Portland FBI targeted Catholics

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

The FBI is under fire for targeting political opponents as terrorists — this now may include people in Portland.

The Federalist columnist, John Daniel Davidson, reports,

“It turns out the FBI memo targeting Catholics as potential domestic terrorists wasn’t limited to “a single field office,” as FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed under oath last month to Congress. In addition to the Richmond, Virginia, field office, the agency’s Los Angeles and Portland offices were also involved.The memo, which was leaked earlier this year, singled out what it called “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” who attend parishes that offer the Latin Mass, which the FBI seems to think are hotbeds of “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists.” Outrageous as it was for the FBI to try to monitor, surveil, and investigate American citizens based on their religion, it appears to have been a coordinated effort — an effort that Wray lied to Congress about, according to a newly unredacted memo obtained by House Republicans after months of FBI stonewalling.”

 

The NY Post Reports,

“FBI Director Christopher Wray has some major explaining to do. In recent Congressional testimony, he insisted that a January 2023 memo suggesting his agency’s resources be used against American citizens for the crime of — gasp! — being devout Catholics was a “single product by a single field office,” namely the Richmond field office. That claim’s been given the lie by a newly surfaced version of the memo showing it to be the product of multiple offices, including Portland and Los Angeles. That was conveniently redacted from the version of the memo he presented to the Senate Intelligence Committee in July…Take a look at some of the supposed crimes of the people the feds wanted to surveil and infiltrate because of their religious beliefs:
 • Harboring disdain for Pope Francis.
 • Rejecting the theological precepts of the Second Vatican Council.
 • Criticizing pro-choice advocates on Twitter. “

 

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights wrote this letter to the Committee Chair, Jim Jordan.

Dear Chairman Jordan:

Yesterday, your letter of August 9 to FBI Director Christopher Wray was made public. We are just as disturbed as you are to learn that the FBI’s probe of Catholics was never confined to one field office in Richmond. From the trove of documents you received, it is now known that the FBI’s Portland Field Office and the Los Angeles Field Office were also involved in this unseemly investigation.

The new documents, some of which have less redactions than the initial batch, provide evidence that Wray’s comment on July 25 that the FBI’s actions were limited to “a single field office” is not true. This calls into question Wray’s forthrightness, and it also begs the question: What else does the FBI know about this matter?

Your request for more documentation, especially with regard to communications between these three field offices is much appreciated. But given that the FBI has proven that it has not been transparent about this matter, Wray needs to explain why.

We also need answers to questions I raised in my letter of July 26 to you.

On what basis did the FBI conclude that these Catholics [“Radical-Traditionalist Catholics”] warranted a probe? Do they have a history of violence? If so, where is the evidence? If not, why were they singled out?”

On what basis did the FBI decide it was necessary to enlist “mainline Catholics” to spy on their fellow parishioners? Where is the evidence that ordinary practicing Catholics pose a security threat to the United States or to other law-abiding Americans? How common is it for FBI agents to infiltrate houses of worship—of any religion—employing “tripwire sources”?

Thank you for pursuing this issue. We stand ready to cooperate in any manner you desire.

Sincerely,

William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President 

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