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WASHINGTON\u2014In an explosive report released on Tuesday, the Trump administration revealed the lengths to which the Justice Department went under President Joe Biden\u2019s watch to target religious Americans who opposed abortion.<\/p>\n
The Trump Justice Department\u2019s Weaponization Working Group reviewed over 700,000 internal records, The Daily Wire has learned, which they distilled into an 800-page report. The document, which details the Biden administration\u2019s weaponization of federal law to target peaceful pro-life activists, also outlines\u00a0how the Trump administration plans to correct the previous administration\u2019s wrongs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,\u201d Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on Tuesday morning. \u201cNo Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the center of the Biden administration\u2019s efforts is the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a law meant to protect access to pro-abortion and pro-life facilities alike. The Biden administration infamously used the FACE Act to prosecute and imprison peaceful pro-life protesters. And Tuesday\u2019s report found that\u00a0\u201cBiden DOJ senior leadership\u201d and members of the Reproductive Health Care Providers Task Force \u201cprovided extensive support to abortion clinics\u201d and \u201cignored and downplayed vandalism and attacks against pregnancy resource centers or houses of worship.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DOJ report describes how the Biden-era \u201cReproductive Health Care Providers Task Force\u201d was in constant contact with pro-abortion groups and the clinics they represented while disregarding pro-life groups. As The Daily Wire\u2019s Leif Le Mahieu reported<\/a>, one Justice Department official often texted an abortion activist and worked to track the travel plans of Christian pro-life activists who had not been charged with any crimes. The emails also show how pro-abortion groups provided dossiers to the Biden DOJ with pictures and information \u2014 which was later used by the FBI to make arrests.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Task Force attorneys didn\u2019t communicate with any pro-life pregnancy centers until September 2022 \u2014 months after the massive spike in violence against pregnancy centers<\/a> related to the leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion indicating Roe <\/em>v. Wade<\/em> would soon be overturned. Vandals would firebomb, attack, vandalize, or spray-paint the buildings with messages like \u201cIf abortions aren\u2019t safe, then neither are you.\u201d<\/p>\n When the Biden Justice Department did address the attacks on pregnancy centers, they merely identified possible contacts \u201cvia a quick Google search and directed Task Force leadership to schedule meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Task Force then had several meetings with the pro-life groups identified through that initial outreach and periodically sent them press releases,\u201d the report states. \u201cHowever, internally, CRT attorneys questioned whether to provide pregnancy resource centers with the same resources as abortion clinics, questioning whether these facilities fall under the FACE Act\u2019s scope.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden DOJ prosecutors were also engaging in inappropriate conduct, the report found. The prosecutors \u201cknowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense\u201d and lied about not having that information available.<\/p>\n For example, in United States <\/i>v. Gallagher<\/i>, the defense counsel asked for historical data on FACE Act prosecutions, but the DOJ Task Force Director declined that data, saying he didn\u2019t keep those records and that the DOJ wouldn\u2019t provide them.<\/p>\n \u201cNotably,\u201d the report says, \u201che had this information readily available and decided not to share it with the defendants, despite sharing substantially identical information with NAF.\u201d<\/p>\n Video of the FBI\u2019s arrest of Paul Vaughn of Centerville, Tennessee. DOJ charged him with \u201cconspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations\u201d for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic. Paul tells me the footage was taken by his wife. pic.twitter.com\/KSDvLRSrlF<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 7, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Biden prosecutors also tried to screen jurors based on their religious beliefs, according to the report: in United States <\/i>v. Zastrow <\/i>in the Eastern District of Michigan, assistant United States attorneys allegedly tried to screen jurors based on whether they were conservative or religious \u201cwhile not inquiring about liberal counterviews.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey referred to Christian pro-life views as \u2018culty\u2019 and lambasted the defendants\u2019 beliefs in the courtroom,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n Notably, those assistant United States attorneys complained that they \u201cended up with a very Catholic magistrate on duty this week and he was very particular about the bond conditions and not infringing on [defendants\u2019] First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n The report specifically points to the case of Mark Houck, a Catholic father of a large family whose son was attacked by an abortion clinic worker. The Biden DOJ tried to use the FACE Act to prosecute Houck, but lost the case.<\/p>\n In Houck\u2019s case, \u201cprosecutors considered and declined a request for the defendant to self-surrender.\u201d Apparently determined to make an example of Houck, the DOJ sent \u201c16 FBI agents\u201d to arrest him in front of his crying children.<\/p>\n Photos from the morning the FBI arrested Mark Houck in front of his children. pic.twitter.com\/NbLq5bnDQa<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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