![\"IRS](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/john-koskinen.jpg\")
<\/a>IRS Commissioner John Koskinen<\/p><\/div>\n
WASHINGTON \u2013 In a stunning development, Republican congressional leaders have reversed course and agreed to have the House Judiciary committee hold impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.<\/p>\n
A Capitol Hill source tells WND a hearing will be held next Wednesday.<\/p>\n
House conservatives have been pleading for the hearing for a year. Their sudden victory seems to be the direct result of their using something called a \u201cprivileged resolution,\u201d which would have circumvented GOP leaders and forced the House to vote on impeaching Koskinen without holding preliminary hearings.<\/p>\n
The threat of that vote seems to have forced the hand of House leaders, who late Wednesday night capitulated and agreed to hold the Judiciary Committee hearing. The vote on the resolution, scheduled for Thursday, will now be postponed.<\/p>\n
The committee hearing will force Koskinen to publicly answer charges that he destroyed evidence and lied to Congress, as conservatives allege.<\/p>\n
House leaders had complained that the conservatives\u2019 use of the privileged resolution had violated regular order, because there had been no preliminary hearing. Conservatives countered that the resolution was in keeping with regular order, and their only option, because leaders had refused to schedule the hearing.<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether Koskinin is ultimately impeached or not, it is a huge victory for conservatives just to have the hearing, because they had been told they were waging a futile battle, and because the IRS commissioner will now have to defend his actions under oath.<\/p>\n
And conservatives believe they have gathered enough evidence to convince lawmakers, and persuade the public, that Koskinen has indeed committed high crimes and misdemeanors.<\/p>\n
The House Freedom Caucus, which is comprised of most of the leading conservatives in the House, released a statement late Wednesday night that read:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis hearing will give every American the opportunity to hear John Koskinen answer under oath why he misled Congress, allowed evidence pertinent to an investigation to be destroyed, and defied Congressional subpoenas and preservation orders. It will also remove any lingering excuses for those who have been hesitant to proceed with this course of action.<\/p>\n
For too long, Obama Administration officials have been able to get away with acts that would have dramatic consequences for ordinary Americans. The American people see two standards \u2014 one for the powerful and politically connected, and another for ordinary Americans. This is a critical opportunity for Congress to show it works for and answers to the American people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
President Obama called House lawmakers \u201ccrazy\u201d<\/a> for trying to hold Koskinen\u00a0accountable by pushing for his impeachment.<\/p>\n
But three of them passionately made their case before a small group of invited reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
WND asked Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., to respond to criticism that their attempt was futile because, even if the House voted in favor of impeachment, Democrats had enough votes to prevent a conviction in the Senate.Jordan dismissed skepticism that the effort was doomed, noting all the compelling evidence against Koskinen unearthed in hearings, and declaring, \u201cI think the fact pattern we\u2019ve established is very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also described it as his constitutional duty to see justice done, insisting, \u201cOur job is to do our job. Then the Senate can do their job. We should do our job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan expressed his strong desire to have all the facts revealed in hearings lead to consequences for Koskinen, and implied the outcome should not be taken as a foregone inclusion by using a high-school football analogy: \u201cThat\u2019s why you play the game on Friday night. Sometimes the underdogs win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meadows subtly ridiculed criticism of the impeachment effort, quipping, \u201cI find it illuminating the Senate would talk about futility, given their track record.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huelskamp was softly indignant, remarking, \u201cHe has lied to me personally,\u201d presumably referring to testimony made by Koskinen before House committees.\u201cThe persecution of political opponents has to stop,\u201d added the congressman. \u201cHe was brought in to do that. He has not. He has continued the cover-up and stonewall\u201d of the IRS targeting of conservative groups.<\/p>\n
A frustrated Huelskamp also said he doesn\u2019t\u00a0understand why\u00a0a number of fellow Republicans\u00a0would try to\u00a0block an impeachment effort, because that puts them \u201con the side of the IRS.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed astonishment at colleagues\u2019 reluctance to call to account an administration that \u201cused the power of the IRS to attack political opponents of the White House during an election season.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is shocking,\u201d he summed up.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, WND documented<\/a> the reasons House conservatives decided to submit a bill calling for impeachment of Koskinen, as well as their dismay over GOP leadership\u2019s refusal to back the effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no idea,\u201d is how an apparently frustrated Jordan responded to WND\u2019s question: Why won\u2019t GOP leadership support the attempt by conservative lawmakers to impeach Koskinen?<\/p>\n
It was an all-too-familiar script: conservative House Republicans battling not just Democrats, but their own party leadership. And conservatives speaking to the press on Capitol Hill were clearly exasperated.\u201cThe American people get it,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cThey are asking, \u2018Why wasn\u2019t this done a long time ago?\u2019 The American people understand it\u2019s a double standard, whether its (Hillary) Clinton or Koskinen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huelskamp was blunt, answering WND\u2019s question with a pair of his own questions: \u201cCan the head of the IRS lie and get away with it?\u201d and, \u201cCongress must decide, does it stand with IRS or with the American people?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what it comes down to: Does the House even matter? The IRS commissioner destroyed evidence and perjured himself. Does this diminish the IRS in the public eye? Well, its reputation couldn\u2019t get much lower,\u201d the congressman concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what frustrates folks back home,\u201d lamented Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, who was just elected in July to replace retired House Speaker John Boehner.<\/p>\n
Davidson mused that House leadership had discovered, \u201cIf you can be ignored, you will be \u2013\u00a0and it\u2019s time we put an end to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, said GOP leadership was \u201cpunting\u201d because \u201cthey just don\u2019t want to hold impeachment hearings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing that we\u2019re not doing it,\u201d he marveled.<\/p>\n
House conservatives introduced an impeachment resolution on Tuesday because, they say, Koskinen blocked congressional efforts to investigate the IRS targeting of tea-party and other conservative groups.Although dubbed a long shot by the establishment media, conservatives were dead serious about impeachment because, they say, the violations by the commissioner are so egregious.<\/p>\n
After speaking to the press, Jordan told WND, \u201cImpeaching Koskinen is the right thing to do,\u201d and he detailed exactly why.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder his watch, with congressional subpoenas and preservation orders in place, the IRS destroyed 422 back-up tapes containing potentially 24,000 Lois Lerner emails. On top of that, Koskinen kept Congress in the dark for months before disclosing the issue, made false statements under oath before Congress about the situation, and refused to correct the record after the truth came out,\u201d detailed the congressman.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cFor his dereliction of duty and gross negligence, Congress should impeach him. If we don\u2019t hold people like this accountable, then what are we here for?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/i>In responding to WND at Tuesday\u2019s monthly meeting with the press, called \u201cConversations with Conservatives,\u201d House lawmakers time and again cited scholarly articles supporting impeachment written by columnist George Will<\/a> and former federal prosecutor and National Review columnist Andrew McCarthy.<\/a><\/p>\n
\u201cThey are also not particularly interested in educating themselves,\u201d he added. \u201cIn Washington, it is a commonplace to avoid knowledge. If you know both the circumstances and the range of your authority to deal with them, you are expected to take action \u2013 and taking action is accountable.When WND asked McCarthy why GOP leaders were balking, he replied, \u201cThe problem is that many of them do not understand what an impeachable offense is and why the vitality of the impeachment remedy is essential to preserving our constitutional system.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch easier to carp about how others \u2013 the Justice Department, the FBI \u2013 are\u00a0not doing their jobs, and hope nobody notices, beneath the noise, that you have superior powers to act.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s motion was a re-filing of something initially introduced in July called a \u201cprivileged resolution,\u201d which would circumvent GOP leaders and force the House to vote on beginning impeachment proceedings without holding preliminary hearings. Back then, Politico<\/a> reported GOP leaders \u201cfear it will lower the standard for such drastic measures like impeachment in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
WND asked McCarthy if he thought it would really lower the bar for impeachment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IRS, the nation\u2019s most unpopular agency, abused its awesome powers to harass and intimidate Americans for using their most precious constitutional rights, then lied to Congress and obstructed justice in covering it up,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow would acting on such heinous conduct \u2018lower the bar\u2019 for impeachable offenses? They are classic impeachable offenses,\u201d marveled McCarthy.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, conservatives explained to WND they felt forced to file the privileged resolution because GOP leaders, including House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., had refused to allow hearings on whether to impeach Koskinen. Conservatives described it as a Catch-22: GOP leadership complained the privileged resolution violated \u201cregular order\u201d (the usual procedures) but refused to allow hearings, which would be the way to preserve the regular order.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (GOP leadership) all say they\u2019re against it (the resolution) because there hasn\u2019t been due process. But that\u2019s because the leader of the judiciary committee won\u2019t hold hearings,\u201d explained Labrador,<\/p>\n
\u201cKoskinen is asking for all due process rights, so let\u2019s do that and hold full hearings,\u201d the congressman added. But then, he reflected, \u201cI expect we\u2019re going to be told we need due process, then told we can\u2019t have a hearing, which is not due process.\u201d<\/p>\n
These conservatives expressed wariness that, instead of a vote on the resolution on Thursday, there instead may be a procedural vote used to prevent House members from actually having to go on the record as having voted for or against impeachment of Koskinen.<\/p>\n
They consider that a disturbing possibility because it would be, essentially, a vote of support for Koskinen. They would also consider it a further erosion of the status of Congress as a co-equal to the executive branch of government.<\/p>\n
Labrador noted that witnesses in previous hearings, such as McCarthy and constitutional scholar and George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, had testified that Koskinen\u2019s transgressions were serious enough to warrant impeachment. Turley, a Democrat, testified that the Obama administration was \u201ceffectively weaponizing the IRS.\u201d<\/p>\n
The congressman likened it to what he termed the misdeeds of former secretary of state and current Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: Destroying evidence after it had been subpoenaed.<\/p>\n
He also noted that in April a federal judge<\/a> found the IRS was still targeting tea-party groups under Koskinen.<\/p>\n
One of the many lawmakers who cited George Will\u2019s op-ed published Friday in the Washington Post\u00a0noted the novelty of the columnist siding\u00a0with conservatives over the GOP establishment.<\/p>\n
Will\u2019s piece was titled \u201cCongress should impeach the IRS commissioner \u2013 or risk becoming obsolete,\u201d and made the case that GOP leaders \u201cardently\u201d want to avoid an impeachment vote because they feel \u201cthe public does not care about John Koskinen\u2019s many misdeeds.\u201dHowever, Will argued, Congress had already forfeited its power of the purse in allowing the Obama administration to continue to run up record budget deficits and to fund its own agenda priorities, leaving impeachment as the only functional deterrence for executive overreach.<\/p>\n
He further observed that constitutional architect James Madison interpreted the \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanors\u201d justifying impeachment to include \u201cmaladministration,\u201d which, Will wrote, \u201csurely encompasses perjury and obstruction of Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will said the idea that an IRS commissioner is not a high enough official for impeachment ignores what Turley called\u00a0\u201cthe realities of the modern regulatory state.\u201d The columnist noted,\u00a0\u201cCommissioners have authority over 90,000 employees collecting $2.5 trillion in revenues annually.\u201d<\/p>\n
The columnist concluded, \u201cRefusing to impeach Koskinen would continue the passivity by which members of Congress have become, in Turley\u2019s words, \u2018agents of their own obsolescence.’\u201d<\/p>\n