Special Counsel Jack Smith Involved in Major IRS Scandal

By 

Jay Sekulow

|
August 11, 2023

This week is the first anniversary of the raid on former President Donald Trump’s home to retrieve classified documents – the first time in U.S. history a court issued such an order on a former U.S. President. It was unprecedented in scope.

I have personal experience in litigating these kinds of cases, such as when I defended President Trump during the Mueller probe and presenting oral argument at the Supreme Court level. I’ve seen these Deep State tactics before, and they are on full display again.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a Special Counsel to investigate Donald Trump’s keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. He also appointed a Special Counsel to look into President Biden’s classified documents scandal – a Special Counsel we’ve heard nothing from.

But we’ve heard a lot from Special Counsel Jack Smith, the one leading the charge against Trump. We’ve faced Jack Smith before and resoundingly defeated him. And we can do it again.

The ACLJ has had a long history with Jack Smith and his questionable legal tactics, especially during the 2013 IRS Scandal with Lois Lerner, in which we took the IRS to court and won. We sued the IRS after it targeted hundreds of conservative organizations and nonprofit groups – most notably Tea Party groups – with a BOLO (“Be on the Lookout) list leaving them in limbo for years. It really squelched their advocacy work.

We have evidence showing that Lois Lerner targeted conservatives. And who was involved in trying to prosecute the IRS’s targets? None other than Special Counsel Jack Smith. Referencing a New York Times article about nonprofits incorrectly using campaign funds, an email from Jack Smith to one of his deputies, Richard Pilger, reads: “Could we ever charge a 371 conspiracy to violate laws of the USA for misuse of such non profits to get around existing campaign finance laws + limits?” In other words, Smith was looking for a novel legal approach to bring a conspiracy case against conservatives.

 

This continued for years. It was Smith’s same DOJ colleague, Pilger, who Lerner later worked with to “piece together” false charges against the Tea Party. Now we’re dealing with these same Deep State bad actors again today.

Lois Lerner later tried to slip in an apology at a legal conference for the IRS’s lawless actions in openly targeting conservatives, namely, the Tea Party. Lerner said, “We would like to apologize for that.” I said the apology was not accepted, and we went to federal court to ensure the IRS couldn’t keep targeting conservatives and were eventually victorious.

Now, Jack Smith is back at it again, trying to get a gag order on former President Trump – the leading GOP candidate for the 2024 election. Is this not yet another ridiculous “novel” legal approach to silence opposition? The leading attorney calling all the shots against Trump has an openly scandalous history involving the IRS overstepping its boundaries to intentionally target and harass the opposition. Is it too much to surmise that more Deep State mischiefs are at play 10 years later?

The Deep State silenced political opponents in 2013, and it is doing the same today through expansive views of the law, which is very dangerous for a constitutional republic and stifles dissenting voices. Whether someone likes Trump or not is irrelevant. We want to preserve free speech, and we want elections that are free from government interference. So we can’t allow Deep State interference, which is what is happening.

Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell once experienced the unlawful “novel” prosecution of Smith. I worked to help defend McDonnell and helped clear his name at the Supreme Court after Smith indicted him for fraud and illegally accepting gifts. Unfortunately, the Governor’s life and political career were ruined for years as he fought to clear his name. He joined our broadcast to recount:           

The willingness of federal prosecutors . . . to stretch the law with, as you pointed out, a very novel theory that hadn’t been tried before. . . . And they were able to convince a jury, and it took $28 million, three and a half years, a lot of agony, and ultimately a lot of grace and providence to get that unanimous turnaround. . . . [Jack Smith] was willing to stretch the law to what Justice Roberts called a “boundless interpretation” in order to win. And as you well know, that is not the job of a government lawyer. They have different ethical rules that are much more constrained. And that is to seek truth and justice – not only to get a conviction.

As Governor McDonnell illustrated, these broad interpretations of the law are extremely dangerous for a constitutional republic and threaten every American. And now Smith is using the same overzealous tactics to take down President Trump.

The Deep State targeting continues. As we told you yesterday, the FBI’s targeting of Christians was even more widespread than previously thought – directly contradicting the sworn testimony of FBI Director Christopher Wray. And we know that this motivation stems from demonizing pro-lifers and labeling them as “potential terrorists.”

Currently, we are defending two FBI whistleblowers who exposed the FBI’s corruption, including its targeting of pro-lifers after Roe was overturned, including filing a major appeal today. These two brave heroes have experienced incredibly unlawful retribution from the FBI for telling the truth. We won’t rest until justice is served.

We couldn’t have planned the timing of our Life & Liberty Drive any better. All the issues covered in today’s Sekulow broadcast relate directly to the radical Left’s assault on life and liberty. Our constitutional republic is at stake, and we need your support to fight back. We have defeated the Deep State before and can do it again. Donate today, and your gift will be doubled dollar for dollar.

Also, please join us in prayer by downloading our free ACLJ Life & Liberty Drive Prayer Guide. You’ll find daily requests related to our ACLJ mission. With your prayers, we will be victorious.