EXCLUSIVE: Texas Coordinates With ATF to Share Income of Residents for Warrantless Monitoring

Firearms in Houston, Texas, on February 18, 2023. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)

By Emily Miller

April 17, 2023Updated: April 18, 2023

Texas secretly gives its citizens’ incomes to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Documents show this has led to at least one person being monitored by the fedswithout a warrantthrough the federal gun background check system. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) told The Epoch Times that it has written contracts with ATF for “sharing income information” for criminal investigations. The revelation may lead to oversight by the legislature.

Texas state Rep.Briscoe Cain, a Republican, is “deeply troubled” about this coordination with the state’s unemployment agency and federal government.

“My office will be looking into whether the Texas Workforce Commission is assisting the ATF in the Biden Administration’s mission to violate the constitutional rights of law-abiding Texans,” Cain told The Epoch Times after reviewing the emails obtained by Gun Owners of America (GOA) as part of its ongoing FOIA lawsuit.

This is the third part in an exclusive Epoch Times series on the ATF giving information on innocent suspects to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for daily monitoring through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The FBI uses NICS as a database of people who are prohibited from possessing or buying guns.

Texan’s Income Exposed

In one of the documents, an ATF agent emailed the FBI that a person suspected of straw purchasing or firearms trafficking needed to be put into the gun background check database. The agent wrote that “per TWC,” the man’s “reported wage earnings with the State of Texas do not appear to supply the financial means to afford the firearms purchased.”

The ATF agent requested on Dec. 28, 2020, that the Texan’s gun purchases be monitored daily for 90 days. However, as previously reported, the FBI wrote to ATF that its agents could request an extension of the monitoring for as long as they wanted.

Texas’s role in the program was uncovered in the ATF’s ninth production of documents to GOA as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The 42 pages are more heavily redacted than the previous ones given to GOA. There are seven pages of blacked-out information before the source of the income of the person in Texas is shown as TWC.

“One would think that a pro-gun state like Texas would not behanding over gun owners’ confidential financial informationto the federal government without a warrant or likely even without probable cause,” Rob Olson, an attorney for GOA, told The Epoch Times.

Second Amendment Sanctuary?

A spokeswoman for TWC said in a statement: “Federal and State law provides a path for sharing income information with a federal governmental agency if the federal agency can establish a purpose that is permissible under law and enters into a written agreement which sets forth legal requirements regarding allowable use and protection of the information.” She also said a warrant to release salary information is not required by law.

Texas does not have a state income tax. Employers report wages to the TWC in order to determine their unemployment taxes, so its the state’s only source for tracking income.

Asked how many times theTWC has given out citizens’ incomes, the spokeswoman said it “provides this information to ATF pursuant to two contracts in Dallas and Houston.” She said income was shared for any of these purposes: to assist in criminal investigations, to assist in locating defendants, witnesses, and fugitives in criminal cases, and to assist in locating persons with outstanding warrants.

When told about TWC’s legal defense, Cain said he will put in a formal request to TWC for copies of thetwo contracts with ATF…

https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-texas-coordinates-with-atf-to-share-income-of-residents-for-warrantless-monitoring_5200341.html?ea_med=desktop_news&tmp=1&ea_src=ai_recommender_A_news

>>18714726 continued…..

TWC is governed by three commissioners who are appointed by Governor Greg Abbott. In June 2021, Abbott signed a bill that made Texas a Second Amendment Sanctuary State to resist new gun-control policies from Pres. Joe Biden. The law prohibits state officials from enforcing specific federal regulations on firearms that are not in line with state law.

Steady Job, Too Many Guns

Another case in the documents shows agents in the ATF Dallas field office knew a Texas woman’s salary and used that information to get the FBI to put her into NICS. It does not say her salary came from TWC, but there is one paragraph redacted.

The agent wrote in Jan 2021 that the suspect “has a steady job however her annual salary in no way can support her current spending on firearms.” It also says that she “received multiple wire” transfers from a man in Sacramento, California.

It appears the woman was monitored daily by the FBI for at least 180 days. None of the emails between the FBI and ATF released have shown that a request to monitor someone was denied.

“Federal agents have no business deciding whether they think a person’s income qualifies them to buy a certain number of guns. If ATF thought it had enough for a warrant, presumably it would get one,” GOA’s Olson said.

The FBI and ATF, which call their program NICS Monitoring Services, do not get a warrant or court order for tracking peoplefor just “potential” violations of law. The requirement that federally licensed dealers do an instant background check through NICS on gun buyers was created in the Brady Act in 1993. The law says that the database can only be used to track people who are in the nine categories prohibited to possess guns, which includes felons, drug users, domestic abusers, and illegal aliens.

Feds Silent

While TWC was open about its cooperation with ATF, the federal government would not answer questions. “ATF doesn’t have anything additional to add regarding investigative techniques that might be utilized in our criminal investigations,” spokesman Erik Longnecker told The Epoch Times when asked about working with TWC. Longnecker has previously stated that “ATF utilizes a multitude of legal means in our criminal investigations to protect our communities from violent gun crime.”

The GOA first uncovered the NICS monitoring program in April 2021. The ATF refused to respond to FOIA requests, so GOA filed a lawsuit in November 2021. The ATF documents released as part of the lawsuit are from the FBI. There have been no internal ATF documents released.

Spokesmen for both the FBI and ATF refuse to say if the program is ongoing and how many people are currently being monitored by NICS who are not legally prohibited from buying guns.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-texas-coordinates-with-atf-to-share-income-of-residents-for-warrantless-monitoring_5200341.html?ea_med=desktop_news&tmp=1&ea_src=ai_recommender_A_news

Chinese Spies Gave Envelopes of Cash to Aussie Businessman In Return for State Secrets: Court Hearing

By Rebecca Zhu

April 18, 2023Updated: April 18, 2023

Alexander Csergo, who is charged and facing trial for foreign interference, allegedly received cash in envelopes in return for sensitive information on national security, an Australian court has heard. The prosecution alleges Csergo, 55, returned to Australia earlier this year with a “shopping list” of information to gather for the Chinese state.

The businessperson is accused of compiling and selling details on theAUKUSpact (with the U.S. and UK), the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, lithium mining, and iron ore mining activities totwo spies named “Ken” and “Evelyn.” The two Chinese spies are alleged to work for a foreign spy agency and carried out intelligence collection.

According to reports, Prosecutor Connor McCraith told the courts thatCsergo, by his own admission,suspectedthe pair ofbeing spiessoon after their initial meeting in China in early 2021. However, he proceeded to remain in contact with them, exchanging thousands of messages in the process.

“He clearly has links to the Chinese state and two people he clearly thinks work for theMSS [Ministry of State Security],” McCraith said. “He also travelled back to Australia with a shopping list.” The list was found by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) three weeks after Csergo returned to Australia earlier this year.

McCraith saidrather than alerting Australian authoritieslike a reasonable person would have done, Csergo maintained his relationship with the spies and invited “Ken” to visit Australia. “In other words, he invited someone he believed to be a spy to come to Australia,” the prosecutor said.

Csergo was refused bail because he was declared a flight risk. Further, Magistrate Michael Barko ruled that keeping Csergo in confinement was also for his personal safety from the Chinese Communist Party. A supplied image obtained on April 14, 2023, of an Australian man who has been arrested in Bondi and charged with one count of one count ofReckless Foreign Interference. (AAP Image/Supplied by AFP)

‘Sinister’ Behaviour

Csergo’s defence lawyer, Bernard Collaery, argued that the information and documents his client compiled and sold were “largely from open-source documents.” He told the court that during the investigation, ASIO and the Australian Federal Police had “gone right through” his laptop and WeChat messages and the gathered information was from publicly available material.

Collaery said the work he carried out was not sinister and that Csergo was an experienced, successful businessman who understood that in China “all roads lead to the state.” “They were a source of income. Cash payments for consulting reports might have a colour to it in Australian terms;it might well be the way business is done in China. It’s not necessarily, on my submission, sinister,” he told the court. (KEK, that’s a funny defense)

However, the magistrate disagreed saying if a regular person were to hear about Csergo’s activities they would find it suspicious. Eric Abetz, former Liberal Senator, said the case, irrespective of its outcome, served as a reminder to all Australians that their obligation to their fellow citizens should “always be paramount.”

“In an era where there has been far too much pandering and deliberate turning of a blind eye to Beijing’s communist dictatorship and its threats to peace for short-term financial benefits … we need a robust and reliable alliance with like-mindedness to ensure each other’s security,” he wrote to The Epoch Times.

A Serious Threat to Australia’s Sovereignty: AFP Chief

Csergo, who normally lives and runs his business overseas, only just returned to Australia from China before he was arrested. He hadsold intelligenceduring the Shanghai COVID lockdowns for extra personal funds. The Australian businessman is the second individual to be charged with an offence by the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce since the country passed the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill in 2018.

“Espionage and foreign interference pose a serious threat to Australia’s sovereignty, security and integrity of our national institutions,” Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Krissy Barrett told reporters. “The Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, which includes ASIO and the AFP, is working to disrupt the threat and mitigate the harm from foreign interference and espionage.”

The AFP alleges other Australian citizens and residents may have also been approached by “Ken” and “Evelyn” and is urging those individuals to provide information to the national security hotline.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinese-spies-gave-envelopes-of-cash-to-aussie-businessman-in-return-for-state-secrets-court-hearing_5202456.html

Democrats Are Trying to ‘Cancel’ Sen. Feinstein, GOP’s Jordan Says

By Savannah Hulsey Pointer

April 17, 2023Updated: April 17, 2023

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) warns Democrats that their party appears to be attempting to “cancel” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Jordan made his comments during an April 17 episode of “Fox & Friends,” where he fielded questions about the ailing senator’s participation in the upper chamber of Congress. Feinstein, 89, was diagnosed with shingles in late February and has been absent from the Senate ever since. The California senator asked Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to temporarily replace her on the Judiciary Committee while she recovers from her illness in an April 12 statement. She has thus far refused to quit her position in the Senate.

Even one of Feinstein’s Democrat colleagues, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), has called for the aging politician to resign: “She hasn’t been showing up, and she has no intention. We don’t know if she is even gonna show up. She has no return date,” Khanna said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Only in Washington would you get criticized for saying something so obvious,” Khanna said. “I have a lot of respect for Senator Feinstein, but she has missed 75 percent of votes this year. She hasn’t been showing up … we don’t know if she is going to show up. No return date.”

‘A Democrat Issue’

When asked to respond to those comments, Jordan said it “Sounds like the Democrats are trying to cancel Senator Feinstein.” The lawmaker recalled a time when Feinstein’s name was taken from an elementary school over something she said several decades ago.

“Now, trying to kick her out of the Senate? I understand she hasn’t been there much,” Jordan said before commenting that this is “a Democrat issue” and the fact that the party is trying to “cancel her” should be “the main takeaway for Democrats.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has taken a stronger stand, advising his Republican colleagues that they should support Democrats in their efforts to replace Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Republicans should not assist Democratsin confirming Joe Biden’s most radical nominees to the courts,” Cotton said in a social media post that included an article about the Feinstein predicament.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) stated that she would not support a move by Senate Democrats to temporarily replace Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee, arguing that such a move would aid Democrat efforts to “pack the court with activist judges.” “I will not go along with Chuck Schumer’s planto replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges,” Blackburn said on Twitter on Monday. “Joe Biden wants the Senate to rubber stamp his unqualified and controversial judges to radically transform America.”

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) was among the group of Democrats who believe the senator should step down, which he said in his own Twitter post: “Sen. Feinstein is a remarkable American whose contributions to our country are immeasurable. But I believe it’s now a dereliction of duty to remain in the Senate and a dereliction of duty for those who agree to remain quiet.”

In Feinstein’s absence, the Judiciary Committee isdeadlocked, keeping any of President Joe Biden’s appointments for federal judges and other committee action from moving forward.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/democrats-are-trying-to-cancel-sen-feinstein-says-gops-jordan_5196059.html

(Pictures: how it started where it's ending, after she killed her opposer to get the Mayor of San Fran)