Hillary Clinton rushed to X within hours of reports the Justice Department was considering settling President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. She accused Trump of “shaking down taxpayers” and declared the “corruption meter is flashing red.”
Clinton’s reaction ignored a critical fact: the lawsuit stems from former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn, who stole thousands of confidential tax returns in 2019. Littlejohn smuggled the records out of government systems using personal devices—including an iPod—and handed them to media outlets after pleading guilty to federal charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison on January 29, 2024, following a plea announced in October 2023.
According to court documents summarized by the Justice Department, Littlejohn accessed tax information tied to high-ranking government officials and used broad search parameters in IRS databases to conceal his targets. He uploaded records to private websites to bypass security protocols, saved them on personal storage devices, and provided the data to news outlets between August and October 2019. The documents further state he stole tax information for thousands of wealthy individuals and shared it with another outlet.
President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization filed this lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department in January 2026, seeking at least $10 billion. The complaint alleges the government failed to protect confidential tax records stolen by Littlejohn. Justice Department officials confirmed on January 29, 2024, that Littlejohn’s conduct constituted an abuse of his contractor role and a breach of federal law.
The case remains active in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Ana C. Reyes. No settlement has been reached, no audits dropped, and no money exchanged—though discussions about potential resolutions continue. Clinton’s accusation of “shaking down taxpayers” contrasts sharply with her silence on Littlejohn’s actions, which the Justice Department described as a betrayal of public trust under Attorney General Merrick Garland.
