Judicial Watch is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) for records of communications between the FBI and major banks that gave officials data on financial transactions on Jan. 5 and 6 by suspects linked to the Jan. 6 incursion on Capitol Hill.
The Washington-based government watchdog filed its suit after the FBI failed to respond as required by federal law to the group’s Feb. 10 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for: “All records of communication between the FBI and any financial institution, including but not limited to Bank of America, Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Discover, and/or American Express, in which the FBI sought transaction data for those financial institutions’ debit and credit card account holders who made purchases in Washington, DC, Maryland, and/or Virginia on January 5, 2021, and/or January 6, 2021.”
The Washington-based government watchdog filed its suit after the FBI failed to respond as required by federal law to the group’s Feb. 10 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for: “All records of communication between the FBI and any financial institution, including but not limited to Bank of America, Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Discover, and/or American Express, in which the FBI sought transaction data for those financial institutions’ debit and credit card account holders who made purchases in Washington, DC, Maryland, and/or Virginia on January 5, 2021, and/or January 6, 2021.”
According to Judicial Watch, the law enforcement agency’s request to the financial institutions was in connection with the federal investigation of the event on Jan. 6 that saw hundreds of protesters enter the U.S. Capitol to protest the November 2020 presidential election’s outcome and vote counting.
The government has thus far arrested more than 500 individuals and charged them with multiple serious crimes allegedly committed during the mayhem that occurred outside on the Capitol grounds and inside the Capitol itself, including on the floors of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Capitol Rotunda, and numerous offices, including that of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Lawyers representing more than a dozen of those arrested and detained since the breach recently told Epoch TV and The Epoch Times that many of their clients are being held unjustly in solitary confinement, as well as being denied access to private conversations with their attorneys, needed health care, and adequate sanitary conditions.
Earlier this year, Fox News evening opinion host Tucker Carlson claimed: “Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the country with more than 60 million customers, is actively, but secretly, engaged in the hunt for extremists in cooperation with the government.
