FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, December 5, to answer the concerns of lawmakers as to the FBI’s recent actions and tactics, among which was the allegation that the FBI was illegitimately targeting Catholic individuals under the guise of combatting extremism.
Those allegations mainly stem from a leaked memo from the FBI’s Richmond field office, a memo that has since been withdrawn, in which the office warned about alleged political extremism in some Catholic groups and indicated that it would be investigating those Catholic groups. That memo was focused on “radical traditionalist” Catholics.
During the hearing, Wray rejected the notion that other FBI field offices were involved with the memo, telling Sen. Hawley that such claims were “garble.” Continuing, he said, “And let me explain why. I mean, why I say that the only involvement of the two other field offices was the Richmond authors of the product, which included two sentences or something or thereabouts, referencing each of these other offices’ cases. And they sent those sentences about the other office cases to them, not the whole product, and asked them, ‘Hey, did we describe your case right?‘” He then added, “That’s all the other offices had. So it was a single field office product, and I stand by that.”
Wray also said, when speaking about the abortion issue, “We’ve seen violence on both sides of the issue. And the reason I bring that up is because it’s important for Americans to understand that I don’t care, we don’t care, what side of the abortion issue you’re on — you don’t get to engage in violence to express your views. That’s where that’s where we (the FBI) get involved and that’s where the line gets crossed.”
Along with lawmakers pressing Director Wray on the matter, Catholic leaders from across the country sounded off on the FBI. For example, CatholicVote President Brian Burch told The Daily Wire, “The latest revelations only raise more questions about the illegitimate targeting of Catholics by the FBI. We now know that the FBI effort involved at least four field offices, authorized the use of undercover agents to infiltrate Catholic parishes, and used a Catholic priest and a choir director to inform on one of their parishioners.”
Continuing, Mr. Burch added, “Despite every effort to downplay the significance of this abuse of power, the FBI still owes Catholics and all concerned Americans answers as to who was behind the effort to spy on Catholics, how far and wide this effort went inside the FBI, whether it is ongoing, and whether anyone has been held accountable.”
Burch wasn’t the only one. Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at the Catholic Association, said that a report into the memo’s findings is “a major wake up call to any and all Americans who care about basic civil liberties.” She continued, “While Catholic Churches as well as pro-life pregnancy care centers are under constant attack from actual violent extremists, the FBI had the audacity to investigate and spy on those targeted by these crimes.”
Continuing, McGuire added that the supposed threat posed by Catholics is a phantom menace and the FBI is out of its lane, telling the Daily Wire, “The notion that traditional Catholics pose some kind of national threat is so absurd it exceeds even Hollywood’s imagination. And yet the FBI, an agency designed to protect Americans and their rights, was spying on Catholics everywhere from their choir lofts to their rectories.”
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