Impeaching John Koskinen

Floor Speech

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Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for having this Special Order tonight.

My good friend, Congressman Jordan has laid out the facts of this case. There are many other detailed facts that we don't have time to get into. But just to give you an example of what my constituents are saying to me, they are over-the-top angry at what Congressman Jordan was talking about, and that is that there seems to be two standards in America. There is one standard for the elite, there is one standard for the high-up officials in Washington, and then there is a standard for everyone else. We see this play out all the time.

But there are some very notable groups and people who support our effort to begin the impeachment of John Koskinen, head of the IRS. I will just give you some examples.

The National Review's editorial board:

A weaponized IRS put to partisan political ends constitutes an unbearable assault on American democracy and undermines the very institutions of government itself.

The Wall Street Journal, their editorial board:

The U.S. attorney has refused to honor Congress' contempt charge against Ms. Lerner for refusing to testify. The Justice Department has closed its investigations into the IRS targeting without prosecutions, and the press corps winks at abuses of power when conservatives are the targets.

That is precisely the point. It appears that the media--the liberal media, which most media is nationally, seems to be agreeing with this. In fact, I have had a number of media outlets out there who ask me: Why would you want to impeach the head of the IRS? What is wrong with him?

Yet, you heard how we learned how Mr. Koskinen deceived Congress, refused to respond to subpoenas, evidence was destroyed in his tenure. So either he did it or someone did it while under his authority, and then again deceived Congress about that as well. So it is very clear there has been wrongdoing.

While Mr. Koskinen has come to the Hill here to talk to Members--but he wants to do it offline and without being sworn in--he has not shown any interest in doing it under oath.

The New York Post editorial board:

If you responded to an IRS audit the way Koskinen's IRS has behaved, you'd be looking at huge penalties and maybe prison time.

George Will, a noted conservative:

Congress should impeach the IRS Commissioner or risk becoming obsolete.

Red State:

Why the impeachment of the IRS Commissioner is a sign that Congress might actually work?

The American people have given up on Congress. Congress is the legislative branch, which is a co-equal branch of government, and it should be a check on the executive branch, and the judicial branch, for that matter. Yet, Congress has shriveled up and atrophied so much. The American people have given up on Congress ever doing anything about corruption at high levels of our government.

And then Americans for Tax Reform:

Why Congress should impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Since then, Koskinen has failed to reform the IRS with the agency becoming increasingly politicized. Under Koskinen, the agency destroyed several sources of Lois Lerner's emails while he gave numerous false statements to Congress under oath.

So it is very clear that very notable people, patriots, and people of stature, people who are well-respected in America agree with the House Freedom Caucus that we should move forward.

Finally, there has been polling on this matter. Freedom Works, for instance, has commissioned a poll. Very clearly the American people say by as much as a 66 percent net positive over negative that John Koskinen should lose his job. So I think it is very clear.

I would just say that we are not sure what votes that we are going to have tomorrow on this subject, but any vote short of impeachment of the IRS Commissioner would be a vote against impeachment and would be a vote against showing Mr. Koskinen the door and getting someone who will do right by our leadership in the Internal Revenue Service, a very important agency, and one that has been so much abused--or, actually, victims. Americans have been abused--through its institution.

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