(The Center Square) – At his confirmation hearing on Thursday, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Kash Patel, vowed that if confirmed, he will investigate and end the weaponization of the DOJ against people of faith and parents.

The concern was brought up by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, who asked Patel if it was appropriate for the FBI “to attempt to recruit spies or informants into religious institutions in … particularly Catholic parishes,” to which Patel replied, “I don't believe so.”

Hawley asked if he was familiar with a Jan. 23, 2023, FBI Richmond, Virginia, field office memo “making a list of Catholic churches and parishes that they regard as potentially suspect and directing the potential recruitment of informants and other spies” into them.

Former FBI Director Christopher Wray “repeatedly lied to this committee,” Hawley said. “He told us initially that it didn't happen, that the FBI didn't make any list of churches. That's not true. We have it [from a] whistleblower. We know from another whistleblower multiple field offices worked on it.”

Hawley asked Patel if he’d “find out who was involved in this gross abuse of Americans’ First Amendment rights,” discipline or fire them “consistent with department policy or law.”

Patel said he would.

“To have arguably the most powerful law enforcement body, at least in a free nation, in the world, corrupted politically [to the extent] that it is targeting people of faith in this country and then lying about it to this committee and the American people is unimaginable,” Hawley continued.

“I'll be honest with you, I never thought this would happen in the United States of America. I just didn't. If you had told me five years ago we'd be reading memos like this, I would have said, ‘no way. No way. That's bad fiction. In fact, it's a horrible reality.”

He asked Patel if it was appropriate for the FBI to send agents, including counterterrorism agents, to the parents of children who went to school board meetings and asked about critical race theory and mask mandates.

“Should those parents be treated as domestic terrorists?” he asked.

“Parents who have the courage to ensure their children are taught what they feel is right, and those who have the courage of their convictions to go to houses of worship in my book will never be domestic terrorists,” Patel replied.

Hawley then pointed to a memo issued by former Attorney General Merrick Garland who directed the FBI and other agencies to target parents at school board meetings. The memo was provided by whistleblowers who gave the committee evidence, he said. As a result, the FBI opened multiple cases against multiple parents nationwide, including in Missouri.

This was “another gross abuse of incredible political power brought to bear against everyday citizens,” Hawley said. “Why? Because they went to a school board meeting … and asked about what their kids were being taught.”

He asked Patel if he would find out who was involved in the policy, who agreed with it, who implemented it, and discipline them. “Will you make clear that the FBI will never do something like this again?”

Patel said he would.

Hawley then asked if it was appropriate for the FBI to target people of faith “to discourage the exercise of their First Amendment rights. There can never be a targeting by law enforcement just based on their people's faiths and yet under this last administration, the FBI and DOJ together brought numerous prosecutions under the FACE Act for nonviolent protests.” President Donald Trump recently pardoned many of them.

He referred to the case of prolife advocate Mark Houck, who was arrested by a SWAT team and charged with violating the FACE Act. Houck was acquitted by a jury. Hawley argued that a SWAT team was used to “terrorize him” when “just about zero” churches and pregnancy care centers that were fire-bombed were protected by the last administration.

He asked Patel if he would “end this targeting … and make clear to all agency personnel that there can be no targeting on the basis of religious belief, and this will never happen again in the United States of America, at least not under your watch.”

“There will be no such targeting if I'm confirmed as FBI director and the resources of the FBI, which are funded by the American taxpayer dollars,” Patel said.

In the seven minutes of Hawley’s questioning, Patel said, two people had died from fentanyl overdoses, one person had been shot to death, three people had been raped, based on crime statistics. “The resources of the FBI will go to that mission … because America deserves a better brand of justice and I'm going to give it to them,” he said.

Hawley asked a similar line of questioning of Trump’s attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, who also said she would investigate DOJ officials targeting people of faith, The Center Square reported.