The Biden-Harris administration has been accused of colluding with banks to monitor the purchases of ordinary Americans, bypassing the usual requirement for warrants, according to a recent congressional report.
This revelation has raised concerns about the erosion of individual freedoms and the overreach of government power.
As reported by The Post Millennial, the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a 47-page report this week, alleging that the government is exploiting laws like the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to spy on citizens' bank accounts.
The report revealed, "Documents show that federal law enforcement increasingly works hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of American citizens." This data, which includes details about the location, description, and date of transactions, allows the federal government to monitor citizens' purchases.
The FBI has reportedly compiled this data into an internal, searchable portal for analyzing individuals of interest. In 2023 alone, the database was accessed by over 14,000 federal employees, and more than 3 million searches were conducted, all without a warrant. The committee accused the Biden-Harris administration and the FBI of exploiting the BSA to create this database and conduct these searches, particularly after the events of January 6, 2021.
The report also claimed that "law enforcement has been manipulating the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system to gain access to financial information without warrants or probable cause." The BSA mandates banks to file a SAR whenever they identify "a suspicious transaction relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation, as cited from the Treasury Department by the committee.
The report further alleged that the FBI has manipulated the SAR filing process, treating financial institutions as extensions of law enforcement. This manipulation reportedly intensified after the January 6, 2021 protest and riot, when federal authorities "coordinated with the Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to encourage financial institutions across the country to scour their data and file SARs on hundreds of Americans, if not more, without any clear criminal nexus.
The report also claimed that "federal law enforcement had used sweeping search terms like 'MAGA' and 'TRUMP' to target Americans and even treated purchases of religious texts or firearms as indicators of extremism'" to file some of the reports.
The committee concluded that the FBI has exploited this situation, and financial institutions such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo have been encouraged by the government to surrender private financial information of numerous American citizens. This revelation raises serious questions about the balance between national security and individual freedom, a cornerstone of conservative values. The unchecked surveillance of citizens' financial transactions is a stark reminder of the need for limited government intervention and the preservation of individual liberties.
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