On Oct. 8, 2010, Smith, then-Chief of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section at the time, called a meeting with former IRS official Lois Lerner “to discuss how the IRS could assist in the criminal enforcement of campaign-finance laws against politically active nonprofits,” according to testimony from Richard Pilger, then director of the section’s Election Crimes Branch and subordinate of Smith’s, to the Oversight Committee. Lerner eventually resigned from the IRS in 2015 following criticism of her targeting of conservative groups when denying or delaying tax-exempt status. (RELATED: Merrick Garland Announces Special Counsel For Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 6)
“This seems egregious to me – could we ever charge a [18 U.S.C. §] 371 conspiracy to violate laws of the USA for misuse of such non-profits to get around existing campaign finance laws + limits?,” Smith wrote in an email to colleagues, per the Oversight Committee report. His email suggested that the department investigate conservative non-profits that reportedly may have violated campaign finance laws, according to The New York Times. …
The Times’s article described how 501-registered charities, with ties to conservative lawmakers, were receiving donations from corporations and interest groups. At the time, these groups were also lobbying the same lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Times writing that “The sponsors – AT&T, Chevron, General Dynamics, Morgan Stanley, Eli Lilly and dozens of others – contribute millions of dollars annually in gifts ranging from token amounts to a check for $5 million.”
Smith’s meeting with Lerner shortly followed the article. Smith also urged the IRS to be “more vigilant to the opportunities from more crime in the … 501(c)(4) area.”
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