The IRS has audited Breitbart News Network's 2012 financial information, according to the company, in a move that company executives suggest is politically motivated.
Breitbart, a California-based company which runs several conservative websites, has alleged that the tax agency's audit is an attempt by the Obama administration to quiet them down.
"The Obama administration's timing on this is exquisite, but try as they might through various methods to silence us, we will only get more emboldened," Stephen K. Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News Network, said in a statement first reported by Fox News on Tuesday.
The audit comes as the latest fodder in the case against Former IRS official Lois Lerner, who has been accused of processing Tea Party and conservative groups for tax-exempt status in an unfair manner before the 2010 and 2012 elections.
"Breitbart has been harshly critical of the IRS in the aftermath of the scandal, contesting President Barack Obama's claim from earlier this year that there was 'not even a smidgen of corruption' at the agency and following the story that the IRS lost emails from several employees involved in the congressional investigation," Politico reported.
However in this case, it remains to be seen whether the apparent audit of Breitbart is anything out of the ordinary since IRS is known to conduct audits of tens of thousands of businesses every year.
A copy of the notice to Breitbart News, which was obtained by Fox News, asked for logs of the news company's receipts and expenses, its partnership agreement and a "written narrative" of the business.
Meanwhile, Larry Solov, the Breitbart News Network's president and CEO, said that the company would not be intimidated by the audit.
"We stand ready to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service on its audit of our company, but this will not deter us in the least from continuing our aggressive coverage of this president or his administration," Solov said in a statement.
Later Tuesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wrote IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, saying, "The decision to audit Breitbart News Network, LLC appears highly questionable" in light of the IRS scandal, New York Daily News reported.
In the letter, he called the inquiry a "far-reaching, burdensome, and open-ended audit," and asked for details about any audits of other news organizations.
"In another time, under another Administration, the decision to audit a conservative news organization might not have risen to a worrisome level of concern," he wrote. "However, given the IRS's disturbing track record of illegally targeting conservative organizations ... the decision to audit Breitbart News Network, LLC appears highly questionable."
"For the IRS to behave like a partisan political organization, targeting media organizations whose views differ from the president's, would represent a gross abuse of power," the Republican senator and Tea Party leader wrote. "I very much hope that is not the case," Cruz added.
In response, the IRS said it couldn't comment on specific cases, but that audits are based exclusively on tax law, according to Politico.
"Federal privacy laws prohibit the IRS from commenting on specific taxpayer situations," the IRS said in a statement. "The IRS stresses that audits are based on the information related to tax returns and the underlying tax law - nothing else. Audits are handled by career, non-partisan civil servants, and the IRS has safeguards in place to protect the exam process."
The main website, Breitbart.com, played a key role in breaking the scandal over former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner sharing sexually explicit photos on Twitter.
