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Paul L. Caron
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Friday, July 17, 2015

The IRS Scandal, Day 799

IRS Logo 2Library of Law & Liberty:  Impeachment of the IRS Commissioner, by Mike Rappaport (San Diego):

I have long believed that the House Republicans should be using their impeachment power against the IRS.  I thought that they should have seriously considered impeaching Lois Lerner (although I suppose there is question whether she was a constitutional officer).  I certainly believe that they should consider whether to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and other relevant IRS officials.  (Note: the House impeaches or accuses; the Senate tries the official and can convict with a two thirds majority.)

It is true that an impeachment of the IRS Commissioner will not directly affect the President or the White House.  But it is important to use the tools that the Congress has to police wrongdoing and impeachment is one of them. ...

Once it becomes clear that officials may be impeached, their will be greater reluctance on the part of officials to engage in wrongdoing.  Moreover, the impeachment may reveal information about wrongdoing by the White House. ...

It is true that while the House can impeach an official with a majority vote, a conviction and removal from office requires a two thirds vote of the Senate.  Thus, depending on the evidence against the official and the degree of politics at work in the Senate, it is possible that an official who should be removed would not be convicted in the Senate.  But that is not a serious problem in my view.

Washington Free Beacon, Rep. Jim Jordan: ‘Definitely’ Looking at Possibility of Impeaching IRS Commissioner:

Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) said that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is “definitely” looking at the possibility of impeaching IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday.

“We are definitely looking at that,” Jordan said. “Definitely looking at that. I’ll say this, Mr. Koskinen has on more than one occasion come in front of the committee and conveyed information to the committee that later turned out not to be accurate.” ...

Jordan said that impeachment is a possibility for the IRS commissioner.

“When you have an individual who’s head of an agency with this kind of power the Internal Revenue Service has, who has stated things under oath that turned out later to be false, that’s a problem,” he said. “Couple that with the false information that was sent out to a lot of Obamacare enrollees that impacted their tax liability that was just false, and some of the data breaches that have taken place there too—so the main focus is, of course, the targeting scandal and his answers to questions in front of the committee under oath that I’ve said later turned out to be untrue.”

“But there’s also these other things, so that’s something that the committee is looking at but there’s a certain amount of homework you’ve got to do before you start down that path,” he said. “So we’re looking at it.” ...

Jordan also expressed skepticism about the Justice Department’s handling of the IRS controversy.

“Everyone knows the fix is in at the Justice Department,” said Jordan. “The FBI announced a year and a half ago, according to the Wall Street Journal, that no one was going to be prosecuted. The President made his famous statement on Super Bowl Sunday a year and a half ago that there’s no corruption, not even a smidgen, and the lead attorney on the case is Barbara Bosserman who’s a maxed-out contributor to the President’s campaign.”

“So everyone knows the fix is in, and what really tells you that the fix is in with the Justice Department investigation is Lois Lerner was willing to sit down with Justice Department attorneys, Ms. Bosserman and her team, and answer their questions but she’s not willing to answer members of Congress’ questions,” said Jordan.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/07/the-irs-scandal-day-799.html

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Comments

It is the most disgusting thing to first blame the victims for what happened to them and then to claim that the perpetrators are really the victims.

This is what happens when Democrats fail to learn from their past atrocities against their fellow Americans and emulate corrupt tyrannical socialist dictators.

Democrats were plotting to throw people in jail for not being Democrat. Its a national disgrace.

Posted by: wodun | Jul 17, 2015 9:47:05 AM

Wow... Publius....

So Democrats use the IRS to persecute political dissidents, much like what happened in WI and was viciously slapped down by their Supreme Court, and you are angry that the victims are seeking justice? Why are you not calling for justice yourself?

The non-Democrat groups never did anything wrong. Their behavior was not illegal and even after illegally examining the personal lives of the people involved, their friends, and business associates no crimes were found.

There was never a legal basis for the Democrats to act this way.

Posted by: wodun | Jul 17, 2015 9:43:52 AM

As is apparent from the two digests quoted above, conservatives and fellow travelers generally fall into three groups when considering and discussing the impeachment or imprisonment of LLerner and Commissioner Koskinen. The first wants them imprisoned immediately. The second wants them imprisoned after conviction. The third wants them tried and convicted before imprisoning them. Welcome to the Gulag, American-style.

Posted by: Publius Novus | Jul 17, 2015 7:13:54 AM