GOP leaders on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI to give an explanation for the “aggressive” way they raided the home of a pro-life activist this week.
Mark Houck is the 48-year-old father of seven and a pro-life advocate. His house was raided by the FBI at his home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on Sept. 23.
The alleged charges against Houck are that he violated the “FACE Act,” which is the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
As he was arrested, his wife and children watched in horror.
The “FACE Act” makes it a crime to use force or the threat of force to prevent individuals from obtaining abortion services.
The warrant for Houck alleges that he violated this act with an “attack on a clinic escort.” But the case was previously tossed by a District Court in Philadelphia. In spite of this action by the court, Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland pursued the case.
A group of Senate Republicans sent a letter this week challenging the DOJ on the rain on Houck’s home. They demanded an explanation for the abnormal and aggressive dawn raid on the home.
“More than two dozen federal agents, some using ballistics shields and long guns, arrived to arrest the pro-life advocate on Friday, September 23, for an incident that occurred nearly a year prior and for which local authorities dismissed all charges,” a press release from the Senate Judiciary Committe said. “The show-of-force raid by the FBI followed multiple overtures about cooperation by the advocate’s attorneys to the federal prosecutor’s office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which went unanswered over the course of weeks.”
The letter noted that Houck had cooperated with federal law enforcement prior to the raid. Yet there were over 20 FBI agents who surrounded their home, wearing plated tactical vests and ballistic helmets and holding ballistic shields and long guns.
According to the letter, Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie, stated that “[t]hey said they were going to break in if [my husband] didn’t open [the door]. And then they had about five guns pointed at my husband, myself, and basically at my kids.”
Watch:
A group of Senate Republicans is demanding an explanation from @TheJusticeDept and @FBI for the abnormal and aggressive dawn raid on the home of a pro-life advocate in Pennsylvania last week.https://t.co/M9CnFAfU2F
— Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) September 29, 2022
🧵THREAD: The Biden DOJ is being fully weaponized against his political enemies.
The most horrific case yet might be the story of a Catholic activist from my hometown who had 30 FBI agents sent to his house yesterday to arrest him in front of his wife and seven children. pic.twitter.com/UKwPqUv9D7
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 24, 2022
