The FBI recently sent more than a dozen armed agents to the home of well-known pro-life activist Mark Houck to arrest him for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances or FACE Act. Now the father of seven faces up to 11 years in prison over claims that he blocked a man from entering an abortion clinic and shoved him when he wouldn’t stop verbally harassing Mark’s 12-year-old son. Now, if that doesn’t sound insane enough, this all happened after local authorities dropped the case. So, what’s the full story here?
Attorney Peter Breen joined Glenn Beck on the radio program Tuesday to tell the family’s side of the story, including how the case was already “won” three years ago, and how, after receiving a target letter from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Mark’s legal team agreed to cooperate fully, only to hear nothing back until the day the FBI showed up on Mark’s doorstep.
Breen also explained how the FBI has tried to downplay “abuse of power” claims, accusing Mark’s wife of making “inaccurate claims” about the terrifying experience.
“Ryan-Marie, who is Mark’s wife, she thought she saw 25 [FBI agents.] The FBI came back and said it wasn’t 25, it was no more than 15 or 20 heavily armed federal agents. And she had called them a ‘SWAT team’ because she’s a lay person. I don’t know the difference between a SWAT team and a bunch of heavily armed, armored, and shield-bearing federal agents,” Breen said.
According to Fox News, a senior FBI source said:
There may have been 15-20 agents at the scene, but denied 25 were there. The agents who came to the door had guns out and at the ready, according to this FBI source, but the guns were never pointed at Houck or his family and were lowered or holstered as soon as Houck was taken into custody. Houck was handcuffed with a belly chain.
“And so, yeah, they had guns drawn and pointed at Mark in front of his wife and their children. And that whole show of force was done against a man who was not a drug lord, not a mafia boss, but instead, a law-abiding pillar of the community whose attorney said, ‘we’ll bring him in if you decide to charge, even though you have no case.'”
Breen went on to assert that he believes Congress “needs to” hold Attorney General Merrick Garland accountable for the arrest. “I can’t imagine that those 20 federal agents were excited about being called out to a peaceful man’s home, guns drawn,” he said.
In the video clip below, Breen goes on the explain what he believes should happen next, and why Houck’s arrest “should frighten all of us.” Can’t watch? Download the podcast here.
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