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by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – According to recent documents acquired by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, terms such as “MAGA” and “Trump,” as well as the purchase of Bibles, were among the financial transactions that the federal government flagged.
Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), who leads both the select subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, seeking a transcribed interview with Peter Sullivan, the senior private sector partner for outreach in the FBI’s Strategic Partner Engagement Section.
Jordan dispatched a letter with an identical request to Noah Bishoff, a former senior director at the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an agency that oversees financial transactions to prevent money laundering related to domestic and international terrorism.
Jordan revealed that the subcommittee acquired documents indicating that after the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, FinCEN disseminated materials to financial institutions. Among other details, these materials described the ‘typologies’ of various individuals of interest. He also claims that the agency supplied financial institutions with recommended search terms and Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) to help identify transactions for federal law enforcement agencies.
“These materials included a document recommending the use of generic terms like ‘TRUMP’ and ‘MAGA’ to ‘search Zelle payment messages’ as well as a ‘prior FinCEN analysis’ of ‘Lone Actor/Homegrown Violent Extremism Indicators,’” according to the letter sent by Jordan.
“According to this analysis, FinCEN warned financial institutions of ‘extremism’ indicators that include ‘transportation charges, such as bus tickets, rental cars, or plane tickets, for travel to areas with no apparent purpose,’ or ‘the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views.’”
He continued, “In other words, FinCEN urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges on the basis of protected political and religious expression.”
“This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious doubts about FinCEN’s respect for fundamental civil liberties,” he added.
Jordan noted that transactions made by individuals at stores like Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods, or those involving the purchase of religious texts like the Bible, were being flagged by U.S. Federal agencies.
