A new letter released by the House Judiciary Committee reveals that under the Biden administration, an IRS contractor leaked the tax information of 405,427 taxpayers to news sources—including that of President Donald Trump. Yet Americans are supposed to be concerned about DOGE?
For weeks, Democrats have raised alarms over Elon Musk and DOGE allegedly plotting a “hostile takeover of the Treasury Department” and putting sensitive taxpayer information at risk. Democrats expressed outrage that DOGE would have “access to the management and disbursement of trillions of dollars and the highly sensitive information of millions of Americans.” They even held a press conference attacking DOGE for being granted read-only access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.
Unsurprisingly, the left-wing press has echoed these faux concerns.
“Elon Musk’s DOGE presence at the IRS raises concerns about taxpayer data security, refund delays,” CBS News’ Aimee Picchi wrote.
The Washington Post’s Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein wrote that “Musk’s DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS.”
But for all the “concern” and “alarm” ringing going on, it seems Americans have more reason to be concerned with employees of the Treasury Department than a billionaire who legitimately doesn’t need or want taxpayer information.
According to a letter that Department of the Treasury Acting Commissioner Douglas W. O’Donnell sent to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Feb. 14, Charles Littlejohn “inappropriately accessed or leaked” the information of 405,427 taxpayers, 89 percent of whom are “business entities.”
Littlejohn had previously been charged in 2023 for allegedly disclosing tax return information to two news organizations that were not explicitly listed. This taxpayer information was leaked to ProPublica, which used the data “to report its ‘Secret IRS Files’ series,” according to ProPublica.
“The vast dataset contained details on thousands of wealthy Americans, and ProPublica reported dozens of stories based on an analysis of it,” ProPublica said. ProPublica’s Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg denied knowing the identity of the source when charges were made public.
A second leak by Littlejohn that included information regarding a “high-ranking government official” “appears to match The New York Times’ reporting on the taxes of Donald Trump,” ProPublica reported.
But Musk and DOGE are the real concerns?
