Critics are beginning to sound the alarm on Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi's suspiciously-timed run-in with the IRS.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board reported Monday that the IRS visited Taibbi's New Jersey home the same day as he gave his testimony to Congress about his findings from the Twitter Files. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan was notified and sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding answers.
"I'd never heard of anything like that," Fox News chief political analyst and veteran journalist Brit Hume told Fox News Digital. "I don't think it'll have a chilling effect on Matt Taibbi... I think it's very strange. I think anybody would have a right to be suspicious."
Journalists dealing with government intimidation tactics – to be clear, nothing has been proven to show the IRS was acting nefariously – is nothing new in the media business. Hume said he was spied on by the CIA while working under columnist Jack Anderson in the early 1970s.
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Longtime journalist Sharyl Attkisson said the visit, ill-intentioned or not, would have a "chilling effect." Attkisson has long contended the Justice Department during the Obama administration illegally surveilled her while she was at CBS News.
"I will tell you that I believe the government has a duty to be extraordinarily careful to avoid the appearance of weaponization of their authority," Attkisson told Fox News Digital.
"The IRS would have to know how their visit to Taibbi’s house would be construed, which suggests that’s exactly as they wanted it. Yes, there’s a chilling effect," she continued. "Part of the blame lies with Congress which has, for decades, watched the documented abuses and been heavy on hearings but light on the sort of true oversight, actions and major reforms needed to restore balance. Right now we all work for the Feds, when they are supposed to work for us."
The Freedom of the Press Foundation weighed in, tweeting, "If the IRS visit to @mtaibbi's house had anything to do with his reporting or recent Congressional testimony it would be a disturbing attack on press freedoms. Let’s hope the government quickly and credibly explains."
Taibbi – who previously said he wouldn’t comment on the matter until Rep. Jordan’s letter was answered – responded to the Freedom of the Press.
"I’ve been reassured now that there’s no problem, but I still look forward to hearing an explanation," Taibbi wrote.
Taibbi was among several independent journalists who have reported on the inner workings of Twitter before Musk's takeover, much of it involving efforts from the federal government to moderate content during the coronavirus pandemic.
Fox News Digital reached out to the ACLU, the Poynter Institute, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the World Press Institute for comment on the situation. None of them immediately responded.
The IRS did not answer a series of questions from Fox News Digital, including how often agents show up at people’s homes and whether Taibbi’s role in "Twitter Files" had anything to do with his visit. "Federal law prohibits the IRS from commenting on an individual taxpayer matter," a spokesperson said.
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Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson said why the IRS visited Taibbi’s residence may not come to light, but a home visit is unusual under any circumstance.
"Combine that with the fact that Taibbi is deeply involved in documenting the Twitter Files showing government interference in the political debate, and Taibbi testifying before Congress that day, and there are just too many coincidences piled on top of each other," Jacobson told Fox News Digital. "Maybe there's an innocent explanation, but until we hear that explanation it's reasonable to assume the home visit was connected to Taibbi's journalism."
This incident followed the Federal Trade Commission ordering Twitter owner Elon Musk to "identify all journalists" who were granted access to the company's archives among other demands.
An FTC spokesman told Fox News Digital, "Protecting consumers’ privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do. It should come as no surprise that career staff at the commission are conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company."
DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall believes the entire media industry has cause for concern while echoing Attkisson's belief that the Obama administration used similar tactics.
"It is easy to infer that this IRS visit to Taibbi's home was designed to intimidate an enterprising journalist and send a signal to other such journalists that they could be next, if they work on stories unfriendly to the Biden administration. Further, it is disturbing that the national press corps has generally been so muted in expressing any protest to this IRS action," McCall told Fox News Digital.
McCall said any sort of reporter intimidation "runs contrary to every principle" the framers had in mind when they created the structure of press freedom in the First Amendment.
"The fee press was established to allow and even encourage the kind of fearless reporting and scrutiny of the establishment that Taibbi is now doing," McCall said. "Weaponizing the IRS to go after journalists is the stuff of rogue and authoritarian regimes."
He also believes it "defies the imagination" to think this IRS visit to Taibbi's home at the same time he was testifying about his journalistic ventures is coincidental. However, nothing has been proven to completely tie the two events.
"That the Biden IRS would use this kind of tactic shouldn't be surprising. Being part of the Obama administration, Biden's people surely noticed how the Obama White House activated the IRS to go after Tea Party groups, not to mention spying on journalists. Thus, this latest disturbing incident regarding Taibbi is consistent with the Obama-Biden playbook," McCall said.
