The FBI’s persecution of ordinary Americans has taken another, darker turn. On August 9th, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government Chairman Mike Johnson (R-LA) released information demonstrating that the FBI’s Richmond Field Office coordinated with several field offices to produce a memorandum naming mainstream Catholics as “domestic terrorists.” The FBI had, earlier this year, been forced to retract the original memo. The original memo is available for viewing here. The House Judiciary GOP has released the letter they sent Director Wray seeking more information.

#BREAKING: Subpoenaed document reveals that the FBI Richmond Field Office coordinated with MULTIPLE field offices across the country to produce a memo targeting traditional Catholics as domestic terrorists

Wray previously said the actions were limited to “a single field office.” pic.twitter.com/5vyS2EXpml

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 9, 2023

FBI Director Christopher Wray had previously testified that the action had been taken by a single office, not multiple offices.

Testifying before the committee in July, Wray called the document “appalling” and noted it was limited to the Richmond office and had been retracted. He also said an investigation into the creation of the document was still ongoing.

It was “a single product by a single field office, which as soon as I found out about it I was aghast and ordered it withdrawn and removed from FBI systems,” Wray testified.

But the memo was not produced by a single field office. The Portland and Los Angeles field offices were also implicated.

The Committee on the Judiciary is continuing to conduct oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) assessment of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists. From information recently produced to the Committee, we now know that the FBI relied on information from around the country  — including a liaison contact in the FBI’s Portland Field Office and reporting from the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office— to develop its assessment. This new information suggests that the FBI’s use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on American’s First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected and reveals inconsistencies with your previous testimony before the Committee. Given this startling new information, we write to request additional information to advance our oversight.

The specifics of that discovery appear later in the letter:

…On July 25, 2023, the FBI produced a version of the Richmond document with fewer redactions than the two previous versions it had produced. This new version shows that the FBI’s actions were not just limited to “a single field office,” as you testified to the Committee. The document cited reporting from an “FBI Portland liaison contact with indirect access” who informed on a “deceased [Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist (RMVE)] subject” who had “sought out a mainline Roman Catholic community” and then “gravitated to [Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX)].”

Also, the letter, in very correct terms, essentially asks Wray why he failed to fully disclose the involvement of the other FBI offices.

…We wrote to you on July 18 inviting you to correct the testimony you provided on July 12 related to the FBI’s role in the censorship of American speech. This new information raises additional concerns about the accuracy, completeness, and truthfulness of your testimony. We invite you to amend your testimony to fully explain the nature and scope of the FBI’s assessment of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.

The letter provides a list of required documents that Director Wray is to provide the House Judiciary by August 23rd.

On Director Wray’s watch, the FBI has taken actions that should chill not only Catholics but all Americans. In the original action the FBI appears to be fishing for ways to target mainstream Catholics as “domestic terrorists,” and in so doing, attempting to push them away from exercising a right that is recognized by the First Amendment.

Many of the first European settlers to arrive in North America made a long, perilous journey to escape religious persecution. Their ancestors, our Founders, felt strongly enough about religious liberty to enshrine it in the Bill of Rights, indeed in the very first amendment, alongside freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. It should be of great concern to all Americans of any faith, or lack thereof, that the FBI has been caught proposing to engage in what may only be seen as religious persecution.

The full degree of questionable policies and outright corruption in the FBI is still coming to light. RedState will bring you more on this and other stories regarding the FBI as they develop.