House Republicans want to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, and Fox News is there to help with the messaging.
Fox’s own Charles Krauthammer knows that the impeachment effort is a complete waste of time and money because there is no way it will pass the Senate.
But on Forbes on Fox, one of Fox News’ “business block” shows, regular panelist Mike Ozanian gave an emphatic thumbs up to the effort. “He [Koskinen] should’ve been fired by President Obama, but since he’s the president’s lapdog on this, the president won’t do it,” Ozanian said. “This is precisely why we have this impeachment in the Constitution, and Congress needs to act.”
Panelist Bill Baldwin disagreed. “We should reserve the high crimes and misdemeanors trials for either people who cannot be fired by the president such as a judge, or for the president himself, and if Mike doesn’t like the way Obama is running the IRS, Mike should vote Republican in the next election.”
Host David Asman, unsurprisingly, used the situation to take a gratuitous swipe at Hillary Clinton, saying, “There have been so many individuals - and I would throw Hillary’s name out there - of people who just think that they can get around the legal process and withhold stuff that Congress is asking for. Isn’t it time to put your foot down and make a case of it?”
Panelist Steve Forbes, of course, was all for impeachment. “When government agencies, especially the IRS, which is the most feared agency around, engages in criminal actions, and the head of it goes before Congress and in effect flips it the bird, well, they have to take severe action because Obama’s not going to do it,” he said.
Panelist Rich Karlgaard disagreed on the tactic, “even though he [Koskinen] deserves it.” Why? Because “Republicans can’t do hearings” and because “Hillary is begging for them to impeach the IRS guy because they’ll look bad again.”
”How many other people are going to get away with obstruction of justice?” Asman “just asked.”
Watch it below, from the October 31 Forbes on Fox.