The resolution outlines a history of some of the FBI’s most severe abuses.
QUICK FACTS:
- An Idaho resolution condemning the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) called for its “abolition” if the agency “cannot be reformed.”
- The resolution passed unanimously, with 216 Republican representatives voting in favor.
- The document describes several instances in FBI history where the agency “undermined the trust that the American people have in their government.”
- Some of the FBI abuses described include the events under the counter-intelligence program COINTELPRO, the siege of a Ruby Ridge cabin, and the protection of criminals.
- Other events mentioned in the resolution include the modern-day surveillance of pro-life activists and parents and the targeting of Donald Trump.
FROM THE RESOLUTION:
- The resolution begins by stating that the Idaho Republican Party is “dedicated to protecting the Constitution and the rights of American citizens in Idaho” before listing several grievances against the FBI.
- “Recent revelations have shown that the FBI has engaged in government overreach, including the use of politically motivated investigations, illegal surveillance, and the targeting of political opponents,” incorporating illegally “surveil[ing], infiltrate[ing], and disrupt[ing] civil rights activists, political dissidents, and other individuals considered a threat to national security between the 1950s and 1970s with their program called COINTELPRO,” the document reads.
- The resolution adds that “FBI informants like Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. were paid and protected by the FBI while carrying out heinous attacks on the Freedom Riders in 1961, assisted in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963 which left 4 young black girls dead, and murdered civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo in 1965 while undercover with the KKK.”
- The FBI also contributed to the deaths of 25 children following the 51-day standoff between the agency and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, according to the document.
- In relaying the FBI’s abuses in the modern era, Idaho Republicans draw upon situations surrounding January 6, 2021, the surveillance of Trump, and the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping.
- These events, as well as others, have led Idaho GOP representatives to call for a “reform of the FBI, to ensure that it operates within the confines of the Constitution and respects the rights of American citizens and that if the FBI cannot be reformed to operate within the confines of the Constitution with respect for the rights of American citizens, the Idaho Republican State Central Committee supports the abolition of this corrupt government agency.”
BACKGROUND:
- FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate recently admitted the agency “unintentionally” spied on thousands of Americans.
- Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Abbate said to Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) that “In the case of the unintentional instance, where something similar happened, we have fired people in the past,” referring to thousands of queries made for American citizens.
- Hawley asked, “Wait, you’re saying that the 278,000 queries were unintentional?” to which Abbate responded that was “correct.”
