Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a notice Monday requesting more information about the timing and circumstances of the March 9 raid on Taibbi's New Jersey home.
Federal agents were dispatched to Taibbi's residence the same day the investigative reporter appeared before the federal government's Arms Selection Subcommittee, also chaired by the Jordanian congressman.
According to the letter first obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Taibbi told Jordan that the IRS asked him to call the federal agency four days later and was later told that his tax returns for 2018 and 2021 were claimed due to "identity theft". concerns."
Taibbi shared his 2018 tax returns with the select committee, which showed that his tax returns were "accepted electronically" and there were no problems with the returns for "more than four years." five and a half".
While Taibbi's initial interest in 2021 has been denied twice, even though his accountants use "IRS provided identifiers". Taibbi added that the issue at stake was not "monetary" and that the federal agency actually owes him a "significant" amount. During Taibbi's visit to Capitol Hill, Representative Stacey Plaskett (D., V.I.) denounced the former Rolling Stones reporter as a threat.
Mr. President, I am not exaggerating when I say that you have brought before you two witnesses who directly threaten those who oppose it. When Jordan laughed at this remark, Plaskett replied, "It's funny. when people have to go through that? It's not acceptable."
Plaskett mocked Taibbi as a 'so-called journalist' and repeatedly insisted there was no 'credential evidence' posted in Twitter files suggesting coordination between the federal government and the social media platform .
"Ranking Plaskett, I'm not a journalist to be called that," Taibbi replied. "I have won a National Magazine Award, an I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and have written ten books, including four New York Times bestsellers.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fl.) engaged in a similarly hostile line of questioning. "Being a Republican witness today will certainly cloud your objectivity."
“Elon Musk has fed you information he has handpicked, which you would suspect promotes a biased opinion or at least creates a right-wing conspiracy theory. You violated your own standards and you seem to have taken advantage of that," the Florida representative told Taibbi.
Just before testifying, Taibbi posted a new Twitter file revealing that the social media company had created a "censorship industrial complex" in which agencies like the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have DHS) and NGOs, including the Atlantic Council and the National Endowment for Democracy, regularly use the social media platform to censor or downplay posts they consider offensive.
According to communications obtained by Taibbi, most of which he has posted to Twitter files, Twitter has a policy of censoring even information it accepts as true if it has the potential to cause harm. "vaccine hesitancy" among readers.
