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House Republicans are carrying on with one of their stupidest, most vindictive moves yet, attempting to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen even though he wasn’t working at the IRS when the IRS supposedly targeted tea party groups for extra scrutiny. Their stupid, vindictive quest is giving Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings a chance to continue his storied career of kicking ass and taking names, this time by asking why the impeachment effort doesn’t include testimony from the inspector general who Republicans had previously relied heavily on as they went after the IRS.
By way of background, Cummings points out that:
Mr. George conducted an extensive investigation to determine whether IRS employees intentionally targeted conservative-leaning applicants for tax-exempt status for political reasons. His staff interviewed more than 100 witnesses, searched tens of thousands of documents, and even had emails restored from backup tapes. Mr. George spent more than $2 million on his investigation.
What is so often missed in today’s coverage of this issue is that Mr. George—after his exhaustive multi-year investigation—identified absolutely no evidence that anyone at the IRS targeted any conservative groups for political reasons.
That’s not all. George has also had some things to say about Koskinen, who is being targeted in this witch hunt.
Oversight Committee Republicans and Freedom Caucus Members are now regrouping and trying again, claiming that the Commissioner somehow obstructed their investigation. They want to publicly censure him—and go after his pension. They will make their presentation today to the Judiciary Committee.
The problem again is Mr. George, who testified before Congress on June 25, 2015, that Commissioner Koskinen has been “extraordinarily cooperative” with this investigation.
So the question for Republicans is, where is Mr. George? Why haven’t they invited him to testify? Could it be because he found nothing to substantiate their baseless claims?
Simple answers (yes, that’s why they haven’t invited him to testify) for simple questions and all that. But sometimes the important thing is to have asked the question publicly.
