Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has kept quiet about her role in helping orchestrate President Joe Biden from exiting the 2024 presidential race.
Pelosi is now helping campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris. But Pelosi’s first public endorsement of Harris may have landed her in hot water with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
According to a Daily Caller report, Republican Maryland Rep. Andy Harris said in a Monday letter that Pelosi may have violated an IRS rule prohibiting nonprofits from engaging in political activity by endorsing Kamala Harris at a Baltimore library last Thursday.
Why is Nancy Pelosi campaigning for presidential candidates at a nonprofit organization such as the Pratt Free Library in Baltimore?
There is supposed to be an IRS regulation that prohibits nonprofit organizations from engaging in elections.
What is the Pratt Library’s tax…
— Rep. Andy Harris, MD (@RepAndyHarrisMD) August 11, 2024
Per the report, Pelosi, visiting the Central Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore for a book tour Thursday, appeared to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for presidency.
“Kamala Harris should be elected president of the United States because she is the best person for the job,” Pelosi said during the appearance, according to a letter Harris wrote to the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Rep. Jason Smith, R-M.O.
Harris cast the appearance, which was intended to be a press appearance to promote Pelosi’s new book “The Art Of Power,” as a Kamala Harris campaign stop.
“Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited the Pratt library for what was described as a book tour, but what ended up being a campaign rally for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Harris wrote to the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith.
The Pratt Free Library is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization. As a result of this status they are prohibited from engaging in political activity, according to the IRS.
“Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes,” the IRS says on their website.
Pelosi appeared to acknowledge her illegal activity at one point during the appearance.
“I didn’t know we could talk politics,” she said, according to The Baltimore Sun. “I think we’re talking civics here right now, right?”
However, it still didn’t sit well with Harris.
“Endorsing and campaigning for presidential candidates at nonprofit organizations is prohibited activity and as a public official and a nonprofit organization, both Nancy Pelosi and the Pratt Library should know that,” Harris wrote.
“As a result of this campaign activity, I am requesting an update on the current tax-exempt status of the Central Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland,” Harris concluded at the end of his letter.
Pelosi has also been the subject of numerous, controversial stock market investments over the decades that have timed up perfectly with regulatory action, prompting debate over whether members of Congress and their families should be allowed to enrich themselves on the stock market using insider information.
Pelosi’s office did not respond to a request for comment.