Unreal: Top IRS Official Dares Congress to Hold Him in Contempt
Conservative Tribute
3/29/14
Quote:
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told a House panel that congressional investigators can try to hold him in contempt over the Tea Party targeting scandal whenever they think that they can make the charge stick.
Unreal: Top IRS Official Dares Congress to Hold Him in Contempt
A year later, congressional Republicans are still trying to get to the bottom of just what happened in the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups, including who knew what and when, and who made the decision to begin targeting.
Lois Lerner, head of the IRS tax-exempt organizations division, was undoubtedly right in the mix of creating roadblocks for Tea Party groups to get tax-exempt status. Having likely committed criminal activity, Lerner has at times lied to Congress, and at other times been uncooperative in answering questions about the scandal from the House Oversight committee, leading to calls for her to be held in contempt of Congress.
Another top IRS official is being uncooperative in the investigation, and he’s actually been bold enough to dare Congress to hold him in contempt. Wow.
The Washington Examiner reports:
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told a House panel that congressional investigators can try to hold him in contempt over the Tea Party targeting scandal whenever they think that they can make the charge stick, something he thinks is unlikely.
The topic came up when Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., asked for a date at which it would be appropriate for agency officials to be held in contempt if they have not yet provided the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with documents that have been requested from the IRS.
“I think the timeline is whenever you think you could actually sustain that in a court,” Koskinen replied. “I think we have a strong case that we have been cooperative, continue to be cooperative, and anybody looking at the systems we have and the time it takes would find that we’ve provided you more cooperation than, in fact, might be expected. And I think that, in fact, arguing and threatening contempt in that situation without understanding the circumstances is probably not going to be held up.”
The idea that the IRS has been cooperative in the investigation is laughable. Lois Lerner has lied and refused to answer questions from the beginning. They’re still trying to protect higher-ranking individuals who either explicitly or implicitly issued directives to begin targeting conservative groups.
I say we call Mr. Koskinen’s bluff and go ahead and hold him in contempt. He’s literally telling esteemed members of Congress “I triple dog dare you because I don’t think you have the guts.” Congress needs to immediately take him up on that and prosecute. I bet he won’t be laughing then.
http://conservativetribune.com/irs-o...ares-congress/
