Show-Me State Times

At a Senate Judiciary hearing, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) received a commitment from Attorney General Pam Bondi that the Department of Justice would investigate allegations that the Biden administration used the DOJ to monitor his personal communications and access his confidential phone records. According to Hawley, special prosecutor Jack Smith also surveilled seven other Republican members of Congress.

Senator Hawley criticized what he described as the weaponization of government agencies against conservatives. He stated, “I’ve heard over and over from my Democrat colleagues, concerns about targeting political enemies, and they’ve accused you of all manner of things, and the current president… I’ve heard them say that ‘Joe Biden never targeted his political enemies. Joe Biden never directed his attorney general to target his political opponents.’ That’s interesting, because I could have sworn that yesterday we learned that the FBI tapped my phone… tapped Lindsey Graham’s phone, tapped Marsha Blackburn’s phone, tapped five other phones of United States senators.”

During the hearing, Hawley questioned Attorney General Bondi about who authorized surveillance on U.S. Senators’ phones. Bondi responded, “We will be looking at all aspects of this, and I have talked to Director Patel at length about this.”

Hawley also referenced previous actions by Biden’s DOJ involving investigations into pro-life advocates, parents attending school board meetings, and conservative organizations such as Turning Point USA.

He continued by saying: “So here you have an administration that is activating the FBI against its political opponents and tapping the phones of United States senators…. This is what was happening under Joe Biden… the political opponents of the president at the time, targeted, prosecuted. Pro-lifers, targeted, prosecuted. Catholics, targeted, prosecuted. 92 conservative organizations put under surveillance, targeted for potential prosecution. Gee, I don’t know. Would you call that an example of weaponization, Attorney General Bondi?”

Bondi replied: “Senator Hawley, that is the ultimate weaponization, and weaponization under Donald Trump has ended… No longer will parents be targeted. No longer will parents who care about whether their elementary school children have to read a transgender book be targeted… People can worship freely, whether they’re Catholics, at synagogues or Muslims; everyone can worship freely. That was the ultimate weaponization. They were targeting Catholics – no longer. They have been targeting so many American citizens throughout this country. And Senator Hawley you have been a champion of this and thank you for being a champion of that. But under Donald Trump’s watch it has ended.”

Hawley called for further action in response to these allegations: “Madam Attorney General I think we need a special prosecutor to be appointed whose sole responsibility will be to get to the bottom of what has happened in every instance that I have just named. I think we need to know exactly who approved the wiretaps on United States Senators. Who knew about it; what agents were involved at DOJ or the FBI? I think we need to know exactly who signed off on the Catholic memo; the spying memo; who was involved with it… who terrorized pro-lifers and tried to intimidate them? I think we need to know... And this committee needs to do oversight hearings; we need to have thorough hearings into what has happened these last four years and this abuse that has now just been uncovered because we have to ensure that it stops.”