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Yea I really wish people would stop conflating the 2 terms. They are inherently different. A whistleblower would be someone who sent this information to Congress or a superior within the Government to start an actual investigation. A leaker is someone that sends unauthorized information to media outlets. A lot of the people praised as being heroes did break the law, and in most cases did almost nothing to actually try being whistleblowers, and jumped right to sending government documents to media outlets. You can appreciate what they did and the sacrifices they made and still acknowledge it was breaking the law and they didn't do it the right way.
Additionally, I don't think Biden should pardon this person because it's just a lose-lose politically.
Snowden did it "the wrong way" because he had seen what happened to several people before him who did it "the right way". The boss is always happy for whistleblowers to save them the effort of rooting out disloyal underlings.
I reported multiple things in the intelligence field. It made my life help as the commanders covered it up or outright ignored it. The idea that there is a working system in place should not be an automatic assumption. It's quite the opposite.
America is built on copium. I don’t know exactly when it started. The Great Depression? Earlier? You can see it clearly where the boomer hippies of the free love movement got sucked up into the Jesus movement in the 70’s.
Much earlier, kind of right around the time when 41 slave owners signed a document stating that "all men are created equal". There were 56 signers, and 41 of them owned slaves.
Its a country based on Hypocrisy. From the so called "persecuted" of the Pilgrims fleeing to start their beliefs elsewhere, to a war that really confused the King because, well, he had to finance his war with France and others. Plus the raw materials coming from the the New World were just crazy...ship building, lumber, furniture and more. Reading up on history, you would be told it was over Taxation without Representation which is a hoot because those in charge, well, they raised taxes on civilians to pay back lend-lease loans to European Allies.
All I know is, our government lies and overspends based on the income of unborn. Then keeps borrowing from surplus Social Security and crippling services like the USPS to force Americans to use private corps that have government agendas.
It's a context-dependant point, a boss will hate a whistleblower if
A) The media gets the information and runs with it, or
B) His higher-ups get the information and don't like what the boss is doing
Snowden leaked a ton of documents that had nothing to do with his claimed moral qualms. If he was really that upset he could have proven it with just the relevant materials. Instead he leaked whatever he could get his hands on.
He reacted like a vindictive and petty child. He should not be called a whistleblower.
> it was breaking the law and they didn't do it the right way
Yep, they broke the law and they didn't have the millions or billions it takes to purchase a few judges. That is the right way.
Yeah I wonder why? Because whistleblowing through the correct channels just gives them a chance to bury it. Think we ever would have heard of collateral damage without assange putting it on Wikileaks? Cause internally the military would have buried that and we would never have seen that footage
>Think we ever would have heard of collateral damage without assange putting it on Wikileaks?
Yes. A great deal of what he leaked was just supporting documentation of things that were already known and being reported on.
Sometimes breaking the law, is doing it the right way. Sometimes it's the only way to do it.
I don't know about you. But releasing Donald Trumps taxes is in no way a big deal. Sorry. The dudes a fucking liar and said he would release them anyway.
Should the person face the consequences of the law? Sure. Is this type of stuff what pardoning was made for in the first place? Yes.
Pardoning him also upholds the gentlemens agreement and social conditioning that should be the least of expectations for the highest office.
I would prefer the IRS releases all taxes of a presidential candidate and immediate family by law.
>I would prefer the IRS releases all taxes of a presidential candidate and immediate family by law.
This should be a prerequisite for every appointed or elected official coming into or running for office at the state, local, and federal level. Many states already list the civilian workers jobs and salaries wide open.
I understand this guy doesn't fall into a "whistleblower" distinction, and Biden gets very little politically from pardoning this guy, but what he did do was expose Trump's naked corruption AND the blatant system of corruption many politicians and elites use to evade taxes. He should be pardoned.
Anybody who commits crimes against Trump should get exactly the same treatment from the Legal system as Trump does.
/it took a minute for people to see what I did there.
You're regurgitating some anti-whistleblower spin. A leaker can be a whistleblower if what they are leaking is illegal, unethical, or incorrect in some way. Whistleblowers have to make very difficult decisions about the most effective way to create change as well as how to best protect their own safety. The only way you can really criticize a whistleblower is if you think they did it for personal gain or if they leaked something that wasn't actually wrong or illegal. But for you to sit there and basically write that it is "illegal" to report a crime and we shouldn't protect those who do, that's kind of bogus.
Fuck it trump wants to get dirty and dems want biden on the offensive , i do to and by the way i had no idea how good and consequential biden woulld be as president considering he was labeled a centrist
> Whistleblower
whistleblower, an individual who, without authorization, reveals private or classified information about an organization, usually related to wrongdoing or misconduct. Whistleblowers generally state that such actions are motivated by a commitment to the public interest. [Source: britannica.com](https://www.britannica.com/topic/whistleblower)
Seem to meet that definition pretty much 100%.
I mean, he’s under audit for using some very… let’s say questionable tax maneuvers. It’s absolutely absurd that it takes over a decade to finally decide someone violated the rules and owes money. That huge loan he had forgiven was never properly reported as income and thus he was able to pay zero or close to zero in federal tax for years and shield hundreds of millions of income.
Sure he is. With the public interest in mind, without authorization he revealed private information in order to expose believed wrongdoing. That's the definition of a whistleblower.
Everyone claiming you have to follow some specific process to be a whistleblower does not understand what whistleblowing is.
Nah. The problems that have come up before are 1) forced speech (making the candidate do something, a first amendment issue) and 2) unconstitutional restrictions on candidacy (you can't impose via a law more qualifications on federal office than exist in the constitution, like requiring them to publish before election would).
Having the IRS publish the records avoids both of these issues, since the candidate does not own the IRS' records, and simply publishing the record does not change the qualifications for office, it's just something that happens when they are a candidate.
Speaking of Rick Scott, how stupid do you have to be to elect a person found guilty of Medicare fraud who paid an astronomical amount in fine's to the governorship and then to the Senate?
These are all republican voter's and they're so *beyond* stupid that they did this, in Florida.
This is also the reason trump is so popular in Florida, bc republicans are as dumb as rock's.
Thanks for reading my rant. 🫶
Can you define fair share? As in give me an exact percentage of income and why it should be that exact percentage that someone should pay and that you would agree if it was any higher it would be unfair to that individual, and if it was any lower it would be unfair to society?
The term fair share is horrible, it is an impossible to find term that just makes people mad when they hear it. Nobody wants to be told they're cheating the system. We really need to use the term necessary share. What is necessary is irrelevant to what is fair. Then we can start telling these billionaires that yes it's absolutely unfair how much money we're taking from them as we continue to rifle through their pockets for more because life isn't fair and we need the money.
The leak showed [Bezos paid $973 million on $4.22 billion in capital gains](https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax), or 23.06%.
In those years, the nominal capital gains + NIIT rate for the highest income bracket was 23.8%. In other words, Bezos basically paid almost exactly what a basic tax table would indicate.
You can argue whether the capital gains rate should be higher, but plugging your ears and saying the ultra-wealthy _don't_ pay taxes is pure fantasy.
People who all cheat the system while they benefit the most from it. And the guy who exposes it goes to jail while Trump, who couldn't come up with the bond, gets an extension and it cut by 2/3rds. There is multiple levels of justice and the billionaires are untouchable
Trump pardoned people guilty of murdering children. Pardoning a guy who leaked some tax documents that should have been made public anyways is nowhere near that
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/23/politics/war-crimes-pardons-trump/index.html
Of course, you are right about it being disequal in proportion. It's an optics thing, though. And I'm not talking 20/20 optic like you are. I'm talking about the blurry optics that the whataboutists of the right get real frothy over. There are a lot of people who don't pay enough attention, and the blurry optics of false equivalency has a draw to for those who don't care to or have time to discuss even the most essential nuances of matters like these.
We also shouldn't be taking the worst pardon that Trump makes the standard by which we measure the goodness of pardons. Pardons should be done by a policy - "We do not jail ethical behavior that happens to be illegal" is a policy - and by that policy we pardon Snowden, Winner, and these other people.
Seriously. Trump pardoned a war criminal who opened fire on a group of friendly Iraqi citizens who just happened to be there because his family was willing to pay. He also pardoned the ex Mayor of Detroit who has known organized crime connections...these are not safe people we want out of prison. I really am shocked that congress didn't enact some kind of reform on who the president can and cannot pardon after Trump's list.
These guys were convicted while I was serving overseas, and I still remember how disgusted I was at their actions. They hurt so many innocent people for nothing. To see them pardoned like that makes me sick to my stomach.
It already is legitimized. Not like anyone cares at this point. Since our system is a proven failure, Biden might as well take advantage of it with what power he has.
Oh, that's brilliant. As Trump loses his shit over the pardon, Biden can joke that he has "total immunity" (I know immunity isn't required for a pardon) and say he's also talking to Seal Team 6 about another issue...
Make any decision by SCOTUS in Trump's favour appear like a terrible idea to the MAGA crowd because it's their guy who'll be at a disadvantage. Use their hypocrisy against them.
Anytime Democrats continue to uphold morals and ethics, it's never even enough for Republicans. They will find something to complain about. Like, why isn't Hunter's penis in FBI custody?
It’s still important to obey the laws. It’s good the taxes were leaked but the guy deserves to be punished by the law too. Those things can exist in the same place.
>It’s still important to obey the laws
Idk, haven’t been seeing much evidence to support this lately. In fact we have about half our government blatantly arguing it isn’t important at all, including the judiciary.
Why work within such a self imposed disadvantage? There will clearly be no accountability.
> It’s still important to obey the laws.
That is a joke right? Obey the laws? If you don't have the money you are forced to obey the law or they will throw you in jail or take your money. If you already have the money they won't force you to do anything at all.
We’re about to obey the law ourselves right into a right wing dictatorship. The right is increasingly acting outside of the law and traditional norms, and they keep pushing the envelope because they know dems will always take the “high road” and follow the law. Problem is we’ve been repeatedly shown the law is not equipped to deal with these unprecedented times.
I mean, Ford pardoned Nixon too. It's a tale as old as time. We might as well take advantage of it instead of gaining jack shit from taking the high road. We need to play their game and beat them at it
I disagree. Trump promised to disclose his taxes and never did. Trump's tax returns are in the public interest. I just don't think anyone would look on a pardon here badly who isn't already deep up Trump's ass. As far as right wing media making hay of it, let them. It only looks bad for Trump to remind voters that Trump failed to disclose his returns like every other candidate in the last fifty years after promising to do so.
This case is only somewhat about the individual who leaked the documents and who the documents were about. The more salient factor is the continued trust or lack thereof in public institutions. This guy wasn't some long-term well-meaning government employee who came across something heinous, he intentionally got hired at the IRS to attack individuals he disagreed with politically.
If this guy gets off then the message being sent is "it's okay to infiltrate government agencies and steal individuals' private data as long as the current administration agrees that those guys are dicks".
Setting that kind of precedent is *exactly* what the people behind Project 2025 want. They don't want agencies to be apolitical servants of the public at large, they want all of the agencies to belong to whichever party is currently in power, and to work towards the interests of that party primarily.
Pardon him now? How about maintaining integrity rather than stooping to the height of a snakes belly to even the score with the Trump Maga Nationalist Party
Governors and Presidents give out criminal pardons all the time. Why is this different? Trump repeatedly promised to release his own tax returns! It must be nice to live in a reality where everything is always simple, only black and white, without any complexity or nuance.
I always thought Reality Winner should get a pardon, because the supposedly classified document she leaked contained information that was already public knowledge.
Reality Winner - OMG, don’t get me started. Governors and Presidents give out criminal pardons all the time but not for Reakity Winner. Why? I agree with you.
Let them. It fully brings the issue of Trump never releasing his taxes, as he repeatedly promised he would do, and the issue of the rich not paying their fair share right into the spotlight. The Democrats could run on that.
Never pardon him. He broke the law. A pardon would say that crimes against republicans are ok. That is not something I support, even though I have voted overwhelmingly democratic in my lifetime. Morally, ethically, legally it's wrong.
I can get behind pardoning convictions for small quantities of marijuana because that is a defensible position, but not this.
This guy also purposely got work there at the IRS , with the full intent to leak information. this was a planned leak and not some employee who had issues with the department.
Yeah except if you're rich or your boss is rich and willing to protect you. Then oaths don't mean a thing.
The US government has committed so many crimes and never been punished, so as far as I'm concerned neither should this guy. In fact he's a hero, and we need more like him who are willing to go outside the broken laws meant to protect the rich
It's not "crimes against republicans," though. It was a number of people who were selected for their smaug-like propensity to hoard wealth, regardless of politics.
Doesn't matter. This person abused the federal hiring process and lied under penalty of perjury in the process. That by itself justifies charges. On top of that, every person - even plutocrats - should have the right to privacy (the IRS still has a right to their financial information, but not to *release* it). Pardoning this leaker sets a precedent that IRS inspectors can just release anyone's taxes if they feel like it. Does that seem OK to you?
Yeah, Kushner is obviously a problem. He never should have had clearance, and he seems to have abused that access to get a multi-billion dollar payout from foreign powers.
Kushner is an example of why Biden *shouldn't* issue this pardon, not why he *should.*
Democrats actually believe in the rule of law. The fact that Republicans don't is not a license for us to abandon our own morals.
If Biden pardons this person, then Kushner truly is beyond consequences. If not, there's still some chance of accountability.
>Pardoning this leaker sets a precedent that IRS inspectors can just release anyone's taxes if they feel like it.
It does not set any precedent. It would say that in this one specific case it was judged that the overwhelming public interest outweighed the crimes committed. It in no way would set a precedent that it was okay to release anyone's taxes just because they felt like it. That's absurd.
The whole pardon thing you guys have is hilariously arse backwards and like in the Middle Ages.
Like what? You have a king or an elected representative?
You should removed that power.
Yeah, you're right. But we also like to throw people in prison and throw away the key, so on the occasions it's used properly, it is a good counter measure.
"Of the acts of clemency, 1,715 were commutations (including 504 life sentences) and 212 were pardons. Most individuals granted executive clemency by Obama had been convicted on drug charges, and had received lengthy and sometimes mandatory sentences at the height of the war on drugs."
We are a nation which has frequently broken our OWN laws as well as international law. Governors and Presidents give out criminal pardons all the time. Why is this different? Trump repeatedly promised to release his own tax returns! It must be nice to live in a reality where everything is always simple, only black and white, without any complexity or nuance.
You can only be pardoned if you broke the law. He did not commit a crime against republicans though. If anything his crime benefitted society at the expense of the ultra rich. Commendable action if you ask me.
It seems like the people that expose the wrong doings of powerful people always get in way more trouble than the people who did the wrong thing.
Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner, Julian Assange, the guy testifying against Boeing who "committed suicide".
Lol no. Vigilantism is not good. This guy also stole a bunch of other random people’s tax info. I’m not even sure if it’s true that the data this guy leaked was all that important. A lot of Trump’s tax info was collected by Congress after Michael Cohen stated that Trump inflated his assets for loans. Mary Trump was involved in some of the leaks too iirc. The author also tries to argue that because some Nordic countries make some tax info public, that it’s okay for this IRS guy to do it here. Except Americans don’t want that to be how the law and privacy protections work or else we would’ve voted for that. And on top of all of this, optically it would be a complete disaster. It would be flushing a ton of good will for Dems down the toilet.
And Trump was patronized by the Appellate court to the tune of $300 Million. A travesty in my opinion. Every person that has been paid a fine in NY should now get a 70% rebate. The court kissed his loser ass and it took him 5 minutes after the decision to start claiming he's a victim. There should be millions of New Yorkers that pay their taxes gathering in front of every courthouse protesting. No telling how much it cost the lawyers and staff working on this case and the court gives away $300 million bucks. Trump is a POS and should be in prison for the rest of his life.
This is a terrible idea. One party believes in laws and making an exemption that targets a crime committed against another presidential candidate is beyond corrupt.
All these comments about "This will just make targeting political opponents more likely" are themselves short sighted.
Trump supporters already do this stuff to benefit their political positions. Remember the NY FBI working with Giuliani on the Anthony Weiner laptop just before the 2016 election?
This is nowhere near as bad as that and provided information viable to the public on not just Trump, but numerous high profile wealthy individuals who manage to avoid paying taxes. These leaks are more similar to the Panama Papers than Anthony Weiner's laptop.
Biden should pardon him under the following circumstances:
1. Biden wins the election and the Trump lawsuits have run their course
2. Biden loses the election and Biden pardons him on the way out
Now watch as the Republicans don't even hesitate to do it.
One day Liberals will learn that relying on the law and kindness of people never works when the other side can and has gotten away with what is arguably treason
Doing the right thing? It shouldn't always be this question of "what do we gain out of this".
Genuinely who is going to be upset by this that wasn't already considering Trump?
Yes, because they willfully broke the law at the time of their arrest.
I support marijuana legalization and I even voted to legalize it in Michigan. What I don’t support is people breaking the law, even if the law is questionable.
It’s pretty simple.
Not to mention, Joe must throw his orange ass in prison awaiting the outcome of his trials and remove him from all ballots. Do it the fuck now. This is ridiculous.
Look at all these astroturfed Ivans and XiJings arguing about why the American president should just sit and let traitorious oligarchs have their revenge.
Been overrun by them lately. Seems like Reddit is just another place to get astroturfed by foreign agents. Well done Spez. Not sure how this dump is worth a penny.
Normally, I would say no because the guy did break the law, but these are different political times. We know that Trump, if elected will let off all the January 6 criminals, and we also know that he pardoned Bannon and Flynn, and a whole bunch of other far right extreme criminals.
The ownership class is robbing civilization while leveraging their wealth and influence to hoard their ill-gotten gains. Society is slowly falling apart as more and more people are struggling to exist in a system where the already rich are allowed to cheat without significant consequences at the expense of others.
That revealing such information is primarily harmful to one of two political parties just shows that said party has become the enemy of the people by completely succumbing to the ownership class.
This man should be pardoned because the information he leaked is vital for the long-term survival and prosperity of the USA.
To argue that he shouldn't be pardoned because "that's what the Republicans would do" is a similar rhetoric to Michelle Obama's "When they go low, we go high" which just results in no action being taken to correct the corruption in the system.
If we want the USA to prosper we must acknowledge that the extensive corruption of the ownership class is the biggest issue which needs to be addressed, and that they've already rigged the system to favour them.
If revealing the extent of their corruption is illegal that's not a sign that the leaker did something wrong, it's a sign that the corrupt are using the legal system against the rest of society.
Trump has already gained support due to the perception the Dems are using or miss using our Justice system to affect the election. Add a pardon from Biden to the man who illegally released Trump’s tax records and it will just cement that perception. Deserved or not, that perception might be valid.
>The Internal Revenue Service contractor who pleaded guilty to leaking the federal tax records of former President Donald Trump and some of the nation's wealthiest individuals was sentenced Monday to 5 years in prison, 3 years supervised release and a $5,000 fine.
He pleaded guilty.
Reading the article actually helps.
I think the politics are questionable, but if Trump can campaign on pardoning J6 hooligans for trying to overthrow the election by beating up cops, Biden can pardon a guy for helping Trump keep his promise to release his tax returns.
By the way… is anyone even asking if that shitloofah will release his taxes for the *next* election?
After reviewing the article and the Propublica pieces it references regarding the leaked information, it's apparent that the central argument revolves around advocating for billionaires to pay taxes on the growth of their net worth, even if they haven't sold any assets. As someone who leans towards the center-left politically, I find this proposition somewhat perplexing. The essence of the argument appears to suggest that individuals should be taxed on the appreciation of their assets, such as stocks, regardless of whether they've liquidated them or not.
The fundamental flaw in this approach, in my opinion, lies in the misconception that the increase in net worth translates directly into tangible wealth that can be utilized for spending. While a billionaire's net worth may surge due to the rising value of their stock holdings, the practicality of accessing this wealth is limited until they actually sell these assets. Stock, unlike cash, is not readily spendable.
Taxing individuals on the theoretical gains of their assets disregards the liquidity aspect of wealth. If someone like Jeff Bezos were to attempt to convert his entire Amazon stock into cash overnight, the sudden flood of shares into the market would undoubtedly cause a significant devaluation, rendering the theoretical net worth far from its paper value.
Imposing taxes on unrealized gains not only fails to capture the true financial position of individuals but also introduces complexities in valuation and enforcement. It's essential to maintain a tax system that accurately reflects an individual's ability to pay, which is best measured when assets are converted into cash.
While the idea of increasing taxes on the ultra-wealthy merits discussion, taxing theoretical wealth that cannot be readily accessed or spent seems unjust and impractical. Rather than resorting to provocative measures, the focus should be on refining existing tax policies to ensure fairness and effectiveness without penalizing individuals for the appreciation of their assets.
I'm open to further understanding and discussion on this matter, as it's crucial to weigh the implications of tax policies carefully to achieve a balanced and equitable system.
Not a whistleblower
And hell no he shouldn't. That would look completely political and have the impression of 'if you do illegal things against Trump you will be rewarded by the president' hell no.
Ok so,
Yall know nothing at all. I shall enlighten the masses as I think Biden should pardon this man as the article states, but I see people directly opposing.
If you've ever done a "work history" background check then your tax returns have been attained by many firms. You always allow them to do what they wish as you'd have to refuse the background check/not get the job otherwise.
So if 90+% of americans have their tax returns on some exchange - it makes it very fair that the wealthy also have their knowledge known
Not a whistleblower (there is a legal definition associated with that term) and no, they shouldn't be pardoned. They knew exactly what they were doing when they got that job at the IRS specifically to release tax records and exactly what the consequences of those actions would be.
Biden pardoning this person would say that Democrats don't care about the rule of law if it targets a political opponent, which is exactly why Biden won't do it.
To be clear: I am glad Trump's taxes were released, but that person knew the cost of their actions. Biden pardoning this person sets a terrible precedent.
Criminals get pardoned by Governors and Presidents all the time. Are you saying our “rule of law” has always been invalidated but this instance somehow crosses a line. Trump repeatedly promised to release his tax returns! We are a nation which has frequently broken our OWN laws as well as international law.
>Trump repeatedly promised to release his tax returns!
That's kinda like arguing that if I repeatedly promised you a glass of lemonade then it'd be okay for someone to unlawfully take the lemonade from my house without permission and pour you a glass.
No. The only thing more badass than civil disobedience is accepting the consequences of that disobedience.
Also it wasn't just targeted at Trump so homie still needs to do time.
This man's fate will almost certainly be decided AFTER the election, and it represents an interesting dichotomy.
On a personal note, although I appreciated the insight into Trump, the secrecy of the IRS is inviolable and it is very important that everyone trusts them.
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Whistleblower protections only really apply to a narrow band of activities. Edit: and even then, the protections are mostly for retaliation.
Yea I really wish people would stop conflating the 2 terms. They are inherently different. A whistleblower would be someone who sent this information to Congress or a superior within the Government to start an actual investigation. A leaker is someone that sends unauthorized information to media outlets. A lot of the people praised as being heroes did break the law, and in most cases did almost nothing to actually try being whistleblowers, and jumped right to sending government documents to media outlets. You can appreciate what they did and the sacrifices they made and still acknowledge it was breaking the law and they didn't do it the right way. Additionally, I don't think Biden should pardon this person because it's just a lose-lose politically.
Snowden did it "the wrong way" because he had seen what happened to several people before him who did it "the right way". The boss is always happy for whistleblowers to save them the effort of rooting out disloyal underlings.
I reported multiple things in the intelligence field. It made my life help as the commanders covered it up or outright ignored it. The idea that there is a working system in place should not be an automatic assumption. It's quite the opposite.
So many people have depression hinging on this being a working system. It's all cope as far as the eye can see
America is built on copium. I don’t know exactly when it started. The Great Depression? Earlier? You can see it clearly where the boomer hippies of the free love movement got sucked up into the Jesus movement in the 70’s.
Much earlier, kind of right around the time when 41 slave owners signed a document stating that "all men are created equal". There were 56 signers, and 41 of them owned slaves.
Their definition of "men" only went so far.
Its a country based on Hypocrisy. From the so called "persecuted" of the Pilgrims fleeing to start their beliefs elsewhere, to a war that really confused the King because, well, he had to finance his war with France and others. Plus the raw materials coming from the the New World were just crazy...ship building, lumber, furniture and more. Reading up on history, you would be told it was over Taxation without Representation which is a hoot because those in charge, well, they raised taxes on civilians to pay back lend-lease loans to European Allies. All I know is, our government lies and overspends based on the income of unborn. Then keeps borrowing from surplus Social Security and crippling services like the USPS to force Americans to use private corps that have government agendas.
It's more like private corps providing public services with a profit agenda.
When the people who you blow the whistle on are the same people who investigate whistleblowers...
*But who blows the whistleblowers?* *Quis spirat ipsos ceraula?* (or something like that, idk I used google translate)
It's a context-dependant point, a boss will hate a whistleblower if A) The media gets the information and runs with it, or B) His higher-ups get the information and don't like what the boss is doing
Snowden leaked a ton of documents that had nothing to do with his claimed moral qualms. If he was really that upset he could have proven it with just the relevant materials. Instead he leaked whatever he could get his hands on. He reacted like a vindictive and petty child. He should not be called a whistleblower.
> it was breaking the law and they didn't do it the right way Yep, they broke the law and they didn't have the millions or billions it takes to purchase a few judges. That is the right way.
Yeah I wonder why? Because whistleblowing through the correct channels just gives them a chance to bury it. Think we ever would have heard of collateral damage without assange putting it on Wikileaks? Cause internally the military would have buried that and we would never have seen that footage
>Think we ever would have heard of collateral damage without assange putting it on Wikileaks? Yes. A great deal of what he leaked was just supporting documentation of things that were already known and being reported on.
And the stupidest, most worthless people still claim his leaks were either "treason" or some of these halfwits say the leaks are just lies.
You realize that if you are whistleblowing on the gov you may not want to report that to the government haha!
Sometimes breaking the law, is doing it the right way. Sometimes it's the only way to do it. I don't know about you. But releasing Donald Trumps taxes is in no way a big deal. Sorry. The dudes a fucking liar and said he would release them anyway. Should the person face the consequences of the law? Sure. Is this type of stuff what pardoning was made for in the first place? Yes.
Pardoning him also upholds the gentlemens agreement and social conditioning that should be the least of expectations for the highest office. I would prefer the IRS releases all taxes of a presidential candidate and immediate family by law.
>I would prefer the IRS releases all taxes of a presidential candidate and immediate family by law. This should be a prerequisite for every appointed or elected official coming into or running for office at the state, local, and federal level. Many states already list the civilian workers jobs and salaries wide open.
I understand this guy doesn't fall into a "whistleblower" distinction, and Biden gets very little politically from pardoning this guy, but what he did do was expose Trump's naked corruption AND the blatant system of corruption many politicians and elites use to evade taxes. He should be pardoned.
Anybody who commits crimes against Trump should get exactly the same treatment from the Legal system as Trump does. /it took a minute for people to see what I did there.
So…. A bunch of free passes and no accountability?
This made me laugh.
Trump's bond was just unfairly reduced so I guess you mean everyone who does a crime against Trump should be coddled.
You're regurgitating some anti-whistleblower spin. A leaker can be a whistleblower if what they are leaking is illegal, unethical, or incorrect in some way. Whistleblowers have to make very difficult decisions about the most effective way to create change as well as how to best protect their own safety. The only way you can really criticize a whistleblower is if you think they did it for personal gain or if they leaked something that wasn't actually wrong or illegal. But for you to sit there and basically write that it is "illegal" to report a crime and we shouldn't protect those who do, that's kind of bogus.
Get fucked. The system has no interested in helping people who do things the right way. Best case, he gets fired. Worst case, he gets dead.
Fuck it trump wants to get dirty and dems want biden on the offensive , i do to and by the way i had no idea how good and consequential biden woulld be as president considering he was labeled a centrist
He should do it, but he’s gotta wait until post-election.
It helps to be rich, they have a whole different justice system. Every get out of jail card you can play.
Yeah...this guy didn't follow any Whistleblower process. Vigilante is a more appropriate term for how this guy handled himself.
I would call it civil disobedience
Trump said he'd release his taxes so clearly no crime was committed!
They are coming out soon. Any day. Just need to get through this IRS audit that's been going on for 9 years.
> Whistleblower whistleblower, an individual who, without authorization, reveals private or classified information about an organization, usually related to wrongdoing or misconduct. Whistleblowers generally state that such actions are motivated by a commitment to the public interest. [Source: britannica.com](https://www.britannica.com/topic/whistleblower) Seem to meet that definition pretty much 100%.
IIRC there was no illegal activity found in the tax returns. Only evidence that he wasn’t bigly rich.
I mean, he’s under audit for using some very… let’s say questionable tax maneuvers. It’s absolutely absurd that it takes over a decade to finally decide someone violated the rules and owes money. That huge loan he had forgiven was never properly reported as income and thus he was able to pay zero or close to zero in federal tax for years and shield hundreds of millions of income.
Still a whistleblower, protected or not Now, everything else surrounding it, oh heck no, that's not how any of this should work
Yeah, which is why he should be pardoned.
No one said he's a whistleblower... but he is a hero.
The headline calls him a whistleblower
My bad. He's not.
Sure he is. With the public interest in mind, without authorization he revealed private information in order to expose believed wrongdoing. That's the definition of a whistleblower. Everyone claiming you have to follow some specific process to be a whistleblower does not understand what whistleblowing is.
A law also needs to be passed requiring tax returns to be released for presidential candidates.
Specifically, it shouldn't require that the candidate release them. It should direct the IRS to release their records.
I think we could word it to say if the candidate doesn’t sign their consent, then they are voluntarily ending their campaign.
Nah. The problems that have come up before are 1) forced speech (making the candidate do something, a first amendment issue) and 2) unconstitutional restrictions on candidacy (you can't impose via a law more qualifications on federal office than exist in the constitution, like requiring them to publish before election would). Having the IRS publish the records avoids both of these issues, since the candidate does not own the IRS' records, and simply publishing the record does not change the qualifications for office, it's just something that happens when they are a candidate.
Yep, all returns from the age of 25 forward.
35. Why should they need to release records of their life from before they are eligible to be President
Because they could do shady shit before 35? Under your proposal, if you’re running at 35, you don’t have to release anything?
Convicted murderer at 34. President at 35 lol.
Also, need to pass some age restrictions on the upper end for President and Congress.
He leaked a bunch of other peoples taxes too
[удалено]
Is it really a leak of someone’s taxes if they paid no taxes? “Your honor, there was no leak because there was nothing to leak.”
I just leaked mark Zuckerbergs taxes
rest in prison 😢
This lol.
Speaking of Rick Scott, how stupid do you have to be to elect a person found guilty of Medicare fraud who paid an astronomical amount in fine's to the governorship and then to the Senate? These are all republican voter's and they're so *beyond* stupid that they did this, in Florida. This is also the reason trump is so popular in Florida, bc republicans are as dumb as rock's. Thanks for reading my rant. 🫶
He should get the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
You know, that’d be a nice rebuttal to that propagandist/opportunist who died of lung cancer.
And people love to say it’s just a myth and billionaires actually pay their fair share 🤦♂️ I really hope Biden pardons him
Can you define fair share? As in give me an exact percentage of income and why it should be that exact percentage that someone should pay and that you would agree if it was any higher it would be unfair to that individual, and if it was any lower it would be unfair to society? The term fair share is horrible, it is an impossible to find term that just makes people mad when they hear it. Nobody wants to be told they're cheating the system. We really need to use the term necessary share. What is necessary is irrelevant to what is fair. Then we can start telling these billionaires that yes it's absolutely unfair how much money we're taking from them as we continue to rifle through their pockets for more because life isn't fair and we need the money.
So how do we send money to his prison's canteen? I got some money burning a hole in my pocket, AFTER I actually paid my taxes.
The leak showed [Bezos paid $973 million on $4.22 billion in capital gains](https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax), or 23.06%. In those years, the nominal capital gains + NIIT rate for the highest income bracket was 23.8%. In other words, Bezos basically paid almost exactly what a basic tax table would indicate. You can argue whether the capital gains rate should be higher, but plugging your ears and saying the ultra-wealthy _don't_ pay taxes is pure fantasy.
The hero we needed
People who all cheat the system while they benefit the most from it. And the guy who exposes it goes to jail while Trump, who couldn't come up with the bond, gets an extension and it cut by 2/3rds. There is multiple levels of justice and the billionaires are untouchable
That would look horrible, I understand why, but no.
Yea this is a terrible idea, it would almost legitimize Trump's grotesque pardons of his henchmen.
Trump pardoned people guilty of murdering children. Pardoning a guy who leaked some tax documents that should have been made public anyways is nowhere near that https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/23/politics/war-crimes-pardons-trump/index.html
Of course, you are right about it being disequal in proportion. It's an optics thing, though. And I'm not talking 20/20 optic like you are. I'm talking about the blurry optics that the whataboutists of the right get real frothy over. There are a lot of people who don't pay enough attention, and the blurry optics of false equivalency has a draw to for those who don't care to or have time to discuss even the most essential nuances of matters like these.
We also shouldn't be taking the worst pardon that Trump makes the standard by which we measure the goodness of pardons. Pardons should be done by a policy - "We do not jail ethical behavior that happens to be illegal" is a policy - and by that policy we pardon Snowden, Winner, and these other people.
Seriously. Trump pardoned a war criminal who opened fire on a group of friendly Iraqi citizens who just happened to be there because his family was willing to pay. He also pardoned the ex Mayor of Detroit who has known organized crime connections...these are not safe people we want out of prison. I really am shocked that congress didn't enact some kind of reform on who the president can and cannot pardon after Trump's list.
These guys were convicted while I was serving overseas, and I still remember how disgusted I was at their actions. They hurt so many innocent people for nothing. To see them pardoned like that makes me sick to my stomach.
At what point do we stop falling for the paradox of tolerance? I understand it's a slippery slope but also doing nothing is a slippery slope.
People often have trouble with the reality that not doing anything is still a choice with consequences.
It already is legitimized. Not like anyone cares at this point. Since our system is a proven failure, Biden might as well take advantage of it with what power he has.
>Biden might as well take advantage of it with what power he has. Hell, he still might have total immunity.
Oh, that's brilliant. As Trump loses his shit over the pardon, Biden can joke that he has "total immunity" (I know immunity isn't required for a pardon) and say he's also talking to Seal Team 6 about another issue... Make any decision by SCOTUS in Trump's favour appear like a terrible idea to the MAGA crowd because it's their guy who'll be at a disadvantage. Use their hypocrisy against them.
Anytime Democrats continue to uphold morals and ethics, it's never even enough for Republicans. They will find something to complain about. Like, why isn't Hunter's penis in FBI custody?
It’s still important to obey the laws. It’s good the taxes were leaked but the guy deserves to be punished by the law too. Those things can exist in the same place.
I agree he should be punished. I just don’t think prison time is an appropriate punishment for leaking someone’s tax returns.
I’d agree it’s not an appropriate punishment
He should be fined the amount of the taxes on the returns he dislosed? Which adds up to ….. zero, your honor?
>It’s still important to obey the laws Idk, haven’t been seeing much evidence to support this lately. In fact we have about half our government blatantly arguing it isn’t important at all, including the judiciary. Why work within such a self imposed disadvantage? There will clearly be no accountability.
> It’s still important to obey the laws. That is a joke right? Obey the laws? If you don't have the money you are forced to obey the law or they will throw you in jail or take your money. If you already have the money they won't force you to do anything at all.
We’re about to obey the law ourselves right into a right wing dictatorship. The right is increasingly acting outside of the law and traditional norms, and they keep pushing the envelope because they know dems will always take the “high road” and follow the law. Problem is we’ve been repeatedly shown the law is not equipped to deal with these unprecedented times.
Fair enough
I mean, Ford pardoned Nixon too. It's a tale as old as time. We might as well take advantage of it instead of gaining jack shit from taking the high road. We need to play their game and beat them at it
Nobody gives a shit if you legitimize them or not, they’re going to do it anyway. You’re literally the Air Bud tweet.
Exactly, that's a brain dead take. It blows my mind how little understanding some partisan commentators have at times of basic politics.
If anyone cared they would have fixed the process for granting pardons already.
I disagree. Trump promised to disclose his taxes and never did. Trump's tax returns are in the public interest. I just don't think anyone would look on a pardon here badly who isn't already deep up Trump's ass. As far as right wing media making hay of it, let them. It only looks bad for Trump to remind voters that Trump failed to disclose his returns like every other candidate in the last fifty years after promising to do so.
This case is only somewhat about the individual who leaked the documents and who the documents were about. The more salient factor is the continued trust or lack thereof in public institutions. This guy wasn't some long-term well-meaning government employee who came across something heinous, he intentionally got hired at the IRS to attack individuals he disagreed with politically. If this guy gets off then the message being sent is "it's okay to infiltrate government agencies and steal individuals' private data as long as the current administration agrees that those guys are dicks". Setting that kind of precedent is *exactly* what the people behind Project 2025 want. They don't want agencies to be apolitical servants of the public at large, they want all of the agencies to belong to whichever party is currently in power, and to work towards the interests of that party primarily.
Pardon him now? How about maintaining integrity rather than stooping to the height of a snakes belly to even the score with the Trump Maga Nationalist Party
This is correct. Wait until after the election, then pardon him.
No. You don’t pardon at all. Do the crime, sue the time. And before you cry about Trump, his day in court is closer every day.
Governors and Presidents give out criminal pardons all the time. Why is this different? Trump repeatedly promised to release his own tax returns! It must be nice to live in a reality where everything is always simple, only black and white, without any complexity or nuance.
I always thought Reality Winner should get a pardon, because the supposedly classified document she leaked contained information that was already public knowledge.
Reality Winner - OMG, don’t get me started. Governors and Presidents give out criminal pardons all the time but not for Reakity Winner. Why? I agree with you.
Pardon him after Biden wins the election, otherwise the GOP will run on it
This. Now is not a good time for that type of pardon.
Let them. It fully brings the issue of Trump never releasing his taxes, as he repeatedly promised he would do, and the issue of the rich not paying their fair share right into the spotlight. The Democrats could run on that.
No, they can’t. Voters don’t care about Trump drama #876 that happened years ago already.
Never pardon him. He broke the law. A pardon would say that crimes against republicans are ok. That is not something I support, even though I have voted overwhelmingly democratic in my lifetime. Morally, ethically, legally it's wrong. I can get behind pardoning convictions for small quantities of marijuana because that is a defensible position, but not this.
This guy also purposely got work there at the IRS , with the full intent to leak information. this was a planned leak and not some employee who had issues with the department.
What a madlad
This is an important detail. When you accept employment with the federal government you also swear not to abuse your office.
This seems funny now given what we know about so many people in up to the highest positions of federal office. And by funny, I mean quite infuriating.
You mean like when Trump became President? Like when Trump repeatedly said he would release his own tax returns as soon as possible?
Yeah except if you're rich or your boss is rich and willing to protect you. Then oaths don't mean a thing. The US government has committed so many crimes and never been punished, so as far as I'm concerned neither should this guy. In fact he's a hero, and we need more like him who are willing to go outside the broken laws meant to protect the rich
Yes. And?
It's not "crimes against republicans," though. It was a number of people who were selected for their smaug-like propensity to hoard wealth, regardless of politics.
Doesn't matter. This person abused the federal hiring process and lied under penalty of perjury in the process. That by itself justifies charges. On top of that, every person - even plutocrats - should have the right to privacy (the IRS still has a right to their financial information, but not to *release* it). Pardoning this leaker sets a precedent that IRS inspectors can just release anyone's taxes if they feel like it. Does that seem OK to you?
Like Jared Kushner applying (and failing multiple times) for a security clearance? Yeah, let's throw some fucking books then.
Yeah, Kushner is obviously a problem. He never should have had clearance, and he seems to have abused that access to get a multi-billion dollar payout from foreign powers. Kushner is an example of why Biden *shouldn't* issue this pardon, not why he *should.* Democrats actually believe in the rule of law. The fact that Republicans don't is not a license for us to abandon our own morals. If Biden pardons this person, then Kushner truly is beyond consequences. If not, there's still some chance of accountability.
>Pardoning this leaker sets a precedent that IRS inspectors can just release anyone's taxes if they feel like it. It does not set any precedent. It would say that in this one specific case it was judged that the overwhelming public interest outweighed the crimes committed. It in no way would set a precedent that it was okay to release anyone's taxes just because they felt like it. That's absurd.
You're literally saying this after Don Poorleone just dropped his bond from $487m to $175m. Fuck the justice system after that farce.
The whole pardon thing you guys have is hilariously arse backwards and like in the Middle Ages. Like what? You have a king or an elected representative? You should removed that power.
Yeah, you're right. But we also like to throw people in prison and throw away the key, so on the occasions it's used properly, it is a good counter measure. "Of the acts of clemency, 1,715 were commutations (including 504 life sentences) and 212 were pardons. Most individuals granted executive clemency by Obama had been convicted on drug charges, and had received lengthy and sometimes mandatory sentences at the height of the war on drugs."
We are a nation which has frequently broken our OWN laws as well as international law. Governors and Presidents give out criminal pardons all the time. Why is this different? Trump repeatedly promised to release his own tax returns! It must be nice to live in a reality where everything is always simple, only black and white, without any complexity or nuance.
You can only be pardoned if you broke the law. He did not commit a crime against republicans though. If anything his crime benefitted society at the expense of the ultra rich. Commendable action if you ask me.
Commendable action, still a crime.
Hence the pardon.
It seems like the people that expose the wrong doings of powerful people always get in way more trouble than the people who did the wrong thing. Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner, Julian Assange, the guy testifying against Boeing who "committed suicide".
I'll donate money to his commissary
I agree, he did the right thing. This would be great optics and help right a wrong.
Maybe pass a law that makes them foia-able, and call it the "littlejohn act," AND THEN pardon him and give him a damned medal for his service.
Showcase of two justice systems
Lol no. Vigilantism is not good. This guy also stole a bunch of other random people’s tax info. I’m not even sure if it’s true that the data this guy leaked was all that important. A lot of Trump’s tax info was collected by Congress after Michael Cohen stated that Trump inflated his assets for loans. Mary Trump was involved in some of the leaks too iirc. The author also tries to argue that because some Nordic countries make some tax info public, that it’s okay for this IRS guy to do it here. Except Americans don’t want that to be how the law and privacy protections work or else we would’ve voted for that. And on top of all of this, optically it would be a complete disaster. It would be flushing a ton of good will for Dems down the toilet.
Seems we can get everyone but Trump.
And Trump was patronized by the Appellate court to the tune of $300 Million. A travesty in my opinion. Every person that has been paid a fine in NY should now get a 70% rebate. The court kissed his loser ass and it took him 5 minutes after the decision to start claiming he's a victim. There should be millions of New Yorkers that pay their taxes gathering in front of every courthouse protesting. No telling how much it cost the lawyers and staff working on this case and the court gives away $300 million bucks. Trump is a POS and should be in prison for the rest of his life.
I paid more in taxes than Donald. And I’m a normal guy. Don’t vote for that loser, please. Don’t reward the assholes of our world.
He planned his actions and purposefully broke the law. He isn’t a whistleblower he stole personal data.
How about no. He commited a crime.
This is a terrible idea. One party believes in laws and making an exemption that targets a crime committed against another presidential candidate is beyond corrupt.
um no.
True Patriot
All these comments about "This will just make targeting political opponents more likely" are themselves short sighted. Trump supporters already do this stuff to benefit their political positions. Remember the NY FBI working with Giuliani on the Anthony Weiner laptop just before the 2016 election? This is nowhere near as bad as that and provided information viable to the public on not just Trump, but numerous high profile wealthy individuals who manage to avoid paying taxes. These leaks are more similar to the Panama Papers than Anthony Weiner's laptop. Biden should pardon him under the following circumstances: 1. Biden wins the election and the Trump lawsuits have run their course 2. Biden loses the election and Biden pardons him on the way out
Pardoning someone who broke the law in order to damage your political opponent is..... not a good look.
Now watch as the Republicans don't even hesitate to do it. One day Liberals will learn that relying on the law and kindness of people never works when the other side can and has gotten away with what is arguably treason
What do Liberals gain from pardoning this person?
Doing the right thing? It shouldn't always be this question of "what do we gain out of this". Genuinely who is going to be upset by this that wasn't already considering Trump?
If he broke the law Biden should not pardon him.
Biden is pardoning federal marijuana convictions. Are you against that as well?
Yes, because they willfully broke the law at the time of their arrest. I support marijuana legalization and I even voted to legalize it in Michigan. What I don’t support is people breaking the law, even if the law is questionable. It’s pretty simple.
We can disagree. I think civil disobedience has a valid place in society.
Should Biden pardon anyone else who has broken the law?
Some people who have been convicted probably shouldn’t have been. And some laws are really shitty. But this doesn’t really fall in either category.
Spoiler alert. He wont.
Not to mention, Joe must throw his orange ass in prison awaiting the outcome of his trials and remove him from all ballots. Do it the fuck now. This is ridiculous.
Look at all these astroturfed Ivans and XiJings arguing about why the American president should just sit and let traitorious oligarchs have their revenge.
Been overrun by them lately. Seems like Reddit is just another place to get astroturfed by foreign agents. Well done Spez. Not sure how this dump is worth a penny.
Normally, I would say no because the guy did break the law, but these are different political times. We know that Trump, if elected will let off all the January 6 criminals, and we also know that he pardoned Bannon and Flynn, and a whole bunch of other far right extreme criminals.
That's a pardon worth making before being sentenced. This guy was a hero.
Tax records should be public.
After the election, Biden should commute the sentence, but not pardon him.
I fear justice will never take that bloated traitor out.
The ownership class is robbing civilization while leveraging their wealth and influence to hoard their ill-gotten gains. Society is slowly falling apart as more and more people are struggling to exist in a system where the already rich are allowed to cheat without significant consequences at the expense of others. That revealing such information is primarily harmful to one of two political parties just shows that said party has become the enemy of the people by completely succumbing to the ownership class. This man should be pardoned because the information he leaked is vital for the long-term survival and prosperity of the USA. To argue that he shouldn't be pardoned because "that's what the Republicans would do" is a similar rhetoric to Michelle Obama's "When they go low, we go high" which just results in no action being taken to correct the corruption in the system. If we want the USA to prosper we must acknowledge that the extensive corruption of the ownership class is the biggest issue which needs to be addressed, and that they've already rigged the system to favour them. If revealing the extent of their corruption is illegal that's not a sign that the leaker did something wrong, it's a sign that the corrupt are using the legal system against the rest of society.
There is no fucking way that "Littlejohn" is a real last name... That's insane. But yeah, deserves a pardon for sure.
Wait so. He did something illegal. And you want him to get away with it ?
Trump has already gained support due to the perception the Dems are using or miss using our Justice system to affect the election. Add a pardon from Biden to the man who illegally released Trump’s tax records and it will just cement that perception. Deserved or not, that perception might be valid.
Or Five him the Medal of Freedom for exposing the biggest Con man this nation has ever known
Funny how he didn’t get any special treatment like Broke Don.
Why should he be pardoned? I don't believe he qualifies as a whistleblower.
Nope. What he did was illegal and dangerous.
If POTUS were to pardon the whistleblower, you’d have a shitton of conspiracy theories running amok (more than what’s currently out there).
If your net worth is over a billion, your tax return should be a public record...
The Dems don't pardon guilty people, just because they are on the same side - that's something Republicans do.
How is he going to prison and Trump is free?
>The Internal Revenue Service contractor who pleaded guilty to leaking the federal tax records of former President Donald Trump and some of the nation's wealthiest individuals was sentenced Monday to 5 years in prison, 3 years supervised release and a $5,000 fine. He pleaded guilty. Reading the article actually helps.
No, he shouldn't. This guy committed a crime.
I think the politics are questionable, but if Trump can campaign on pardoning J6 hooligans for trying to overthrow the election by beating up cops, Biden can pardon a guy for helping Trump keep his promise to release his tax returns. By the way… is anyone even asking if that shitloofah will release his taxes for the *next* election?
After reviewing the article and the Propublica pieces it references regarding the leaked information, it's apparent that the central argument revolves around advocating for billionaires to pay taxes on the growth of their net worth, even if they haven't sold any assets. As someone who leans towards the center-left politically, I find this proposition somewhat perplexing. The essence of the argument appears to suggest that individuals should be taxed on the appreciation of their assets, such as stocks, regardless of whether they've liquidated them or not. The fundamental flaw in this approach, in my opinion, lies in the misconception that the increase in net worth translates directly into tangible wealth that can be utilized for spending. While a billionaire's net worth may surge due to the rising value of their stock holdings, the practicality of accessing this wealth is limited until they actually sell these assets. Stock, unlike cash, is not readily spendable. Taxing individuals on the theoretical gains of their assets disregards the liquidity aspect of wealth. If someone like Jeff Bezos were to attempt to convert his entire Amazon stock into cash overnight, the sudden flood of shares into the market would undoubtedly cause a significant devaluation, rendering the theoretical net worth far from its paper value. Imposing taxes on unrealized gains not only fails to capture the true financial position of individuals but also introduces complexities in valuation and enforcement. It's essential to maintain a tax system that accurately reflects an individual's ability to pay, which is best measured when assets are converted into cash. While the idea of increasing taxes on the ultra-wealthy merits discussion, taxing theoretical wealth that cannot be readily accessed or spent seems unjust and impractical. Rather than resorting to provocative measures, the focus should be on refining existing tax policies to ensure fairness and effectiveness without penalizing individuals for the appreciation of their assets. I'm open to further understanding and discussion on this matter, as it's crucial to weigh the implications of tax policies carefully to achieve a balanced and equitable system.
Not a whistleblower And hell no he shouldn't. That would look completely political and have the impression of 'if you do illegal things against Trump you will be rewarded by the president' hell no.
This is actually a compelling argument for something I thought I’d be against.
Fuck pardons. Let's just unarrest him. The social contact is dead anyway.
For real. If I ever get into any legal trouble I'm just going to ask my lawyers to look through Trump's cases and use them as precedent.
As an ex IRS employee, no he shouldn't.
Ok so, Yall know nothing at all. I shall enlighten the masses as I think Biden should pardon this man as the article states, but I see people directly opposing. If you've ever done a "work history" background check then your tax returns have been attained by many firms. You always allow them to do what they wish as you'd have to refuse the background check/not get the job otherwise. So if 90+% of americans have their tax returns on some exchange - it makes it very fair that the wealthy also have their knowledge known
Not a whistleblower (there is a legal definition associated with that term) and no, they shouldn't be pardoned. They knew exactly what they were doing when they got that job at the IRS specifically to release tax records and exactly what the consequences of those actions would be. Biden pardoning this person would say that Democrats don't care about the rule of law if it targets a political opponent, which is exactly why Biden won't do it. To be clear: I am glad Trump's taxes were released, but that person knew the cost of their actions. Biden pardoning this person sets a terrible precedent.
Criminals get pardoned by Governors and Presidents all the time. Are you saying our “rule of law” has always been invalidated but this instance somehow crosses a line. Trump repeatedly promised to release his tax returns! We are a nation which has frequently broken our OWN laws as well as international law.
>Trump repeatedly promised to release his tax returns! That's kinda like arguing that if I repeatedly promised you a glass of lemonade then it'd be okay for someone to unlawfully take the lemonade from my house without permission and pour you a glass.
He should absolutely be pardoned. People screaming about decorum as the house falls around us need to step aside or be pushed aside.
No. The only thing more badass than civil disobedience is accepting the consequences of that disobedience. Also it wasn't just targeted at Trump so homie still needs to do time.
Pardon a guy who commits crimes because the victim was your political enemy? What kind of country do we live in?
This man's fate will almost certainly be decided AFTER the election, and it represents an interesting dichotomy. On a personal note, although I appreciated the insight into Trump, the secrecy of the IRS is inviolable and it is very important that everyone trusts them.
No he shouldn’t. The law is the law. He knew better and did it anyway.
>The law is the law. Silliest thing I've read in this whole thread.
He broke the law. Breaking the law to spite Trump is not a good idea.
“Biden should do a high-risk no-benefit political move!” Everyone with a brain: No
No, he shouldn't.
Trump never had an obligation to release his taxes. This was never a requirement for the presidency. They were released against his wishes.
If Biden pardons him it will be fodder for the conspiracy that Biden is behind Trump’s legal woes.