House Judiciary Chair Subpoenas FBI Director Wray

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray in connection to a now-withdrawn memo that explored avenues for gaining information on white supremacists’ interaction with local Catholic churches.

The memo, a product of the Richmond, Va., FBI field office showed the FBI planned to use churches as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” The federal law enforcement agency also aimed to specifically target “mainline Catholic parishes” as part of its efforts.

Rep. Jordan is in possession of the memo, which has been redacted in some places according to The Hill.  

“The limited information that was provided to the Committee makes clear that we must possess all responsive material without redactions. From this selective production, we know that 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,’” Jordan wrote, pointing to two prior letters seeking information on the memo.

“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.”

Wray has also condemned the memo.

“When I first learned of the piece I was aghast, and we took steps immediately to withdraw it and remove it from FBI systems. It does not reflect FBI standards. We do not conduct investigations based on religious affiliation or practices, full stop. We have also now ordered our Inspection Division to take a look at how this happened and try to figure out how we can make sure something like this doesn’t happen again,” he said in a March hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“I will note it was a product by one field office, which, of course we have scores and scores of these products. And when we found out about it, we took action. We’re also taking steps to reinforce with our workforce, all of the long standing policies we have that speak to this kind of thing. We’ve got refresher training for the relevant employees, etc. And we do not and will not target people for religious beliefs, and we do not and will not monitor people’s religious practices.”

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