The IRS Investigates Journalist Mr. Matt Taibbi: A Timeline of Events
Chairman Jim Jordan Investigates the IRS’s Investigation into Journalist Mr. Matt Taibbi
Investigative Journalist Mr. Matt Taibbi reported on Twitter that House Judiciary Chair Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), has sent a second letter to the Honorable Mr. Daniel Werfel, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Services (IRS), demanding answers to a case the IRS opened against Mr. Taibbi, consisting of a bizarre pattern of events.
The actions by the IRS against Mr. Taibbi were revealed in response to a request for documentation regarding a home visit by IRS agents to Mr. Taibbi’s house while he was testifying before Congress.
Mr. Taibbi began reporting on The Twitter Files in December 2022. When he released Twitter Files #9 about government corruption, a case was opened against him that claimed to be investigating an issue with Mr. Taibbi’s 2019 tax filing about his 2018 taxes. The IRS showed up at Mr. Taibbi’s house while he was reporting on government corruption in Congress. Rep. Jim Jordan sent a letter to the IRS demanding answers regarding the home visit. The IRS provided documentation in response that raised many more questions. Rep. Jim Jordan has just sent a second letter to the IRS with a demand for more answers no later than June 7.
Timeline of Events
According to the details in the letter from Congressman Jordan, based on the response from the IRS to his previous letter, the timeline of events was as follows:
October 24, 2019: According to the letter, the IRS currently claims it sent a letter to Mr. Taibbi regarding his 2018 tax filing, claiming that it had been rejected due to concerns about identity theft, yet produced no proof of such a letter. As quoted from Rep. Jordan’s letter,
“The IRS asserted to the Committee that it sent a letter to Mr. Taibbi on October 24,
2019—nine days after Mr. Taibbi filed his 2018 tax return—asking Mr. Taibbi to verify his
return because it met identity theft criteria and could not be processed until he confirmed. The
IRS alleged that it sent a second letter to Mr. Taibbi on March 23, 2020. 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 also failed to produce these purported letters to the
Committee. “
March 23, 2020: The IRS currently also claims it sent a follow-up letter to Mr. Taibbi regarding his 2018 tax filing.
December 24, 2022: The IRS opened an investigation into Mr. Taibbi regarding his 2018 tax filing. This was on Christmas Eve on a Saturday and coincided with Twitter Files report #9 that exposed connections between the FBI, “other government agencies”, and big tech companies.
January 27, 2023: According to the letter, an agent was assigned face-to-face contact with Mr. Taibbi for this case.
March 9, 2023: Mr. Taibbi appeared before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Committee on the Judiciary to give over a statement at a “Hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on the Twitter Files” and answer questions about government corruption revealed by his reporting of The Twitter Files.
According to the letter, on the same day, the IRS agent assigned to Mr. Taibbi’s case showed up at his house to make initial contact about the case.
March 21, 2023: According to the letter, the IRS resolved and closed the case against Mr. Taibbi, concluding that the IRS actually owed Mr. Taibbi money, not the other way around.
March 27, 2023: Rep. Jim Jordan sent a letter to the US Department of Treasury Secretary, the Honorable Janet Yellen, and the Commissioner of the IRS, the Honorable Mr. Daniel Werfel. The letter demanded answers to questions surrounding the suspicious home visit by the IRS to Mr. Taibbi.
May 5, 2023: Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service Mr. Daniel Werfel sent documentation in response to Rep. Jordan’s demands, according to the May 24 letter. That documentation does not appear to be publicly available but was referenced in Rep. Jordan’s letter as “Letter from Mr. Daniel Werfel, Internal Revenue Service, to Rep. Jim Jordan, H. Comm. on the Judiciary
(May 5, 2023).”
May 24, 2023: Rep. Jim Jordan sent a second letter to Mr. Werfel, highlighting that his response procured more questions than answers, along with a demand for more documentation in order to get answers to the questions raised by the first set of documents.
Mr. Taibbi wrote up the events in more detail on his Substack, Racket News
Mr. Taibbi appeared on Fox News to discuss his concerns about the levels of government corruption:
DailyClout will continue to bring you updates as this story develops.
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