Senate Republicans are demanding that FBI Director Christopher Wray explain his “potentially misleading” testimony about an anti-Catholic FBI memo.
Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a group of Senate Republicans are demanding further explanation from Wray after additional facts regarding a memo linking Catholics to extremist activity appeared to contradict Wray’s testimony. Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Rick Scott (R-FL) signed a letter by Grassley that demanded accountability for Wray’s testimony.
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“Director Wray needs to shoot straight with Congress and the American people by providing a full explanation about the origin of this outrageous memo and his congressional testimony,” Grassley said in a statement. “My colleagues and I won’t allow the FBI to pull the wool over Congress’s eyes while public faith in the agency continues to erode.”
The letter condemned what it described as religious persecution of Catholics, saying it was antithetical to the United States.
“Targeting Americans because of their ideas or political affiliations is always wrong and an abuse of the FBI’s power, but it’s especially alarming when it threatens the fundamental rights guaranteed in our Constitution, including the free exercise of religion,” the letter read.
“Although the FBI quickly disavowed the report and explained that it did not meet FBI’s standards, six months after the fact, information continues to reach Congress in trickles, member and staff inquiries are ignored, and the information that has come to light conflicts with the FBI’s original assurances that the report was limited in scope,” the letter continued.
The FBI told the Washington Examiner that the document, which was leaked earlier this year, did not meet standards and said it had taken new preventive measures.
“There were failures in the production and approval of the document and we have taken corrective actions to ensure future products meet the highest professional standards, which include new training initiatives, heightened approval requirements for intelligence products, holding employees accountable, and updating policy and guidance,” the FBI said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
The agency also said that it is “committed to upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans. We investigate violence, threats of violence and violations of federal law. We do not conduct investigations based solely on First Amendment protected activity, including religious practices.”
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The document was issued internally within the FBI Richmond office in January and leaked to the media in redacted form soon after, resulting in outrage from Catholics and religious freedom advocates, who said that it infringed on First Amendment rights.
The memo outlined opportunities for the FBI to mitigate threats of violent extremism within “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology, including by engaging with leaders of affiliated churches and attempting to enlist them as “tripwires” who would operate like unofficial informants.
