SW News: A subpoena has been issued to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Christopher Wray by US House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan. This was issued on Monday, July 10, as Republican members are probing the whereabouts of a now-withdrawn memo issued by the bureau’s Richmond field office targeting certain Catholic groups.

The investigation ordered by Jordan was undertaken by the subcommittee entrusted with probing the so-called weaponization of the bureau by the federal government after the memo entitled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

According to the chairman, the leaked memo hinted that certain sections of Catholics in the United States were under the FBI’s scanner and they could be classified as domestic terrorists. Jordan also blamed the bureau for trying to enlist Catholic houses of worship to snoop on parishioners and report on them.
The groups comprised traditional Catholics who regularly attend the Tridentine Latin Mass and pro-life supporters. The bureau branded them as extremists and far-right supporters. Once the contents were leaked, the FBI headquarters lost no time in removing the memo and conducting a review.

According to Jordan, the probe panel came to understand that the bureau depended on information from a secret agent and went on to suggest that agents should infiltrate Catholic parishes to develop sources to probe such groups or individuals suspected of being extremists.

In the subpoena letter, he said, “We now know that the FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to produce its analysis and that the FBI proposed that its agents engage in outreach to Catholic parishes to develop sources among the clergy and church leadership to inform on Americans practicing their faith,” Jordan wrote in the subpoena letter.

He said that the information once again stresses the necessity to procure all documents.