[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 138 (Tuesday, September 13, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H5351-H5352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1230
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF
PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2 (a)(1) of rule IX, I
rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges
of the House.
[[Page H5352]]
The form of the resolution is as follows:
House Resolution 828--impeaching John Andrew Koskinen, Commissioner
of the Internal Revenue Service, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Resolved, that John Andrew Koskinen, Commissioner of the Internal
Revenue Service, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that
the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:
Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of
the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of
the United States of America, against John Andrew Koskinen,
Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, in maintenance and
support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and
misdemeanors.
Article l.
John Andrew Koskinen, in his conduct while Commissioner of the
Internal Revenue Service, engaged in a pattern of conduct that is
incompatible with his duties as an Officer of the United States, as
follows:
Commissioner Koskinen failed in his duty to respond to lawfully
issued congressional subpoenas. On August 2, 2013, the Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives issued
a subpoena to Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, the custodian of
Internal Revenue Service documents. That subpoena demanded, among other
things, ``all communications sent or received by Lois Lerner, from
January 1, 2009, to August 2, 2013.'' On February 14, 2014, following
the Senate's confirmation of John Andrew Koskinen as Commissioner of
the Internal Revenue Service, the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform of the House of Representatives reissued the subpoena to him.
On March 4, 2014, Internal Revenue Service employees in Martinsburg,
West Virginia, magnetically erased 422 backup tapes, destroying as many
as 24,000 of Lois Lerner's emails responsive to the subpoena. This
action impeded congressional investigations into the Internal Revenue
Service targeting of Americans based on their political affiliation.
The American people may never know the true culpability or extent of
the Internal Revenue Service targeting because of the destruction of
evidence that took place.
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, warrants
impeachment and trial and removal from office.
Article 2.
John Andrew Koskinen engaged in a pattern of deception that
demonstrates his unfitness to serve as Commissioner of the Internal
Revenue Service. Commissioner Koskinen made a series of false and
misleading statements to Congress in contravention of his oath to tell
the truth. Those false statements included the following:
(1) On June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified that ``since
the start of this investigation, every email has been preserved.
Nothing has been lost. Nothing has been destroyed.''
(2) On June 23, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified that the
Internal Revenue Service had ``confirmed that backup tapes from 2011 no
longer existed because they have been recycled, pursuant to the
Internal Revenue Service normal policy.'' He went on to explain that
``confirmed means that somebody went back and looked and made sure that
in fact any backup tapes that had existed had been recycled.''
(3) On March 26, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen was asked during a
hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the
House of Representatives, ``Sir, are you or are you not going to
provide this committee all of Lois Lerner's emails?'' He answered,
``Yes, we will do that.''
Each of those statements was materially false. On March 4, 2014,
Internal Revenue Service employees magnetically erased 422 backup tapes
containing as many as 24,000 of Lois Lerner's emails. On February 2,
2014, senior Internal Revenue Service officials discovered that Lois
Lerner's computer hard drive had crashed, rendering hundreds or
thousands of her emails unrecoverable. Commissioner Koskinen's false
statements impeded and confused congressional investigations into the
Internal Revenue Service targeting of Americans based on their
political affiliation.
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, warrants
impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
Article 3.
John Andrew Koskinen, throughout his tenure as Commissioner of the
Internal Revenue Service, has acted in a manner inconsistent with the
trust and confidence placed in him as an Officer of the United States,
as follows:
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on
Finance, John Andrew Koskinen promised, ``We will be transparent about
any problems we run into; and the public and certainly this committee
will know about those problems as soon as we do.''
Commissioner Koskinen repeatedly violated that promise. As early as
February 2014 and no later than April 2014, he was aware that a
substantial portion of Lois Lerner's emails could not be produced to
Congress. However, in a March 19, 2014, letter to Senator Wyden of the
Senate Committee on Finance, Commissioner Koskinen said, ``We are
transmitting today additional information that we believe completes our
production to your committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. .
. . In light of these productions, I hope that the investigations can
be concluded in the very near future.'' At the time he sent that
letter, he knew that the document production was not complete.
Commissioner Koskinen did not notify Congress of any problem until
June 13, 2014, when he included the information on the fifth page of
the third enclosure of a letter to the Senate Committee on Finance.
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, warrants
impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
Article 4.
John Andrew Koskinen has failed to act with competence and
forthrightness in overseeing the investigation into Internal Revenue
Service targeting of Americans because of their political affiliations
as follows:
Commissioner Koskinen stated in a hearing on June 20, 2014, that the
Internal Revenue Service had ``gone to great lengths'' to retrieve all
of Lois Lerner's emails. Commissioner Koskinen's actions contradicted
the assurances he gave to Congress.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found over
1,000 of Lois Lerner's emails that the Internal Revenue Service had
failed to produce. Those discoveries took only 15 days of investigation
to uncover. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
searched a number of available sources, including disaster backup
tapes, Lois Lerner's BlackBerry, the email server, backup tapes for the
email server, and Lois Lerner's temporary replacement laptop. The
Internal Revenue Service failed to examine any of those sources in its
own investigation.
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, warrants
impeachment, trial, and removal from office.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the
floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader
as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence
only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after
the resolution is properly noticed.
Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the
gentleman from Louisiana will appear in the Record at this point.
The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution
constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at
the time designated for consideration of the resolution.
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