The FBI “singled out Americans who are pro-life, pro-family, and support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction as potential domestic terrorists,” the House Judiciary Committee charged on December 4 as it released a 29-page interim staff report, “The FBI’s Breach of Religious Freedom: The Weaponization of Law Enforcement Against Catholic Americans.”
“The Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have been investigating the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s categorization of certain Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists,” the Judiciary Committee stated, as it discussed its investigation into a leaked and retracted memo from the FBI’s Richmond office warning against “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology.”
“While the FBI claims it ‘does not categorize investigations as domestic terrorism based on the religious beliefs—to include Catholicism—of the subject involved,’ an FBI-wide memorandum originating from the FBI’s Richmond Field Office did just that,” the Judiciary Committee said.
“The FBI’s Richmond memorandum is a startling reminder that Americans’ civil liberties and core Constitutional rights must be vigorously guarded against government overreach, including in this case from an overzealous federal law enforcement agency,” the Committee continued. “Not only did the FBI propose to develop sources, but it already interviewed a priest and choir director affiliated with a Catholic church in Richmond, Virginia for the memorandum.”
“Most concerning of all, without the disclosure of the whistleblower, the Richmond memorandum would still be operative in FBI systems, violating the religious liberties of millions of Catholic Americans,” the Committee added.