Noting that Trump was under no legal obligation to release his filings and likening the case to the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol, Reyes said: “It cannot be open season on our elected officials.”

Littlejohn’s lawyers had asked for leniency in the form of a sentence of between 12 and 18 months, saying that, at the time, he believed the public had the right to know how much Trump and the others paid in taxes. He has since come to regret leaking the information, his representatives told the court.

Littlejohn gave Trump’s records to the New York Times, which published a blockbuster report in September 2020, shortly before the presidential election, showing that Trump had paid little or nothing in taxes. Littlejohn also gave tax data on thousands of wealthy people to ProPublica, which published a string of stories showing how some maneuver to erase their tax bills.

Among those who had their filings leaked was Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who, appearing at the two-hour sentencing hearing, asked the judge for the maximum sentence.