Rand Paul: Biden FBI goes after Catholic teacher out of fellowship Jan. 6, reveals alleged weapons practices

The FBI under the Biden administration spent two years investigating a Catholic school teacher – and even put him on the terrorist list – based on an unconfirmed tip that linked him to the January 6 riots at the US Capitol in 2021, according to a new congressional report.

Christine Crowder was not at the US Capitol when a mob stormed the building to stop the 2020 re-authorization, according to findings released by the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Governmental Affairs Committee. However, he was in DC at President Donald Trump’s rally earlier that day and the FBI spent 23 months tracking him, the report said.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called the move an overreach of federal power based on insufficient evidence.

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“A free society cannot tolerate a system where programs and authorities that are meant to keep the public safe are armed with them because of mere suspicions,” said Paul. “Records released today show that an unconfirmed tip the FBI failed to prove led to two years of surveillance on an innocent American.”

According to the timeline laid out by the committee, the FBI’s investigation of Crowder began in January 2021, when an anonymous informant claimed to have seen him on news of the January 6 violence at the US Capitol Building.

Despite the odd match of his face and geolocation, the FBI expanded its investigation, and, for the better part of two years, conducted surveillance on Crowder’s home, put him on a travel watch list, obtained a warrant for his Facebook account and even prepared a case to prosecute him, the report said.

The FBI will eventually drop the case in June 2023 when the bureau decides it can’t put Crowder in the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“After due diligence, the FBI found no evidence that Crowder actually entered the Capitol Building. At the time Crowder was leaving the Capitol, he was elsewhere in DC,” the bureau wrote in its closing statement.

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The logo of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the J building. Edgar Hoover FBI in Washington, March 10, 2025 (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

According to the committee, Crowder’s case emerged as part of a larger investigation into whether the Biden-era federal agencies used airspace watch lists to conduct political surveillance under their Quiet Skies program. Crowder’s case also extends to religious profiling memos used internally by the FBI under the Biden administration.

Lawmakers previously discovered internal FBI communications under the Biden administration that, in 2022, were targeting Catholic places of worship in Richmond. According to the FBI memo, those churches were accused of racially abusing religious fanatics. The FBI retracted the memo after a spokesperson released the memo to the public.

The memo fueled concerns among Republican lawmakers that the FBI and other agencies have used religious and political profiling to warrant surveillance.

Those same Republican concerns about armed suspicions have extended to the Quiet Skies Program — a surveillance program that has since been terminated under the Trump administration. It seeks to monitor targets that may pose a security risk, but that have not yet been officially designated as threats by government agencies.

Republicans fear that the plan has created an amorphous gray area that allows for travel surveillance without credible risk to national security.

In one such case, previous work by the committee revealed that the TSA placed surveillance on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on at least five flights in 2024 after she attended an event in Vatican City. Gabbard told lawmakers she believes the surveillance only began after she made statements critical of then-President Joe Biden.

Regarding the Crowder case, FBI Director Kash Patel called the effort a misuse of the office’s focus and resources. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Quiet Skies Program costs taxpayers $200 million annually.

“This case is an example of the deprioritization and everything that went wrong with federal laws after January 6,” Patel said in a statement released by the committee.

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FBI Director Kash Patel stands silently during a press conference on Oct. 23, 2025, New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty)

“When a Catholic kindergarten teacher from Texas goes under surveillance for more than two years just for being in Washington, DC, without entering the Capitol, without committing a crime, we’ve bypassed a legitimate investigation into political interference.”

Paul agreed with Patel’s proposal, thanking management for cutting the deal.

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“I appreciate the cooperation of FBI Director Kash Patel in producing these records, and I appreciate Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for ending the Quiet Skies program. The behavior revealed by these documents emphasizes the need to reduce the power of unscrupulous officials who often abuse human rights,” said Paul.