Multiple FBI field offices were involved in the drafting of a memo targeting Catholics as potential domestic terrorists, a newly unredacted document obtained by House Republicans reveals. The discovery contradicts testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray, who previously claimed under oath only one field office was involved.
“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,” House Republicans wrote in a letter sent to Wray on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, a leaked FBI memo dated Jan. 23 revealed the agency’s Richmond, Virginia, field office was tasked with investigating the alleged threat of “white supremacy” among Catholics who attend Latin Mass. As The Federalist’s Evita Duffy-Alfonso previously reported, the memo said the Bureau “may potentially mitigate” the supposed “threat” of “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” with “’tripwire and source development,’ which means further infiltration into Catholic communities using various kinds of informants.”
During his July 12 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Wray claimed the January memo was “a single product by a single field office.” According to a newly unredacted version of the document obtained by House Republicans, however, that statement doesn’t appear to be true.
After months of the FBI stonewalling Republicans’ oversight efforts, the new version of the memo given to the Judiciary Committee on July 25 purportedly shows that the agency’s Portland and Los Angeles field offices “were involved in or contributed to the creation of FBI’s assessment of traditional Catholics as potential
