this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 285 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] CosmicTurtle 81 points 10 months ago (2 children)

He needs to be pardoned or at least have his sentence commuted. But I highly doubt that Biden would do it.

[–] RememberTheApollo 75 points 10 months ago (2 children)

A precedent where your followers break the law in your name can be a dangerous war of escalation between opponents.

[–] grue 90 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Trump already set that precedent when he pardoned Roger Stone.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

"your followers"

More like "those who hate the other guy"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

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.

[–] dacreator 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That seems like a rational take and I agree with you. Curious why the down votes? Because you're alluding to Biden having shortcomings at all? Or because it's perceived as a both sides are the same argument?

It's hard to accept we're living in such a tribal world. There's no more nuance or middle ground in the majority it seems.

[–] diffcalculus 2 points 10 months ago

He's getting down voted because most people in this thread are foaming at the mouth.

I hate trump as much as the next guy. What this guy did, tho, is currently against the law. Should the law be changed? Should he have gone through a whistle blower process? Questions to be asked.

But as of today, you can't purposely get a job at the IRS to leak information that the IRS wasn't ready/allowed to release. Full stop.

The folks arguing here that he should be pardoned or who are enraged that he is even being charged are presenting childish arguments. There's a theme on Lemmy that I've noticed. Tribalism is strong as fuck.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

You heard it here folks, avoiding the appearance of impropriety is the most partisan thing you can do