Last night, the House Weaponization Committee reported an appalling truth— the Biden administration permitted the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to arbitrarily flag transactions containing terms such as "MAGA" or "TRUMP." Shockingly, this intrusive surveillance even extended to Americans who purchased Bibles at Cabela’s & Dick’s. This revelation is not only infuriating but represents a blatant violation of our constitutional rights, a malicious political attack on Trump supporters, and an outright assault on Christians. Congress must investigate this and hold FinCEN accountable for violating our civil liberties, slash their funding, investigate the financial institutions that spied on Americans, and restore liberty to our government!

The House Weaponization Committee's findings expose that following January 6th, 2021, FinCEN's began distributing materials to financial institutions, essentially instructing them to play thought police by flagging transactions based on terms and codes provided by federal law enforcement. The suggested terms, including "TRUMP" & "MAGA" in Zelle messages, are a grotesque attempt to label individuals as "Lone actors, homegrown violent extremism indicators, potential active shooters, and potential domestic terrorists."

If that weren't enough, FinCEN had the temerity to dictate financial institutions to flag other indicators of so-called "extremism," such as changes in transportation and the purchase of books, including religious texts like the Bible. This egregious intrusion into the private transactions of American citizens, under the pretext of identifying potential threats, is not just a violation but an outright assault on our civil liberties.

In short, FinCEN urged large financial institutions to scrutinize the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges and terms, then urged them to flag these customers based on generic information as potential violent extremists, terrorists, or shooters.

This violates the civil liberties of every citizen of the United States and warrants a full investigation and justice to be served. FinCEN does NOT have the right to tell financial institutions to spy on their customers by searching for generic terms, purchases, and changing transportation behaviors. Furthermore, the audacity of FinCEN to FLAG American citizens who used these generic terms, purchases, and changing transportation behaviors as potential violent extremists and terrorists is not just a political attack but a severe overreach of power.

Our government is intended to have limited power. There is no justification for FinCEN to encourage financial institutions to spy on and flag American citizens as terrorists for generic terms. This is plainly a political attack on those who support Trump and Christians. FinCEN must be held accountable for this abuse of power and its lack of regard for our civil liberties. Congress must investigate FinCEN and hold them accountable for their violation of our civil liberties and, therefore, our constitution! Slash their funding, punish the individuals who allowed for this overstep to happen, investigate the financial institutions that worked with FinCEN to flag Americans, and restore liberty to our government!