Originally published August 9, 2023 2:14 pm PDT
In a surprising revelation, the House Judiciary Committee has alleged that the FBI had multiple field offices involved in creating a memo that targeted traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.
The claim stands in stark contrast to earlier testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray, who stated that only a single field office was involved.
In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government Chairman Mike Johnson (R-LA) highlighted the discrepancy: “This new information suggests that the FBI’s use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on American’s First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected and reveals inconsistencies with your previous testimony before the Committee.”
A lesser-redacted version of the anti-Catholic memo reveals that the “FBI’s actions were not just limited to ‘a single field office,’ as you testified to the Committee.”
Instead, it explicitly shows that both the “FBI Portland and FBI Los Angeles field offices were involved in or contributed to the creation of FBI’s assessment of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.”
The document referred to is titled ‘Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities’ and was generated by the FBI’s Richmond Field Office on January 23, 2023.
Chairmen Jordan and Johnson are pressing for answers, noting the disturbing nature of the newly uncovered information: “This revelation raises the question of why you redacted this information in previous versions of the document you produced to the Committee.”
The letter demands further details and raises questions about the FBI’s oversight, transparency, and potential infringement on First Amendment rights.
It specifically calls on Director Wray to “amend your testimony to fully explain the nature and scope of the FBI’s assessment of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.”
The committee has listed a series of requests for additional information, including communications between the FBI’s Richmond Field Office and other field offices, and has set a deadline of 5:00 p.m. on August 22, 2023, for a response.
Director Wray has yet to publicly respond to the allegations and demands presented in the letter.