Federal officials instructed banks to search through customer data for terms like “TRUMP” or “MAGA” in transactions, as revealed by documents obtained by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan announced the request for an interview with a former FinCEN director regarding the use of specific typologies and search terms to identify transactions of interest, including terms related to political and religious expression.
The letter also raised concerns about the government’s use of private financial information and coordination between FinCEN and the private sector.
“We now know the federal government flagged terms like ‘MAGA’ and ‘TRUMP,’ to financial institutions if Americans completed transactions using those terms,” Jordan said. “What was also flagged? If you bought a religious text, like a BIBLE, or shopped at Bass Pro Shop.”
“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,’” Jordan wrote.
“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.’ In other words, 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,” he said.
“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. This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious doubts about FinCEN’s respect for fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote.
An interview was requested with an FBI official over the FBI’s request for information from Bank of America on gun purchases related to January 6, 2021.
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