. Koskinen implied he was let down by his subordinates, who allowed hundreds of backup tapes to be destroyed, losing tens of thousands of emails from former senior executive Lois G. Lerner. It is the loss of those emails, even as they were under a subpoena issued by Congress, that...

The commissioner of the IRS is apologizing to Congress for information his agency lost and inaccurate statements he made during congressional investigations of its treatment of tea party and other conservative groups. John Koskinen is facing an impeachment effort by House conservatives, and he’s set to testify Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee. That panel released his opening statement late Tuesday. …

House Republicans have moved to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, arguing he violated the public trust. Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced an impeachment resolution Tuesday, days after the Justice Department concluded its investigation into IRS targeting of Tea Party groups with no charges filed.“Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust. He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled,” Chaffetz said in a statement. “Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress.” Much of the...

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and 18 other Republicans on the committee introduced a resolution on Tuesday to start impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

The IRS targeting and muzzling of conservative groups during the 2012 presidential campaign is an outrage for which almost no one has been held accountable. Which brings us to the news that House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz is introducing articles of impeachment on Tuesday against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. 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...