{"id":2300294,"date":"2024-07-19T03:12:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T07:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/before-going-after-trump-jack-smith-targeted-the-tea-party\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T03:16:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T07:16:12","slug":"jack-smith-targeted-the-tea-party-before-going-after-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jack-smith-targeted-the-tea-party-before-going-after-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Smith targeted the Tea Party before going after Trump"},"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\">20<\/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%2Fjack-smith-targeted-the-tea-party-before-going-after-trump%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=2300294&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--><p>The summary discusses\u200d the dismissal of \u2062charges against former President Donald Trump\u2062 by a federal judge \u200ddue to\u2062 the \u200bunconstitutional appointment \u200cof Special \u200cCounsel Jack \u2064Smith. \u2062It also highlights\u200b Smith&#8217;s involvement in the\u200b IRS Tea Party \u200btargeting scandal, where \u200cconservative\u200c groups were unfairly scrutinized. The role of Smith in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/christian-non-profit-rejected-for-tax-exempt-status-by-irs-bibles-teachings-affiliated-with-the-republican-party\/\" title=\"Christian Non-Profit Rejected For Tax-Exempt Status By IRS: \u2018Bible\u2019s Teachings \u2026 Affiliated With The Republican Party\u2019\">targeting conservative groups<\/a> led to\u200c investigations\u200c and\u2063 condemnations from House Republicans. The\u200c IRS admitted wrongdoing in 2017 and settled with the victimized groups. The agency\u2064 later implemented \u200creforms to protect \u2063the privacy and speech rights of nonprofits. Despite the fallout\u2064 from the scandal, Smith continued to remain\u200b at the \u200dDepartment of Justice before pursuing other opportunities.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A federal judge recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/15\/judge-in-docs-case-throws-out-dojs-lawfare-against-trump-rules-jack-smiths-appointment-unconstitutional\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dismissed charges<\/a> against former President Donald Trump for his handling of classified documents, finding that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. This news comes weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuked Smith&rsquo;s separate prosecution of Trump&rsquo;s actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The court <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/03\/this-week-in-lawfare-land-scotus-sends-get-trump-prosecutions-into-a-tailspin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">found<\/a> that the president has absolute immunity from prosecution when executing official duties that fall within his &ldquo;conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While the prosecutions of Donald Trump brought Smith to public attention, it was not the first time he was accused of weaponizing the federal government against conservatives. Over 10 years ago, Smith was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2881596\/trump-special-counsel-jack-smith-was-involved-in-lois-lerner-irs-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">central figure<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2023\/05\/10\/its-been-10-years-since-the-irss-tea-party-scandal-will-congress-finally-act\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IRS Tea Party targeting scandal<\/a> that similarly ended in admonishment for the agency &mdash; but not before the actions of Smith and others successfully stifled and smeared nonprofits advocating for conservative policies. As Smith&rsquo;s eventual role in the Trump case attests, the leaders of the IRS targeting scandal largely escaped accountability for their abuse of power, and some remain influential in government to this day.<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, the IRS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/05\/11\/us\/politics\/irs-apologizes-to-conservative-groups-over-application-audits.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">apologized<\/a> for subjecting applications for tax-exempt status from conservative organizations to extrajudicial review. The activity occurred during the peak of the Tea Party movement, shortly before the 2012 presidential election, when activists were speaking out loudly against then-President Barack Obama&rsquo;s policy agenda. We&rsquo;ll never know how big that movement could have grown, however, because the IRS slammed the brakes (and, in some cases, the door) on the application process for groups expressing conservative viewpoints.<\/p>\n<p>After the scheme was exposed, Congress launched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/oip\/foia-library\/foia-processed\/general_topics\/irs_related_information\/dl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an investigation<\/a> into the IRS&rsquo;s targeting of Tea Party groups, which exposed Jack Smith&rsquo;s role. While Lois Lerner, then-director of the IRS&rsquo;s Exempt Organizations unit, became the public face of the scandal, Jack Smith was a central figure behind the scenes from his perch as the head of the Department of Justice&rsquo;s Public Integrity Section.<\/p>\n<p>In late 2010, after reading a New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/09\/21\/us\/politics\/21money.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">article<\/a> about conservative nonprofits exercising their First Amendment right to voice opinions about public policy while keeping their donors&rsquo; identities private, an incensed Smith pressed federal law enforcement to launch an investigation into the groups. When the FBI resisted, Smith turned to the IRS to do his bidding. There, he found a more sympathetic audience in Lerner. That was no coincidence: Congressional Republicans&rsquo; investigation later revealed that Lerner had collaborated with the Times on the very article that first piqued Smith&rsquo;s interest.<\/p>\n<p>After his appointment as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sidney-powell-is-an-american-legal-giant\/\" title=\"Sidney Powell Is an American Legal Giant\">special counsel<\/a>, House Republicans offered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2881596\/trump-special-counsel-jack-smith-was-involved-in-lois-lerner-irs-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stinging condemnations<\/a> of Smith&rsquo;s role in targeting conservative groups. Rep. Jim Jordan observed, &ldquo;Jack Smith was looking for ways to prosecute the innocent Americans that Lois Lerner targeted during the IRS scandal.&rdquo; Rep. Darrell Issa lamented, &ldquo;It is apparent that the Department&rsquo;s leadership, including Public Integrity Section Chief Jack Smith, was closely involved in engaging with the IRS.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>After many years of investigations and uproar from conservatives, the IRS formally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2017\/10\/27\/560308997\/irs-apologizes-for-aggressive-scrutiny-of-conservative-groups\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admitted wrongdoing<\/a> in 2017 and settled with a number of groups who were victimized by the agency&rsquo;s actions. Several years later, the IRS responded by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifs.org\/news\/irs-privacy-reform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">finalizing a rule<\/a> exempting many nonprofits from filing an unredacted Schedule B (Form 990) with the agency. (The Schedule B form lists the names and home addresses of a nonprofit&rsquo;s significant donors.) In the rule, the IRS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/pub\/irs-drop\/rp-18-38.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conceded<\/a> that it never needed that sensitive information in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>The reform marked a major turnaround for an agency that initially responded to the scandal by proposing to make its crackdown on First Amendment rights official with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2014-07-08_Issue-Review_Nese-And-Drapkin_Overwhelmingly-Opposed.pdf\">new rules<\/a> restricting the speech of nonprofits. Thankfully, those proposed rules were later withdrawn after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2014-07-08_IFS-One-Pager_Drapkin_IRS-Rulemaking-Organizational-Expert-And-Public-Official-Comment-Analysis.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">historic bipartisan backlash<\/a>, and Congress began including <a href=\"https:\/\/unitedforprivacy.com\/federal-budget-includes-bipartisan-speech-and-privacy-protections-for-nonprofits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">riders<\/a> in the budget each year to prevent the IRS &mdash; and other agencies &mdash; from attempting a similar scheme in the future.<\/p>\n<p>While conservative nonprofits reeled from the betrayal by their own government, and a number of IRS officials were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2014\/07\/18\/politics\/irs-scandal-fast-facts\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shown the door<\/a>, Smith remained at DOJ for several more years before leaving for other opportunities. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/1694545\/bob-mcdonnell-blasts-jack-smiths-partisan-overzealous-charging-in-high-profile-cases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">led the prosecution<\/a> of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, that was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>And, of course, Smith was later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dojs-top-national-security-lawyer-slammed-investigation-into-government-wrongdoing-in-surveillance-of-trump-aide\/\" title=\"DOJ\u2019s Top National Security Lawyer Slammed Investigation Into Government Wrongdoing in Surveillance of Trump Aide\">appointed special counsel<\/a> by President Biden&rsquo;s attorney general, Merrick Garland, to investigate former President Trump. Smith would ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/03\/this-week-in-lawfare-land-scotus-sends-get-trump-prosecutions-into-a-tailspin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">indict<\/a> the former president for his actions to challenge the results of the 2020 election; Trump appealed the indictment to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming presidential immunity. The court agreed with Trump in another repudiation of Smith.<\/p>\n<p>While Smith&rsquo;s legal losses speak for themselves, the potential for abuse at the IRS to carry out lawfare against political opponents remains a major concern for First Amendment rights and personal privacy. Absent the budget riders that must be passed annually, Congress has <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2023\/05\/10\/its-been-10-years-since-the-irss-tea-party-scandal-will-congress-finally-act\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">never solved<\/a> the underlying policy problems that made the scandal possible. Nor have the political appointees, bureaucrats, and lawmakers who enabled the IRS to run roughshod over our civil liberties been fully &mdash; or even mostly &mdash; removed from power.<\/p>\n<p>All Americans, regardless of their views, must remain wary of granting government agencies like the IRS power that can ultimately be turned against them. Remember: There is a Jack Smith lurking in every government agency.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brian Hawkins is the senior director of external affairs at People United for Privacy Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge recently dropped charges against former President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents, citing the unconstitutional appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith. This decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court criticized Smith&#8217;s prosecution of Trump&#8217;s actions post-2020 election, stating that the president has immunity from prosecution when carrying out official duties within his constitutional authority. Smith, who was involved in the IRS Tea Party targeting scandal over a decade ago, has faced accusations of using the federal government against conservatives. Despite the scandal resulting in admonishment for the agency, Smith and others involved largely escaped accountability and continue to hold influential positions in government. The IRS apologized in 2013 for unfairly reviewing tax-exempt status applications from conservative groups during the Tea Party movement, hindering their growth. Smith played a significant role in the scandal, collaborating with IRS director Lois Lerner to target conservative organizations. Despite facing criticism from House Republicans for his actions, Smith continued to hold his position at the Department of Justice. The IRS eventually admitted wrongdoing in 2017 and settled with affected groups, leading to reforms exempting many nonprofits from disclosing sensitive donor information. Concerns remain about potential abuse at the IRS for political purposes, highlighting the importance of protecting First Amendment rights and personal privacy. Smith&#8217;s legal defeats underscore the need for vigilance against government agencies misusing their power<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2560,"featured_media":2300295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-Untitled-44.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32463,7185,35556,3634],"class_list":["post-2300294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-jack-smith","tag-targeted","tag-tea-party","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-Untitled-44.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300294","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\/2560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2300294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2300295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2300294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2300294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}