According to the House Judiciary Committee, the federal government has flagged terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” for financial institutions if those terms were included in transactions.
The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government claimed Wednesday to have obtained documents showing that the FBI flagged these conditions, and that “individuals who shopped at stores such as Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods, or purchased religious texts such as a Bible, may also have had marked their transactions.”
“This type of pervasive financial surveillance, conducted in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, of Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious concerns about the FBI’s respect for basic civil liberties,” the subcommittee said. declared in a press release.
We now know that the federal government has flagged terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP” to financial institutions if Americans were to complete transactions using those terms.
What was also highlighted? If you purchased a religious text, such as a BIBLE, or shopped at Bass Pro Shop. pic.twitter.com/jjRaVNItWz
— Representative Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 17, 2024
“In light of these revelations, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has requested transcribed interviews Peter SullivanSenior Private Sector Partner for Outreach in the FBI’s Strategic Partner Engagement Division, and Noah Bishoffformer Director of the Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).”
In the letter to Bishoff, Jordan explained that documents obtained by the committee show that in the aftermath of January 6, 2021, FinCEN distributed materials to banks instructing them to look for “extremism indicators” in transactions such as “the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media with extremist views.”
“In other words, FinCEN has urged major financial institutions to search their customers’ private transactions for suspicious allegations based on protected political and religious speech,” Jordan wrote.
Jordan also explained that the committee has evidence. FinCEN presented slides to banks directing them to flag firearm purchases at sporting goods stores such as Cabela’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
“Despite these transactions having no apparent criminal nexus — and in fact involving Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights — FinCEN appears to have characterized these Americans as potential threat actors,” Jordan wrote.
“This type of pervasive financial surveillance, conducted in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, on Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious questions about FinCEN’s respect for basic civil liberties,” he added.
This comes after Newsweek reported in October that the FBI had created a new “extremism” category to track Trump supporters in particular ahead of the 2024 election.
The number of cases of domestic extremism is striking dropped since January 6, but journalist William Arkin told Newsweek that “sociopolitical developments – such as stories of fraud in the recent general election, the emboldening impact of the violent breach of the US Capitol, circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and conspiracy theories that promote violence – will almost certainly encourage some domestic terrorists to commit violence.”
Read Jordan’s letter to Bishoff:
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