Republican House lawmaker Jim Jordan said that the report of the House Judiciary Committee, which he was heading, regarding the FBI's alleged plan to monitor Catholics for any suspicion of domestic terrorism was an encroachment of the First Amendment.
Fox News previously reported that House Republicans found that the FBI interviewed a Catholic priest and a church choir director before publishing an anti-Catholic memo to its staff. It was eventually found out that the two were probed despite documentation showing "no legitimate basis" for the memorandum that would insert operatives into churches.
Jordan extrapolated on a report his panel released on Monday (December 4) on the FBI's apparent plan to monitor Catholics out of its Richmond, Virginia office for any suspected domestic terrorism. He has also previously probed the idea that the FBI would categorize some Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.
Jordan: Feds Embedding Themselves in Churches Violates 1A
In an exclusive interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity, Jordan said that FBI officials previously claimed that the issue only occurred in Richmond, but has since found out that the "attack on pro-life Catholics" was more expansive and a violation of the First Amendment.
While FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that once its headquarters learned of the memo, his office ordered to immediately rescind and withdraw it, Jordan said that the issue itself and its reported expanding net was believable and par for the course. Jordan cited the FBI raid of the home of Kintnersville, Pennsylvania pro-life activist Mark Houck and his arrest in front of his family on a case relating to behavior outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic that Pennsylvania authorities previously declined to prosecute.
Jordan added that Houck offered to turn himself in, but was instead met by the full force of the bureau.
"When that [federal] case goes to court, Mark Houck wins," he said. "[T]hat's how ridiculous this all is. So that's what our report spells out."
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Biden's Stance on Pro-Life Catholics Concerning, Jordan Says
He also referenced US President Joe Biden's speech before the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where he declared "MAGA Republicans" a "threat to democracy." Jordan said that the president's remarks on the steps of the birthplace of the United States government represented "an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic."
"Remember when Joe Biden stood in front of Independence Hall and talked about how one-half of the country is fascist?" he asked. "It's this whole mindset. If you're pro-life, if you're a traditional Catholic, somehow you're radical, somehow you're an extremist."
Biden is only the second Catholic to occupy the Oval Office, with the first one being John F. Kennedy. However, many Catholics found his practice of Catholicism not aligned with the basic tenets imposed by the Vatican.
Jordan added that the FBI's behavior continued to make the case against the funding the conclusion to a currently tense battle to relocate the bureau to a new headquarters outside the District of Columbia in Greenbelt, Maryland.
In response, Virginian officials have united in bipartisan outrage over the process, with GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine asserting that Springfield was instead more in line with the stated criteria for an FBI relocation site, citing Virginia's established prominence in hosting other similar agencies like the CIA and Department of Defense nearby.
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