“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.”
Noting that Trump was under no legal obligation to release his filings and likening the case to the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol, Reyes said: “It cannot be open season on our elected officials — it just can’t.”
Littlejohn’s lawyers had asked for leniency in the form of a sentence of between 12 and 18 months, saying that, at the time, he believed the public had the right to know how much Trump and the others paid in taxes.
He has since come to regret leaking the information, his representatives told the court.
The Justice Department 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 gave Trump’s records to the New York Times, which published a blockbuster report in September 2020, shortly before the presidential election, showing that Trump had paid little or nothing in taxes.
Littlejohn also gave tax data on thousands of wealthy people to ProPublica, which published a string of stories showing how some maneuver to erase their tax bills. They included Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and George Soros.
Also among those who had their filings leaked was Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), one of the wealthiest members of Congress. He was at the two-hour sentencing hearing and asked the judge for the maximum sentence. Afterward, he said he was satisfied with her verdict.
In court filings, Littlejohn’s lawyers said he was incensed by Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns, despite a decades-old tradition of presidents volunteering their filings.
At the same time, 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 leaked the filings in hopes of prompting policymakers to act.
But Reyes said they have a right to privacy. “We’re told by the press that democracy dies in darkness — it also dies in lawlessness.”
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.”
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