Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray for documents that are related to the FBI’s handling of a domestic violent extremism investigation against Catholics in the United States.
On Monday, Jordan accused the FBI of using at least one undercover agent to work on their analysis and claimed that the bureau’s agents have engaged in some outreach programs to Catholic parishes.
According to Jordan in his controversial letter, the FBI document allegedly aimed to categorize Catholic Americans based on theological distinctions.
Jordan also argued that the move was an attempt to label certain kinds of Catholic Americans as domestic terrorists.
“We have repeatedly sought information from the FBI relating to a January 23, 2023 document… After receiving no response, we reiterated our outstanding requests in a subsequent letter dated March 20, 2023. On March 23, 2023, we received a substandard and partial response consisting of only 18 pages — many with significant redactions of ‘personally identifiable information’ or ‘specific non-public information about [FBI] investigations, sources, and methods’ that prevents the Committee from fully assessing the content and context of the documents and obtaining information requested from the Bureau,” Jordan wrote to Wray.
🚨 #BREAKING: We now know the FBI, relying on information derived from at least one 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 employee, sought to use local religious organizations as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” pic.twitter.com/97veIGtvq4— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) April 10, 2023
Jordan also alleged that the FBI tried to use Catholic churches as its tools to monitor the latter’s parishioners.
“Americans attend church to worship and congregate for their spiritual and personal betterment. They must be free to exercise their fundamental First Amendment rights without worrying that the FBI may have planted so-called ‘tripwire’ sources or other informants in their houses of worship,” Jordan claimed.
Amid the controversy, the FBI released a statement in an interview with the Newsweek, confirming that the agency has received the subpoena and explained that it “remains fully committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests consistent with its constitutional and statutory responsibilities.”
“The FBI is actively working to respond to congressional requests for information –including voluntary production of documents,” the agency responded on Monday.
On March 23, Christopher Dunham, Acting Assistant Director of Congressional Affairs released a statement in response to last year’s report that the bureau was contacted about the FBI assessment.
“Domain Perspective (report) did not meet the FBI’s exacting standards and was withdrawn,” adding, “Upon learning of the document, FBI Headquarters removed it from our internal system. The FBI also initiated a review which is now ongoing.” Dunham said.
He also claimed that “the FBI is not anti-Catholic in any way, shape, or form, and does not target people of any faith because of their religious beliefs.” And he told Jordan that the FBI “does not categorize investigations as domestic terrorism based on the religious beliefs to include Catholicism of the subject involved.”
