Chaffetz asks Obama to fire IRS chief Koskinen for ‘obstruction’ of congressional probes

The head of the top House investigative panel Monday called for the firing of IRS chief John Koskinen, arguing he has repeatedly “obstructed” congressional probes into the agency’s political targeting of taxpayers.

 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs, made his request Monday in a letter to President Obama, arguing the president vowed in 2013 to “work hand-in-hand with Congress to fix the problem.”

 

However, Chaffetz argued that Koskinen, during his roughly two-and-a-half-year tenure, has obstructed such efforts by failing to testify truthfully, comply with subpoenas and preserve as many as 24,000 emails related to congressional investigations.

 

“Mr. Koskinen should no longer be the IRS commissioner,” Chaffetz said in prepared remarks for a Capitol Hill press conference announcing his request. “At best, Commissioner Koskinen was derelict in his duties to preserve agency records. At worst, he and the IRS engaged in an orchestrated plan to hide information from Congress.”

 

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