IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will not appear at a “misconduct” hearing Tuesday because, the IRS says, he was not given enough notice of the hearing, which was scheduled a little over a week ago. | Getty Koskinen will skip IRS impeachment hearing

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will not appear Tuesday at a “misconduct” hearing at which Republicans will lay out a case to impeach him for allegedly failing to comply with a congressional subpoena, the IRS told POLITICO.

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee summoned the tax chief to answer accusations from the House Oversight panel that he failed to preserve documents Congress requested for its probe of the IRS tea party scandal. They also say Koskinen didn’t tell the full truth about erased backup tapes containing copies of emails belonging to former IRS official Lois Lerner.


Some Republicans even suspect the IRS intentionally destroyed documents as part of a cover-up. And Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who took over the investigation of the IRS’ treatment of conservative nonprofits upon taking the gavel last year, will make the impeachment case against Koskinen on Tuesday morning.

Koskinen won’t be there, the IRS says in a statement, because he was not given enough notice of the hearing, which was scheduled a little over a week ago. Koskinen just returned from a trip to China during which he met with tax leaders around the world, and he’s slated to testify before a second House panel this week.

“When the committee announced this hearing, he was returning from China after meeting with tax administrators of 43 nations,” the statement reads. “The committee’s quick timetable left him without the time to fully prepare for Tuesday’s hearing. In addition, he also has been preparing for a previous commitment to appear before a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday.”

IRS spokesman Matt Leas said Koskinen “has advised the committee that he is willing to appear in the future if they desire.”

A staffer on the tax-writing committee noted that Koskinen wasn’t required to attend its hearing this week but chose to.

“The Ways and Means subcommittee initially requested that Richard Weber, the IRS criminal investigation chief, testify,” said the Republican aide. “Commissioner Koskinen insisted he attend alongside Mr. Weber.”

Although Koskinen won’t appear Tuesday, he told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) in a letter obtained by POLITICO that “the allegations against me lack merit” and are “unwarranted.”

In an additional seven-page statement for the record, Koskinen acknowledged members’ “understandable frustration with the document production and retention challenges of our agency during the past several years” but said the issues that angered Republicans occurred before he was at the helm of the IRS.

“Under my direction, the IRS has responded comprehensively and in good faith to the various subpoenas and document requests from the investigating entities,” Koskinen wrote.

Defenders of the IRS commissioner say conservatives’ efforts are entirely politically motivated and an attempt to cater to a far-right base eager for a red-meat cause.

It’s unlikely, however, that conservatives will abandon their impeachment move anytime soon, given that they’ve been pursuing it for more than a year.

House GOP leadership resisted any move to begin impeachment proceedings, fearing they would turn into a political circus that would blow back on members. But Freedom Caucus founders and top House Oversight investigators Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) a few days ago threatened to force an impeachment vote on the matter if Speaker Paul Ryan didn’t make Goodlatte’s Judiciary Committee examine the issue.

Technically the Virginia Republican’s panel has jurisdiction over impeachment matters — though Goodlatte has shown zero interest in the matter, allowing the Koskinen impeachment resolution to sit dormant in his panel for more than half a year.

In that regard, Chaffetz, Jordan, Meadows and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), who will also testify at Judiciary on Tuesday, have some persuading to do — among their fellow Republicans, no less.

Tuesday’s hearing is the first of two intended to answer whether Republicans have a case against Koskinen. The second is scheduled for June.

