House members file papers to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, cite destruction of evidence

It was infuriating to conservatives to see Lois Lerner skate off into the sunset last week after the Justice Department announced it had closed its investigation of Lerner and her alleged targeting of conservative groups without filing charges.

“Poor management is not a crime,” wrote the DOJ in a letter, admitting that its probe of Lerner found “substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints.”

The story doesn’t end there, as Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) announced today that papers had been filed to impeach IRS commissioner John Koskinen.

Moments ago we filed papers to impeach IRS Commissioner Koskinan. Destruction of evidence & false statements under oath among the charges.

— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) October 27, 2015

Destruction of evidence and false statements under oath are bad? But the media has unanimously declared that Hillary Clinton just enjoyed the best 10 days ever, which included her Benghazi testimony.

https://twitter.com/ShepNewsTeam/status/659097561781944321

19 Hse GOPers sign onto effort to impeach IRS's Koskinen. Oversight Cmte also called on Obama to remove Koskinen in July.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 27, 2015

#Breaking: Chaffetz intros resolution to impeach IRS commissioner Koskinen. Says he "violated the public trust."

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 27, 2015

Failed to comply with a subpoena resulting in destruction of key evidence. Commissioner Koskinen failed to locate and preserve IRS records in accordance with a congressional subpoena and an internal preservation order. The IRS erased 422 backup tapes containing as many as 24,000 of Lois Lerner’s emails – key pieces of evidence that were destroyed on Koskinen’s watch.

Failed to testify truthfully and provided false and misleading information. Commissioner Koskinen testified the IRS turned over all emails relevant to the congressional investigation, including all of Ms. Lerner’s emails. When the agency determined Ms. Lerner’s emails were missing, Commissioner Koskinen testified the emails were unrecoverable. These statements were false.

Failed to notify Congress that key evidence was missing. The IRS knew Lois Lerner’s emails were missing in February 2014. In fact, they were not missing; the IRS destroyed the emails on March 4, 2014. The IRS did not notify Congress the emails were missing until June 2014 – four months later, and well after the White House and the Treasury Department were notified.

Is the American public suffering from “impeachment fatigue” or are citizens anxious for someone in this administration to finally be held responsible for “losing” official documents?

@jasoninthehouse thank you. Finally. How nobody has been indicted is beyond me

— Mommy Esq (@Catatonic11) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse Now that you've sunk your teeth, do not let go. #KoskinenMustGo

— PRESIDENT Trump (Fan) (@mickeynu477) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse @NoahCRothman be prepared for an audit Jason. Great work. Thank goodness someone is standing up to them

— BamBam (@BTAMJR) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse about time

— DLROSZ (@DonnaRoszell) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse @briansikma Hooray! That should wipe the smug look from his face!!!!!!!!!!!!

— Jason's Grandpa (@JasonsGrandpa) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse @jaketapper Doing the job liberal politicians will not do. Semper Fi !

— brick92507 (@brick92507) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse DO NOT let that be squashed. Can he be held in contempt as well?

— Stan Boston T (@Stan_BostonT) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse Thank you, Sir! We need to clean deep.

— jimmy (@jimmy_jkmorgan) October 27, 2015

@jasoninthehouse – thank you, on behalf of America. We hope this goes somewhere and is not a useless gesture! This criminal needs prison!

— DecentAmerican (@DecentAmerican1) October 27, 2015

https://twitter.com/RickyBabaloo/status/659103367319302144

https://twitter.com/Tenzing1620/status/659095801486905344