(TheRedWire.com) – House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) issued a subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray in connection to a now-withdrawn memo in which they were looking at ways of gaining information about white supremacists’ interaction with local Catholic churches.
The memo, which came from the Richmond, Va., FBI field office, discussed a potential meeting with church leaders in order to gain their assistance in finding “warning signs of radicalization.” The memo has driven GOP lawmakers to accuse the department of having developed an anti-Catholic bias following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade which led to an increase in the threats faced by both churches and abortion clinics. In the FBI memo, it was detailed that there is an overlap between white nationalist groups and “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics.” They also claim that these are a small minority within the Catholic church.
A redacted version of the memo is currently in Jordan’s possession.
In his recent letter Jordan pointed out that in his two prior letters looking for information regarding the memo, it had been clearly stated that the Committee needed access to all information without redactions. He added that from “this selective production,” it becomes apparent that the FBI had at least one undercover employee which they used to gain information from “local religious organizations as ‘new avenues for tripwire and source development.’”
He further claimed that Americans went to “church to worship” and that this is a right granted by the First Amendment. As he noted they should not have to worry about the FBI potentially having “tripwire sources or other informants” in their churches.
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