Feds Asked Banks to Search Private Transactions for Terms Like ‘MAGA,’ ‘Trump’ for Jan. 6 Probe

FinCEN, the U.S. Treasury Department’s financial crime-fighting unit, is being accused of urging banks to comb through the private transactions of customers using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” on behalf of federal law enforcement in its investigations of people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 incident at the U.S. Capitol. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) leveled the accusation in a letter to former FinCEN director Noah Bishoff, in what the lawmaker described as “pervasive financial surveillance” carried out at the request of law enforcement that raises doubts about Treasury’s “respect for fundamental civil liberties.” The letter comes as the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government (also chaired by Mr. Jordan) are conducting oversight of the receipt by federal law enforcement of information about U.S. citizens without legal process and by means of private sector entities such as banks....