IRS Probe of ‘Twitter Files’ Journalist Coincided With Bombshell Report, Jordan Says

Journalist Matt Taibbi testifies at the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing on the "Twitter Files" in Washington on March 9, 2023. (House Judiciary Committee/Screenshot via NTD)

“Twitter Files” journalist Matt Taibbi became the subject of an IRS investigation mere weeks after publishing the series’ first report on the ties between the intelligence community and social media platforms, according to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

In March, Jordan wrote to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel to inquire as to the reason an IRS agent had paid a visit to Taibbi’s home on the same day he was set to testify before the committee’s panel on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

In a follow-up letter dated May 24, Jordan noted that documents the IRS had since provided to the committee indicated a concerning timeline of events in the agency’s investigation of Taibbi over his 2018 tax return.

“The IRS’s production shows that the IRS opened its examination of Mr. Taibbi’s 2018 tax return on December 24, 2022,” Jordan wrote. “Not only was this date Christmas Eve and a Saturday, but it also happened to be three weeks after he published the first Twitter Files detailing government abuses and the same day that Mr. Taibbi published the ninth segment of the Twitter Files, detailing how federal government agencies ‘from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA’ coordinated to censor and coerce speech on various social media platforms.

“It is unclear from the documents alone why the IRS opened its examination of Mr. Taibbi’s tax return on such an unusual date or whether it coincided intentionally with Mr. Taibbi’s reporting about government censorship.”

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1661398492483403781

‘Extensive’ Investigation

Taibbi published the first installment of the Twitter Files on Dec. 2, including the details of how Twitter had censored the New York Post’s original exposé on Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 and how then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign had coordinated with the platform to flag certain political content for removal.

Just weeks after those bombshell revelations were published, the IRS opened its investigation into the journalist’s tax return.

According to Jordan, the IRS claimed to have sent Taibbi two previous letters—one on Oct. 24, 2019, and a second on March 23, 2020—asking him to verify his tax return because it “met identity theft criteria” and could not be processed without his confirmation.

“However, according to Mr. Taibbi, neither he nor his accountant received either of these letters or any other notification that there was an issue with his 2018 tax return—that is, until the IRS conducted a field visit at Mr. Taibbi’s home three years later.”

The IRS purportedly failed to provide the Judiciary Committee with copies of those letters, offering only the explanation that the delay in contact was due to restrictions on field visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jordan, however, noted that the agency could have contacted Taibbi through “less intrusive” means than a visit to his home.

As for the probe, the congressman said it was “extensive,” utilizing both publicly available search engines and commercial investigative software to collect such information as Taibbi’s voter registration records, his phone numbers, whether he possessed a hunting or fishing license, and whether he had a concealed weapons permit.

Yet, as it turned out, Taibbi “did not owe the IRS anything,” Jordan wrote. “Rather, the IRS owed Mr. Taibbi a substantial refund.”

Following the agency’s unannounced house call, Taibbi resolved the issue with his tax return, and the investigation was closed on March 23.

‘Troubling Questions’

Despite the resolution of Taibbi’s case, Jordan asserted that the circumstances surrounding the investigation raised “troubling questions that demand explanation.”

The IRS, he noted, has a recent history of targeting conservatives—a fact Werfel knows all too well, given that he served as acting IRS commissioner in 2013, after it was revealed that the agency had singled out conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for stricter scrutiny.

Given that history, Jordan requested that the IRS provide additional documents detailing the decision-making process behind the investigation’s launch and the field visit to Taibbi’s home.

Additionally, the congressman requested all of the agency’s communications and documents related to the Twitter Files between Oct. 1, 2022, and the present, and that the agent assigned to Taibbi’s case appear before the committee for a transcribed interview.

The IRS will have until 5 p.m. ET on June 7 to provide the requested documents.

The Epoch Times has contacted the IRS for comment.