Whistle-blowers are the backbone of investigative journalism. But there will be fewer in the future if they get what this former IRS consultant turned whistleblower got.
The whistleblower has been sentenced to five years in prison for leaking Donald Trump’s tax returns. He is also guilty of leaking the filings of hundreds of other wealthy people. A district court judge recently agreed with the Justice Department that Charles Littlejohn, 38, should get the maximum statutory sentence.
She believes it is what he deserves for his “egregious” crimes. Judge Ana Reyes zeroed in on Littlejohn’s decision to expose Trump’s filings, calling it “an attack on our constitutional democracy.”
“When you target the sitting president of the United States, you’re targeting the office, and when you’re targeting the office of the president of the United States, you’re targeting democracy — you’re targeting our constitutional system of government.”
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Reyes noted that Trump was under no legal obligation to release his filings. And she likened the case to the capitol riot. She said, “It cannot be open season on our elected officials — it just can’t.”
Littlejohn’s lawyers had requested leniency in the form of a sentence of between 12 and 18 months. At the time, he thought people had a right to know how much Trump and the others paid in taxes.
He has since come to regret leaking the information, his legal representatives told the court. Unfortunately, his remorse helped little. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has praised the judge’s decision.
“Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri.
Littlejohn leaked the information to The New York Times and ProPublica, both of which have protested the sentence. The Times called the judge’s decision “harsh” and “deeply troubling.”
“The Times’s reporting on this topic played an important role in helping the public understand the financial ties and tax strategies of a sitting president —information that has long been seen as central to the knowledge that voters should have about the leader of our government,” said spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha.
Thanks to the documents, the newspaper was able to publish a blockbuster story in September 2020. It came just before the presidential election and showed that Trump had paid little or no taxes.
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Littlejohn also separately gave tax data on thousands of wealthy people to ProPublica. It published a string of stories showcasing the strategies some use to reduce or erase their tax bills. Those whose strategies were shared include the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and George Soros.
ProPublica spokeswoman Alexis Stephens said: “Whistleblowers are often the lifeblood of investigative journalism” and “they deserve protection, not prosecution.” At least 152 people had their private information published in the media.
Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.), one of Congress’s wealthiest members, also saw his filings leaked. He attended the two-hour sentencing hearing and demanded that the judge award the maximum sentence.
After the verdict, he said he was fine with her judgment. In a statement, House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith said Reyes sent a “strong message that the U.S. judicial system takes these crimes seriously.”
In court filings, Littlejohn’s lawyers say he was angry with Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns, even though there was a decades-old tradition of presidents volunteering their filings.
Simultaneously, he became increasingly concerned with income inequality, his interest fanned by a critique of the tax system written by liberal economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.
After repeatedly discovering wealthy people paying little in taxes, he chose to leak the filings in hopes of pushing policymakers to act. However, Reyes believes Trump and the others have a right to privacy. “We’re told by the press that democracy dies in darkness — it also dies in lawlessness.”
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She said the democratic system won’t work unless “every individual elected to office is able to exercise the duties of that office without concern of exposing herself or her family to unlawful conduct or personal harm.”
Reyes also questioned what the leaks accomplished, noting that House Democrats separately released Trump’s returns in 2022 after a long legal fight. The judge also said there are already statistics and other publicly available information showing how much wealthy people pay.
“There was nothing noble or moral about the nature of his offense,” said Reyes. “It did not produce a single social good that could not have been — has not been produced in some way by lawful means.”
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