Staff Reports
Newly released Justice Department text messages show something ugly: Biden-era prosecutors privately joked about hunting down Catholic nuns who attended a January 6 rally. The messages, turned over to Senator Chuck Grassley, President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raise hard questions about bias inside the DOJ and whether political views guided real decisions.
What the messages actually show
The texts were short, crude and clear. One message attributed to Molly Gaston said, “I would like to take a special assignment of finding and prosecuting them,” after seeing a photograph of women in religious habits at a Stop the Steal rally. Joseph “J.P.” Cooney replied, “I’m with you,” adding he’d like to “prosecute any nun who still wears the head habit.” Those are not press conference lines. They are private messages from prosecutors on a team that later worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Why this matters for religious liberty and justice
This isn’t just tone-deaf. It shows contempt for people of faith. The same threads mock Catholics for attending daily Mass and call concerns about Holy Communion “insane.” If true, this is an affront to the First Amendment and to the idea that the Justice Department is supposed to be blind, not biased. Americans who care about religious liberty should not shrug and say it was “just joking.” When prosecutors talk like this, citizens rightly fear the law could be used as a political cudgel.
The players, the politics, and the unanswered questions
Both attorneys named in the texts later served as senior deputies to Special Counsel Jack Smith and now run a private firm, Gaston & Cooney PLLC. Cooney is also running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District — a seat inside one of the most Catholic dioceses in the country. That raises a practical question voters should ask: can someone who mocked faithful citizens in private now credibly ask those same voters for support? Even more important is a legal question: did any investigative steps flow from those messages? Grassley’s Arctic Frost oversight probe is still digging. The public needs answers about whether words turned into action.
What should happen next
Congressional oversight should not be theater. Senator Grassley has the right to demand more documents, sworn testimony, and a clear accounting from the Department of Justice. The DOJ should launch an internal review and tell the public whether these private messages ever influenced investigative decisions. If it was idle office chatter, say so and show the work product that proves it. If it wasn’t, then heads should roll and reforms must follow. Justice must be equal, not seasonal politics wrapped in a robe.
