A whopping 52 House Republicans are publicly pressuring IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Clinton Foundation tax status, with 51 members signing a letter organized by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that pushes for such an investigation.
A plethora of representatives signed Blackburn’s letter to the IRS. They are: Reps. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Trent Franks (R-AZ), James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Mark Meadows (R-NC), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), David Rouzer (R-NC), Dennis Ross (R-FL), Pete Olson (R-TX), Randy Hultgren (R-MI), Phil Roe (R-TN), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Ryan Zinke (R-MT), Diane Black (R-TN), Bill Flores (R-TX), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Kay Granger (R-TX), John Ratcliffe (R-TX), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), Walter Jones (R-NC), Tom Price (R-GA), John Duncan (R-TN), John Shimkus (R-IN), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Roger Williams (R-TX), Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), Dave Brat (R-VA), Bradley Byrne (R-AL), Brian Babin (R-TX), Steve King (R-IA), Ted Yoho (R-FL), Randy Weber (R-TX), Stephen Fincher (R-TN), Tom Marino (R-PA), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Mike McCaul (R-TX), Rick Allen (R-GA), Billy Long (R-MO), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Steve Pearce (R-NM), Scott Perry (R-PA), Luke Messer (R-IN), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Sam Johnson (R-TX), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), and Kenny Marchant (R-TX).
As Breitbart News reported exclusively last week, the letter calls on the IRS to investigate whether it is appropriate for the Clinton Foundation—which has come under fire due to the Clinton Cash book from Breitbart’s senior editor Peter Schweizer—to continue operating with a tax exempt status.
The letter notes “recent media reports have revealed that the Foundation failed to report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments that it accepted while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and that it facilitated private business transactions between foreign entities,” and as such, “given the substantial public interest involved, we feel a prompt review of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is appropriate to determine whether it is acting within the scope of its charitable mission.”
“Given these widely reported allegations, we believe a review of the appropriateness of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is necessary,” Blackburn’s letter reads, adding:
Proceeding under the cloak of philanthropy, the Foundation appears to have facilitated major private business transactions between foreign entities and also failed to report substantial foreign donations during Secretary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department. These actions have created an appearance of impropriety and go behind the Foundation’s pledge to act primarily in furtherance of charitable causes for which it was granted tax-exempt status.
Given that several powerful House Committee chairs—Sessions chairs the Rules Committee, Goodlatte chairs the Judiciary Committee, Price chairs the Budget Committee, and McCaul chairs the Homeland Security Committee—have now backed Blackburn’s effort here, it seems like this has real legs. It is unclear if the IRS will actually do any investigation, but this could get really interesting really quickly.
Meanwhile, Clinton herself continues to avoid the media—and has now gone more than 30 days without doing a press conference or a news interview. The latest is she and her campaign operatives sped across Iowa at 95 miles per hour, at least, according to the UK Daily Mail, to try to ditch reporters seeking to cover her presidential campaign effort.
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