Federal investigators from the United States Treasury Department pressured banking institutions into monitoring customer transactions and bank records to identify potential “violent extremists” in the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol Riot, a report from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) suggests.
Documents published by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Wednesday further indicate that investigators paid special attention to purchases of sporting goods and religious books, and flagged any transactions using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump.”
According to an open letter co-written by the Select Subcommittee and the Judiciary Committee (of which Jordan is chairman), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) “distributed materials to financial institutions that, among other things, outline the ‘typologies’ of various persons of interest and provide financial institutions with suggested search terms and Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) for identifying transactions on behalf of federal law enforcement.”
Read more: pic.twitter.com/ZT47BpW0bc
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 17, 2024
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Banks were instructed to “search Zelle payment messages” for terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” and compare results to an existing FinCEN database of “Lone Actor/Homegrown Violent Extremism Indicators.”
Other flagged activities included “‘transportation charges, such as bus tickets, rental cars, or plane tickets, for travel areas with no apparent purpose,’ or ‘the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views.’” Investigators were interested in bank records and MCCs associated with firearms and sporting goods, with specific attention on the keywords “Cabela’s,” “Dick’s Sporting Goods,” and “Bass Pro Shops,” along with the names of popular gun brands.
Did you shop at Bass Pro Shop yesterday or purchase a Bible?
If so, the federal government may be watching you.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 18, 2024
“Despite these transactions having no apparent criminal nexus and, in fact, relate to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights— FinCEN seems to have adopted a characterization of these Americans as potential threat actors,” Jordan wrote in the letter.
Jordan concluded by demanding that Noah Bishoff, the recipient of the letter and the former Director of the Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations Division of FinCEN, appear for a transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee to explain how these bank records were used.
Sources who reviewed the documents seen by the Committee further indicated that, while January 6th was the initial cause for the bank probe, the investigations quickly expanded into areas that had nothing to do with the riot.
“It was big banks, looking and searching private transactions using key terms at the suggestion of the federal government to find out what you’re buying, what you’re spending your money on,” Jordan told Fox News. “Scary stuff—all, it looks like, without any warrant, without any legal process.”
“It’s scary stuff. It’s financial surveillance of the American people,” Jordan concluded.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer covering politics, culture, and business for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X (Twitter).
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