Now isn’t that quite the coincidence??!! The IRS unexpectedly decided to knock on Matt Taibbi’s door the VERY same day he was testifying to Congress about the Twitter files.

Matt, along with Michael Shellenberger and Bari Weiss, were invited by Elon Musk to start combing through Twitter and report on what they found. Of course, as we’ve documented, what has been found regarding Covid, Trump, Hunter Biden and others has created serious issues for the media, the federal government, and specific politicians. 

The information contained in the Twitter files has caused such heartburn that federal agencies such as the FTC were demanding information that skated on the edge or went beyond the agency’s actual statutory role. 

The Federal Trade Commission has sent more than a dozen letters to Twitter since Elon Musk took over as CEO demanding a broad array of internal communications — including the names of all reporters who got access to the so-called “Twitter Files,” House Republicans revealed Tuesday.

The FTC demands were revealed in a report by the GOP-led Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which accused the agency of waging “an aggressive campaign to harass” the social media giant and making requests that “have no basis in the FTC’s statutory mission and appear to be the result of partisan pressure to target Twitter and silence Musk.”

During the Twitter Files hearing about the weaponization of the federal government, the Democrats looked and acted like total clowns. 

Taibbi kept his cool and schooled the Democrats quite handily.

During Taibbi’s visit to Capitol Hill, Representative Stacey Plaskett (D., V.I.) denounced the former Rolling Stones journalist as a threat.

“Mr. Chairman, I am not exaggerating when I say that you have called before you two witnesses who pose a direct threat to people who oppose them.” When Jordan laughed at this comment, Plaskett replied, “It’s funny when people have to go through that? This is unacceptable.”

Plaskett derided Taibbi as a “so-called journalist” and repeatedly insisted that there was no “real evidence” publicized in the Twitter Files showing coordination between the federal government and the social-media platform.

“Ranking Member Plaskett, I’m not a so-called journalist,” Taibbi countered. “I’ve won the National Magazine Award, the I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and I’ve written ten books, including four New York Times best sellers.”

Yet, it’s what happened DURING Matt’s testimony that raises a big red flag. As reported in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Taibbi had a visitor. 

Now Mr. Taibbi has told Mr. Jordan’s committee that an IRS agent showed up at his personal residence in New Jersey on March 9. That happens to be the same day Mr. Taibbi testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government about what he learned about Twitter. The taxman left a note instructing Mr. Taibbi to call the IRS four days later. Mr. Taibbi was told in a call with the agent that both his 2018 and 2021 tax returns had been rejected owing to concerns over identity theft.

~Snip

The bigger question is when did the IRS start to dispatch agents for surprise house calls? Typically when the IRS challenges some part of a tax return, it sends a dunning letter. Or it might seek more information from the taxpayer or tax preparer. If the IRS wants to audit a return, it schedules a meeting at the agent’s office. It doesn’t drop by unannounced.

The curious timing of this visit, on the heels of the FTC demand that Twitter turn over names of journalists, raises questions about potential intimidation, and Mr. Jordan is right to want to see documents and communications relating to the Taibbi visit.

The timing is indeed quite suspect. Furthermore, who authorized the personal visit to Taibbi’s residence? As the WSJ observes, the IRS typically doesn’t send agents, they write letters. A personal visit is VERY outside the norm for this. 

For those asking, I don’t want to comment on the IRS issue pending an answer to chairman @Jim_Jordan’s letter. I’m not worried for myself, but I did feel the Committee should be aware of the situation.

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 28, 2023

People have been concerned that the IRS would be further weaponized given Biden’s push to hire an additional 80,000 agents. Except in some ways, the IRS has been weaponized for quite some time now. Remember Lois Lerner? We do. 

Lerner specifically directed the IRS to target Tea Party organizations. She was told to testify in front of Congress, refused to do so and pled the Fifth. She was also held in contempt of Congress for her actions. She weaponized the IRS against Americans and organizations that she and the Obama Administration didn’t like. 

Now, everything old is new again with this egregious behavior by the IRS. People’s fears that the IRS and/or other federal agencies would be weaponized against Americans certainly seem justified in this case. 

Feature Photo Credit: IRS image via CC BY-SA 2.0. at Openverse, cropped and modified