It is getting increasingly harder to deny that the Biden administration, specifically the Department of Justice (DOJ), has an anti-Catholic bias, despite President Joe Biden's claims to be a "devout Catholic." This is an administration that has turned a blind eye to the violent targeting of pro-life organizations and Catholic churches, all while throwing the book at pro-lifers.
Sure enough, it was revealed on Wednesday morning by Fox News that a transgender individual, Maeve Nota, 31, will be given no jail time after vandalizing the St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue, Washington, as well as assaulting an employee of the church and resisting arrest.
As the Fox News report explained:
Nota smashed two glass doors with rocks and spray-painted the church's outside walls with messages that read, "F--- Catholics," "rot in your fake hell," "kid groomers," and "woman haters," among several other messages.
A church staff member was spray-painted across their face while attempting to chase Nota away.
When officers located Nota, police said he used a backpack full of spray paint cans to smash the police vehicle before turning himself in.
Nota appeared intoxicated during the arrest and was said to be angry about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe. v. Wade the week before the incident, investigators previously told KOMO News.
Nota's actions, committed last June in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade with its Dobbs v. Jackson case, even fell under a hate crime, as Police Capt. Darryl McKinney told FOX13 Seattle about the $10,000 worth of damages.
What's even more damning is that the Biden administration may be trying to cover up Nota's plea deal (emphasis added):
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According to filings from early March, Biden's Justice Department hit Nota with destruction of religious property, a misdemeanor that can carry up to one year in prison and $100,000 in fines.
A week later, however, a previously unreported plea agreement between the Justice Department, Nota, and his attorney shows that they will recommend no jail time and three years of probation at the time of his sentencing on June 2.
The Justice Department did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry on the recommendation.
It's worth reminding that the Biden administration's DOJ has sought to infiltrate Catholic Churches when it should have been better protecting them and that Attorney General Merrick Garland may have even perjured himself when speaking on the matter before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Further, as Mike Davis of the Article III Project highlights, such lenient treatment of radical pro-abortion protestors stands in stark contrast to how the administration is targeting pro-lifers.
"It is very clear that the Biden Justice Department has politicized and weaponized the FACE Act to go after pro-life Christians praying outside of abortion clinics like Mark Houck while turning a blind eye to violent felons terrorizing and badly damaging Catholic churches like Maeve Nota," Davis told Fox News Digital. "The Biden Justice Department tried to put Houck in prison for 11 years for defending his son while recommending no jail time for Nota after this deranged trans terrorist badly damaged a Catholic church, fought with the police, assaulted a church employee, and scared the hell out of a little old lady praying."
Not only was Houck found not guilty by a jury at the end of January of this year, but local prosecutors had previously dismissed charges against him. He's not the only pro-lifer the DOJ has targeted, though. As Mia highlighted at the time, 11 pro-lifers were indicted in one week last fall, including Paul Vaughn. Like Houck, the FBI descended on Vaughn's home with extreme force and arrested him in front of his terrified children, traumatizing the family.
The contrast is further highlighted in that the DOJ has had a habit of failing to prosecute offenses targeting the pro-life movement. When testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee last August, FBI Director Christoper Wray didn't have a number for Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) when asked, "How many domestic terrorism investigations does the FBI currently have open under the category of abortion-related violence extremism?"
In January of this year, the DOJ announced two indictments against two pro-abortion radicals for allegedly targeting pro-life organizations in Florida. Also in January, the FBI announced it was offering reward money for information on such attacks. CompassCare, whose pro-life center in Buffalo, New York, was firebombed last June, said it was "suspicious" that the FBI was "slow walking" and that the reward was a "ruse designed to feign interest."
The number of indictments and the attention given is particularly disproportionate to the number of incidents targeting churches and pro-life organizations.
Data from the Family Research Council (FRC) that is current as of March 16, 2023, highlights 39 churches targeted since the Dobbs draft opinion was leaked on May 2, 2022. The data includes 127 incidents overall.
The 117th Congress, controlled entirely by Democrats, saw five pro-abortion hearings in one week's time last July. During the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on "What's Next: The Threat to Individual Freedoms in a Post-Roe World," then-Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) used his opening statements to read through the litany of examples of how pro-lifers have been viciously targeted.
In response, Jordan's Democratic colleagues sought to play a game of whataboutism regarding how abortion facilities and providers have been targeted, but the numbers tell a different story. A study released last October by the Crime Research Prevention Center (CRPC) showed that pro-life organizations were 22 times more likely to be met with violence than pro-abortion ones.
The shameless display of Democratic whatboutism continued when, upon taking control of the House, Republicans in January passed a resolution condemning the surge of violence. Only three Democrats signed onto it.
Now the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan also chairs the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which uncovered that the DOJ was seeking to infiltrate churches.
🚨 #BREAKING: We now know the FBI, relying on information derived from at least one 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 employee, sought to use local religious organizations as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” pic.twitter.com/97veIGtvq4
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) April 10, 2023
All are examples lending credence to how the Biden administration does not appear to show much, if any, concern for the targeted Catholic community and the pro-life movement. When the draft opinion in the Dobbs case leaked last May, the Biden administration was far more preoccupied with the ramifications of Roe being overturned than the dangers it presented to pro-life organizations and individuals, including Catholic churches. Such a failure of priorities was also spread by Democrats, including former Rep. Val Demings (D-FL), who lost to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) last November.
Garland's failures are also worth mentioning further since he was criticized for being slow to act on protecting Supreme Court justices. A man, Nicholas Roske, is facing federal charges after he planned to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh last June and was even potentially planning on going after at least two more conservative justices. At least the DOJ has had enough sense to properly charge him.
"F--- Catholics" and "Catholic Church" were trending on Twitter as a result of the Fox News story, although some users saw it as an opportunity to downplay the attack and further criticize the Catholic Church.