Independent journalist Matt Taibbi testified before Congress earlier this month – but it’s just coming out that the IRS sent agents to his house at the same time, apparently to intimidate him.
Taibbi and fellow journalist Michael Shellenberger got a cold reception from congressional Democrats three weeks ago at a House Judiciary Committee hearing to discuss the weaponizing of the federal government. Ironically, an FBI agent was making an unannounced visit to Taibbi’s home at the very same time. The agent said the IRS was rejecting Taibbi’s 2018 and 2021 tax returns over concerns about “identity theft. ”
Dan Schneider of MRC’s Free Speech America contends it was all a ruse. “I think the deep state is sending a message to anybody who’s going to question the regime: If you step out of line, we’re going to step on you,” he tells AFN.
The IRS has been accused of targeting conservative Americans since Lois Lerner (an IRS unit director during the Obama era) was caught denying tax-exempt status to certain organizations because of their political leanings. Schneider says Lerner plied her trade in the dark, trying to hide the IRS’s bias.
“[But] I think what we now see is that the IRS is doing this in a very public way,” he offers. “They’ve not denied that they sent an agent to match Taibbi’s house; and they’ve not denied that it’s intimidating to have that happen.”
Schneider argues that the federal government – from the IRS to the Justice Department and beyond – is indeed being weaponized against conservatives and Christians.
“That’s like the first thing an authoritarian [government] does: try to take away your free-speech rights,” he exclaims. “And the second thing they do is try to take away Second Amendment rights.”
During an interview on Wednesday, Congressman Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) stated there are ways Congress can combat the weaponization of government: bring the abuse to light, put the findings into action – and exercise the House’s “power of the purse.”
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Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.
YET the GOP still has not done a damn ting, to DEFUND THE IRS!
I don’t think I’ve posted here this week, at least not in the last few days. Apparently I didn’t miss a thing. First thread and here you are still beating the drum that the Republicans in Congress aren’t doing anything.
You have demonstrated over and over that you do not realize there is a process in Congress. You do not seem to know that the GOP has a narrow majority in ONE House of a TWO House Congress. After that part of the process there is a THIRD step called the executive branch where a president either signs or vetoes a bill.
The Republican controlled House has indeed passed a bill to defund the IRS. It was the first thing they did. And here’s a link to it.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3806234-house-gop-passes-repeal-of-irs-funding-boost-as-its-first-bill-in-the-majority/
Next comes the Senate and the president. Will it happen? No! So how is that the fault of the GOP?
SO because “there’s a slim chance of it succeeding, don’t bother trying”?
I think we will see a lot more IRS harassment of ordinary citizens who try to stand up against the this jackbooted administration.
Buckle your belts. The IRS may be at all our doors before 2024.