US Congressman requests IRS's explanation of Matt Taibbi's house visit

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan has demanded the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service explain why an agent of the tax authority visited the home of journalist Matt Taibbi while he was testifying about government abuses in Washington. Taibbi testified before Jordan's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government earlier this month. Jordan described the circumstances of the IRS visit as "incredible" and suggested it was a "thinly-veiled attempt to influence or intimidate a witness before Congress." He requested any documents the agencies had "referring or relating to the IRS's field visit" to Taibbi's New Jersey property on March 9 and any internal communications referencing the journalist. Upon returning home from Washington, Taibbi found a note asking him to call the IRS, which subsequently told him his 2018 and 2021 tax filings had been rejected due to "concerns over identity theft." Matt Taibbi provided Jordan's committee with proof his 2018 filing had been electronically accepted with no issues until the agent's visit nearly four years later, and explained that while his 2021 return had been rejected twice, the issue was not "monetary" by the agency's own admission. He was selected by Twitter CEO Elon Musk to report on the 'Twitter Files', which revealed unconstitutional collusion to censor undesirable narratives.

Taibbi's latest Twitter Files report, released ahead of his testimony, exposes what he calls a "censorship-industrial complex" that includes not only the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies, but also ideologically motivated think tanks such as the Atlantic Council and intelligence cutouts such as the National Endowment for Democracy. In 2017, the IRS apologized for disproportionately targeting conservative political groups for enforcement, years after an agent admitted the tax authority went after groups with certain key words in their names.