The IRS opened an investigation into independent journalist Matt Taibbi on Christmas Eve, just weeks after he began reporting on the "Twitter Files," House Judiciary Republican Jim Jordan (Oh.) said.

It was previously reported that the IRS visited Taibbi's home in March while he was testifying to Congress about government abuse.

"The IRS opened a case on me on a Saturday, Christmas Eve 2022, which just happened to coincide with a major Twitter Files report on FBI/intelligence community ties to tech platforms," Taibbi tweeted.

IRS targets journalist

The IRS told the House Judiciary Committee that they saw red flags for identity theft and reached out to Taibbi starting in 2019. But Jordan said that Taibbi had received no notice until an agent visited his home this year, on the very day he was testifying to Congress.

The committee also never received the IRS' letters, Jordan wrote in a letter to IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel.

The IRS opened an investigation into Taibbi's 2018 tax return on Christmas Eve of last year, the same day that Taibbi released a new installment of the "Twitter Files," a collaboration with Elon Musk that exposed coordinated censorship between government agencies like the FBI and Twitter.

"It is unclear from the documents alone why the IRS opened its examination of Mr. Taibbi’s tax return on such an unusual date or whether it coincided intentionally with Mr. Taibbi’s reporting about government censorship,” Jordan wrote.

The IRS resolved its case days after visiting Taibbi in March, finding that he owed no money and in fact was owed a refund.

Coincidence?

Taibbi also pointed out the improbable odds of the IRS opening a sensitive probe on a Christmas Eve that also happened to fall on a Saturday -- on the same day that he reported a new story.

He told Fox News' America Reports that he's disturbed by the "brazen" optics, which suggest the government isn't trying to hide its intimidation.

"This is quite brazen, what they’re doing. They had to know that this was going to come out. Also, visiting me at my home on the day I’m testifying before Congress, that shows you that they’re probably not worried about the optics of all this, which I think is even more concerning," he said.

Jordan has been leading a sprawling investigation of abuse by various government agencies, including the IRS.

An IRS whistleblower has alleged he faced retaliation for exposing political interference in the investigation of Hunter Biden. The whistleblower was set to testify privately to the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.