1y ago

DOJ: Ex-IRS employee who leaked Trump's tax returns intentionally got job to disclose records

www.usatoday.com

A former Internal Revenue Service contractor, who leaked tax information about Donald Trump and other wealthy individuals to news organizations, got his job to intentionally to spread the confidential records, according to Justice Department prosecutors.

Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, pleaded guilty in October to unauthorized disclosure of tax return and return information. U.S. District Judge Ana Reye scheduled sentencing for Jan. 29. Prosecutors recommended Tuesday he receive the maximum sentence of five years in prison.

“After applying to work as an IRS consultant with the intention of accessing and disclosing tax returns, Defendant weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law,” wrote prosecutors Corey Amundson, chief of the Justice Department’s public integrity section, Jennifer Clarke and Jonathan Jacobson.

110 comments

It sounds like Charles Edward Littlejohn is a fucking badass and overall rad dude worth celebrating. Additionally, if he gets the maximum sentence of 5 years, that will be drastically longer than many of the January 6th rioters. I can't change the outcome for him, but I do wish him luck.
- He needs to be pardoned or at least have his sentence commuted. But I highly doubt that Biden would do it.
  
  A precedent where your followers break the law in your name can be a dangerous war of escalation between opponents.
  
  Biden wouldn’t want to risk setting a precedent where his sides shortcomings might be also exposed.
  It is in this way that the ruling class is bipartisan in upholding its privileges.

It doesn't sound to me like he thought he was above the law. He seemed to know the consequences. He just didn't think that Trump should be above the law. Or, at the very least, above presidential decorum.
- Yet the orange buffoon still walks the streets and continues raising hatred.
  
  "raising hatred" ... How did he hurt you and would like to talk about it?

American hero

He knew he wasn't above the law, he just believed the consequences were worth it. I hope he's right.
- Yup. Dude took one for the team.

He held the records up to the light knowing he would be burned by it. Truly the definition of a hero.

What a fucking hero.

Absolute bullshit that this guy is getting the maximum sentence for releasing what Trump himself had said he was going to release years ago and what it's just taken for granted that Presidents will always release (it should be a requirement for the job). MEANWHILE, the list of crimes that Trump has committed makes this seem like a petty crime in comparison and Trump is still walking free. Trump has literally admitted to seeing himself as above the law.
- He's not guaranteed to get the maximum sentence. The prosecutor just asked for the maximum. He hasn't been sentenced yet.

This is probably one of the hardest things to do in the era we live in - go against our social engineering to sacrifice a relatively comfortable life in defiance of this moment.
Collectively, we're frogs in the pot, especially as we move towards the end of this year and the worldwide elections as an accelerator to societal collapse. It's so hard to know what to do that might make a difference today, at least this person tried, I hope society persists beyond this garbage moment and for long enough to allow history to look back on people like this as heros who at least tried.
- Collectively, we’re frogs in the pot, especially as we move towards the end of this year and the worldwide elections as an accelerator to societal collapse.
  Comparing us to frogs does a disservice to frogs. They tried to slowly boil frogs and the frogs jumped out.
  We're more like people sitting in a hot tub while people pee in it. When will we notice that the hot tub is mostly pee and get the fuck out?

Littlejohn… friend of Robinhood?

If he gets jail time, I'll contribute to his commissary account.
- Silly as it sounds, this is exactly how to support him. That and writing letters. It means so much to incarcerated folks to have the few things from commissary that make life just a little less miserable, and what to spend it on is a bit of choice and independence in a system designed to take every bit of those things away as a means of grinding inmates down.
  Letters are just as important - a lifeline to the outside. Sometimes literally. Guards know who is in regular contact with people outside, and who doesn't have anyone to report abuse to. Being able to communicate things like unmet medical needs so someone can set up a call campaign can be life or death.
  
  I've never heard of this before. Is it common or just a us thing?
  
  OK How do I send this guy a letter? what's his prison address?

Why wasn't he protected as a whistleblower? Or why isn't Biden pardoning him?
- A. Probably because he took the specifically to do this.
  B. They don't usually pardon someone before sentencing.
- There's often a limits to whistleblower protections, usually you're only protected if you report it internally, and publishing private information is often not protected at all, and whenever there's protections available for publishing it then it's usually only protected if it's limited to what's necessary to inform the public about a sufficiently severe issue (like newsworthy major fraud).
- It would be a pretty bad look for Biden to pardon him IMO. I think it would be a mistake for him to do so.
- What did he whistle blow on? A whistle blower is blowing the whistle on their own company they work for for malfeasance. Leaking documents that are not tied to wrong doing by the IRS is not blowing the whistle.

I suspect he never believed he was above the law, but that the law was broken.

Good. Fuck Trump.
- Lol you sound like a loser.
  
  Your username is rare pepe collector
  
  And you sound like someone who puts their political stooges on a pedestal.
  
  Fuck Trump and fuck you too 👍

Everyone's taxes should be public information. There are too many rich assholes hiding the fact that they don't pay their fair share.
- Sweden. It's not for the current year but the previously declared incomes. Anyone can get them. Seems to work just fine.
- How does making it public stop that problem? If anything that would probably just screw people over if potential employers could see exactly how much money you make. Let's make it illegal for an employer to ask how much you currently make, but then let employers just query a DB of your income? That doesn't make any sense.
  
  Ok but you could also see how much they are paying other people which I feel like would even things out.
  “We see you currently make 50k, so we’re gonna offer you 60k”
  “I see you are paying everyone else 80k for the same job, so I won’t take any less”
  
  Well for starters you can spread awareness of how much the ultra rich steal. If you're in the eroding middle class and see that you pay more taxes than the ultra rich you might be more incline to raise taxes on them.
  If anything that would probably just screw people over if potential employers could see exactly how much money you make.
  That actually goes both ways. That in a sense makes wages public which means the employers can't screw over employees because most employees don't know how much others make. And I don't know how employers really benefit from it. If you're in a position to demand more pay it doesn't matter how much you currently make, what matters is how much they're willing to pay to hire you. If they think less of you because of how much you make then you probably don't want to work there anyway.

Hey, it worked for the Scientologists...
- Fuck Scientology and fuck scientologists though. Especially Tom Cruise. Also fuck the people that pay to watch movies with Tom Cruise in them.

Prosecutors for the Department of Justice’s “public integrity” section are complete fucking twats. They’ve been 1000% blind to anything trump has done, oh but this guy? Yeah “five years in jail”!
Fuckers. I hope they fear the truth that their lives are being wasted to serve their pinheaded idiot masters.
And we’re not doing the “but it’s against the law” thing when it comes to dealing with trump. The convicted fraudster rapist who stage a coup to stay in power? Motherfucker we’re about to go Thomas Jefferson on that demented greasy fuck if he keeps threatening the Constitution and, well, everybody else. Because the pinheads at the Department of Justice’s “public integrity” unit are busy stuffing their heads up their butts. Time’s up, Merrick. You got shit done.
Hey while we got ya Merrick, you got that unredacted Mueller Report we paid 15 million for? No? Still deciding on that are ya? Fuckhead republiQan stooge.

Obviously, with a name like "Littlejohn," he's a good guy in league with Robin Hood and Friar Tuck and all the other Merry Men. In his defense, Trump did (repeatedly) promise to disclose his IRS tax returns to the public. The man only helped Trump keep a campaign promise. Littlejohn ought to get an award and an all-expense paid vacation at Mar-a-Lago!

I’d like to remind everyone that Little John is one of the people who fought alongside Robin Hood.

Tax returns should be public anyways

The hero we need.

Littlejohn just pulled a big john in my pants move.

EDIT II: I am indeed apparently quoting the prosecutors. Whoopsie doodles. Prosecutors are generally ass people, too, of course. Leaving the original for my shame.
Defendant weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law
Literally no one who does something like this thinks they're above the law when they're just doing to force our elected officials to comply with the law.
Fucking judges man, they're just as shitty as fucking cops. Look at this fucking holier than thou bullshit attitude from this asswipe. The number of judges who equate the law with morality and ethics is too damn high. The number of judges who trust the cops word over anyone else's simply because they're a cop is too damn high.
I got read the riot act by a judge over weed once. I may as well have been dealing with a priest I got so much holier than thou how dangerous you are bullshit over fucking WEED.
AJAB.
EDIT: I mean, hell, you want a real disgusting example of this? Go look at the court history around the prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg got lucky, because he was absolutely treated similarly by the judge, as though he "thought he was above the law" and not that he was trying to correct an injustice. I guess judges only like it when they can "correct" an "injustice."
- You quoted the prosecutors, not the judge...
  
  Good catch, edited for shaming purposes.
- Literally no one who does something like this thinks they're above the law when they're just doing to force our elected officials to comply with the law.
  This didn't force any elected officials to comply with the law. As much as I dislike Trump and hope he goes to jail for his actual crimes, not releasing his taxes is not against the law.

Talk about a real go getter attitude. He had his eye on the prize, followed through, and delivered!

Does he have a go fund me?

He pleaded guilty, but I don't think a jury would have convicted him.

He did good.

Cool Story DOJ, now fuck off.
- DOJ: "This man committed a crime and we're going to persecute him for it."
  Audience: "OMG We Love That Guy! Wooooo!"

2nd to the guy who became the university of ohio mascot to beat up the ohio state mascot.

I can't believe the prosecutor is talking about nobody being above the law with a straight face.

@MicroWave @news I want a job to expose my political enemies, it says so right there on my resume

Thank you for your service to the public.

Based

That's rather hilarious, actually.

Sounds like someone was trying to DOJ a bullet

I'm guessing I'm going to have the most hated opinion on this. But fuck that person. I get a lot of people want to celebrate it as "person had to commit a crime so that they could point out crimes being committed by Trump" but ultimately this wrecks public trust of an institution, of which the IRS doesn't exactly enjoy a lot of it to begin with. And if we don't have trust in our government, it's doesn't matter, we're fuck Trump won.
This whole thing, literally proves the argument of "weaponizing Government". This person walked into the IRS, had an agenda, and was absolutely going to abuse their position to make a point that they had zero legal right to make. Did anyone directly tell them to do the thing? No. Was there a lot of talking heads that might have colored this person's opinion about Trump? You better believe it. So no one "directly" weaponized this person, but someone would be hard pressed to convince me it wasn't indirect. Which brings up the question of, are we a nation of laws or vendettas? Do we settle our beef in court without blood or are we just finding out who can sneak the most without getting noticed?
I get it, I don't like Trump either, BUT NOT LIKE THIS. This is too far. This person is no hero, they violated the law and even worse abused public trust. If we don't have public trust, if we're just celebrating when someone takes the piss on an oath to obey the law (which IRS employees take), then we have nothing defensible. We're literally talking about the shit that we're going after Trump for, violations of his oath to defend the Constitution and uphold the law.
If we're violating laws because "trust me bro, it'll be worth it" then the laws mean nothing. I get it, too long have we had our faith in this system forsake us. Too many rich assholes bend the law to their whim to escape actual persecution, so "it's okay to rob from the rich to give to the poor every once and awhile". But that's actually not how we solve things, that's just gasoline to make things even worse.
Acting above the law doesn't always mean, you get away with it. Acting above the law means, that you don't view the law as always being a guiding principal. That sometimes, somethings require operating outside of the law. No matter the consequences. That the ends justify the means. And if we aren't able to hold enough faith to believe that the law will eventually ring out and that we can eventually find enough justice in this world…
Hang it up, we're done here. Because that's all that's holding any democracy together. Faith, blind faith, sometimes dumb faith that we're all going to do the thing we promised to do, and that we're all going to come together when that's violated. It's easy and quick to settle a grudge with fists but a lasting peace and understanding comes from settling it with our minds and voices. Breaking laws to expose Trump's crimes, that's not a victory for democracy, that's just a victory for people who don't like Trump.
- You are looking at this completely backwards. Civil disobedience is absolutely necessary to help create just laws. Do not confuse civil disobedience and vigilantism.
  Any man who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community on the injustice of the law is at that moment expressing the very highest respect for the law.
  Martin Luther King Jr. [Source]
  
  This wasn't an unjust law though. No one wants the IRS publicizing their tax return details. It happened to a guy you don't like, but that doesn't make the action a good thing.
- Shockingly, history shows us that when the people entrusted with upholding and enforcing the law themselves become lawless, you generally end up with society "taking matters into their own hands."
  Considering elected officials and unelected officials blatantly getting away with wrongdoing has been happening since before I was born and I am officially a fucking old person, the idea that this is just about Trump and not about a legal system that is so broken that it has turned into the early Legalism phase of Fascism just reeks of missing the point, the historical examples, and how long this has been happening.
  We let war criminals off the hook less than twenty years ago, and that's not even the half of it, going all the way back to Nixon, at the very least.
  It's not that you're wrong, it's that the chance to fix things "within the system" flew the coop decades ago. Clarence Thomas and Gini Thomas are proof enough alone of that, let alone the three Justices who served on the legal team that helped get George W. Bush (cough War Criminal cough) get elected who all somehow ended up on the Supreme Court.
  I will say, the parts that do have to do with Trump are pretty damning, though, too. Merrick Garland's hand was practically forced to bring charges against Trump. It literally took the classified documents case and Trump being so belligerently stupid with classified information that they could no longer look the other way. Why did he wait so long? To "not look political?" All it did was make him look political. A guy hiding behind politics so he wouldn't have to hold the political hot potato of indicting a former President. Ended up having to anyway because this guy in particular is so criminally insane.
  
  It’s not that you’re wrong, it’s that the chance to fix things “within the system” flew the coop decades ago
  I don't disagree with the rest of your comment. But I see the younger generation of our time and I have hope. Maybe foolish hope. Myself being part of the fucking old person crew. I don't think we're yet too far gone, but my goodness you're right, if it hasn't flown the coop yet, it's already got it's boarding pass.
- Your legal system exists to protect itself and the ruling class, it is not just, it is indefensible.
  This person sacrificed themselves to bring to light one small part of the injustices you allow to perpetuate. They’re a hero, you’re a problem.
  
  Your legal system exists to protect itself and the ruling class, it is indefensible
  Well the obvious question. What system would you have it replaced with?
  This person sacrificed themselves to bring to light one small part of the injustices you allow to perpetuate
  And this person has now also made it where everyone will ask, "if this person existed in the IRS, how do we know there are not more?" This is how distrust gets sown. This is how the IRS loses more funding. This is exactly how "ruling class" gets even less oversight. This is how these people, you want to go after, get away with it. This person didn't solve anything, they made it worse.
  That person's is absolutely heading to jail on the 29th. Where's Trump at the moment? You think you got some sort of win?
  They’re a hero, your a problem
  They are going to jail and will likely never have the right to vote ever again in their life. I can still vote for a different world than the one we currently live in.
  So if you think this "solved" something, then you didn't understand the problem. I'm just going to tell you, this kind of tit for tat stuff. We won't survive it. Every hero ultimately turns into a Robespierre. We don't solve this with a single person, we solve it together, otherwise we don't solve it period.
- Nah, this is not going to get through with people.

110 comments