Twenty members of the U.S. Senate and House are demanding an explanation after a leaked memo reveals the Federal Bureau of Investigation colluded with a left-wing political group to classify traditional Catholics as potential terrorists.
Senator James Lankford, R-Okla., and Representative Michael Cloud, R-Texas, along with 18 of their colleagues, led a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding the leaked Jan. 23 memo, developed with the assistance of the notorious “Southern Poverty Law Center,” that classified pro-life Catholics as violent threats and urged FBI agents to infiltrate Catholic churches to spy on parishioners.
“We are deeply concerned about the bulletin issued on January 23, 2023, by the Richmond field office warning against ‘Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology.’ While the document was ultimately rescinded after it became public, the formation and issuance of such an advisory to FBI agents and field offices raise numerous concerns,” the members wrote.
“Targeting people on the basis of their religious beliefs and affiliation violates the Constitution. While the FBI claims it ‘does not investigate, collect, or maintain information on US persons solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment,’ the fact that such a document was able to be published and released in the first place is of great concern,” the members wrote.
The memo specifically claimed pro-life Catholics were likely terrorists and urged the FBI to spend more resources targeting Catholics, even as Antifa-linked terrorists operating under the name “Jane’s Revenge” were carrying out a nationwide campaign of terrorist attacks and firebombing pro-life crisis pregnancy assistance centers.
The FBI memo also accused Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a mainstream conservative, of fueling terrorism.
“The advisory also singled out traditional Catholics for their pro-life views, accusing RTCs [radical-traditionalist Catholic] of ‘hostility towards abortion-rights advocates’ in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, and describing “legislation or judicial decisions in areas such as abortion rights… and LGBTQ protections,” naming Governor Youngkin’s pro-life legislation as an example, as a “common cause” of RTCs and RMVEs,” the members wrote.
“This specific call out to prolife views is of even greater concern, considering the slow rate of investigation and response to the violent attacks that a number of prolife pregnancy centers and Catholic Churches have experienced since the Dobbs decision was leaked in May of last year,” they added.
The leaked memo is fueling nationwide concerns that the FBI is becoming a left-wing activist enforcer. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found 53 percent of Americans agreed with the statement there are “a group of politicized thugs at the top of the FBI who are using the FBI … as Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo.” That finding is stunning as in not only has the FBI been widely trusted in the past, but a majority of Americans were willing to compare FBI leaders to Nazi Germany’s secret police.
The members also point to the involvement of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-wing political group known for falsely accusing mainstream conservatives of “terrorism” and “white supremacy” as part of its fundraising strategy.
“In addition to the extreme process flaws that the approval of such an advisory demonstrates, of particular concern is the continued reliance that the FBI apparently places on data and resources from the partisan Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC),” the members wrote.
Despite claiming to be “anti-racist,” the SPLC has been sued by black employees for racial discrimination. Employees involved in its efforts to overturn the death penalty accuse founder Morris Dees of refusing to highlight black defendants in fundraising appeals, claiming they frightened its white donor base.
“We request that the FBI respond to this letter by providing us with all documents and correspondence related to the origin and purpose of the document, including what agents developed the policy and whether any actions were taken in response to it, such as the tracking or monitoring of individuals who attend ‘Traditionalist Catholic houses of worship,’” the members wrote.
“We also ask that the FBI provide us with a detailed explanation of what actions will be taken to educate all field offices on the Constitutional protections of the First Amendment, and to clarify that the free exercise of religion and religious beliefs do not equate to extremism, and are therefore not a basis for targeting or tracking,” the members concluded.
Lankford and Cloud were joined on the letter by Senators Rick Scott, R-Fla., Roger Marshall, M.D., R-Kan., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Mike Braun, R-Ind., along with Representatives Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Dan Bishop, R-N.C., Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., Ben Cline, R-Va., Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., Bill Posey, R-Fla., Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., Chris Smith, R-N.J., Greg Steube, R-Fla., and Randy Weber, R-Texas.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Anyone who fears God, or any other supernatural being for whom there has never been the slightest bit of proof or evidence, is an idiot.
Well Nelson W. if u don’t fear GOD, I would say your the idiot.There is plenty of proof, GOD does exist,u just have to believe in HIM,which is hard for many,but is your only salvation.
Parents and Catholics – yeah, the FBI has its priorities straight. Whoever wrote or signed onto that memo should be fired, no questions asked.
Noticeably missing from the list of representative signatories is Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, who also voted in favor of the 1.7Trillion dollar Democrat wish list Omnibus bill just 10 days before the House Majority flipped to a Republican majority. RINOs have to be recognized and voted out of office at the FIRST opportunity.
I share your frustrations with “RINOS,” but when you vote them out of office, they are often replaced by democrats on a social justice crusade. While I would rather have a true conservative, I’ll take a RINO over a progressive Democrat any day.
There’s no difference.
Another example of the weaponization of the FBI against law abiding citizens. It is time to dissolve and reorganize a new Bureau to fight real criminals and terrorists.
This, to me, is proof that the top FBI leaders must go, with retraining for the lower level people who stay on. There are several reasons for this:
1) The extreme bias that’s been revealed through whistleblowers, released emails and other information.
2) The mere fact that they even TRIED
to have a “Misinformation Governance Board” reveals their attempt to censor speech that doesn’t follow their narrative.
3) The FBI relied on The Southern Poverty Law Center for information. This organization is based on racism and has caused domestic terrorists to attack the faith-based organizations SPLC lists as a danger to the US. The FBI knows this is false info (and if they don’t, that’s another failure on their part.)
4). They may not agree with Mainstream Catholicism, but there’s no evidence that Catholics are violently attacking abortion centers. If anything, they are usually either protesting silently in prayer, or Catholics actively assist women in finding an abortion provider
5). When the FBI considers parents to be terrorists because they want to protect their young children from exposure to sexually-explicit images, and information about sexuality that they are too young to understand, the FBI is no longer a centrist organization. Only extremists with an agenda believe parents should allow their young children to be exposed to drag shows and other adults-only entertainment and themes.
6) in addition to labeling traditional thought as terrorism, the FBI has ignored actual terrorists. They have failed to notice that BLM has rioted in the streets, causing massive damage. They haven’t noticed that Jane’s Revenge has caused damage to pregnancy -alternative centers , and threatened the volunteers with violence.
When the FBI itself acts like a terrorist organization, why would we ever trust them when they slap a terrorist label on an organization? It only indicates that they are not allied politically with the FBI.
The House has the power of the purse. Remove funding and watch them fall in line.