Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting the Justice Department investigate the threat of economic terrorism posed by a former SEIU executive.
Those plans, outlined in a closed meeting over the weekend, involved crippling JP Morgan Bank, crashing the stock market and crippling the economic system in a way that would ensure collapse of the American capitalist system and bring about redistribution of wealth.
The attack on JP Morgan, according to the Business Insider, would begin in early May.
In a letter obtained by The Blaze, Rep. Chaffetz references the FBI's definition of terrorism and notes "Lerner’s threats would clearly constitute domestic terrorism and pose substantial harm to the American people and the economy..."
According to an article at The Blaze, Lerner has a decades-long history of union activism going back to the 1970's. He has also visited the White House four times in the last two years - twice meeting with senior administration officials. His wife has been involved with union activism for years, working for nearly a decade as the AFL-CIO’s director of field mobilization.
The Blaze notes:
Lerner‘s fingerprints are all over today’s labor movement, including protesters’ confrontational tactics. You may recall when busloads of SEIU demonstrators descended on a Bank of America executive’s own front yard last year.
When the executive’s neighbor, Fortune‘s Nina Easton, asked Lerner about the controversial intimidation tactic, he accused of her of being too “emotional” and insisted it‘s the union’s role to confront “people in powerful corporations” about the “damage they are doing.”
Recently, Vice President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis joined AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka in a conference call thanking union activists for their role in keeping the "barbarians from the gate."
SEIU has also figured prominently in the Wisconsin Insurrection, and has worked to spread the unrest nationwide, holding protests in a number of state capitols, including Olympia, Washington.
Union thugs connected with SEIU stormed the headquarters of ESSA Bank in Stroudsburg, Pa demanding to meet with the bank's CEO.
In another instance, SEIU was sued by Sodexo under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act for acts of terrorism and intimidation:
Cockroaches, bugs, mold, and flies. These are just some of the props and rumors allegedly employed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) against the American unit of French catering company Sodexo. And the company’s had enough.
Fed up with tactics that include intimidation, extortion, and yes, sabotage that apparently includes plastic cockroaches, Sodexo filed a lawsuit against the SEIU last week under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
These are the kinds of activities Vice President Biden thanked the unions for.
The text of Congressman Chaffetz's letter, posted at The Blaze, is as follows:
March 23, 2011
The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Attorney General Holder:
Recent media reports suggest that the former director of the Service Employees International Union’s (“SEIU”) banking and finance campaign has threatened to seriously endanger the welfare of the United States. In a forum at Pace University earlier this month, Stephen Lerner, the former SEIU official, revealed a “secret plan” to “cause a new financial crisis . . . destroy J.P. Morgan . . . and weaken Wall Street’s grip on power” by using “civil disobedience” to create “the conditions necessary for a redistribution of wealth and a change in government.”[1]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”[2] The escalation of Mr. Lerner’s threats would clearly constitute domestic terrorism and pose substantial harm to the American people and the economy. I am therefore requesting that you investigate Mr. Lerner’s terrorist plans and notify me how the Department of Justice plans to respond to these threats.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and may at “any time” investigate “any matter” as set forth in House Rule X. An attachment to this letter provides additional information about responding to the Committee’s request.
If you have any questions regarding this request, please do not hesitate to contact [redacted]. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
_______________________
Jason Chaffetzcc: The Honorable Darrell Issa, Chairman
cc: The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Minority Member
Given the Administration's close ties to the unions that now seem to want the collapse of America's economic system, will Attorney General Holder take the appropriate action?
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