Trump tax leaker takes 5th in House inquiry into Biden DOJ plea deal

FIRST ON FOX A man serving in prison for leaking President Donald Trump s and thousands of others confidential tax records in recent months asserted his Fifth Amendment right to the House Judiciary Committee and declined to testify before the panel Fox News Digital has learned A society defender wrote to the Republican-led committee on behalf of Charles Littlejohn a former IRS contractor serving out a five-year sentence in Illinois that because Littlejohn was appealing his sentence he did not have to testify before Congress The testimony that you seek from Mr Littlejohn directly implicates his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination the citizens defender wrote on Saturday Mr Littlejohn validly exercises that Constitutional right in declining to testify EX-IRS CONTRACTOR WHO LEAKED TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISONThe Republican-led House committee is inspecting a plea deal Littlejohn reached with the Biden administration's Department of Justice DOJ in Littlejohn admitted to prosecutors as part of the plea bargain that he carried out an elaborate scheme to access and disclose Trump s tax information and the tax returns of thousands of the wealthiest U S citizens to the New York Times and ProPublica Among those targeted were Elon Musk Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett In return Littlejohn was charged with and pleaded guilty to a single count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and received the maximum -month sentence for the charge At the time U S District Judge Ana Reyes an appointee of former President Joe Biden questioned the wisdom of DOJ s decision to charge Littlejohn with one charge when thousands had been affected by his actions saying she was perplexed and troubled by the plea deal The fact that he is facing one felony count I have no words for Reyes disclosed during his sentencing hearing IRS LEAKER SOUGHT CONSULTANT ROLE WITH EXPRESS PURPOSE OF LEAKING TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS DOJ SAYSMany Republicans also piled onto the Biden DOJ for the perceived leniency of the plea agreement Sen Rick Scott R-FL declared during the sentencing hearing it makes no sense and should be called the plea deal of the century House Options and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith R-MO criticized prosecutors for failing to deter future IRS employees from leaking sensitive taxpayer information House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan R-OH wrote a letter Tuesday to the Trump administration's DOJ obtained by Fox News Digital requesting all communications and other records surrounding Littlejohn s prosecution and accusing the prior administration s DOJ of failing to provide any substantive information Jordan stated he learned from the IRS that Littlejohn's breach was far more expansive than what had been established in court After President Trump took office the IRS disclosed to the Committee that over taxpayers were casualties of Mr Littlejohn s leaks and that percent of the taxpayers we re business entities ' Jordan wrote While it is now clear that Mr Littlejohn s conduct violated the privacy of hundreds of thousands of American taxpayers it remains unclear why the Biden-Harris Justice Department chose to allow him to plead guilty to only a single felony count A DOJ spokesman declined to comment on Jordan s request