House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and nearly 40 other Republican lawmakers on Thursday called for President Trump to fire IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
The letter, the second this week from House Republicans on the topic, argues that firing Koskinen, whose term ends in November, would be in line with Trump’s comments in his inauguration speech that it is important for the government to be controlled by the public.
“So long as the IRS commissioner is a man who has misled the people, destroyed evidence, and failed his legal duties to the people’s representatives in Congress, the IRS is not ‘controlled by the people,'” the GOP lawmakers wrote. “For that reason, we request you immediately remove Koskinen.”
{mosads}The lawmakers argued that Koskinen lied under oath and wasn’t forthcoming with documents during congressional investigations into 2013 revelations that the IRS applied extra scrutiny to conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status.
The GOP House members also said that new IRS documents continue to come out about the political-targeting scandal.
“With new documents coming so long after the initial request, we can have no certainty that Koskinen has identified and disclosed all relevant documents in IRS’s possession,” they said.
Chaffetz introduced a resolution to impeach Koskinen in 2015, and his panel voted to censure the IRS commissioner last year. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who also signed the letter, tried to force a House floor vote on an impeachment resolution in December, but the House instead voted to refer the measure to the House Judiciary Committee.
Earlier this week, 15 members of the House Ways and Means Committee sent a separate letter calling for Trump to remove Koskinen. Chaffetz and some of the other lawmakers who signed his letter also sent Trump a letter about firing Koskinen in January.
Koskinen said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday that he intends to complete his term and that the IRS has taken steps to ensure that groups aren’t targeted for their political beliefs in the future.
“Where I come from, if you sign up for a commitment, you complete that commitment,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.