Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns because he says he is under IRS audit. Louisiana man charged in attempt to look up Trump's tax records

A Louisiana man has been charged with using a federal student loan application tool in an unsuccessful attempt to look up then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s tax records.

The man, Jordan Hamlett, is a private investigator, according to the publication, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, which first reported the arrest. The alleged attempt occurred on Sept. 13, in the weeks leading up to the presidential election. Hamlett pleaded not guilty, according to court records.


Hamlett, 31, was indicted Nov. 10 on a federal felony charge of false representation of a social security number. Days earlier, on Oct. 27, he had been interviewed by federal agents in the lobby of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Baton Rouge, La., according to the court records.

“Mr. Hamlett looks forward to presenting his case and motives to a jury of 12 citizens to let them decide whether any offense was committed," his attorney Michael Fiser said in an email.

Trump has refused to release his tax returns because he says he is under IRS audit. Government watchdogs and Democrats have said the information will provide critical information about his business interests and indicate the true value of his wealth.

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In March, meanwhile, the IRS and Education Department abruptly suspended the use of the popular student aid tool, baffling student consumer advocates and lawmakers. In April, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified on Capitol Hill that as many as 100,000 people may have had their personal information stolen by thieves manipulating the tool, which enables students to more easily apply for federal financial aid.

During multiple hearings about the suspension, officials had not disclosed that Trump's records had been targeted. Timothy P. Camus, deputy Treasury inspector general for tax administration, did testify in May that a "prominent individual" had been targeted in September using the tool.

Camus also said that in November, the "same prominent individual's" information had been sought using the tool "from an entirely different location."

Earlier this year, he said there were about 8,000 "questionable accesses" of individuals' tax information using the tool — a finding made after an IRS employee notified officials they had received an automated letter informing them that a copy of their tax information had been requested when they hadn’t actually requested it.

At one hearing, lawmakers grilled Education Department and IRS officials about why they continued to operate the tool for so long after discovering it was vulnerable to identity thieves. IRS Chief Information Officer Gina Garza said that initially, there was no evidence of fraud.

Prosecutors say that Hamlett offered them information about what he had done and how. It was not immediately clear whether he had sought Trump's tax returns on his own, or at the behest of an employer.

“The defendant immediately volunteered that he had committed the crime, and he even sounded proud of what he had done,” according to a filing signed by U.S. Attorney J. Walter Green. “He wanted to cooperate with the agents, and the defendant stated as much toward the end of his interview.”

In court filings in the Middle District of Louisiana, Fiser claimed that federal agents did not “validly execute” Hamlett’s Miranda rights before he was interrogated because the questioning was “conducted in the absence of counsel.” The Miranda warning is a right to remain silent that police are required to give to criminal suspects in custody before interrogating them.

Hamlett’s “statements were made while he was not free to leave” and therefore were involuntary, the filing said.