Man pleads guilty to trying to access Trump's tax returns

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for August 7

Fox News Flash top headlines for August 7 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com

A Minnesota man on Tuesday pleaded guilty in federal court to trying to access President Trump's tax returns through a federal financial aid application used by millions of college students.

Justin Hiemstra, 22, was a student at Haverford College outside Philadelphia when he and another student opened a Free Application for Student Aid, or FASFA, under the name of a Trump family member using a school computer, federal prosecutors said.

HOUSE DEMS CITE NIXON IN PUSH FOR TRUMP TAX RETURNS

The pair found that someone had already created an account for Trump and had to answer a set of questions to reset the password that was originally created.

Prosecutors believe the defendants used Trump's personal information, including his Social Security number and birthdate, to attempt to input the his tax information into the FASFA application. They ultimately failed.

“No matter what you think about the president’s tax returns, clearly this kind of illegal activity cannot be tolerated or condoned," William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "Unauthorized or false attempts to obtain any citizen’s IRS filings are a serious violation of privacy rights and a federal crime, and there’s nothing funny about it."

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump's tax returns and his refusal to publicly release them have become points of contention. Democrats have pushed to gain access to his financial data to determine whether Trump has any conflict of interests.

Trump, his campaign and the Republican National Committee recently filed lawsuits in California alleging that a new state law requiring candidates to release their tax returns is unconstitutional.