There’s a certain kind of story that doesn’t just raise eyebrows—it makes you stop, reread, and then wonder how far the thinking inside major institutions has drifted from what most people assume is normal. This is one of those cases.
So here’s what surfaced: internal Justice Department messages, pulled into the open through a Senate oversight investigation, showing federal prosecutors reacting to a photo. Not a crime scene, not evidence of wrongdoing—just a New York Times image of Catholic nuns standing at the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. They were in traditional habits, wearing pro-Trump scarves, doing nothing more than attending.
And the reaction inside the DOJ? That’s where it gets uncomfortable.
One prosecutor, Molly Gaston, looks at the image and says she’d like a “special assignment” to find and prosecute them. Joseph Cooney jumps in right behind her—“I’m with you”—then adds a jab about prosecuting any nun still wearing a traditional head habit. The exchange ends with a laugh.
Now pause there. There’s no allegation these women broke the law. No claim they entered the Capitol. No evidence of violence. The entire trigger is presence—being at a rally—and identity—being visibly Catholic.
That alone would be enough to raise concerns, but the messages don’t stop there. In other exchanges, the same prosecutors mock someone attending daily Mass during COVID—“They really shouldn’t be doing that”—followed by a sarcastic “Good for them, except not.” When Catholic objections to President Biden receiving Communion come up, the response is blunt: “insane,” “ridiculous.”
Individually, you could brush these off as offhand comments. Taken together, they paint a clearer picture—one where personal disdain for a religious group is showing up in conversations between people tasked with enforcing federal law.
And here’s where it gets more serious. These weren’t junior staffers blowing off steam. Both Gaston and Cooney later served as senior deputies to Special Counsel Jack Smith during high-profile January 6 investigations. They had real influence, real authority, and real proximity to decisions that carried major consequences.
Senator Chuck Grassley, who obtained the messages, is framing this as part of a broader pattern tied to “Arctic Frost,” an FBI operation focused on Republicans and conservative groups after January 6. He’s not just pointing to inappropriate comments—he’s questioning whether prosecutorial power was being guided, even partially, by bias.
Then there’s the political twist. Cooney is now running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District—a region that includes over 430,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Arlington. That’s the same faith community reflected in the messages he was part of.
At the same time, separate findings tied to enforcement of the FACE Act have added another layer, with claims that pro-life activists were aggressively prosecuted while federal officials maintained communication with opposing groups tracking their movements.