Posted on 09/17/2016 12:20:16 PM PDT by cotton1706
WASHINGTON (AP) " The head of the IRS wants to be able to call witnesses, present evidence and enjoy other traditional protections if the House formally pursues an effort by conservatives to impeach him, John Koskinen's lawyers told Congress Friday.
Koskinen has agreed to testify under oath next Wednesday to the Republican-run House Judiciary Committee. The panel plans to quiz the commissioner about conservatives' claims that he should be impeached for thwarting congressional investigations into his agency's tough scrutiny of tea party groups seeking tax exemptions.
Koskinen, who didn't join the IRS until after it had already apologized for its treatment of the conservative groups, has denied the charges.
In a letter Friday, Koskinen's lawyers told the committee that if it later begins a formal impeachment inquiry, he should be allowed standard procedural protections. They asked that he be allowed to cross-examine witnesses, object to evidence and examine transcripts of interviews conducted by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
(Excerpt) Read more at olneydailymail.com ...
Read your Constitution!!
And what's more, there is no "right" to remain in office. The people, through their representatives in the legislature (the Congress) are fully empowered to remove you from power if they choose, and if they have the votes.
And the only thing that would happen should you be found guilty by the Senate would be removal from office. Congress is not empowered to prosecute crimes (if any were committed). That would be up to the Executive and Judicial branches.
Again, read your Consitution!
You girlie men Republicans BETTER STAND TALL AND NOT CAVE ON THIS!!!
Guy who works in the executive branch tells the legislative branch how its going to be.
Give Little Johnny K. the same treatment that he gave the Tea Party.
Yes, John, and people in hell want ice water.
Something you’ll get to experience.
The impeachment in the House is only the indictment. The trial takes place in the Senate. That is where he can present his case.
Is it too much to ask that government employees actually understand the Constitution?
He is trash. Add liar, devious, scum, plus a treacherous SOB.
“The trial takes place in the Senate. That is where he can present his case.”
Even if the House carries through with impeachment during the election season it is difficult to envision a Senate led by Mitch McConnell conducting a trial. Remember the last time the GOP conducted a Senate trail after the Clinton impeachment.
“Is it too much to ask that government employees actually understand the Constitution?”
Progressives believe in the “living” Constitution which is consistently open to interpretation based on the politics of the day. The written word of the Constitution is meaningless to members of the governing elite.
NOW this idiot criminal cares about someone’s rights! He didn’t seem to care about Citizens’ rights. I hope he rots. What a waste of space and air.
Let everything be done in a proper manner.
If he is gotten fair to rights and not railroaded, that removes the basis that his political friends would have to complain about vengeance for vengeance’ sake.
They Waffled in the House.
Remember when the IRS brought him in, it was clearly implied that he was there to thwart the investigation, being a seasoned 'rat at that sort of stuff.
Why is there no mention of jail time?. These dirtbags should get the same treatment as the average person would - if not worse, since they abused the public trust. Guillotine is ok too.
Sort of, Congress could find him in contempt just for being an asshole, but it requires a Speaker that isn’t as corrupt or more than the Scumbag Witness.
Congress has ALL the power in washington, the executive and judicial branch operate according to the whims of CONGRESS!
“U.S. CODE
TITLE 2—THE CONGRESS
CHAPTER 6—CONGRESSIONAL AND COMMITTEE PROCEDURE; INVESTIGATIONS
Sec. 193. Privilege of witnesses
No witness is privileged to refuse to testify to any fact, or to produce any paper, respecting which he shall be examined by either House of Congress, or by any joint committee established by a joint or concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress, or by any committee of either House, upon the ground that his testimony to such fact or his production of such paper may tend to disgrace him or otherwise render him infamous.”
Simply look up Hinds Precedents, especially chapters 53 and 51, and Cannon’s Precedents, especially chapters 184-185. You’ll find numerous detailed cases of Congress asserting its power, arresting people, holding them until they agreed to answer questions, and then releasing them. Some of these people did not refuse to appear, but simply failed to satisfactorily answer questions. One has to wonder how a previous Congress might have responded to Alberto Gonzales’s endless recitations of “I do not recall.”
Congress can Remove the President
Congress can remove the head of every executive agency Congress can remove ALL of their employees
Congress can Abolish every agency they so choose
Congress can remove EVERY JUDGE IN AMERICA, including every supreme court justice.
Congress can abolish every federal court except the supreme Court
Congress can decide which cases the Judicial Branch can hear and decide
CONGRESS can Imprison ANYONE they want for any reason they so desire for as long as they wish.
Congress can declare WAR
No other governing body has even 10% of the power CONGRESS has!!
CONGRESS IS ALLOWING ALL OF IT!!!
Congress has the authority to arrest and imprison those found in Contempt. The power extends throughout the United States and is an inherent power (does not depend upon legislated act)
If found in Contempt the person can be arrested under a warrant of the Speaker of the House of Representatives or President of the Senate, by the respective Sergeant at Arms.
Statutory criminal contempt is an alternative to inherent contempt.
Under the inherent contempt power Congress may imprison a person for a specific period of time or an indefinite period of time, except a person imprisoned by the House of Representatives may not be imprisoned beyond adjournment of a session of Congress.
Imprisonment may be coercive or punitive.
Some references
[1] Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution, Volume 2, § 842 http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/a1_5s21.html
[2] Anderson v. Dunn - 19 U.S. 204 - “And, as to the distance to which the process might reach, it is very clear that there exists no reason for confining its operation to the limits of the District of Columbia; after passing those limits, we know no bounds that can be prescribed to its range but those of the United States.” http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/19/204/case.html
[3] Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/294/125/case.html 73rd Cong., 78 Cong. Rec. 2410 (1934) https://archive.org/details/congressionalrec78aunit
[4] McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135 - Under a warrant issued by the President of the Senate the Deputy to the Senate Sergeant at Arms arrested at Cincinnati, Ohio, Mally S. Daugherty, who had been twice subpoenaed by the Senate and twice failed to appear. http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/273/135/case.html
[5] Rules of the House of Representatives, Rule IV Duties of the Sergeant at Arms - [] execute the commands of the House, and all processes issued by authority thereof, directed to him by the Speaker. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/HMAN-105/pdf/HMAN-105-pg348.pdf
[6] An analysis of Congressional inquiry, subpoena, and enforcement http://www.constitutionproject.org/documents/when-congress-comes-calling-a-primer-on-the-principles-practices-and-pragmatics-of-legislative-inquiry/
In 1857, a New York Times reporter refused to say which members of Congress had asked him to get them bribes (protecting his “sources” just as various Judith Millers today protect the people who feed them proven lies that costs thousands of lives), so Congress locked him up until he answered and then banned him from Congress.
In 1924 an oil executive appeared but refused to answer certain questions, so the Senate held — literally held — him in contempt. Senator Thomas Walsh of Montana argued that this question of contempt was of the gravest importance, and that it involved “the very life of the effective existence of the House of Representatives of the United States and of the Senate of the United States.” The matter was taken to court, and the witness fined and imprisoned.
He is an at will employee; he has no “right” to employment.
Did you mention that he is also a smarta$$?
I want to see his pension and that of Lois Lerner’s suspended indefinitely citing criminal culpability, intent, and dereliction to their oaths of government service.
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