According to a newly-released court document, the FBI has used a huge database improperly over 278,000 times to collect information about American citizens.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court supervises the Section 702 database, which can be examined by the National Security Agency and the FBI. The FBI is only permitted to search the database when they believe information related to foreign intelligence can be found.

“The FBI frequently violated the three-part standard articulated by the government,” Judge Rudolph Contreras of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court wrote. “In October 2018, the Court concluded that ‘the FBI’s repeated non-complaint queries of Section 702 information’ precluded findings that its Section 702 querying and minimization procedures, as implemented, satisfied the definition of ‘minimization procedures’ … and were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”

“The Court cited as a contributing factor in FBI’s non-compliance a ‘lack of common understanding within FBI and the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice of what it means for a query to be reasonably likely to return foreign-intelligence information or evidence of crime,’” he added.

The opinion of the court detailed roughly 300,000 abuses logged between 2020 and early 2021, The Washington Post noted.

“Nonetheless, compliance problems with the querying of Section 702 information have proven to be persistent and widespread,” Contreras argued. “If they are not substantially mitigated by these recent measures, it may become necessary to consider other responses, such as substantially limiting the number of FBI personnel with access to unminimized Section 702 information.”

The Post reported that after the events of January 6, 2021, an FBI employee ran 23,132 separate queries of presumed Americans “to find indications of foreign influence related to the query term used,” according to Contreras.

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“According to whistleblower information, the FBI has manipulated the manner in which it categorized January 6-related investigations to create a misleading narrative that domestic terrorism is organically surging around the country,” a House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government report stated, according to The Washington Examiner. “Ordinarily, the FBI characterizes and labels cases according to the originating field office, with leads ‘cut’ to other field offices for specific assistance in that geographic location. With January 6 cases, however, the FBI has not followed its ordinary procedure, which would have resulted in the (Washington Field Office) leading the investigation and categorizing the investigations as WFO cases.”

Related: FBI Whistleblowers Detail ‘Egregious Abuse,’ Retribution From ‘Politicized’ Bureau, House Report Says

A 42-year-old North Dakota man pled guilty to manslaughter after he hit an 18-year-old with his car following his expression of concern about the teen being connected to a “Republican extremist” group.

Shannon Brandt pled guilty to manslaughter after Cayler Ellingson was killed when he was hit by Brandt’s vehicle in September 2022. The guilty plea comes just weeks after the charges were reduced from murder to manslaughter.

The case quickly became controversial after an affidavit from police suggested that Brandt had run down Ellingson following a political disagreement, a claim that was backtracked by later investigators. Ellingson’s death was determined to be an accident, and not intentional according to investigators.

Foster County State Attorney Kara Brinster said that Brandt had been drinking and arguing with Ellingson prior to the incident.

Brandt, of Glenfield, North Dakota, claimed in a 911 call that he had felt threatened by Ellingson, over the teen’s alleged connection to a “Republican extremist group,” and was urging others to attack Brandt after a political argument, according to the call.

“He was threatening me with something to have to do with — something with an extremist Republican group. And then he made a phone call. He made a phone call saying, ‘I thought he was Republican (background noise) or something. You’re going have to come here and handle him.’ I got scared to death. I didn’t know what to do,” a transcript of Brandt’s 911 call says.

Brandt said that he accidentally hit the teen when he was trying to get away from him during a crowded event in McHenry. “As we have pointed out since the beginning, there is no evidence to support the misplaced allegation of intentional homicide,” said Mark Friese, Brandt’s lawyer. “The state and defense forensic experts have provided comprehensive reports confirming this tragedy was an accident. Misplaced media hype and community conjecture is no substitute for evidence.”

An autopsy report said that Ellingson’s fatal “injuries weren’t caused from being struck by Shannon Brandt’s vehicle and were caused by being run over” once he was on the ground.

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Police said that Brandt appeared to be intoxicated when they showed up at his home after the accident.

When sentenced, he could face 10 years in prison. An additional charge of leaving the scene of the accident was also dropped before Brandt was set to be tried on May 30.

“Shannon has never denied responsibility for his part in this tragic accident,” Friese told The Forum. “A plea of guilty permits him to accept responsibility while limiting the stress and emotional toll for all involved.”