The head of the Internal Revenue Service never asked to lead the agency, he said in written testimony on Tuesday, adding that he had been “happily retired” and that the move to impeach him was “wholly improper.”
“I have great respect for our institutions of government,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in the statement to the House Judiciary Committee, a hearing he declined to attend. “When I began my services as commissioner … I took over an agency under investigation by six different bodies and buffeted by ongoing, serious controversy. I regret that, in the period since then, we have not been able to bring these matters to a conclusion.”
Koskinen took the helm of the agency in December 2013 after Lois Lerner, the agency’s director of exempt organizations, was forced to resign amid revelations that the agency had improperly targeted conservative nonprofit groups for auditing.
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However, Koskinen has drawn the ire of members who suggest he has obstructed their investigation into Lerner’s practices since he took over. He also faced criticism for failing to defend the agency against cyberattacks, and for failing to verify Social Security numbers for fear of outing illegal immigrants.
“I never sought the position of IRS commissioner,” Koskinen wrote in his own defense. “I was happily retired. I served on the boards of two large, publicly-traded companies and tried to keep up with my grandchildren. But I agreed to serve when approached by the current administration in May 2013, because I have a longstanding commitment to public service, and because I understand the importance of the IRS to the government and the nation.
“I believe impeachment is a wholly improper tool in this instance,” he added. “While the allegations made by some members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are serious and relate to acknowledged errors made by the IRS, the Constitution reserves the use of impeachment for ‘treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors.’ None of my actions relating to the issues above, viewed in light of all the facts, come close to that level.”
With the exception of President Bill Clinton, the last time Congress impeached a member of the executive branch was in 1876, when the secretary of war was charged with public corruption.
Koskinen on Monday said he would decline to appear before the committee this week, saying he would do so at a future date but that prior travel arrangements made it too difficult for him to attend Tuesday’s hearing.
