Sen. Cruz: If AG Holder Does Not Appoint A Special Prosecutor To Investigate IRS, He Should Be Impeached

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today requested unanimous consent on a resolution calling for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS’s illegal targeting of conservative groups. Additionally, he called for the impeachment of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder if he fails to appoint a special prosecutor.

“Americans need a guarantee that the IRS will never be used again to target an Administration’s political enemies,” Sen. Cruz said. “It saddens me that there is not one Democrat in this body who has had the courage to stand up to his or her own party and say that using the IRS to target citizens for their political beliefs is wrong. We need a special prosecutor with meaningful independence to make sure justice is served and our constitutional rights to free speech, assembly, and privacy are protected.”

The Senator added, “If Attorney General Eric Holder does not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS, the House should use its power to impeach him. Impeding justice is intolerable and he should not be permitted to refuse the American people a true investigation into the actions of those who used the machinery of government to target, intimate, and silence them for politically driven reasons.”

Sen. Cruz said that refusal to appoint a special prosecutor rises to the level of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ which are offenses the U.S. Constitution identifies as grounds for removing Senate-confirmed officials.

The failure to fully investigate and prosecute individuals for the illegal targeting of political organizations is just one of many offenses committed by Attorney General Holder. While he has been Attorney General:

• DOJ was at the center of the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal that led to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The House of Representatives voted him in contempt of Congress two years ago.
• DOJ has refused to enforce federal immigration laws, federal healthcare laws, federal welfare laws, and federal drug laws as written by Congress.
• DOJ attempted to bring the 9/11 terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Manhattan to be tried on U.S. soil.
• DOJ gave the Obama Administration the green light to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay without giving proper notice to Congress.
• DOJ helped secretly obtain the phone records of journalists at Fox News and the Associated Press.

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