Transcripts For CSPAN House Oversight Hearing Focuses On Sta

Transcripts For CSPAN House Oversight Hearing Focuses On State Department Record Keeping 20160914

And they passed a bill extending Technical Education programs, and a resolution calling for a new agreement with israel about u. S. Military assistance. Also today, the house began debate on a bill to make it easier for the department of Veterans Affairs to fire and promote its employees. Debate on the bill will continue tomorrow and we are expecting a final passage vote. Earlier this afternoon, Republican Congress and john fleming offered a resolution to impeach irs commissioner john costin and. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2a1, i rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the house. The form of the resolution is as follows. House resolution 828, impeaching john Andrew Kosten and, mmissio Revenue Service for high crimes and misdemeanors. Resolved, that john andrew costky anyone, commissioner of the internal Revenue Service is impeached for high crimes and zpheerns and that the following articles 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 of the internal Revenue Service. In maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors. Article 1. John Andrew Koskinen in his conduct while commissioner 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 economy on oversight and government reform of the house of representatives issued a subpoena to secretary of the treasury jacob lew, the custodian of internal Revenue Service documents. That subpoena demanded, among other things, that all communications sent or received by lois lerner from january 1, 2009, to august 2, 2013, on february 14, 2014, following the senates confirmation of john Andrew Koskinen, as commissioner of the internal Revenue Service, the committee on oversight and government reform of the house of representatives reissued the subpoena to him. On march 4, 2014, internal Revenue Service employees in marksburg, west virginia, magnetically erased 422 back up tapes. Destroying as many as 24,000 of lois lerners emails responsive to the subpoena. This action impeded congressional investigations into the internal Revenue Service, targeting of americans based on their political affiliation. The American People may never know the true culpability or extent of the internal Revenue Service targeting because of the destruction of evidence that took place. Wherefor, john Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial and removing from office. Article 2, john Andrew Koskinen engaged in a pattern of deception that demonstrates his unfitness to serve as commissioner of the internal Revenue Service. Commissioner koskinen made a series ever false and misleading statements to congress in contravention of his oath to tell the truth. Those false statements included the following number one, 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, end quote. Number two, on june 23, 2014, commissioner koskinen testified that the internal Revenue Service had, quote, confirmed that backup tapes from 2014 no longer existed because they had been recycled pursuant to the internal Revenue Service normal polcy, end quote. He did policy, end quote. He went to explain, confirmed means that somebody went back and looked and made sure that in fact any backup tapes that existed had been recycled, end quote. Number three, on march 26, 2014, commissioner koskinen was asked during a hearing before the committee on oversight and government reform of the house of representatives, quote, sir, are you or are you not going to provide this committee all of lois lerners emails . End quote. He answered, quote, yes, we will do that, end quote. Each of those statements was materially false. On march 4, 2014, internal Revenue Service employees magnetically erased 422 backup tapes containeding as many as 4,000 of lois lerners emails. On february 2, 2014, senior internal Revenue Service officials discovered that lois learners computer hard drive had crashed rendering hundreds or thousands of her emails unrecoverable. Commissioner koskinens false statements impeded and confused congressional investigations into the internal Revenue Service targeting of americans based on their political affiliation. Wherefore, john Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office. Article 3, john andrew costinen throughout his tenure as commissioners 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 follows, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on finance, john Andrew Koskinen promised, quote, we 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, end quote. Commissioner koskinen repeatedly violated that promise. As early as february 2014 and no later than april 2014, he was aware a substantial portion of lois lerners emails could not be produced to congress. However in a march 19, 2014, letter to senator wyden, commissioner koskinen said, quote, we are transmitting today Additional Information that we believe completes our production to your committee and the house ways and means committee. In light of these productions, i hope the investigations can be concluded in the very near future, end quote. At the time he sent that letter, he knew that the document production was not complete. 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 4, john Andrew Koskinen has failed to act with confidence and forthrightness in overseeing the investigation into internal Revenue Service targeting of americans because of their political affiliations as follows commissioner koskinen stated in a hearing on june 20, 2014, that the internal Revenue Service had, quote, gone to great lengths, end quote, to retrieve all of lois lerners emails. Commissioner koskinens actions contradicted the assurances he gave to congress. The treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found over 1,000 of lois lerners emails that the internal Revenue Service had failed to produce. Those discoveries 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 lerners blackberry, the email server, backup tapes for the email servers, and lois learners temporary replacement laptop. The internal Revenue Service failed to examine any of those sources in its own investigation. Wherefore, john Andrew Koskinen by such conduct warrants impeachment, trial, and removal from office. The speaker pro tempore under rule 9, the resolution offered from the floor by a member other than the majority leader or the minority leader as a question of the privileges of the house has immediate precedence only at a time designated by the chair within two legislative days after the resolution is properly noticed. Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the gentleman from louisiana will appear in the record at this point. The chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at the time always have cspan on the go. Joining us on the phone is brian fallon, press secretary to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Thank you for being with us here on cspan. Brian its good to be with you. Are there lessons you and your campaign are taking place in the way this matter was handled . Sunday we, theon staff could have done a better job of getting more information or quickly. There was about a 90 minute span where she had left the event at the 9 11 memorial site. We were getting hurt to chelseas apartment, an opportunity to get into in her conditionsentering some water. There was understandably a lot of interest and curiosity about where she was and what her condition was. I think we were trying to be cautious and released the most Accurate Information possible. We couldve done a better job of getting information out more quickly. She is doing better and will probably be back on the campaign trail in the next one or two days. Host there is with secretary clinton said last night on cnn. Shouldvequentin i clinton i probably wouldve been better off if i just pulled down my schedule on friday. Like a lot of people, i thought i could keep Going Forward and power through it and obviously that did not work out so well. Host this story also getting reaction from 70 different people, including david axelrod. Hillary clintons penchant for secrecy. That has been one of the underlying stories. Can you respond to that tweet and storyline . Mr. Fallon i dont think we have the campaign, or she, but that theton pneumonia she was diagnosed with on friday was something that will implicate that issue. She said to Anderson Cooper last night it was not a big deal to her. I think a lot of americans are used to coming down with a severe cold or strep throat, or in this case pneumonia. You take your antibiotics. Often times you will still try to show up to work and power through, and that is what she was intending to do. After sunday we realized she needed more rest and that is what she is doing now. We have saidneral we are going to release additional medical information about her health condition. It wasbe a top already released over a year ago which is the standard for president ial candidates. When you look at the totality of what is out there, from her Health Records to her tax returns to her emails, to her schedule as secretary of state, there is more information about Hillary Clinton and pretty much any nominee in modern history. The opposite is true for donald trump. He is keeping the minimum standard on disclosure. I think sometimes we lose sight of that in this discussion around transparency. Host realizing these records are being put together today, how much more will be learned about her Health Records and will he have similar records for senator tim kaine . Beenallon i think it has a year or so since we released a comprehensive report from her physician. Mentioned was the standard test that senator i should say president obama and o in 2012ey adhered t when they were running a conference of report with a great deal of medical information about her that we released over a year ago. It has been a year since then. She has obviously seen her physician on a couple of occasions since then. Updated,o provide comprehensive information about her health. That is what we are going to do. We are taking the time to put the material together. I expect it will be out very soon. Kaine isarly, senator looking over the materials. I expect we will have an announcement in the next day or two. That is our intention to continue to be transparent. It will really be going above and beyond because we are confident we met the standard already almost a year ago. Host you say we expect to see Hillary Clinton act on the campaign trail wednesday or thursday potentially . Mr. Fallon were still monitoring how she is doing today. We made the decision on sunday to pull down her plant travel to california planned travel to california. We have not made any additional decisions yet. Exactly when she will resume her schedule is still being sorted out. If not tomorrow, i expected to be thursday. Eminently she will be out there. If she had her druthers, she probably wouldve flown out to california yesterday because she has been rearing to go. About 60 or so days left in this campaign. There is so much at stake and she doesnt want to miss a minute or leave any voter not communicated to any final weeks. Host in addition to resting, is using this time preparing for the debate . Mr. Fallon she has put the focus on resting. Shes had some conversations by phone with staff, but we mostly left her alone and are really trying to honestly have her take the time as her doctor recommended to just rest and recuperate. She has recorded as of this morning she is feeling much better. Yesterday she felt better than sunday. She is feeling much better even more than yesterday. We see steady improvement and i expect her to be back out there soon. We will be separately preparing for the debates. She is looking forward to them. She takes them very seriously. She thinks they are an essential proving ground and any president ial candidate must submit to it and showing you are up for the job. She will be undertaking the usual preparations that she did through the primary or we had a little debate with senator sanders. Opponentsying her positions and ready to make her case. Always acquits herself well because he takes is a seriously. I think donald trump is doing his own preparations. We just want to make sure that its a very High Standard anyone seeking the presidency should have to be able to satisfy in order to prove themselves to the American People and we intend to be judged at High Standard. We want donald trump to be judged by the same standard. Host in terms of the mechanics of preparing for the debates, can you give us any insight or color into how she is doing that, and who is playing donald trump in these preparations . Mr. Fallon we havent gone into great detail about exactly how those preparations are taking place. I can say the team of advisers is working with her is the same as the group that helped with her preparations during the primary. In general, she does a lot of reading, absorbs a lot. She likes to do her homework. That is true in general, but particularly true of the debates. She is pretty fluent in most of the policy areas. We have been very proud of the fact during this campaign we have been very detailed and policy proposals we put forward. Last week we published a book called stronger together, a conference of volume of vision that secretary clinton and senator kaine are running on. She doesnt need to necessarily known up on policy issues, but i think donald trump says so much in the course of his campaign and i think that he will have to open up to some of the hateful, controversial statements hes made in the course of his campaign before it is all said and done, including at those debates. Familiarizing yourself with that is an important step. She will be ready come the first debate at hofstra. Again, is always prepared to be judged at the highest of standards as anyone seeking the highest office in the land should be, and donald trump should be judged by the same standard. Host brian fallon joining us quarters in brooklyn, new york. Thank you for being with us. Mr. Fallon have a great day. Cspan continues on the road to the white house. We are going to get things done, big things. That is who we are as americans. We will have one Great American future. Our potential is unlimited. Live coverage of the president ial adVice President ial debates on spam. The cspan radio app, and cspan. Org. 26, is thetember first president of debate from hofstra university. Then on tuesday, october 4, Vice President of candidate governor mike pence and senator tim kaine debate at Longwood University in virginia. On from sunday, october 9, Washington University hosts the second president ial debate, leading up to the third and final debate between Hillary Clinton and donald trump taking place at university of nevada las vegas on october 19. Live coverage of the president ial and buys president ial debates on cspan. Listen live on the free cspan and cspan. Org. And cspan. Org. Donald trumps running mate, mike pence governor pence said the comments disqualify her from serving as pr

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