IRS investigated journalist’s ‘Twitter Files’ during bombshell report, says Jordan.

Investigative journalist Matt Taibbi, known for his series “Twitter Files,” was targeted by the IRS just weeks after publishing the first report on the connections between the intelligence community and social media platforms. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) revealed that an IRS agent visited Taibbi’s home on the same day he was set to testify before the committee’s panel on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

A Timeline of Concerning Events

Jordan wrote to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel in March to inquire about the reason for the visit. In a follow-up letter dated May 24, Jordan noted that documents provided by the IRS indicated a concerning timeline of events in the agency’s investigation of Taibbi over his 2018 tax return.

The IRS opened a case on me on a Saturday, Christmas Eve 2022, which just happened to coincide with a major Twitter Files report on FBI/intelligence community ties to tech platforms.
This is revealed in a new letter to the IRS Commissioner by House Judiciary Chair @Jim_Jordan: pic.twitter.com/WnbouNJMdQ

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) May 24, 2023

Taibbi published the first installment of the Twitter Files on Dec. 2, revealing how Twitter had censored the New York Post’s 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 these revelations were published, the IRS launched an investigation into Taibbi’s tax return.

An Unusual Investigation

According to Jordan, the IRS claimed to have sent Taibbi two previous letters in 2019 and 2020, asking him to verify his tax return because it “met identity theft criteria” and could not be processed without his confirmation. However, Taibbi and his accountant never received these letters or any other notification of an issue with his tax return until the IRS conducted a field visit at his home three years later.

• The IRS opened its examination of Taibbi’s 2018 tax return on December 24, 2022, which was Christmas Eve and a Saturday.
• This date coincided with the publication of the first Twitter Files report and the ninth segment of the series, which detailed how federal government agencies coordinated to censor and coerce speech on social media platforms.
• It is unclear from the documents alone why the IRS opened its examination on such an unusual date or whether it was intentional.

The IRS’s investigation into Taibbi’s tax return appears to be extensive and raises concerns about government censorship and abuse of power.