Recently released Ring camera footage shows the moment two FBI agents unexpectedly showed up at the childhood home of a pro-life activist and questioned her mother.
FBI agents Ashley Roberts and Kathleen Brown showed up at the childhood home of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) member Elise Ketch on April 18 at approximately 2:45 P.M.
Ketch began working for PAAU in December after volunteering for the organization. She was arrested in March with other pro-life activists for blocking traffic after protesting the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., Fox News reports.
The protest followed the discovery of the bodies of five unborn babies in a medical waste bin outside the Washington SurgiClinic, which performs abortions.
Footage released to the Daily Signal shows the two agents questioning Tracy Ketch, her mother, about the whereabouts of her daughter.
NEW: FBI agents Ashley Roberts and Kathleen Brown showed up at the childhood home of pro-life activist Elise Ketch. The agents asked to speak with Ketch, who is a member of @PAAUNOW.
Here’s the Ring security camera footage, first obtained by @Dailysignal: pic.twitter.com/QoY2HL9ytA
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) May 17, 2023
“We just need to speak with her regarding some information that was sent to us,” Roberts said.
Tracy told the agents Ketch no longer lives at the residence located in Woodbridge, Va. Roberts then asked for Ketch’s phone number and current residence.
She continued, “She’s not in any trouble. We just have some information we need to ask her about.”
Ketch’s mother asked if she could take pictures of the agent’s badges to which Roberts replied, “Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to have anyone take our pictures.”
Ketch’s mom followed up by asking the agents the reason why they were looking for her daughter.
Roberts declined to answer.
“We would tell you all the information because, like I said, she’s not in any trouble, but just out of respect for her, we’d like to speak with her first and then, if she feels like talking to you, which I’m sure she will because it’s nothing,” Roberts said.
Additional footage shows Tracy calling her daughter alerting her to the FBI agents.
“Mom, don’t tell them anything,” Ketch was heard saying.
In a statement to the Daily Signal, Ketch said she had “no idea” why the agents showed up at her mother’s home, but she has a few “guesses as to what is going on”.
“My colleague at Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Lauren Handy, is indicted under the FACE (Freedom of Access Clinic Entrances) Act and is being prosecuted by the federal government. It’s plausible that these FBI agents aimed to collect information from me to help build their case against her,” Ketch explained.
She added, “While they reassured my mother that I was not in trouble, it’s also possible that they see me as a threat due to my pro-life activism and intended to investigate me. Yet, to my knowledge, they never attempted to follow up with me or my attorney, so I believe the FBI’s true motive behind their visit to my parents’ home was to intimidate me and my team.”
As CBN News reported, Republicans on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government held a hearing accusing the Biden administration and the Justice Department of using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances or FACE Act to unfairly target pro-life activists for prosecution.
Pro-life activist Mark Houck was among those who testified. Houck was arrested in front of his seven children last Fall. Armed FBI agents raided his home for allegedly violating the FACE Act.
A jury found him not guilty of the federal charges earlier this year.
“When (the FBI) show up at your house, 20 agents, guns drawn, in front of your family, why do you think they did it?” asked U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during Houck’s testimony before the subcommittee.
“The intention was to humiliate me, to scare my children, and do sow fear in pro-life America,” answered Houck.
CBN News has reached out to the FBI for requests to comment. At the time of publication, they have not responded.
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