Washington, D.C. – There are so many victims of a politicized IRS leak of confidential tax information that President Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) claims that it “would be impractical” to contact all of them, yet DOJ only sought a one-count charge against the perpetrator who pled guilty on Thursday to stealing private tax information, including that of former President Donald Trump, and disclosing it to news organizations.

The defendant admitted to making two separate disclosures to two separate news outlets impacting over a thousand taxpayers, and further admitted to impeding or obstructing the investigation — yet the Department of Justice inexplicably only pursued one count of unauthorized disclosure, prompting House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) to issue the following statement:

“Ways and Means Committee Republicans have pushed federal investigators for years to get to the bottom of who stole and leaked the taxpayer information of thousands of Americans – including those of former President Donald Trump. Finally, the thief has been identified, charged, and now has pled guilty to this unprecedented crime. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice elected to charge only one count despite the more than a thousand disclosures he admitted to in open court. To restore trust in the justice system and the IRS – and to deter future thefts – there need to be significant consequences for this type of illegal, politically motivated activity.”

Read: Smith: Prosecution of IRS Leaker Comes After Years of Republican Calls for Investigation, Will IRS Explain What Happened and How They Will Fix It?

Read: Chairman Smith: After giving the IRS an $80 billion raise, the Biden Admin now wants taxpayers to give the IRS another $43.2 billion.

Read: Government Watchdog Says IRS Needs to Address Critical Safeguard Weaknesses 

Read: ICYMI: Ways and Means Democrats Ignore Potentially Criminal Leak of President’s Taxes in Largely Partisan Hearing on “Taxpayer Fairness”

Background:

March 2023: Chairman Smith called on Secretary Yellen to explain what she was doing to get to the bottom of the crime and provide Americans with an update. Secretary Yellen responded that she referred the matter to investigators.

February 2023: Chairman Smith wrote a letter to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration demanding an explanation for why Americans were still in the dark 19 months after the latest leak.

June 2021: In response to the leak of confidential taxpayer information published by ProPublica that appeared to come from inside the IRS, Republican tax writers called for transparency and an investigation. Then Republican leader of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, Rep. Mike Kelly, demanded answers on the breach as well.

September 2020: After President Trump’s confidential tax information was leaked to the New York Times, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee raised concerns about the breach.

Flashback: ProPublica previously received (and published) leaked taxpayer information from the IRS in 2012 that just so happened to include critics of the Democrat administration.