IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 494 
Impeaching John Andrew Koskinen, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue 
Service, for high crimes and misdemeanors. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 27, 2015 
Mr. CHAFFETZ (for himself, Mr. DESANTIS, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. DESJARLAIS, 
Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Mr. 
PALMER, Mr. WALKER, Mr. MULVANEY, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. RUSSELL, Mr. 
CARTER of Georgia, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. HURD of Texas, 
Mr. AMASH, Mr. TURNER, and Mr. MASSIE) submitted the following reso-
lution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Impeaching John Andrew Koskinen, Commissioner of the 
Internal Revenue Service, for high crimes and misdemeanors. 
Resolved, That John Andrew Koskinen, Commis-
sioner of the Internal Revenue Service, is impeached for 
high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following arti-
cles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate: 
Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of 
Representatives of the United States of America in the 
name of itself and of the people of the United States of 
America, against John Andrew Koskinen, Commissioner 
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of the Internal Revenue Service, in maintenance and sup-
port of its impeachment against him for high crimes and 
misdemeanors. 
ARTICLE I 
John Andrew Koskinen, in his conduct while Com-
missioner of the Internal Revenue Service, engaged in a 
pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties as 
an Officer of the United States, as follows: 
Commissioner Koskinen failed in his duty to respond 
to lawfully issued congressional subpoenas. On August 2, 
2013, the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-
form of the House of Representatives issued a subpoena 
to Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, the custodian of 
Internal Revenue Service documents. That subpoena de-
manded, among other things, ‘‘[a]ll communications sent 
or received by Lois Lerner, from January 1, 2009, to Au-
gust 2, 2013’’. On February 14, 2014, following the Sen-
ate’s confirmation of John Andrew Koskinen as Commis-
sioner of the Internal Revenue Service, the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Rep-
resentatives reissued the subpoena to him. 
On March 4, 2014, Internal Revenue Service employ-
ees in Martinsburg, West Virginia, magnetically erased 
422 backup tapes, destroying as many as 24,000 of Lois 
Lerner’s emails responsive to the subpoena. This action 
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impeded congressional investigations into the Internal 
Revenue Service targeting of Americans based on their po-
litical affiliation. The American people may never know 
the true culpability or extent of the Internal Revenue Serv-
ice targeting because of the destruction of evidence that 
took place. 
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, 
warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 
ARTICLE II 
John Andrew Koskinen engaged in a pattern of de-
ception that demonstrates his unfitness to serve as Com-
missioner of the Internal Revenue Service. Commissioner 
Koskinen made a series of false and misleading statements 
to Congress in contravention of his oath to tell the truth. 
Those false statements included the following: 
(1) On June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen 
testified that ‘‘since the start of this investigation, 
every email has been preserved. Nothing has been 
lost. Nothing has been destroyed.’’. 
(2) On the same day, Commissioner Koskinen 
testified that the Internal Revenue Service had ‘‘con-
firmed that backup tapes from 2011 no longer ex-
isted because they have been recycled, pursuant to 
the Internal Revenue Service normal policy’’. He 
went on to explain that ‘‘[c]onfirmed means that 
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somebody went back and looked and made sure that 
in fact any backup tapes that had existed had been 
recycled’’. 
(3) 
On 
March 
26, 
2014, 
Commissioner 
Koskinen was asked during a hearing before the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of 
the House of Representatives, ‘‘Sir, are you or are 
you not going to provide this committee all of Lois 
Lerner’s emails?’’. He answered, ‘‘Yes, we will do 
that.’’. 
Each of those statements was materially false. On March 
4, 2014, Internal Revenue Service employees magnetically 
erased 422 backup tapes containing as many as 24,000 
of Lois Lerner’s emails. On February 2, 2014, senior In-
ternal Revenue Service officials discovered that Lois 
Lerner’s computer hard drive had crashed, rendering hun-
dreds or thousands of her emails unrecoverable. Commis-
sioner Koskinen’s false statements impeded and confused 
congressional investigations into the Internal Revenue 
Service targeting of Americans based on their political af-
filiation. 
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, 
warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 
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ARTICLE III 
John Andrew Koskinen, throughout his tenure as 
Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, has acted 
in a manner inconsistent with the trust and confidence 
placed in him as an Officer of the United States, as fol-
lows: 
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate 
Committee on Finance, John Andrew Koskinen promised, 
‘‘[W]e will be transparent about any problems we run into; 
and the public and certainly this committee will know 
about those problems as soon as we do.’’. 
Commissioner Koskinen repeatedly violated that 
promise. As early as February 2014 and no later than 
April 2014, he was aware that a substantial portion of 
Lois Lerner’s emails could not be produced to Congress. 
However, in a March 19, 2014, letter to Senator Wyden 
of the Senate Committee on Finance, Commissioner 
Koskinen said, ‘‘We are transmitting today additional in-
formation that we believe completes our production to 
your committee and the House Ways and Means 
[C]ommittee. . . . In light of these productions, I hope 
that the investigations can be concluded in the very near 
future.’’. At the time he sent that letter, he knew that 
the document production was not complete. 
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Commissioner Koskinen did not notify Congress of 
any problem until June 13, 2014, when he included the 
information on the fifth page of the third enclosure of a 
letter to the Senate Committee on Finance. 
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, 
warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 
ARTICLE IV 
John Andrew Koskinen has failed to act with com-
petence and forthrightness in overseeing the investigation 
into Internal Revenue Service targeting of Americans be-
cause of their political affiliations as follows: 
Commissioner Koskinen stated in a hearing on June 
20, 2014, that the Internal Revenue Service had ‘‘gone 
to great lengths’’ to retrieve all of Lois Lerner’s emails. 
Commissioner Koskinen’s actions contradicted the assur-
ances he gave to Congress. 
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administra-
tion found over 1,000 of Lois Lerner’s emails that the In-
ternal Revenue Service had failed to produce. Those dis-
coveries took only 15 days of investigation to uncover. The 
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration 
searched a number of available sources, including disaster 
backup tapes, Lois Lerner’s Blackberry, the email server, 
backup tapes for the email server, and Lois Lerner’s tem-
porary replacement laptop. The Internal Revenue Service 
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failed to examine any of those sources in its own investiga-
tion. 
Wherefore, John Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, 
warrants impeachment, trial, and removal from office. 
Æ 
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