Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is accusing Attorney General Merrick Garland of lying under oath about the FBI’s targeting of Catholic churches.
On Tuesday, Hawley sent a letter to Garland’s office, noting the attorney general’s recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee conflicts with findings by the House Judiciary Committee that indicate the FBI is “cultivating sources and spies” within Catholic churches across the U.S.
Merrick Garland told me - under oath - the FBI was not targeting Catholic parishes. That appears to have been a lie. I want the truth ???? pic.twitter.com/HE8ncapeYz
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 11, 2023
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“Your response could not have been clearer: according to you, the Department of Justice ‘does not have any bias against any religion of any kind,’” Hawley’s letter said. “I asked you ‘how many informants do you have in Catholic churches across America?’ You denied the claim a third time: ‘I don’t know, and I don’t believe we have any informants aimed at Catholic churches.’ All of this was false.”
Hawley said on Hannity that he believes Garland could not answer the question honestly because “it looked so bad.”
“Now we know that is exactly what they were doing,” Hawley said. “They are infiltrating churches. ... They regard churches apparently as the enemy and churchgoing Americans as akin to terrorists. And yeah, the attorney general sat there and told me, 'No, we don’t do that,' and now we know they do, in fact, target churches. ... The House needs to call him. The Senate should call him, too, but the Democrats will never do it. There’s got to be some accountability, and the targeting of Christians and churches has got to end.”
The Republican Missouri senator blasted the Biden administration for holding to a two-tiered justice system.
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“We’ve seen them use SWAT teams against pro-life Catholics. We have seen them go after parents who dare to question what they’re doing in schools,” Hawley added. “This is a pattern and practice of this administration to use law enforcement against anybody who questions them and especially to use it against people of faith.”
Hawley recently blasted the DOJ and Democrats for using the recent indictment of former President Donald Trump as a “demonstration of raw power” to attack their opponents and prevent a conservative movement.