House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has subpoenaed the FBI after a leaked memo revealed that the FBI planned to place spies in Catholic churches to find “violent extremists."
Jordan's subpoena demands that FBI Director Christopher Wray send all documentation of the spy program to the Committee so Congress can get to the bottom of these horrifying allegations.
Jordan stated in the subpoena, "Based on the limited information produced by the FBI to the Committee, we now know that the FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to produce its analysis, and that the FBI proposed that its agents engage in outreach to Catholic parishes to develop sources among the clergy and church leadership to inform on Americans practicing their faith. This shocking information reinforces our need for all responsive documents, and the Committee is issuing a subpoena to you to compel your full cooperation.”
What the FBI is doing is terrifying and illustrates just how dangerous the intelligence community has become.
The plot by the FBI to insert spies to monitor churches is both an assault on our First Amendment as well as our Fourth Amendment rights.
Former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin is the person who blew the whistle on the program by posting a memo detailing the plan's purpose.
The FBI apparently intended to target “white supremacists" in Catholic churches with this program. One of the factors that the FBI would look out for is Catholic worshippers who want to implement a Latin Mass.
Seraphin's whistleblowing sent the FBI into panic mode as they quickly issued a statement on the allegations.
The FBI National Press Office issued a statement saying, “Upon learning of the document, FBI Headquarters quickly began taking action to remove the document from FBI systems and conduct a review of the basis for the document. The FBI is committed to sound analytic tradecraft and to investigating and preventing acts of violence and other crimes while upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans and will never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity."
The FBI claims the document was written by rogue actors within the FBI and blatantly admitted that they are working to scrub the document from all systems. Clearly, they are working hard to cover up any evidence of their Orwellian scheme.
Even if the FBI is telling the truth and the documents were authored by rogue actors within the FBI, that still means Americans cannot trust them and the organization needs major reform or serious sanctions.
Of course, moves like defunding the FBI will be extremely difficult to pull off with Democrats in control of the Senate.
Democrats seem to be entirely fine with the FBI's out-of-control politicization and targeting of conservative groups. This is far from the first time the FBI has been caught red-handed targeting groups and organizations that hold politically incorrect stances.
Republicans need to work to expose the FBI to the American people. If the FBI isn't reined in, it could be the end of American freedom as we know it.
