On Feb. 25, 2025, the House Committee on the Judiciary's Republican contingent claimed that, under former U.S. President Joe Biden, the IRS leaked the taxpayer information of more than 405,000 Americans.
In a post on X (archived), the House Judiciary GOP wrote: "New disclosure reveals that the Biden IRS leaked taxpayer information of over 405,000 Americans -- including President Trump's. 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."
(X user @JudiciaryGOP)
The claim appeared elsewhere (archived) on X (archived) and on Facebook (archived) and Threads (archived).
It is true that from August 2019 to November 2020, a contractor at the IRS named Charles Littlejohn leaked information about what was initially thought to be around 70,000 taxpayers. Following an internal Treasury investigation, the IRS sent a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, the chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary Republicans, that revealed Littlejohn had actually leaked the details of 405,427 taxpayers. However, the sitting president during this period was Donald Trump, not Biden. Likewise, the IRS commissioner at the time was Charles P. Rettig, who Trump nominated for the post. Therefore, we have rated this claim as a mixture of true and false information.
Snopes reached out to the House Committee on the Judiciary Republicans to ask why it said "the Biden IRS" carried out the Littlejohn leaks in its X post. We will update this article if it responds.
We also reached out to the Treasury, the parent agency of the IRS, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) to ask how it discovered the true scope of Littlejohn's leaks. We await replies from both.
Littlejohn leaks included Trump, Musk and other billionaires
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Littlejohn carried out tax document leaks between August 2019 and November 2020 while working as an IRS contractor.
Littlejohn admitted during a plea hearing (on page 10) on Oct. 12, 2023, that he leaked Trump's tax returns to the New York Times and ProPublica. Both organizations published extensively about Trump's tax returns as a result of Littlejohn's leaks.
When asked whether the leak took place "while [Trump] was in office," Littlejohn replied: "Correct."
The former IRS contractor also leaked tax data to ProPublica about billionaires including Elon Musk,
In October 2023, Littlejohn pleaded guilty to the unauthorized disclosure of tax return and return information. In January 2024, he was sentenced to five years in prison for disclosing "thousands" of tax returns without authorization, the DOJ said at the time of sentencing.
As for how Littlejohn carried out the leaks, the DOJ said:
Littlejohn accessed tax returns associated with Public Official A (and related individuals and entities) on an IRS database after using broad search parameters designed to conceal the true purpose of his queries. He then uploaded the tax returns to a private website in order to avoid IRS protocols established to detect and prevent large downloads or uploads from IRS devices or systems. Littlejohn then saved the tax returns to multiple personal storage devices, including an iPod, before contacting News Organization 1.
The leaks were initially thought to have affected around 70,000 people. The IRS's letter to Jordan, received in February 2025 and signed by Douglas W. O'Donnell, the then acting IRS commissioner, revealed that, upon review, more than 405,000 taxpayers were affected. O'Donnell wrote:
Relying on data analysis by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and the IRS, the IRS mailed notifications to 405,427 taxpayers whose taxpayer information was inappropriately disclosed by Mr. Littlejohn. Approximately 89% of the taxpayers are business entities.
O'Donnell added that the IRS did not expect to send any further "large mailings" to victims related to Littlejohn's leaks.
The acting commissioner stepped down from the role in late February 2025.
The full text of the letter was available on the House Judiciary Committee's website.