FIRST ON FOX: The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a more than 17,000-page report detailing its work this Congress, touting their success in protecting Americans against censorship of speech and the weaponization of federal law enforcement agencies, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Fox News Digital obtained the 17,019-page report compiled by the subcommittee, which falls under the House Judiciary Committee, led by Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. 

"The Weaponization Committee conducted rigorous oversight of the Biden-Harris administrations weaponized government and uncovered numerous examples of federal government abuses," Jordan told Fox News Digital. "Through our oversight, we protected the First Amendment by investigating the censorship-industrial-complex, heard from numerous brave whistleblowers, stopped the targeting of Americans by the IRS and Department of Justice, and created serious legislative and policy changes that will benefit all Americans." 

The report, first obtained by Fox News Digital, states that the "founding documents of the United States articulate the ideals of the American republic and guarantee to all American citizens fundamental rights and liberties. 

"For too long, however, the American people have faced a two-tiered system of government—one of favorable treatment for the politically-favored class, and one of intimidation and unfairness for the rest of American citizens," it continues. "Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the contrast between these two tiers has become even more stark." 

HOUSE WEAPONIZATION COMMITTEE: BIDEN ADMIN 'COLLUDED' WITH BIG TECH, 'FACILITATED THE CENSORSHIP OF AMERICANS'

The committee was created to "stand up for the American people," the report says, highlighting its work to "bring abuses by the federal government into the light for the American people and ensure that Congress, as their elected representatives, can take action to remedy them." 

The mission of the subcommittee was to "protect and strengthen the fundamental rights of the American people," the report said, noting that by investigating, uncovering and documenting executive branch misconduct, lawmakers on the panel have taken "important steps to ensure that the federal government no longer works against the American people." 

"This work is not complete, but it is a necessary first step to stop the weaponization of the federal government," the report states. 

The committee, from its inception, says it has been working to protect free speech and expand upon the constitutional protections of the First Amendment. 

JORDAN SUBPOENAS BIG TECH CEOS FOR RECORDS ON 'COLLUSION' WITH BIDEN ADMIN TO 'SUPPRESS FREE SPEECH'

"Throughout the Biden-Harris administration, multiple federal agencies, including the White House, have engaged in a vast censorship campaign against so-called mis-, dis-, or malinformation," the report states, noting that the subcommittee revealed the extent of the "censorship-industrial complex," and detailed how the federal government and law enforcement coordinated with academics, nonprofits, and other private entities to censor speech online." 

The panel is touting its work, saying its oversight has "had a real effect in expanding the First Amendment." 

"In a Supreme Court dissent, three justices noted how the Select Subcommittee’s investigation revealed that ‘valuable speech was..suppressed,’" the report states. 

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And in a letter to the subcommittee, Facebook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden-Harris administration "pressured" Facebook to censor Americans. 

"Facebook gave in to this pressure, demoting posts and content that was highly relevant to political discourse in the United States," the report states. 

And in another win for the subcommittee, in response to its work, universities and other groups shut down their "disinformation" research, and federal agencies "slowed their communications with Big Tech." 

MUSK PROVES HUNTER BIDEN CENSORSHIP CAME FROM COLLUSION AMONG BIDEN CAMPAIGN, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND TWITTER

The committee also celebrated a "big win" in October after it prevented the creation of a new "GARM," an advertising association that engaged in censorship and boycotts of conservative media companies. The committee revealed, before it was disbanded, that GARM had been discussing ways to ensure conservative news outlets and platforms could not receive advertising dollars and were engaged in boycotts of conservative voices and Twitter once it became "X" under the ownership of Elon Musk. 

Meanwhile, the subcommittee also investigated the alleged weaponization of federal law enforcement resources. 

In speaking with a number of whistleblowers, the subcommittee learned of waste, fraud and abuse at the FBI. 

"When these whistleblowers came forward, the bureau brutally retaliated against many of them for breaking ranks—suspending them without pay, preventing them from seeking outside employment, and even purging suspected disloyal employees," the report states, noting that the subcommittee revealed that the FBI "abused its security clearance adjudication process to target whistleblowers." 

The report references the FBI’s response, in which the bureau admitted its "error" and reinstated the security clearance of one decorated FBI employee. 

FBI INTERVIEWED PRIEST, CHURCH CHOIR DIRECTOR AHEAD OF ANTI-CATHOLIC MEMO, HOUSE GOP FINDS

The subcommittee also was tasked with investigating the executive branch’s actions in "intruding and interfering with Americans’ constitutionally protected activity." 

For example, the subcommittee revealed "and stopped" the FBI’s effort to target Catholic Americans because of their religious views; detailed the DOJ’s directives to target parents at school board meetings; stopped the Internal Revenue Service from making "unannounced visits to American taxpayers’ homes;" caused the DOJ to change its internal policies to "respect the separation of powers and limit subpoenas for Legislative Branch employees; and highlighted the "vast warrantless surveillance of Americans by federal law enforcement." 

The panel also investigated the federal government’s election interference, highlighting the FBI’s "fervent efforts to ‘prebunk’ a story about the Biden family’s influence peddling scheme in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election." 

CIA 'MAY HAVE ASSISTED IN OBTAINING SIGNATORIES' FOR LETTER DISCREDITING HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP: HOUSE GOP REPORT

The panel also investigated and demonstrated how the 2020 Biden campaign "colluded with the intelligence community to falsely discredit this story as ‘Russian disinformation.’"

The report includes a list of hearings the subcommittee held, letters sent by the subcommittee and subpoenas issued by the panel.

It also includes depositions and transcribed interviews conducted by the subcommittee. The subcommittee conducted 99 depositions and transcribed interviews during this Congress.

Depositions and interviews included in the massive report are of former FBI officials and CIA officials, like former Director John Brennan, former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office involved in the original hush money probe against President Trump, Mark Pomerantz, and interviews with Facebook, Meta and Google officials.

EXCLUSIVE: House GOP critics of how Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is handling government funding talks are already beginning to float names of possible challengers, people told Fox News Digital.

Two GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital that House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., were all mentioned in early talks about alternatives.

One of the two lawmakers said they had not heard from any of the three, adding, "That would be suicidal." 

A person close to Donalds told Fox News Digital in response, "At this time, the Congressman has not made any statements regarding the future of House leadership."

A spokesperson for Emmer told Fox News Digital, "Whip Emmer supports Speaker Johnson and is focused on doing the job he was elected to do."

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

Fox News Digital also reached out to Jordan and Johnson's offices for comment.

But discussions about potential rivals to Johnson in the Jan. 3 House-wide speaker vote represent the latest warning shot from Republican lawmakers who are vehemently opposed to the short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR).

Congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.

Since then, it has seen fierce pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated at the unrelated policy riders attached to the legislation — rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.

In addition to averting a partial government shutdown through March 14, the bill also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, plus more than $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the rebuilding of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.

Multiple GOP lawmakers signaled Tuesday that Johnson could face a challenge to his leadership over the CR.

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"The speaker definitely has some ‘no’ votes and some people considering their options," a third House Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital when asked if Johnson could see blowback on Jan. 3, "There's always consequences."

When previously asked about any potential speakership challenges, Emmer, Jordan and Donalds have all said they back Johnson.

A source close to Jordan told Fox News Digital that the Ohio Republican is "not interested in challenging Johnson."

But all three ran for House Speaker last year after ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted. Johnson ultimately won after a messy three-week fight.

The Louisiana Republican, who Republicans chose unanimously to be their candidate for speaker last month, is also backed by President-elect Trump, which is likely to keep a significant amount of backlash at bay.

He is also still expected to get a large share of GOP lawmakers to vote for his plan, with most in Congress in agreement that a partial government shutdown over the holidays would have a negative political and economic impact.

But his CR plan is also under attack by members of Trump's orbit — both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy blasted the bill on Wednesday.

"Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!" Musk wrote on X.

Johnson himself dismissed concerns about his job as the blowback began to build on Tuesday.

"I'm not worried about the speaker vote," he said. "We're governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We're doing the very best we can under those circumstances."

The speaker and his allies have argued that they won the most they could while controlling one half of one third of government, and promised that Republicans would be in a better position to handle federal funding when the CR expires at the beginning of Trump's term.

FIRST ON FOX: Federal law enforcement has been manipulating the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system to gain access to Americans’ financial information without warrants or probable cause, the House Judiciary Committee said Friday. 

The panel and its Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released its interim report, first obtained by Fox News Digital, which details its findings. 

FEDS CONDUCTED 'BROAD' AND 'UNJUSTIFIED' SURVEILLANCE OF AMERICANS' PRIVATE FINANCIAL DATA: HOUSE JUDICIARY

The committee said in the report that the FBI "has manipulated" the SAR's filing process to treat financial institutions "as de facto arms of law enforcement, issuing ‘requests’ without legal process, that amount to demands for information related to certain persons or activities it considers ‘suspicious.'"

"With narrow exception, federal law does not permit law enforcement to inquire into financial institutions’ customer information without some form of legal process," the report states. "The FBI circumvents this process by tipping off financial institutions to ‘suspicious’ individuals and encouraging these institutions to file a SAR — which does not require any legal process — and thereby provide federal law enforcement with access to confidential and highly sensitive information." 

The committee said that, in doing so, the FBI "gets around the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act," which specifies that it is a bank’s responsibility to file a SAR whenever it identifies a "suspicious transaction relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation." 

The committee acknowledged that "at least one financial institution requested legal process from the FBI for information it was seeking," but noted that "all too often the FBI appeared to receive no pushback." 

'ALARMING' SURVEILLANCE: FEDS ASKED BANKS TO SEARCH PRIVATE TRANSACTIONS FOR TERMS LIKE ‘MAGA,’ ‘TRUMP’

"In sum, by providing financial institutions with lists of people that it views as generally ‘suspicious’ on the front end, the FBI has turned this framework on its head and contravened the Fourth Amendment’s requirements of particularity and probable cause," the report states. 

The committee added that their oversight of "financial surveillance" had shed "new light on the decaying state of Americans’ financial privacy and the federal government’s widespread, warrantless surveillance programs." 

The FBI responded to the report in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying, "While we have no comment on the report, as a general matter the FBI frequently receives information from the private sector about possible criminal activity. Financial institutions are required under the Bank Secrecy Act to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) on activity they deem reportable, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shares the information with law enforcement.

"The FBI cannot open an investigation without evidence of a federal criminal violation or a threat to national security. We follow the law and the facts, and we never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment activity."

The committee began their investigation into government-led financial surveillance earlier this year, after a whistleblower disclosed that following the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Bank of America "voluntarily and without legal process" provided the FBI with a list of names of all individuals who used a Bank of America credit or debit card in the Washington, D.C., region around that time. 

Fox News Digital first reported in March that federal investigators had asked banks to search and filter customer transactions by using terms like "MAGA" and "Trump" as part of an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, warning that purchases of "religious texts" could indicate "extremism." 

The committee also obtained documents that indicate officials suggested that banks query transactions with keywords like Dick's Sporting Goods, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops and more.

A source familiar with the documents told Fox News Digital at the time that while Jan. 6 was the "impetus" for the queries and searches, none of the documents the committee had obtained revealed any specific time frames or limitations for banks searching for customer transactions with the terms. The source said the federal government used the information for investigations beyond Jan. 6.

"In the days and weeks after January 6, 2021, the FBI coordinated with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to encourage financial institutions across the country to scour their data and file SARs on hundreds of Americans, if not more, without any clear criminal nexus," the report says. 

Bank of America, at the time, told Fox News it "follows all applicable laws and regulatory requirements to receive, evaluate, process, safeguard, and narrowly respond to law enforcement requests."

Documents obtained by the committee revealed that at least one financial institution reached out to the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) with the idea that it would "support the Bureau’s efforts to address the acute threat of domestic terrorism." 

"The financial institution encouraged FinCEN to use SARs as the basis for issuing Patriot Act 314 (a) requests, which allows FinCEN to ‘canvas the nation’s financial institutions for potential lead information’ from ‘more than 37,000 points of contact at more than 16,000 financial institutions to locate accounts and transactions of persons that may be involved in terrorism or money laundering." 

FEDS SUGGESTED BANKS SEARCH TRANSACTIONS FOR TERMS LIKE 'BIDEN,' 'ANTIFA' AND MORE AFTER JAN 6: SOURCES

After those findings, the panel continued investigating the matter and obtained more than 48,000 pages of documents, noting that the information they received through their probe "is concerning." 

"Documents show that federal law enforcement increasingly works hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of American citizens," the report states. 

However, the committee is warning that "all Americans should be disturbed by how their financial data is collected, made accessible to, and searched by federal and state officials, including law enforcement and regulatory agencies." 

"With the rise in e-commerce and the widespread adoption of cash alternatives like credit cards or peer-to-peer payment services, the future leaves very little financial activity beyond the purview of modern financial institutions or the government’s prying eyes," the report states. "This is because, as a condition of participating in the modern economy, Americans are forced to disclose details of their private lives to a financial industry that has been too eager to pass this information along to federal law enforcement." 

The report says the committee's investigation "makes clear that federal law enforcement has taken advantage of this dynamic by deploying financial institutions as arms of federal law enforcement, directing financial institutions to profile Americans using the typologies it distributes or urging financial institutions to identify any ‘suspicious activity’ an individual may have engaged in." 

The committee is warning that "absent renewed safeguards, the federal government and financial institutions will continue to siphon off Americans’ sensitive financial data, place it into the hands of bureaucrats, and erode any remaining semblance of financial privacy in the United States."