GOP members are putting the FBI and the Justice Department (DOJ) on blast after the uncovering of an internal FBI memo, exposing the agency had plans to identify Catholics as ‘potential terrorists.”
A group of 20 Republican state attorneys general, headed by Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares (R), is seeking an explanation from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, indicating they are “horrified” that the FBI’s Richmond office passed around a report suggesting a link between “radical traditionalist Catholics” and white supremacy.
American journalist Jack Posobiec noted that one of the bits of evidence the FBI used to justify targeting Catholics was a story by The Atlantic asserting that the Rosary, a traditional Catholic prayer, is an ‘extremist symbol.’
BREAKING: Last August the Atlantic labeled the rosary an Extremist Symbol
The FBI cited this article as evidence in their targeting report on conservative Catholics pic.twitter.com/LQ8cF6Y2HD
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 10, 2023
“Anti-Catholic bigotry appears to be festering in the FBI, and the Bureau is treating Catholics as potential terrorists because of their beliefs,” the AGs wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
This letter came on Friday after the leaking of an internal memo put out by the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, Field Office on Jan. 23, 2023.
“We are the chief legal officers of our respective States charged not only with enforcing the law but also with securing the civil rights of our citizens. Therefore, the FBI must immediately and unequivocally order agency personnel not to target Americans based on their religious beliefs and practices” read the letter, adding that the “appropriate means to protect the rights of our constituents as guaranteed by our Constitution” will be taken.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson brought a whistleblower who has worked with the FBI on his show to discuss the disturbing revelations, commenting that “the Bill of Rights prohibits the government from weighing in on sectarian or religious questions.”
Tucker Carlson on FBI manufacturing crimes against Catholics: "FBI as an organisation has joined in the hunt for Christians." pic.twitter.com/38WtZO6pKY
— Becker News (@NewsBecker) February 10, 2023
“The targeting of Catholics for treatment as ‘violent extremists’ because of the language in which they pray or because of the beliefs to which they subscribe is unacceptable, unconstitutional, and deeply un-American,” continued the letter.
Once the memo was uncovered, the FBI scrambled to hastily terminate the document from agency systems and look into the reason it was produced, reported Fox News.
“While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product — disseminated only within the FBI — regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI” read a statement by the organization.
Numerous AGs were not convinced by the FBI’s statement, arguing that it was only put out in an effort to quell “public outrage” over the revelations. In their letter, they noted the FBI attempted to “distinguish the bad Catholics from the good ones” by scrutinizing a myriad of traditional religious beliefs, including the following of traditional Catholic doctrine pertaining to sex and marriage.
