Incitement to felony?

Here’s a tweet:

“But if you’re in IRS and have a certain president’s tax return that you’d like to leak, my address is: NYT, 620 Eighth Ave, NY NY 10018.”

Now, that incitement to felony. Publishing a “leaked” return is a federal crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison. He just established the case for the prosecution.

“It shall be unlawful for any person to whom any return or return information (as defined in section 6103(b)) is disclosed in a manner unauthorized by this title thereafter willfully to print or publish in any manner not provided by law any such return or return information. Any violation of this paragraph shall be a felony punishable by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.”

… and

“It shall be unlawful for any person to whom a return or return information (as defined in section 6103(b)) is disclosed pursuant to the provisions of section 6103(e)(1)(D)(iii) willfully to disclose such return or return information in any manner not provided by law. Any violation of this paragraph shall be a felony punishable by a fine in any amount not to exceed $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.”

Is he trying to be “martyred” for the cause?

Here are the relevant laws in NYS:

Let’s say that an IRS leaker sends him Trump’s tax return and he releases it to the press. You can bet he is going to be arrested and investigated. What deal is finally made who knows. The leaker will likely be found out in the process.

I think I’d be willing to spend 5 years in prison if it meant Trump gets hauled out of the White House before he did any more damage.

But, that’s just because I love my country.

If it’s a federal crime, why are you quoting state law?

I did quote federal law in the OP. This is additional. I am not sure if the state criminal soliciting laws apply to soliciting for a federal crime.

The state law criminalizes soliciting another person to engage in conduct constituting a felony. The underlying felony can be federal.

They do. Cites on request.

So, Kristof is using Twitter for criminal purposes. Complaint submitted.

The hang up here using Section 6103b is that it only applies to the peoples listed in Section 6103a:

Now we apply the very high “imminent lawless action” standards … and clearly this tweet is protected speech … IRS employees are perfectly aware they can send tax returns to the press, it’s unlikely this specific tweet will cause them to do so immediately

The New York Times breaks no law just simply asking to get a copy of The Donald’s return … and if they get a copy then they are free to publish it … if they broke no law obtaining it, and here just asking is lawful … even if the receipt of the return was a direct consequence of asking for it … as We the People still must prove it was likely to happen …

Think Thomas Becket …

Explain how whatever was on tax returns from before taking office would get Trump “hauled out of the White House” if possible. It was established when his old return was leaked that he possibly did not pay any taxes for almost 20 years. Any federal issues that would be imprison-able he could pardon himself for. Impeachment for crimes before he took office? Don’t know if that can be done.

This is the kind of conduct that does in fact constitute a crime, but is unlikely to result in an indictment, because prosecutorial discretion will likely fall towards not pursuing.

Sorry. While I believe it’s unlikely in the extreme that a prosecutor would pursue this charge, I disagree with your analysis.

US v Williams, 553 US 285 (2008) held in pertinent part:

As to the immediacy requirement, he’s asking for a person at the IRS with access to the material in question to send him that material. (“But if you’re in IRS and have a certain president’s tax return that you’d like to leak, my address is.”) A specific entreaty for a specific illegal action that can be immediately undertaken is black-letter solicitation. And note that 26 USC § 6103(a)(3) applies to any “other person,” not merely an IRS employee.

That said, if the paper got the info, I agree they can publish notwithstanding § 6103(a)(3). See Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 US 514 (2001):

The complaint was submitted to Twitter. They banned people for much lesser offences.

I will be surprised if Twitter takes any action here.

Well, I did say “if.” The interesting thing would be Russian contacts. If it’s ugly enough, he would resign.

Thank you for this clarification … so what you’re saying is that it is a crime to ask …

I didn’t go through all the cited provisions in § 6103(a)(3) … I just assumed they were all otherwise lawful access to the returns …

Yup. To borrow the wording of the statute, someone who “solicits, requests, commands, importunes or otherwise attempts to cause…” another person to commit a felony is guilty of solicitation.

So imminence is a red herring?

Then they’re committing the crime of solicitation?

uh oh … from § 6103(g):

The Donald has my tax returns in hand?

In a sense, yes. The imminence element exists, but when a specific crime is solicited, and it can be accomplished by someone who receives the solicitation and has the immediate capability to act, it’s met.

Twitter? No, no more than AT&T is engaging in conspiracy when you and I plan to rob a bank by texting the plans to each other over our AT&T phones.