Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Nov. 5, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
"A free society cannot tolerate a system in which programs and authorities intended to keep the public safe are instead weaponized against them due to mere suspicion," Paul said. "The records released today show how an unverified tip that the FBI failed to substantiate led to nearly two years of surveillance of an innocent American."
According to a timeline put out by the committee, the FBI’s probe of Crowder first began in January 2021, when an anonymous tipster claimed to have recognized her in news coverage of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Despite an initial negative match for her face and geolocation, the FBI expanded its probe, and, for the better part of two years, conducted physical surveillance of the Crowder household, put her on a travel watchlist, secured a warrant for her Facebook account and even prepared a prosecution case against her, the report said.
The FBI would finally drop the case in June 2023 when the bureau determined that it could not positively place Crowder at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
"After conducting pertinent checks, FBI found no evidence that Crowder definitively entered the Capitol Building. At the time Crowder was supposedly exiting the Capitol, she was elsewhere in D.C.," the bureau wrote in its closing finding.
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FBI Director Kash Patel stands silently during a press conference on Oct. 23, 2025, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty)
"When a Catholic kindergarten teacher from Texas can be surveilled for more than two years simply for being in Washington, D.C., without entering the Capitol, without committing a crime, we have crossed from legitimate investigation into political overreach."
Paul echoed Patel’s framing, thanking the administration for terminating the program.
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"I am grateful for FBI Director Kash Patel’s cooperation in producing these records, and I appreciate Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for ending the Quiet Skies program. The conduct revealed by these documents underscores the need to limit the power of faceless bureaucrats who have too often infringed on the rights of the people," Paul said.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-paul-biden-fbi-tracked-catholic-teacher-no-jan-6-ties-weaponized-probe