IRS Employee Who Leaked Trump’s Tax Information Requests Mercy

The IRS worker who pleaded guilty to leaking Donald Trump’s taxes to the New York Times in 2020 is asking the judge in his case for leniency ahead of his Jan. 29 sentencing.

“He committed this offense out of a deep, moral belief that the American people had a right to know the information and sharing it was the only way to effect change,” his lawyers wrote in a memo filed last Wednesday. Littlejohn now “recognizes the grave impact of his actions not only on the victims whose tax data he leaked to the media, but also on the very system that he hoped to improve.”

“The defendant was wrong to violate the law even if he believed it would serve the public interest. It is also wrong for the Government to request six times the Guidelines maximum on the facts of this case,” Littlejohn’s lawyer wrote.

His lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to sentence him to less than five years.

Prosecutors in a sentencing memo said Littlejohn’s disclosures appear “unprecedented in the IRS’s history” and warrant a maximum term. The impact is “enormous,” they said.

“He executed his disclosure scheme over the course of multiple years, plotting and calculating carefully at each step to minimize the risk of detection and maximize the impact of his disclosures,” prosecutors wrote. “He reorganized his entire life around this crime,” rejoining the consulting firm “with the goal of getting access” to Trump’s tax information, the government said.