Rep. Jim Jordan expressed frustration Thursday the House passed on his bid to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, but pointed out the American public is also frustrated by Washington's actions.
"[They] voted a month ago, drain the swamp, clean the place up and hold people accountable, people like John Koskinen," the Ohio Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
The IRS, Jordan said, targeted people for their political beliefs with its increased targeting of conservative-based groups, and "you can't have that happen in a great country like ours. You cannot say, 'because you're a conservative, we'll come after you.'"
House members voted by a 342-72 margin Tuesday to send Jordan's request to the House Judiciary Committee, which has not indicated it wants to prosecute the case, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
Jordan and fellow Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, both voted against referring the matter to committee. Jordan and his fellow members of the House Freedom Caucus say Koskinen should lose his job for allowing evidence concerning former IRS official Lois Lerner to be destroyed, and for lying to Congress.
"We were told on Election Day to come here and clean this place up," Jordan said Thursday. "We had a chance to do it other day, but unfortunately we didn't get the votes."
Meanwhile, Jordan said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., or other leaders have not asked him to drop any of the investigations into Hillary Clinton and her use of a private email server.
"Frankly, we should treat everyone the same," Jordan said. "You can't have what we have now, a double-standard at the Justice Department, one set of rules for you and me, and a different set for politically connected people like John Koskinen and Hillary Clinton."
Jordan also commented on an opinion voiced by columnist George Will, who told Fox News' "Special Report" Wednesday political power was used to pressure Carrier Corp. to keep jobs from going to Mexico, calling the move "socialism."
"You don't want government picking winners and losers," Jordan agreed. "You don't want cronyism, which we had way too much of in the Obama administration. So government should not be coming in with its heavy hand trying to pressure companies to do certain things – or rewarding them with taxpayer dollars for engaging in certain kind of behavior."
However, Jordan said he believes President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence went to Carrier and promised a new tax policy that would lower corporate rates to the "lowest in the world."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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