Former senate candidate Kathy Barnette denounces FBI weaponization as witnessed during Houck arrest

10/07/2022 / By Mary Villareal

Former senatorial candidate Kathy Barnette denounced the weaponization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as seen during the arrest of Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck.

The political commentator sat down with Jim Hale of LifeSiteNews to discuss the circumstances behind Houck’s arrest. FBI agents raided the house of Houck, a father of seven, and took him into custody. He was subsequently charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate or interfere with the right to seek, obtain or provide reproductive health services.”

The case stemmed from a 2021 incident outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia, in which a man accused Houck of assault. The Catholic activist defended his action as simply protecting his son from the man, who was allegedly encroaching on his son’s space. While the initial case was thrown out in the lower courts, federal law enforcement revisited it – leading to Houck’s arrest.

“Mr. Houck, from my understanding, runs a homeschooling program, a classical conversation homeschooling program that he started,” Barnette said. “He’s a co-founder of a ministry called Kingsmen, where he disciples young men. He and his son, for many years now, drive about two hours every Wednesday to go stand outside of a Planned Parenthood and peacefully pray for those who are going in to hopefully offer them an alternative to ending the life of their young child.”

“These are the kinds of incidents we read about taking place in China, Iran, Venezuela [and] Cuba. But never in our wildest imagination that Americans believe that these are the kinds of cases we will be waking up to.”

According to the former senatorial candidate for Pennsylvania, private citizens now have to worry about the FBI just walking into their homes and take what they want. She cited the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Donald Trump, as an example of this.

Barnette: Biden weaponizing the FBI

Barnette also pointed out that President Joe Biden is weaponizing the FBI.

“With the federal government now hiring 87,000 IRS agents, we have the Biden administration coming out, talking about doing research on centralized banking, digital currency that will take the place of the U.S. dollar so that they can track where each person is spending their money,” she said, pointing out that these are the things that take place in totalitarian communist regimes.

Barnette, herself a pro-life conservative, questioned how people determine life in a heartbeat.

“If we are not willing to do our part, to bridge the gap, to stand in the middle, to be a voice to the voiceless, to be able to help those who can’t help themselves,” she stated.

“Who are we, as a country when it comes down to ‘my body, my choice’ and this is an inconvenience to me? Should that be justification enough for me to murder another human being?'” she said. (Related: Chicago declares itself a ‘sanctuary city’ for abortion, transgender surgeries.)

“How long do you think that kind of mentality will run past the baby in the womb to a senior citizen who some may think has outlived their usefulness, right?”

Houck has devoted his life to protecting children, and the government has defined him as a criminal, terrorizing his entire family.

Local authorities who looked into Houck’s case said there was no crime. It was an incident of a man defending his 12-year-old son, who was being verbally abused by an escort.

Moreover, as Hale pointed out, what the FBI did was not just an attack on the Constitution but also on Christianity.

“To direct the full weight and power of the federal government on individuals – now we’re in uncharted territory for a lot of Americans, and it’s very unnerving. They can just make it up as they want to pick and choose which of these cases they want to involve themselves in.”