Press Release

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Congressman Jim Jordan joined guest host Martha MacCallum on The Kelly File to discuss a recent vote by the majority of Congress to send a resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen back to the Judiciary committee, where it’s been sitting for over a year.

VIDEO of the interview: http://video.foxnews.com/v/5238274426001

TRANSCRIPT of the interview:

[VIDEO FROM THE HOUSE FLOOR]: Rep. Jim Jordan: House Resolution 828: Impeaching John Andrew Koskinen Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service for high crimes and misdemeanors. … You might want to listen to what we say first and then you can moan.

M: That was today. Outgoing Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan putting forward a motion to impeach IRS commissioner John Koskinen. Low and behold, House Republicans then joined Democrats to derail the effort, voting instead to send the issue to the Judiciary Committee because that will take a little bit longer for further review. The Freedom Caucus has been leading the charge against Koskinen for more than a year, accusing him of misleading Congress during the investigation of IRS targeting against conservative groups back in 2013, and you might wonder, “was anyone ever held accountable for that?” Actually, no, no one really ever was. Here to explain the resolution and where it goes from here, Ohio congressman, Jim Jordan. Congressman, welcome. The first question is, why did your own Republican friends on your side of the aisle not go along with you on this?

JJ: Look, I don’t understand that. They sent the resolution to the very committee where it’s been for the last 18 months. So, in essence, it was sent there so that we wouldn’t be able to actually impeach John Koskinen, hold him accountable. My attitude is this election was about doing what hard-working families want us to do and part of that is draining the swamp and making sure people who do wrong things are held accountable. Never forget what John Koskinen did. When he came in as Commissioner, he learned that there were missing Lois Lerner emails--he waited months to tell Congress, while we were in the middle of several investigations. And, in that same time frame, the IRS destroyed 422 backup tapes containing potentially 24,000 emails. And then, when he testified in front of Congress, he made numerous statements that turned out to be false. Any private citizen who has that kind of behavior and the IRS is auditing them, would be in big trouble. But, somehow, in this town it’s okay to put this resolution back into committee where it’s been for 18 months and not actually vote to impeach this guy. I’m disappointed that’s the way it turned out, and I think the American people are, too.

M: Just go back in your mind to all those people who were Tea Party groups who wanted to have their tax-exempt status and they were put through the grill, some of them were investigated, strange things happened to them, in terms of what was going on in their homes and environments. They were horrified by what was happening, and nothing ever happened to Lois Lerner--it all just sort of went by the wayside. Nobody ever, ever really paid the piper for that, did they?

JJ: No, and here’s the clincher: it still continues! They’re still doing it! Just two weeks ago, we learned that the Albuquerque Tea Party, which applied for their tax-exempt status 7 years ago, went to court to try to get this worked out, was ultimately denied just two weeks ago by the Internal Revenue Service. So, the targeting still continues as evidenced by the case of the Albuquerque Tea Party.

M: Are you upset with Paul Ryan? His spokesperson said basically, “it’s time to move on to the Trump agenda. We’ve got a lot of stuff we want to accomplish, we’re not going down this road.”

JJ: The American people this election are, appropriately so, are fed up with this double standard. The idea that there is one set of rules for you and me and We the People and a different standard for the politically connected like John Koskinen and Hillary Clinton. That is not supposed to be how it works in this country. It’s supposed to be equal treatment under the law. No citizen could get away with this behavior, but somehow it’s okay for John Koskinen? We gotta hold people accountable if we’re going to keep this amazing principle in this great country that says, “everyone, regardless of what high position they may hold, everyone is treated equally under the law.”

M: Well, apparently, no executive branch official has been ousted since 1876. So, it is very easy to keep your job if you work in that town.