https://ballotpedia.org/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.[2]
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]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term “Richard + Pilger”
Richard Pilger must be a rat who got caught with the cheese.
He resigned. No more Pilger. One less swamp critter.
maybe Barr gave Richard Pilger the easy way out