An IRS agent stopped by the home of Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi the same day of his congressional testimony on the weaponization of the government, according to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who’s demanding an explanation over the oddly timed visit.
Jordan sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and the Department of Treasury on Monday in hopes of getting to the bottom of why the federal agent appeared at Taibbi’s New Jersey home on March 9 and left a note, according to an editorial in The Wall Street Journal that cited the letter.
The note reportedly instructed Taibbi to call the IRS four days later.
When he did, an agent told him his 2018 and 2021 tax returns had both been rejected due to identity theft concerns.
Taibbi has been deeply involved in researching and reporting the Twitter Files — based off a trove of internal documents at the social media giant meant to expose unfair bias in the company’s past content moderation and the social media giant’s previous contact with government officials.
The journalist told Jordan’s committee about the IRS agent’s visit that occurred the same day he spoke to House members before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to testify on what he learned from the Twitter Files.
Taibbi gave the committee documents that indicate his 2018 return had been electronically accepted and the IRS never told him or his accountants there was an issue with it over the last 4¹/₂ years, according to the Journal.
His 2021 return was at first rejected, and then rejected again after he refiled, despite his accountants refiling with an IRS-provided PIN number, he said.
Taibbi said in neither case was it a money issue, and that the IRS actually owed him a “considerable” sum, the Journal said.
Taibbi made clear in a tweet Monday night he had no interest in commenting on the letter.
“For those asking, I don’t want to comment on the IRS issue pending an answer to chairman @Jim_Jordan’s letter,” Taibbi wrote. “I’m not worried for myself, but I did feel the Committee should be aware of the situation.”
Revelations about the IRS visit come after Taibbi and Democrats on the subcommittee butted heads during his hours-long testimony along with fellow Twitter Files journalist Michael Shellenberger.
Taibbi, a longtime Rolling Stone reporter, responded to a jab from Virgin Islands Rep. Stacey Plaskett at one point, listing his career accomplishments and saying, “I am not a ‘so-called’ journalist.”