A group of dissidents gather in a conference room at a Washington, D.C., hotel to discuss the next steps for their social justice movement.
But there, in the back of the room, stands a man in dark sunglasses with his face partially covered. It was an invite-only event, so surely he’s been vetted, and yet nobody seems to recognize him. Worse yet, he appears to be surreptitiously recording the event. Before anyone can confront him, he slips out the back.
A few weeks later, a member of the movement appears in court, where she’s confronted with transcripts of the meeting as evidence that she’d violated the terms of her release. Her colleagues pull the mysterious stranger’s name from the sign-in list. It’s bogus. He was a fed.
If it were 1963, I might be describing a meeting of the Black Panther Party or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In reality, this is the story of how the FBI infiltrated a pro-life event held in January 2023.
“Pro-life group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) recently alleged on Twitter that an undercover [FBI] informant secretly recorded their meeting,” Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wrote Wednesday in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. “‘Eric Mike Santos’ attended and taped a pro-life meeting at the Watergate hotel in Washington D.C. … The recording was then used in federal court as evidence that PAAU Director of Activism, Lauren Handy, violated her terms of release.” (Full disclosure: I did some volunteer work for PAAU before starting my job at the Caller)
Fox News’ Bret Baier asked FBI Director Christopher Wray about PAAU’s allegation during an interview Tuesday, but the director declined to comment. (RELATED: Constitution Could Still Include Right To Abortion After Dobbs, Federal Judge Says)
EXPOSED FBI INFORMANT INFILTRATES ANTI-ABORTION ACTIVIST MEETING
WASHINGTON D.C.—On Wednesday, February 21st, Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) Director of Activism, Lauren Handy, appeared in federal court after being surreptitiously recorded by an undercover informant pic.twitter.com/X1mnFJsfgq
— PAAU (@PAAUNOW) February 22, 2023
The covert surveillance of PAAU was only the latest instance of the Bureau taking aim at people and organizations that dare to question woke dogma.
An FBI document that leaked in early February cited the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center to brand “radical traditional Catholics” as potential extremists. The assessment even called for the cultivation of sources within Latin mass parishes. The Bureau retracted the memo the next day and apologized, but it’s unclear whether they were sorry for doing it or sorry they got caught. (RELATED: ‘It’s Appalling’: Attorney General Merrick Garland Disavows Memo Targeting Catholics)
It’s not surprising that the Richmond office would stoop to spying on Catholics. On Thursday, a Bureau whistleblower told a House subcommittee he’d been pressured to inflate the number of “domestic terrorism” cases under investigation to make the threat appear larger than it is. “Domestic terrorism” is, of course, code for “opposition to regime ideology.”
In September, federal agents descended on the home of pro-life sidewalk counselor Mark Houck like they were trying to capture Pablo Escobar. At least 15 agents reportedly stormed the house with assault rifles, terrifying Houck’s wife and seven children. His crime? Shoving a pro-choice abortion clinic escort who was screaming threats and obscenities in his 12-year-old son’s face.
Then there’s Garland’s October 2021 memo in which he directed the FBI to “use its authority” to investigate parents who had the audacity to voice their displeasure with their local school board. Object to pornography in schools, and suddenly you’re an enemy of the state.
And, by the way, we never did get a straight answer about Ray Epps and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. (RELATED: ‘There’s A Lot Of Sh*t About That Day That’s F**ked’: Joe Rogan Talks Jan. 6)
Federal agents once surveilled, raided, blackmailed and perhaps even murdered key figures in the struggle for black liberation. Today, they exhibit the same tendencies toward anyone pushing back against the progressive ideology that has captured our country’s institutions.
Meanwhile, the modern-day successors of the racial justice movement are fêted and flattered. In 2020, then-Sen. Kamala Harris raised bail money for rioters. When lawless vandals torched a church in D.C., the mayor responded by re-naming the street “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” Parents, pro-lifers and devout Catholics get the boot on their necks. Pseudo-subversive race hustlers get MacArthur Genius grants and Pulitzer Prizes.
Do you get it yet? In light of these abuses, conservatives can no longer afford to maintain a naïve patriotism that defers to authority and shrinks away from conflict.
Look at us. We’re the #Resistance now.
Grayson Quay is an editor at the Daily Caller.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.