Exclusive: Rep. Jim Jordan gives IRS hacker ultimatum
Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) is demanding that an inspector general hand over documents about an “unprecedented” and “widespread” leak of tax returns that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) admitted targeted at least 70,000 people, including President Donald Trump.
Heather Hill, the acting inspector general at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), must produce documents related to her department’s investigation into former IRS contractor and document leaker, Charles Littlejohn to Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee by July 5. Specifically, TIGTA must provide communications it had with the Justice Department and the IRS, its findings and recommendations from its investigation into Littlejohn, and “the number of unique [Taxpayer Identification Numbers] and [Employer Identification Numbers] whose protected taxpayer information was further disclosed by Mr. Littlejohn to a third party, including but not limited to, the New York Times or ProPublica.” Jordan’s request has not been previously reported.
“Littlejohn applied to work as a consultant to the IRS with the express intention of accessing and disclosing then-President Donald Trump’s tax returns, Jordan said, adding that Littlejohn “also accessed and leaked protected taxpayer information belonging to thousands of other individuals and entities.”
The Department of Justice charged Littlejohn “with only a single count of unauthorized disclosure of tax information,” Jordan said, even though the judge who sentenced Littlejohn admitted that he “pulled off the biggest heist in IRS history” in his “attack on our constitutional democracy.”
Littlejohn leakedTrump’s and other billionaires’ documents, and sensitive information about “partnerships, employer retirement and pension plans, mutual funds, investment firms, and hedge funds.” The IRS still does not know the extent of Littlejohn’s crimes.
Read Jordan’s full ultimatum HERE.