IRS chief: Charges ‘without merit,’ he won’t testify today

WASHINGTON — The commissioner of the IRS said Monday that Republican allegations that he misled congressional investigators investigating his agency “are without merit,” and added that he would not appear at a congressional hearing today to examine whether he should be impeached.

In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., IRS chief John Koskinen said he has not had time to prepare for the hearing because of travel and work required for an unrelated hearing. Koskinen, who was not subpoenaed to appear, said he would testify in the future.

In an attached seven-page statement, Koskinen denied charges lodged against him in a resolution filed in October by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. Chaffetz accuses Koskinen of hindering investigators from gathering evidence about how the IRS mistreated conservative groups earlier this decade, actions for which the agency has acknowledged and apologized.

The election-season impeachment effort has not won forceful backing from House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., enjoys only lukewarm support among Republicans and is strongly opposed by Democrats, making it almost certain to go nowhere this year.

In his statement, which was provided by judiciary panel Republicans, Koskinen wrote: “The Constitution reserves the use of impeachment to ‘treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors.’ ” He said none of his actions “viewed in light of all the facts come close to that level.”

Chaffetz will testify to the judiciary committee today. In an interview last week, Chaffetz said, “What’s the justification for keeping him in office when he provides false testimony?”

A spokeswoman for Goodlatte said the IRS chief was given a chance to defend himself, “and it is up to him to take advantage of that opportunity.”

Conservatives who have long targeted the IRS were outraged when the agency admitted in 2013 that it subjected conservative Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status to excessive scrutiny. A chief focus of congressional committees that have conducted investigations has been Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS office that processes applications for that status and who subsequently retired.

Koskinen said the IRS has provided 1.3 million pages of documents, and spent more than $20 million and 160,000 staff-hours of work to respond to the investigations.