A new report by the House Judiciary Committee exposed how more than 14,000 federal employees accesses the private financial data for Americans over 3,000,000 times.
The Committee and Select Subcommittee launched this investigation into government-led financial surveillance after a whistleblower disclosed that following the events of January 6, 2021, Bank of America (BoA), voluntarily and without legal process, provided the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with a list of names of all individuals who used a BoA credit or debit card in the Washington, D.C. region around that time.
From the report: “The Committee and Select Subcommittee released an interim report revealing that federal law enforcement had used sweeping search terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP” to target Americans and even treated purchases of religious texts or firearms as indicators of “extremism.”
The committee found how federal law enforcement derisively viewed American citizens—treating Americans who expressed opposition to firearm regulations, open borders,
COVID-19 lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the “deep state” as potential domestic terrorists.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy could launch their DOGE initiative to cut government spending by firing the 14,000 federal employees who were illegally targeting conservatives and Trump supporters!
The Weaponization Committee published a video on X explaining the results of the investigation. This should concern all Americans.
:
Think your finances are private? Think again.https://t.co/lXWqUB5iPZ pic.twitter.com/MdG3fZTR7j
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) December 6, 2024
Here is the full report by the House Judiciary Committee…
“Financial Surveilance in the United States: How the Federal Government weaponized the Bank Secrecy Act to spy on Americans”
The Daily Mail reported:
The House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released its damning findings that banks targeted Americans supportive of President-elect Donald Trump.
‘The federal government is spying on your bank account,’ the Republican-led panel posted in a video on X summarizing its 47-page report.
‘The federal government has conditioned financial institutions to work for them,’ another alarming slide on the video reads.
What the video seeks to explain is the complex and convoluted process in which major financial firms, like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase and more have all handed over their customer’s data to the government for free.
‘The next time you swipe your [bank or credit] card know that someone may be watching,’ the subcommittee video eerily adds.
This data can include the location, date and description of transactions, making it easy for the government to compile an understanding of where people go, what they buy and what activities they spend their time on.
After receiving this data, the FBI created an internal portal, where employees could search these typically private transactions and profiles could then be made on individual citizens of concern, like those who have shopped at Cabela’s or purchased a Bible, the panel claims.
Over 14,000 federal employees accessed that sensitive financial data in 2023 during which the subcommittee claims 3.3 million ‘warrantless searches’ were made.
