The Biden administration worked with banks to ‘spy’ on Americans without a warrant, a stunning new congressional report charges.
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. (Read more: Daily Mail, 12/6/2024) (Archive)
The link to the report released by House Judiciary is not working. A working link was added above.
𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐩𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬
Think your finances are private? Think again.https://t.co/Tifps0897q pic.twitter.com/nhRqN4JRsL
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) December 6, 2024
It all started after a whistleblower told the Committee that following January 6, Bank of America (BoA) voluntarily provided the FBI with a list of individuals who used BoA cards in the DC area during that time—𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬.
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) December 6, 2024
In fact, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the FBI facilitated multiple backchannel discussions with financial institutions to gather Americans’ private financial information.
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) December 6, 2024
One of the most alarming findings in the new report is that federal law enforcement has been manipulating the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system to gain access to financial information without warrants or probable cause.
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) December 6, 2024
When banks submit a SAR with your financial details, FinCEN compiles it into a searchable database. In 2023, it was accessed by over 14,000 government employees for more than 𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬.
The scale of this surveillance is staggering. pic.twitter.com/v40wqgDRHa
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) December 6, 2024
Without safeguards, this could lead to widespread abuse of power and debanking. pic.twitter.com/uF2N054h3t
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) December 6, 2024
This investigation is not over.
The federal government’s ability to spy on Americans’ financial data cannot go unchecked.
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) December 6, 2024