The House Judiciary Committee, in a social media post on Tuesday, accused former President Joe Biden’s administration of failing to reveal the true number of leaked tax returns on Americans, including President Donald Trump, to a pair of news organizations.
“New disclosure reveals that the Biden IRS leaked taxpayer information of over 405,000 Americans — including President Trump’s,” begins an X post from the House Judiciary Committee. “The IRS’s admission confirms the Committee’s suspicion and recent reports that show the scope of the leak was much broader than what the Biden Administration’s IRS initially led the public to believe.
“In May 2024, an IRS spokesman stated that ‘[m]ore than 70,000’ taxpayers were affected. We found out that it’s actually over 405,000 taxpayers! This is a MASSIVE scandal,” the tweet continued, adding that Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) initially launched an inquiry regarding the alleged leaks last year.
The X post also contained a screengrab of what appears to be a Judiciary Committee report noting the precise number of tax returns leaked by IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn, adding that nearly 90 percent of the returns belonged to American businesses.
“Littlejohn pled guilty to the unauthorized disclosure of return information in October 2023 and was sentenced to five years in prison earlier this year,” the IRS said in a May 10, 2024 letter mailed to victims.
The letter added:
To begin with, it should be stressed that this incident was unacceptable. Any improper access or disclosure of confidential taxpayer information is unacceptable, and it is completely at odds with the IRS’s values and the agency’s commitment to taxpayers.
