House Republicans are beginning hearings to impeach IRS chief John Koskinen

On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold the first of two scheduled hearings on a motion to impeach Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen, but Koskinen said Monday he won't be there, citing the late invitation and other commitments that have left him no time to prepare "for what could be a wide-ranging and complex discussion regarding claims that may only become clear after the hearing's first panel." Instead, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the House Oversight Committee chairman who filed the impeachment motion, will testify under oath, along with Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.).

Chaffetz accuses Koskinen of lying under oath and defying a House subpoena to turn over emails from Lois Lerner, a former IRS official at the center of a scandal involving extra scrutiny of Tea Party groups and other organizations seeking tax-exempt status. Koskinen, who was appointed months after the scandal, denies lying and said the IRS has turned over the relevant Lerner emails but lost other ones due to "the inadvertent destruction of very old tapes." The Justice Department found mismanagement but no criminal wrongdoing in its investigation of the IRS, but Chaffetz said the House has no choice to but impeach Koskinen. "You can't be under a duly issued subpoena and mislead Congress, and when you provide false testimony there has to be a consequence," he said.

Congress hasn't tried to impeach a U.S. official other than the president since 1876, when the House went after War Secretary William W. Belknap, and no official below cabinet level has ever faced impeachment. "This is unprecedented in many respects," University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt tells The New York Times. But "lying to Congress is a very serious charge, and if somebody were actually guilty of that, that is a perfectly legitimate basis for their removal."

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Koskinen says he plans to attend the next hearing, in June, but barring some bombshell revelation, his job is probably safe. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has said that the Senate won't convict the IRS commissioner even if the House approves impeachment, noting the two-thirds vote needed and the lack of appetite for going after Koskinen, a businessman known for managing organizations in crisis. Still, The Washington Post observes, "by holding hearings, House leaders are allowing IRS opponents to keep their constituents' frustration with an unpopular agency in the foreground — and a good political target in their crosshairs."