Federal prosecutors in the Biden Justice Department worked closely with abortion-rights groups to track anti-abortion activists while withholding key evidence in FACE Act prosecutions, according to a 900-page report released by the DOJ on Tuesday detailing evidence of political bias under the Biden administration.
The report, the first of several to be released by the Trump administration’s Weaponization Working Group, is based on a review of roughly 700,000 internal records and represents the most detailed account to date of how the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was enforced in the years following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
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“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
At the center of the findings released Tuesday are two core conclusions: that Biden-era DOJ officials engaged in yearslong monitoring of anti-abortion activists, often with the assistance of outside advocacy groups, and that prosecutors serving during the Biden administration, in some cases, withheld evidence and showed bias during criminal proceedings.
A central figure identified in the report is Sanjay Patel, a senior DOJ attorney who served as the national coordinator for FACE Act enforcement. According to the report, Patel acted as a key conduit between federal prosecutors, the FBI, and abortion-rights organizations, helping facilitate the flow of information used in investigations.
Ahead of the report’s release, Patel was fired Monday alongside three other prosecutors who were involved in prosecutions under the FACE Act during the Biden administration, CBS reported.
In response to the outlet’s reporting, the DOJ Rapid Response account confirmed the firings on X, saying the “DOJ has terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act who still remained at the department.”
DOJ has terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act who still remained at the department. https://t.co/qKpoh5uGsb
— DOJ Rapid Response (@DOJRR47) April 13, 2026
Biden DOJ worked with liberal abortion-rights groups to find targets
Biden-era DOJ officials and FBI agents relied heavily on abortion-rights organizations, including the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood, to identify possible enforcement targets and track activist activity. Those groups provided real-time alerts about protests, social media posts, and travel movements, in some cases flagging anti-abortion activists’ locations across multiple states before any alleged violations of the law occurred.
Internal communications show that Biden-era federal officials monitored certain activists for years before filing charges, tracking their movements, planned demonstrations, and online activity.
In one instance highlighted in the report, an abortion-rights group compiled a 137-page dossier ahead of an anti-abortion event that included attendees’ schedules, lodging details, and extensive personal information. That material included home addresses, photographs of family members, and even driver’s license numbers.
The report identifies several people who were subject to such monitoring, including anti-abortion activist Bevelyn Beatty Williams, who was tracked across jurisdictions before being charged with a felony in New York. Williams was later among those granted clemency by President Donald Trump.
Other activists, including Lauren Handy, Calvin Zastrow, Paul Vaughn, Heather Idoni, Eva Edl, and Christopher Moscinski, were also flagged and monitored over time. Many of those people were convicted in FACE Act cases during the Biden administration and were later included in Trump’s sweeping pardons of anti-abortion defendants.
The findings build on concerns raised during the Biden administration about the aggressive use of the FACE Act. Federal data previously showed that prosecutors brought at least 15 criminal cases involving roughly 46 anti-abortion defendants after January 2021, with abortion-rights activists or organizations listed as victims in nearly every case. Conversely, the new report outlines how the Biden DOJ prosecuted only five people for damaging anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, despite an increase in such attacks following the Dobbs decision.
Alongside the government’s invasive monitoring of anti-abortion activists, the report details what it describes as troubling conduct by prosecutors in several FACE Act cases.
In one of the most striking examples, prosecutors in United States v. Gallagher flat-out denied having data on past FACE Act prosecutions when defense attorneys requested it to prepare a selective prosecution argument. According to the report, that representation was false. In reality, Biden-era DOJ officials had already compiled the data internally and had shared similar information with abortion-rights groups.
Those officials declined to provide the information to defense counsel and warned internally that doing so could open gates the department would struggle to close.
The report also includes internal communications showing how prosecutors approached jury selection in FACE Act cases.
Draft juror questionnaires reveal discussions about how to frame abortion-related language for prospective jurors, including whether to use more direct terminology, such as abortion clinics, rather than softer phrasing.
In other exchanges, DOJ attorneys discussed ways to identify jurors’ religious views indirectly, including through questions about family background or schooling, raising concerns about attempts to screen jurors based on faith.
The report also cites internal comments reflecting how some prosecutors viewed defendants’ beliefs. In one case, attorneys referred to anti-abortion Christian views as “culty” and expressed frustration about being assigned a Catholic magistrate judge who insisted on protecting First Amendment rights.
Aggressive arrests and sentences
The review further highlights the prosecution of Mark Houck, a Pennsylvania father whose case drew national attention after he was arrested at his home by 16 FBI agents. A jury later acquitted Houck, and the DOJ ultimately settled a civil claim related to the arrest.
The report also points to disparities in sentencing. Prosecutors during the Biden administration sought an average sentence of 26.8 months for anti-abortion defendants compared to 12.3 months for abortion-rights defendants, with final sentences averaging 14 months for activists on the conservative side of the issue versus three months for activists on the liberal side.
The department has already taken steps it says are aimed at reversing those practices, including dismissing several cases and limiting future FACE Act prosecutions to extraordinary circumstances.
ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL PRESSURED TO UNDO ABORTION PILL LIBERALIZATION
The Weaponization Working Group was established in February 2025 and tasked with reviewing federal enforcement decisions across agencies to determine whether prosecutorial power had been used to pursue political or improper objectives.
Officials said additional findings from the working group are expected in the coming months as the broader review continues.
