Yellen dodges answering whether Treasury Dept ordered surveillance on Americans

[mystery-ak]

Published February 7, 2024 8:59am EST
Yellen dodges on whether Treasury Department moved to surveil Americans' legal purchases
Treasury Department allegedly flagged terms such as 'MAGA' and 'Trump,' as well as religious texts such as the Bible

By Timothy Nerozzi FOXBusiness


Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sidestepped questions about whether her department ordered surveillance of consumer purchases and transactions.

Yellen was asked Tuesday during a hearing whether the Treasury Department instructed financial institutions to monitor legal purchases for signs of "extremism," as claimed in a House Judiciary Committee letter last month.

"Has Treasury — including FinCEN or federal banking agencies like the Fed, FDIC, OCC — instructed financial institutions to search Americans' legal transactions in attempts to surveil their purchases?" Republican Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner asked Yellen.

"Well, we received the letter from you, I believe, on this topic, and we intend to investigate and to respond," Yellen responded.

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https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/yellen-dodges-whether-treasury-department-moved-surveil-americans-legal-purchases

[DefiantMassRINO]

Wouldn't that be a flagrant violation of the 4th Amendment:

Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Those purchase transaction records are private property of the purchaser, the merchant, and the bank servicing that credit card.  The Government has no absolute right to them without a judge-issued warrant.

Those bastards.

[The_Reader_David]

Sounds like a "Yes" to me.

[The_Reader_David]

Wouldn't that be a flagrant violation of the 4th Amendment:

Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Those purchase transaction records are private property of the purchaser, the merchant, and the bank servicing that credit card.  The Government has no absolute right to them without a judge-issued warrant.

Those bastards.

I and the Founders would certainly agree.  Unfortunately there is a notion in case law called the "third party doctrine" that means the courts will not see it as such.  (I need to find the SCOTUS decision that first enunciated that notion so I can add it to the role of infamy along with Dred Scott, Roe v. Wade, Wicker v. Filburn, and Reynolds v. Sims.)