Staff Reports
The House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Republican Congressman Mike Johnson are questioning the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) handling of domestic violent extremism (DVE) investigations. Recent information has come to light that the FBI has been targeting a set of Catholic Americans for their religious beliefs, leading the two to write a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray Thursday. In the letter, they requested additional information about this misuse of federal law-enforcement resources.
#NEWS: @Jim_Jordan and @RepMikeJohnson demand information from Wray on FBI’s anti-catholic memo pic.twitter.com/tnv6cj71Ij
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) February 16, 2023
The FBI has since withdrawn the document and blamed the local level field office for its creation and dissemination. However, there are still many questions surrounding the memo’s origin, review, and approval process. Jordan and Johnson have requested documents related to the development of the memo from within the agency and have asked Wray to respond by March 2.
A leaked FBI report revealed that the Bureau’s Richmond, Virginia Division was investigating the threat of “white supremacy” among Catholics.
How could that be?
Democrats tell us the government isn’t weaponized against the First Amendment!
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 10, 2023
The targeting of practicing Catholics is another way the federal government has been illegally weaponized against the American people.
The House Select Subcommittee on @Weaponization will stand up for accountability.
Accountability is coming.https://t.co/KgC3wkBqLL— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) February 13, 2023
The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is also investigating the matter. They are looking into the FBI’s commitment to upholding First Amendment protected activity in regards to this memo. The subcommittee is hoping to get to the bottom of why the FBI felt it necessary to target Catholics in the first place.
Jordan and Johnson are concerned about the FBI’s use of DVE resources for possible political purposes. They are also worried about the FBI’s ability to target people based on their religious beliefs. This could be a violation of civil rights, and if true, would be a serious issue.
The FBI has yet to respond to Jordan and Johnson’s letter, but they are expected to do so by March 2. In the meantime, the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will continue their investigation into why the FBI felt it necessary to target Catholics in their memo. It is important that this issue is addressed and resolved as soon as possible in order to ensure that all Americans are treated equally under the law.
The preceding article is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Townhall
