The leftist-media claim a 5-year sentence was harsh.  However, in terms of the violations of privacy and law the sentence was a mere slap on the wrist.

Charles Littlejohn (38) previously pleaded guilty to stealing and leaking the tax returns of Donald Trump and approximately 2,000 other high-profile people.  The tax returns were given to The New York Times and ProPublica, who published the contents of 152 individual tax returns.

Charles Littlejohn (right) and his attorney.

WASHINGTON – A former IRS consultant was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking former President Donald Trump’s tax returns as well as the filings of thousands of other wealthy people to the news media.

A district court judge on Monday agreed with the Justice Department that Charles Littlejohn, 38, deserved the maximum statutory sentence for what she called “egregious” crimes.

Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden nominee to the bench, focused on Littlejohn’s decision to release Trump’s filings, which Reyes called “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.”

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 also separately gave tax data on thousands of wealthy people to ProPublica, which published a string of stories showing the strategies some use to reduce or erase their tax bills, including 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.”

Altogether, at least 152 people had their private information published in the media. (read more)