FOIA

Why did the FBI Want Dilbert Creator Scott Adams' Twitter Data?

The cartoonist caught the FBI’s attention over a bizarre scheme involving Matt Gaetz, a CIA agent held captive in Iran, and a Florida fraudster.

Matthew Petti | 6.1.2026 4:53 PM

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(Illustration: DAN ROSENSTRAUCH/TNS/Newscom/Rokas Tenys/Dreamstime)

Most Americans knew the late Scott Adams for Dilbert, his beloved comic strip about an office worker and his dimwitted colleagues. Later in life, Adams became known as a kind of right-wing shock jockey. But the cartoonist caught the FBI's attention for something a little bit different: the sex crimes investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Fl.) and a bizarre blackmail scheme that grew out of it.

The FBI released its files on Adams last week, five months after his death, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Reason. The records include the heavily redacted results of a background check and a request to Twitter—the social media network later........

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