In a last-ditch effort to stave off impeachment, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen pleaded his case privately with House Republicans on Wednesday, proclaiming his innocence and making election-wary members squirm over their colleagues’ efforts to oust him.

By the end of the extraordinary day of personal lobbying, Koskinen appeared to have made some progress, with some of his critics taking a second look at a conservative-led effort that has been shunned by House leaders.


Koskinen huddled with the moderate GOP Tuesday Group, emphasizing over and over that he was not running the IRS when the agency singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny when they sought tax-exempt status. Then, with the help of former Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), he was swept into a meeting with the much larger conservative Republican Study Committee, where Koskinen defended himself in a more hostile environment for about 30 minutes — without a lawyer or staff by his side.

The commissioner’s day on the Hill seems to have been effective, giving some Republicans pause on pursuing impeachment, which is clearly a non-starter in the Senate. However, his audience at the RSC gathering was limited to members who returned to hear him out after an unrelated House vote. About half of them skipped the meeting upon learning he would make his case.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Bill Flores (R-Texas) went into the RSC meeting saying he supported the pitch to bring impeachment charges against the IRS chief to the floor for a vote. After hearing from Koskinen, however, he wasn’t sure how he would vote because the matter hadn’t gone through regular order — one of the very issues Koskinen brought up in his meeting.

Usually officials facing impeachment are given a chance to make their case, and typically the Judiciary Committee does a sort of mini-trial of the matter, bringing forward witnesses and cross-examining first-hand sources. Judiciary declined to pursue that path in this case after holding two exploratory hearings on the charges against Koskinen and the standards for impeachment.

“He did raise some interesting issues, and one of those is that there is a process — due process — that you go through with respect to impeachment, and I think he makes some valid points on that, so I need to think about this,” Flores said. “Candidly, I think he made a case for the process that impeachment normally goes through, and so I’m going to have to think about it.”

Conservatives, in particular members of the House Freedom Caucus who are leading the effort to take the issue directly to the floor, accuse Koskinen of failing to preserve evidence and making false statements to Congress in the course of its investigation of the 2013 nonprofit targeting scandal.

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), one of the leaders of the Tuesday Group, said the “due-process issue” was a major concern for Republicans he’s spoken with.

“I think there are a number of members who are concerned about due process with respect to impeachment,” Dent said, noting that impeachments are usually done with the help of legal counsel and are thoroughly vetted. “It’s a big deal. There is a way to do this.”

The full House GOP conference will meet to discuss the matter next week, with the Freedom Caucus pushing for a vote sometime thereafter.

“Really at this point there’s been no decision in terms of when a vote will take place. There are a number who are committed to making sure that a vote does take place, and so I fully expect the vote to happen in September,” Freedom Caucus member and impeachment supporter Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said.

Leadership is eager to avoid the fight, which it sees as a distraction in the few legislative days Congress has before Election Day to pass a stopgap spending bill and a Zika relief package.

Several members have also voiced concerns about the precedent such a move would set, potentially lowering the impeachment standard. The Constitution lists “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors” as impeachable offenses. But some lawmakers don’t think Koskinen’s crime — essentially negligence or incompetence —meets that standard.

Some conservatives think Koskinen secretly ordered lower-lever IRS employees to destroy key IRS documents surrounding how they treated Republican-leaning groups— an accusation Koskinen spent part of the day refuting. Those leveling the charge have offered no proof to back it.

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), who is raising money off the issue, upped the ante in a recent campaign ad, saying Koskinen directly “ordered” the erasure of 24,000 emails. Other impeachment supporters have generally stopped short of directly implicating Koskinen, focusing instead on his culpability as the head of the agency and his inaccurate testimony to Congress.

“What I’m trying to do as chair is put our membership in a position to understand the background of what happened at the IRS under his tenure as commissioner … and they can make their minds up on the motion with respect to impeachment,” Flores said.

Flores told reporters that an RSC member suggested inviting Koskinen to join their meeting. He opened the matter up for a vote, and while it passed, only about half of the members returned to hear his pitch after they broke for a House floor vote.

Koskinen said he agreed to speak with the RSC because he would “go anywhere anybody invites me.”

“If somebody has a meeting and they’d like to hear from the IRS commissioner – I haven’t turned anybody down,” Koskinen added.

Koskinen’s critics, however, noted that his decision not to appear at a Judiciary Committee hearing on his alleged “misconduct” but willingness to show up Wednesday sends mixed signals. It suggests he doesn’t want to talk under oath, they claimed.

“It’s up to him to make the case, but normally you do that under sworn testimony, not in a casual setting like this,” said Meadows, who wasn’t pleased with the RSC’s last-minute decision to host Koskinen.

“I just think that if he was going to be at the RSC meeting, that certainly a notification to all of its members would have been appropriate,” said Meadows, who said he couldn’t attend the meeting with Koskinen because of another meeting he had scheduled.

Koskinen seems to have struck a nerve arguing that lawmakers shouldn’t pursue impeachment without a fair trial, one of the most basic rights provided in the Constitution. Several Republicans, even some conservative lawmakers, still seem to be on the fence: Freedom Caucus founding member Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), leaving the RSC meeting, would not say if he supports impeachment. Neither would Issa or Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), a former Freedom Caucus member.

“The issue is, has due process been accorded him — and that’s an open question at this point,” McClintock said. “I’m still thinking about it. If I know he has been afforded due process, than yes I’ll be for impeachment.”

Senate leaders are expected to use a procedural maneuver to dismiss the resolution if it passes the House.

Democrats rolled their eyes at the idea of a full trial in the Senate.

“This is just so political. It is just an embarrassing political exercise by the most extreme members of the U.S. House,” said Senate Assistant Minority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “They ought to have an ongoing impeachment committee because I'm sure that this will not be the last of their efforts.”

Asked whether the meetings boosted his confidence in avoiding impeachment, Koskinen demurred.

“Those are decisions the Congress will make,” he said.