After Exposing Feds’ Bible Buyer Investigation, Look Who Shows Up!

Right after we dropped our latest bombshell article revealing the US Treasury Department’s law enforcement arm confessing that Bible buyers were under the criminal microscope---guess who showed up?

Two FBI agents, but not to ease any of our fears that Johnny Law was putting bible-toting grandmothers under criminal surveillance. But instead to pay a visit to our former news editor’s office.

Here’s the backstory: Christian Action Network (CAN) fired off a FOIA to the Treasury Department after Congressman Jim Jordan, head of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, rang this alarm bell in January:

“Did you shop at Bass Pro Shop yesterday or purchase a Bible? If so, the federal government may be watching you.”

It was a chilling revelation. The watchlist, a tool of surveillance and investigation, was hidden within the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Our request was straightforward: we wanted records from FICen about their illegal act of collecting names of Bible purchasers, a clear violation of the 1974 Privacy Act.

Their response? A classic bureaucratic slow walk. We were forced to wait nearly six months when they legally have 20 working days to respond. After patiently waiting a half-year, they finally sent a letter flat-out denying our FOIA request.

Their reasoning? Releasing such info would mess with criminal law enforcement.

Their message was clear: If you bought a bible, you’re a potential criminal.

The article hit like a storm, sending our readership numbers soaring and our Substack subscriber count through the roof.

But the plot thickens.

Less than a week post-publication, our ex-editor, Alec Rooney, found himself under the FBI’s microscope. Alec, a seasoned journalist with stints in major dailies across Tampa and Roanoke, had covered Trump’s fiery speech during the January 6, 2021 “Save America March,” a rally that led to a storming of the Capitol by some attendees.

His editorial coverage painted a target on his back, marking him as a person of interest for the FBI, simply doing his job. In the Spring of 2022, the FBI contacted him, wanting to ask him some unspecified questions.

Given the rampant roundup and arrests of rally attendees on various charges---ranging from the serious to the absurdly trivial, like trespassing—we advised a lawyer-up approach. The FBI got the message and backed off, and there was dead silence for the next two years.

Fast forward nearly four years from that rally and days after our Bible-purchasing story, and they’re hounding Alec again.

https://christianaction.org/after-exposing-feds-bible-buyer-investigation-look-who-shows-up/