Feds urged banks to flag purchases of religious texts, 'MAGA' transactions, House committee says

Christian Post ^ | 01/19/2024 | CP Staff

[SeekAndFind]

A U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee is seeking to question a former official in the U.S. Treasury's financial crimes enforcement office over revelations the agency urged financial institutions to flag customer transactions linked to phrases like "MAGA" and "Trump" as well as purchases of religious texts.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, sent a letter Wednesday to Noah Bishoff, the former director of an office in the Treasury's Strategic Operations Division of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Requesting a transcribed interview with Bishoff, Jordan stated that the subcommittee obtained documents showing that following the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, FinCEN "distributed materials to financial institutions that, among other things, outline the 'typologies' of various persons of interest." He alleges the agency also "provided financial institutions with suggested search terms and Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) for identifying transactions on behalf of federal law enforcement."

"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,'" the letter reads.

"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.'"

Jordan claimed that the documents show that "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."

The findings from the subcommittee suggest federal law enforcement agencies also sought data on transactions at popular sporting goods stores like Bass Pro Shop, Dick's Sporting Goods and Cabela's.

"We now know the federal government flagged terms like 'MAGA' and 'TRUMP' to financial institutions if Americans completed transactions using those terms," Jordan tweeted. "What was also flagged? If you bought a religious text, like a BIBLE, or shopped at Bass Pro Shop."

We now know the federal government flagged terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP,” to financial institutions if Americans completed transactions using those terms.

What was also flagged? If you bought a religious text, like a BIBLE, or shopped at Bass Pro Shop. pic.twitter.com/jjRaVNItWz— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 17, 2024

One of the sample slides distributed by FinCEN, "prepared by a financial institution," gave instructions on how to query for transactions like those associated with "small arms," "sporting and recreational goods and supplies," and keywords like "Dick's Sporting Goods," "Cabela's" and others, according to the documents.

While Jordan's letter refers to the Jan. 6 date, a source familiar with the matter told Fox News that the documents linked to House committees' investigation contained no "specific time frames or limitations for banks searching customer transactions with the terms." This suggests federal investigators may have expanded their effort to collect data from merchants "beyond" those transactions linked to the Jan. 6 event.

The revelation comes just days after President Joe Biden released the first ad for his 2024 reelection campaign in which he labeled millions of Donald Trump supporters as "extremists" leading up to the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot.

The video released Jan. 4 highlights what Biden calls the "preservation of American democracy" as the "central issue" of the 81-year-old's reelection campaign.

"There's something dangerous happening in America," the Democrat says in the ad's voiceover. "There's an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy. All of us are being asked right now, what will we do to maintain our democracy?"

[Shady]

The flagging of transactions at Dick’s is ludicrous. Eddie Stack runs the business with his other family members. Eddie is a great guy, his sister ran for Congress as a super-lib and lost. Dick’s started in 1948 on the east side of Binghamton NY with some money from Dick Stack’s Grandmother. It has grown through the skill that Eddie certainly has. Tim Meyers, who ran the warehousing operations here in town sadly passed away some years ago. They are good people, although a bit “liberal.”

[Liz]

Biden released the first ad for his 2024 reelection campaign
in which he labeled millions of Trump supporters “extremists”

The moral equivalency of Hillary calling us “deplorables.”

[Campion]

Are we on "dehumanization" now?

[Tell It Right]

Revelation 13:16-18 (AMP) -- Also he compels all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead [signifying allegiance to the beast], 17 and that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let the person who has enough insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the [imperfect] number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

I've longed believed that the mark won't be a literal mark, but a creed or religion you adhere to. If you don't belong to the correct clique, you don't get to engage in business.

[Harpotoo]

Too bad fjb is unimpeachable.

[Varda]

I’d say Polarization.

[CMailBag]

Obviously BribeMe’s entire administration is Communist.

[Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi]

We are in various shadings of stages IV, V and VI.

(Personally, I believe everything will go south after the rapture.)