Walberg: Scandal-Plagued IRS Needs New Leadership
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tim Walberg (MI-07), a senior member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called on President Obama today to remove IRS Commissioner John Koskinen from his position for obstructing Congressional investigations into the IRS targeting scandal. Walberg joined with Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz and other members of the committee at a press conference to highlight Commissioner Koskinen's breach of public trust.
"It's past time for new leadership at this scandal-plagued agency. Targeting Americans based on their beliefs remains a stunning abuse of government power and it's shameful the Obama administration has yet to fully come clean. All throughout our two-year investigation the IRS has repeatedly stonewalled, misled the public, and destroyed key evidence. Whatever modicum of trust the American people had in Commissioner Koskinen's leadership was destroyed along with Lois Lerner's missing emails," said Walberg.
Specifically, IRS Commissioner Koskinen should be held accountable for:
- Failing to comply with a Congressional subpoena and a legal obligation to preserve and produce Lois Lerner's emails when back-up tapes containing up to 24,000 relevant emails were destroyed
- Failing to examine five out of six sources for Lerner's emails, despite testifying the agency went to "great lengths" to produce her emails
- Withholding information for four months about the IRS's ability to comply with the congressional subpoena for Lerner's emails
- Promising in sworn testimony the IRS would produce all of Lerner's emails, despite already knowing emails were missing