Speaker Johnson Slams FBI for Targeting Religious Americans

Mary Margaret Olohan / November 01, 2023

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL: House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized the FBI for targeting people of faith, promising to “hold those responsible accountable for these actions.”

In an interview Tuesday with The Daily Signal, Johnson specifically addressed the Justice Department’s interest in pro-life Americans and people of faith in light of revelations that the FBI was investigating traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists and that the DOJ had targeted pro-life activists such as Mark Houck via the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

The speaker, who served on the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and on the Judiciary Committee, reminded The Daily Signal that “we have jurisdiction over a lot of these areas of concern.”

The House Chamber is seen during a roll-call vote for the House speaker in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Oct. 25, 2023. (Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua via Getty Images) — The U.S. House of Representatives chamber is seen here during a roll-call vote for speaker on Oct. 25, on which Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., was chosen by his GOP colleagues. (Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua/Getty Images)

“I’ve made it very clear that, in my view, the evidence shows that, the FBI, for example, in the last couple of years has been weaponized.”

“We have the evidence to show it,” he said. “They have, in some cases, targeted people of faith. They’ve targeted conservative Catholics and concerned parents at school board meetings and all the rest. The evidence is very clear that that’s happened.”

Johnson promised to hold those responsible accountable for these actions.

“We have to ensure that the FBI is a trusted institution,” he said. “And right now, it’s not, by large numbers of Americans because of this evidence that they’ve seen.”

We owe it to the people to have accountable federal agencies that work for them, that serve and protect them, and don’t unfairly label them or target them. And we’ve had more of the latter and less of the former. We’ve got to get back to what these agencies were designed to do.

During his interview with The Daily Signal, Johnson also discussed the dangers of experimental gender surgeries on children, his faith and its intersection with his politics, and more.

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