{"id":1751456,"date":"2022-11-25T12:30:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T17:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1751456"},"modified":"2022-11-25T12:33:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T17:33:52","slug":"new-trump-special-counsel-jack-smith-was-involved-in-obama-era-lois-lerner-irs-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-trump-special-counsel-jack-smith-was-involved-in-obama-era-lois-lerner-irs-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"New Trump Special Counsel Jack Smith Was Involved in Obama-Era Lois Lerner IRS Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-trump-special-counsel-jack-smith-was-involved-in-obama-era-lois-lerner-irs-scandal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1751456&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/90-118\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody\">\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody-body\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement-item\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter\">N<\/span>ewly appointed special counsel <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jack-smith\">Jack Smith<\/a><\/u> was instrumental in the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/justice-department\">Justice Department<\/a>&#8216;s public integrity unit inserting itself into the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/lois-lerner\">Lois Lerner<\/a> <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/irs-scandal\">IRS scandal<\/a> targeting conservative nonprofit groups. <\/p>\n<p>Smith, <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/merrick-garland-appoints-jack-smith-trump-focused-special-counsel\">picked<\/a><\/u> by Attorney General <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/merrick-garland\">Merrick Garland<\/a><\/u> to helm the DOJ\u2019s investigations of former President <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/u>, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/special-counsel-jack-smith-war-crimes-garland-investigate-trump\">led the Public Integrity Section<\/a> from 2010 until early 2015. <\/p>\n<p>Lerner, director of the IRS&#8217;s Exempt Organizations Unit, led an IRS effort targeting Tea Party groups and similar conservative nonprofit organizations. Smith\u2019s push for DOJ officials to contact Lerner and the IRS in order to get the DOJ involved seemed to be the impetus behind the IRS sending the FBI reams of nonprofit tax records. <\/p>\n<p>An IRS watchdog and the DOJ later admitted the IRS committed wrongdoing, although not of the criminal variety. Lerner would apologize. <\/p>\n<p>Republicans unsuccessfully sought a special counsel to investigate the IRS scandal at the time, with Smith\u2019s actions cited as one reason. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cJack Smith was looking for ways to prosecute the innocent Americans that Lois Lerner targeted during the IRS scandal,\u201d Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), expected to lead the House Judiciary Committee next year, told the <i>Washington Examiner<\/i>. <\/p>\n<p>Jordan and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who led House Oversight, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/republicans-oversight.house.gov\/release\/testimony-2010-justice-department-sought-lois-lerners-help-prosecute-tax-exempt-groups-engaging-politics\/\">sought<\/a> Smith\u2019s testimony in May 2014, saying, \u201cIt is apparent that the Department\u2019s leadership, including Public Integrity Section Chief Jack Smith, was closely involved in engaging with the IRS.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Smith <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/oip\/foia-library\/foia-processed\/general_topics\/irs_related_information\/download\">testified<\/a> that month that he spoke with the FBI about these nonprofit groups. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a dialogue with the FBI. Never opened any investigations, Public Integrity [Unit] did not. But we did have a dialogue with them over time following this [Oct. 8, 2010, meeting with Lerner].\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Smith considered \u201cwhether it made sense to open investigations\u201d but said his unit \u201cdid not open any.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/special-counsel-jack-smith-mixed-history-pursuing-politicians\">SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH&#8217;S MIXED TRACK RECORD TARGETING HIGH-PROFILE POLITICIANS<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>Issa released a June 2014 report that said the DOJ arranged the meeting with Lerner after Smith read a September 2010 <i>New York Times<\/i> <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/09\/21\/us\/politics\/21money.html\">article<\/a>, \u201cDonor Names Remain Secret as Rules Shift,&#8221; which opened with an anecdote about a conservative group. <\/p>\n<p>The report <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/republicans-oversight.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/How-Politics-Led-to-the-IRS-Targeting-Staff-Report-6.16.14.pdf\">revealed<\/a> Lerner and an IRS commissioner, Sarah Ingram, spoke with the reporter on background for the article. <\/p>\n<p>After reading it, Smith wrote to DOJ colleagues: \u201cCheck out [the] article on front page of ny times regarding misuse of nonprofits for indirectly funding campaigns. This seems egregious to me \u2014 could we ever charge a [18 U.S.C. \u00a7] 371 conspiracy to violate laws of the USA for misuse of such non profits to get around existing campaign finance laws + limits? &#8230; IRS Commissioner sarah ingram oversees these groups. Let\u2019s discuss tomorrow but maybe we should try to set up a meeting.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Smith testified in May 2014: \u201cI remember there being a concern in the article that there was[n\u2019t] appropriate enforcement here, and I wanted to discuss.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Smith organized meetings with his senior leadership, including Richard Pilger, director of the DOJ\u2019s Election Crimes Branch, with one meeting saying the DOJ considered a \u201cpossible 501 \/ campaign finance investigation.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Jordan <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/CHRG-113hhrg93834\/html\/CHRG-113hhrg93834.htm\">told<\/a> Deputy Attorney General James Cole in July 2014 that a special counsel was needed to investigate the IRS scandal. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that Richard Pilger and Jack Smith had interaction with Lois Lerner in 2010 and 2013, that you had a data base of 1.1 million pages of taxpayer information, donor (c)(4) information, you had it for four years, and some of that information was confidential \u2014 all that fact, all that cries out for a special prosecutor,\u201d Jordan said. <\/p>\n<p>Smith <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/114\/crpt\/srpt119\/CRPT-114srpt119-pt1.pdf\">recommended<\/a> his unit meet with Ingram to discuss DOJ enforcement. Pilger expressed skepticism and told Smith it would be &#8220;very challenging as criminal work in the near term.&#8221; Nancy Simmons, the unit\u2019s senior counsel, said she didn&#8217;t see &#8220;a viable way to make a prosecutable federal case.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Smith nevertheless pushed forward. Pilger reached out to Ingram\u2019s office in September 2010 to set up an IRS meeting. Ingram told her staff, \u2018\u2018We have to do this,\u2019\u2019 and asked Lerner to organize. <\/p>\n<p>Pilger met with Lerner and other IRS officials, saying the goal was to talk with Lerner about being \u201cmore vigilant to the opportunities from more crime in the &#8230; 501(c)(4) area.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Senate Finance Committee, led by then-Sen. Orrin Hatch, revealed in a 2015 report that Lerner and Pilger spoke about the IRS providing the DOJ and the FBI with nonprofit filing data and about inviting the FBI to the meeting on Oct. 8, 2010, where the IRS, DOJ, and FBI would discuss further. <\/p>\n<p>Pilger contacted the IRS a few weeks later so the Smith-led unit could further discuss \u201ccriminal tax enforcement against tax exempt organizations,&#8221; but IRS official Nancy Marks warned the IRS had not \u201cseen activity that rises to the level of criminal investigation.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Lerner messaged her staff in early October 2010, saying, \u201c[The DOJ] would like to begin looking at 990s from last year for c4 orgs. They are interested in the reporting for political and lobbying activity. How quickly could I get disks to them?&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The GOP report said, \u201cThe IRS sent 21 disks containing 1.1 million pages of nonprofit tax-return information \u2014 including confidential taxpayer information \u2014 to the FBI in advance of this meeting\u201d with Lerner. The documents were sent to then-FBI supervisory special agent Brian Fitzpatrick. <\/p>\n<p>Then-Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/oip\/foia-library\/foia-processed\/general_topics\/irs_related_information\/download\">wrote<\/a> in June 2014 the disks appeared to \u201ccontain only publicly available information.\u201d Two days later, Kadzik <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/oip\/foia-library\/foia-processed\/general_topics\/irs_related_information\/download\">admitted<\/a> that \u201ca small number of the Form 990s on the disks inadvertently include confidential information.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Lerner <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/05\/11\/us\/politics\/irs-apologizes-to-conservative-groups-over-application-audits.html\">admitted<\/a> in May 2013 the IRS had scrutinized nonprofit groups that used terms such as \u201cTea Party\u201d or \u201cpatriots\u201d in their applications but claimed it wasn\u2019t a political decision, saying, \u201cWe made some mistakes. Some people didn\u2019t use good judgment. \u2026 For that we\u2019re apologetic.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>The Treasury Department\u2019s watchdog <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221112230148\/https:\/\/www.treasury.gov\/tigta\/auditreports\/2013reports\/201310053fr.pdf\">concluded<\/a> in 2013 that \u201cthe IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The DOJ <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/public\/resources\/documents\/IRS1023.pdf\">said<\/a> in 2015: \u201cOur investigation uncovered substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment, and institutional inertia.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-announces-department-justice-has-settled-plaintiff-groups\">announced<\/a> in 2017 that the DOJ entered into settlements with conservative groups targeted by the IRS during the Obama administration. The IRS <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/peterjreilly\/2017\/10\/27\/irs-scandal-ends-as-it-began-with-an-apology\/\">admitted<\/a> its actions were \u201cwrong\u201d and \u201cfor such treatment, the IRS expresses its sincere apology.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Newly appointed special counsel Jack Smith was instrumental in the Justice Department&#8217;s public integrity unit inserting itself into the Lois Lerner IRS scandal targeting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1751459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1751456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1751456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1751456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1751456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1751456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}