BREAKING: Former IRS contractor sentenced to 5 years for leaking Trump's tax returns

A former Internal Revenue Service contractor has been sentenced to five years in prison after leaking the tax records of Donald Trump to the New York Times, as well as the tax records of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to ProPublica. 

Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty in October, according to NBC News. Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, stating that he "abused his position by unlawfully disclosing thousands of Americans’ federal tax returns and other private financial information to multiple news organizations." 

They said Littlejohn "weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law." 

Littlejohn was sentenced by US District Judge Ana Reyes on Wednesday in a DC federal courthouse. He will also be required to pay a $5,000 fine. 

“You can be an outstanding person and commit bad acts. What you did in targeting the sitting president of the United States was an attack on our constitutional democracy," said Reyes, who also compared his actions to attacks and threats against elected officials and to the January 6 defendants she has sentenced. 

Littlejohn’s attorney argued that his client committed the offense "out of a deep, moral belief that the American people had a right to know the information and sharing it was the only way to effect change," and that Littlejohn believed he was right at the time. 

Littlejohn said in remarks before the sentencing that he "acted out of a sincere but misguided belief that I was serving the public." 

“I made my decision with the full knowledge that I would likely end up in a courtroom,” he said. 

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