Richard Pilger

Richard Pilger is the Elections Crime Branch Director at the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The division "develops, enforces, and supervises the application of all federal criminal laws except those specifically assigned to other divisions."[1] Pilger has served in this position since 2010.

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Pilger's academic and professional career:[2]

2010 - Present: Election Crimes Branch Director, Criminal Division, DOJ

2007 - 2010: Senior Trial Attorney at the Public Integrity Section, Criminal Division, DOJ

1992 - 2007: Trial Attorney at the Public Integrity Section, Criminal Division, DOJ

1990: J.D., Indiana University, Bloomington

1987: B.A. in Philosophy and English, University of Notre Dame

Areas of influence

As the Elections Crime Branch Director at the DOJ, Pilger is responsible for prosecuting illegal campaign finance coordination efforts. In early 2015, the DOJ announced it planned to "aggressively pursue coordination offenses at every appropriate opportunity," in anticipation of the 2016 elections. Therefore, these cases, if they materialize, will fall under Pilger's jurisdiction.[3]

In February 2015, Tyler Harber, a Republican campaign manager and political consultant, pleaded guilty "to one count of coordinated federal election contributions and one count of making false statements to the FBI." This case, which was prosecuted by Pilger and Chief Mark D. Lytle of the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit of the Eastern District of Virginia, was the first criminal prosecution for campaign finance coordination between political committees in the United States.[4]

IRS targeting involvement

The House Oversight Committee learned about a database Lois Lerner, then head of the tax-exempt organizations division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after interviewing Pilger and reviewing emails between him and Lerner. The discovery of this database eventually launched a Congressional investigation into whether the IRS was improperly targeting conservative organizations applying for a tax-exempt status.[5]

Pilger and Lerner discussed potentially prosecuting tax-exempt organizations, specifically 501(c)(4) groups, involved in political activity. Weeks before the 2010 midterm elections, emails between the two explicitly mentioned the expansive database. Lerner asked Pilger what format for the database would be preferable to the FBI. Pilger, in turn, relayed this inquiry to the FBI and responded to Lerner: “Thanks Lois – FBI says Raw format is best because they can put it into their systems like excel.”[5]

In 2013, Pilger and Lerner were again colluding about targeting tax-exempt groups. In an email from Lerner to Nikole Flax, former chief of staff to IRS commissioner Steven Miller, Lerner wrote:[6][7]

“ I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ. I know him from contacts from my days there. He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folk s [sic] could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse [sic] idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who "lied" on their 1024s –saying they weren't planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large vis ible [sic] political expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs. I told him that sounded like we mi ght [sic] need several folks from IRS. (quote) ”

After Pilger, at the recommendation of a DOJ lawyer, refused to answer questions 34 times, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) subpoenaed the Department of Justice. Issa said, “The Department’s refusal to allow Mr. Pilger to testify about matters highly relevant to the Committee’s investigation unnecessarily delays and frustrates the Committee’s Constitutional oversight obligations."[8]

sauce: https://ballotpedia.org/Richard_Pilger

>>11569051

Judicial Watch had this PDF on Pilger in 2015.

sauce: http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/JW1559-0001051.pdf

From: Flax Nikole C

Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 8:04 AM

To: Lerner Lois G

Cc: Grant Joseph H; Marks Nancy J; Vozne Jennifer L

Subject: RE: DOJ Call

I think we should do it – also need to include CI, which we can help coordinate. Also, we need to reach out to FEC. Does it make sense to consider including them in this or keep it separate?

From: Lerner Lois G

Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2013 5:30 PM

To: Flax Nikole C

Cc: Grant Joseph H; Marks Nancy J

Subject: DOJ Call

Importance: High

I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ. I know him from contacts from my days there. He wanted to know who at IR Sthe DOJ folk s could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who "lied" on their 1024s saying they weren't planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large vis ible political expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IR Sto see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IR Sprograms. I told him that sounded like we mi ght need several folks from IR S. I am out of town all next week, so wanted to reach out and see who you think would be right for such a meeting and also hand this off to Nan as contact person if things need to happen while I am gone

Thanks

Lois G. Lerner

Director of Exempt Organizations

>>11569051

>>11569173

Issa Subpoenas DOJ After ‘Election Crimes’ Director Refuses to Answer Critical Questions 34 Times

By Michael W. Chapman | May 20, 2014 | 5:09pm EDT

(CNSNews.com) – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) subpoenaed the Department of Justice today for documents after the DOJ’s Election Crimes Branch director, Richard Pilger, refused to answer critical questions 34 times, as advised by a DOJ lawyer, about the IRS-Tea Party scandal.

“The Department’s refusal to allow Mr. Pilger to testify about matters highly relevant to the Committee’s investigation unnecessarily delays and frustrates the Committee’s Constitutional oversight obligations,” said Chairman Issa in a letter sent with the subpoena.

“The Department’s obstruction in this regard, coupled with its failure to produce any relevant material to date, leads the Committee to conclude the Department is not seriously committed to cooperating with the Committee’s investigation on the Committee’s terms,” said Issa.

The subpoena follows on the heels of an Apr. 23 letter from 17 members of the committee to the DOJ for materials “concerning the Department’s involvement in efforts to scrutinize tax-exempt applicants after emails surfaced between Pilger and the Internal Revenue Service’s Lois G. Lerner where they discussed singling out and prosecuting tax-exempt applicants, at the urging of a Democraic senator,” reads a statement from the committee issued today. (See Lerner-Pilger.pdf)

that May 8, 2013 e-mail from Lois Lerner, the director of Exempt Organizations, to IRS officials Nikole C. Flax, Joseph H. Grant and Nancy J. Marks, she states: “I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ. I know him from contacts from my days there. He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folks could talk to about Sen. [Sheldon] Whitehouse [D-R.I.] idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who ‘lied’ on their 1024s – saying they weren’t planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large visible political expenditures.

“DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs,” wrote Lerner in the e-mail.

In the statement issued today by the Oversight Committee, it says the Federal Election Committee, the IRS, and the DOJ sought ways to minimize the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, claiming that “a clear outline emerges of government agencies cracking down on constitutionally protected free speech.”

The statement also quotes Lois Lerner from Oct. 19, 2010, saying of the Citizens United case: "And everyone is up in arms becuase they don't like it. The Federal Election Commission can't do anything about it. They want the IRS to fix the problem." (See video.)

Staff for the Oversight Committee interviewed Richard Pilger on May 6, 2014. During that interview, Pilger was instructed by a DOJ attorney not to answer questions in 34 instances. The DOJ sought to limit the scope of the question to Pilger’s communications with Lerner, reads the May 20 letter from Chairman Issa.

The letter say “the Department’s lawyer refused to allow Mr. Pilger to answer questions about conversations within the Department in wake of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Mr. Pilger’s interactions with the Federal Election Commission about Citizens United, or whether Mr. Pilger had communicated with any IRS official since Lois Lerner’s apology for the targeting on May 10, 2013."

“These matters are highly relevant to the Committee’s investigation of the IRS targeting,” says the letter, “and the Department’s refusal to allow Mr. Pilger to provide this information unduly impedes the Committee’s oversight obligations.”

Because of that refusal and the DOJ’s “failure to produce any relevant material to date,” reads the letter, the committee issued its subpoena for the documents it had requested back on Apr. 23, 2014.

>>11569051, >>11569173, >>11569244 More on Richard Pilger and his involvement in the IRS-Tea Party scandal

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>>11569645

Comfiest I've ever been.