Judicial Watch has responded to an effort by the Department of Justice to quash its inquiry into the alleged illegal transfer of American citizens’ bank records from banking institutions to the FBI as part of the latter’s investigation into the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
In its Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Judicial Watch calls the collusion between the banks and the FBI “an unprecedented abuse of the financial privacy of thousands of Americans.”
According to the memorandum, “The FBI apparently sought and received records from financial institutions of anyone who used a credit card or engaged in other transactions in the Washington, DC, area on January 5 or 6, 2021.”
On Feb. 4, 2021, Tucker Carlson reported that “Bank of America . . . is actively but secretly engaged in the hunt for extremists in cooperation with the government. Bank of America is, without the knowledge or the consent of its customers, sharing private information with federal law enforcement agencies.”
Carlson’s commentary was subsequently read into the Congressional Record by Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tx., on Feb. 5, 2021, and this report formed the factual background of Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and suit.
According to the suit, the FBI responded to the FOIA request with the claim that “it is the FBI’s policy to neither confirm nor deny the existence of any records which would disclose the existence or non-existence of non-public law enforcement techniques, procedures, and/or guidelines.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement that “This Judicial Watch lawsuit shows how the FBI is corruptly trying to hide that it used the January 6 incident as an excuse to conduct unlawful surveillance of the American people’s bank transactions.”
The case at issue is Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice.
