Pam Bondi wants FBI to reward transgender people and their allies, leaked memo shows

Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the FBI to create a cash reward system for information leading to the arrest of leaders of so-called “domestic terrorist organizations,” which the Justice Department now includes individuals and groups with “extremist gender ideologies.”

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The directive implements National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, issued by Donald Trump in September, by ordering federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to prioritize investigations and prosecutions related to a broad definition of domestic terrorism. Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein first reported the memo’s existence Tuesday, after it was leaked.

Related: Pam Bondi vows to ‘respect the law’ on marriage equality at Senate confirmation hearing

Flagged ideologies include “adherence to radical gender ideology”, as well as favoring mass migration, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, and hostility towards “traditional approaches to family, religion and morality”.

Although the directive does not explicitly name transgender people, advocates say it effectively targets the trans community and their supporters, given the administration’s frequent use of “gender ideology” to advocate for transgender identity, health care, education, and civil rights.

“For some culpable actors, such as certain Antifa-affiliated extremists, their animating principles are adherence to extreme views on immigration, radical gender ideology, and the anti-American sentiment listed below, with a willingness to use violence against law-abiding citizens,” to serve those beliefs.

The memo directs prosecutors to consider a broader range of criminal statutes that provide material support for terrorism, obstruction during civil disorder, conspiracy against rights, and terrorism when pursuing cases related to protest or advocacy linked to the newly defined threats.

Related: Trump AG Pam Bondi falsely compared gender-affirming care for minors to female genital mutilation.

Bondi’s guidance orders federal agencies to comb their files for intelligence information related to Antifa and “antifa-aligned” groups and report the information to the FBI within two weeks. Within 30 days, the FBI is directed to compile a list of organizations whose actions “may constitute domestic terrorism,” issue intelligence bulletins on the structure and funding of those groups, and make its domestic-terrorism tip line more public.

Most controversially, the memo directs the FBI to establish a cash reward system — a reward — for tips that lead to the identification and arrest of leaders of targeted organizations. Coupled with the ideological framework of the memo, the policy risks encouraging whistleblowers to report on peaceful activists, LGBTQ+ organizations, or health care providers based on politics rather than evidence of violence.

“The FBI will establish a cash reward system for information that leads to the successful identification and arrest of individuals headed by domestic terrorist organizations who conspire with others to violate the provisions of law listed in section 2 of this directive or to commit other crimes against the United States,” Bondi wrote.

Related: Who is Pam Bondi? Trump’s attorney general picks have a mixed history on LGBTQ+ issues

Notably absent from the memo is any acknowledgment of the overwhelming body of research showing that the majority of domestic terrorist violence in the United States is linked to right-wing extremism.

In October, before Bondi’s memo came out, Kelly Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, issued a warning. Advocate That LGBTQ+ organizations were already bracing for government investigations, and that such threats should be taken literally.

“Yes. Oh my God. If you’re awake, you should be concerned,” Robinson said when asked about the administration’s indication that it might investigate organizations on the left. “Because what we’re seeing is not just threats, but we’re seeing them taking action.”

Robinson points to Project 2025 as evidence that intentions often become policy. “When you hear their intentions out loud, we have to take it seriously,” she said. “We don’t have to wait until it all comes to hit us and then try to catch up on the backend.”

As a result, Robinson said, advocacy organizations were already planning for environments similar to authoritarian regimes abroad. “Many organizations are thinking about physical and cyber security and safety for staff and volunteers,” she said. “We’re doing a lot of work around organizational resilience and learning from colleagues overseas about what it means to adapt to an authoritarian environment.”

The administration is elevating transgender rights as a national security issue. Earlier this year, federal agencies were weighing whether to fold trans-related activism into emerging violent extremism categories, raising fears of a modern-day “lavender scare” repackaged for the surveillance age.

This article originally appeared in The Advocate: Pam Bundy Wants to Keep FBI Bounty on Transgender People and Their Allies, Leaked Memo Shows

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