Government & PolicyBreaking
Watchdog finds IRS employees made unauthorized accesses to celebrities’ and officials’ tax records
By Mantle News
Coverage spectrum
Covered by 3 outlets, all right-leaning.
3 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias
A Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report found that 52 IRS employees made 86 “suspicious accesses” into the tax records of 30 high-profile taxpayers, including government officials, business leaders and entertainers, between 2022 and November 2025. One outlet reported that investigators reviewed roughly 6 million searches as part of the review. The report said the IRS’s unauthorized-access (UNAX) safeguard program does not adequately address the risk of improper access, citing deficiencies in preventive controls, discipline processes and victim-notification procedures. The IRS did not immediately comment. One outlet noted the report follows President Trump’s earlier $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury over a separate 2019 leak of his tax records, which he later dropped voluntarily.
Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works
What happened
Key points
Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.
TIGTA identified 86 “suspicious accesses” into the records of 30 taxpayers by 52 IRS employees from 2022 through November 2025.
Reported byRight
The accessed records belonged to government officials, business leaders and entertainers.
Reported byRight
The report said the IRS’s UNAX program is not adequately addressing the risk of unauthorized access to taxpayer accounts.
Reported byRight
Investigators reviewed nearly 6 million searches as part of the review.
Reported byRight
The IRS had no systemic control limiting employees to only the taxpayer accounts assigned to them, and certain “NAMES” search commands bypassed monitoring methods.
Reported byRight
President Trump previously filed, then voluntarily dropped, a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury over a 2019 leak of his tax records.
Reported byRight
What is contested
Where accounts differ
Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.
When the TIGTA report was released
The Daily Caller and PJ Media describe the report as released “Tuesday” (around Oct. 4, 2026), while Just the News states it was released Sept. 29.
How each side tells it
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the left
No coverage yet
No left-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.
the center
No coverage yet
No center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.
the right
3 outlets
All three right-leaning outlets report the TIGTA findings straightforwardly, with one (Daily Caller) using more dramatic language (“Dozens... Snooped Through”) while the others use more neutral or technical phrasing emphasizing detection failures or improper access.
IRS employees improperly accessed filings of celebrities, other high-profile taxpayers: report
Just the NewsFar RightAll right-leaning headlines
The words they chose
Language to notice
Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.
Left
Has not covered this story.
Center
Has not covered this story.
Right1
Snooped Through
In the outlets’ own words
Loaded verb
Snooped ThroughMore neutral: Accessed
Implies covert, intrusive prying rather than neutrally describing unauthorized database access.
Dozens Of IRS Employees Snooped Through Celebrities, Other High-Profile Taxpayers’ Private Records, IG Report Finds
Used byThe Daily Caller (Far Right)
See for yourself
Side by side
What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.
From the left
0 outletsNo left-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.
From the center
0 outletsNo center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.
From the right
3 outletsLeads with
- Scale of suspicious accesses and employees involved
- Failures in IRS detection and oversight systems
- Lack of safeguards for high-profile accounts
- Connection to broader distrust of IRS handling of sensitive data
See the 3 headlines from the rightHide the headlines
- Just the NewsFar Right
IRS employees improperly accessed filings of celebrities, other high-profile taxpayers: report
The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s office identifies 86 “suspicious accesses” by 52 IRS employees from 2022 into 2025.
- PJ MediaFar Right
IRS Couldn't Detect Suspicious Searches of Politicians, CEOs, and Celebrities
The IRS has spent decades warning its employees that curiosity isn’t a legitimate reason to look at somebody’s tax records. Its own watchdog now says the agency still couldn’t reliably detect employees searching the accounts of government officials, business leaders, and …
- The Daily CallerFar Right
Dozens Of IRS Employees Loaded verb“Snooped Through”Implies covert, intrusive prying rather than neutrally describing unauthorized database access.More neutral: AccessedDisagree with this highlight? Celebrities, Other High-Profile Taxpayers’ Private Records, IG Report Finds
‘The IRS’s UNAX program is not adequately addressing the risk of unauthorized access to taxpayers’ accounts’
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