Joe Biden Accused Pro-Life Catholics of Being Domestic Terrorists
The Department of Justice’s recent report discussing how the FBI under President Biden abused its authority by spying on Catholics has much to commend, though for some reason it left out important issues that previously surfaced and are worth restating.
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The issue at hand is a memo from February 8, 2023 by the Richmond Field Office of the FBI that laid the groundwork for an investigation of “radical traditionalist” Catholics (so-called “rad-trads”). They were suspected of being involved in domestic terrorist operations.
As it turned out, there were three “Targets” to the investigation. “Target 1” was a dangerous individual, but he was not Catholic. “Target 2” was dead. “Target 3” was a “rad-trad,” and was dangerous. In previous reports, we only learned of “Target 1,” who was called “Defendant A.”
It boggles the mind that the FBI went into high gear investigating Catholics because of these three individuals. Moreover, we know from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 2024 report on this subject that—just as I predicted—the FBI did not stop with probing “rad-trads.” No, they targeted “mainline” Catholics. Yet there is no mention of this in the report.
It must also be said that Biden’s FBI called Catholics “domestic terrorists” if they were “pro-life,” “pro-family,” and believed there were only two sexes. Why was this not mentioned in the report? This is inexcusable.
We learn in this report that even after the FBI ordered the Richmond Catholic Memo deleted, one staff member who had been working on this matter continued to do so! Holding staff responsible was obviously lacking, even after the memo was nixed.
At bottom, this was an anti-Catholic witch hunt carried out by persons who acted more like left-wing activists than professional agents. That it happened under the aegis of a man who called himself a “devout Catholic” makes it all the more revolting. But at least we now know that—finally—all the FBI personnel involved in this bigoted caper have been fired.
Last year, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley noted that the Richmond FBI field office had drafted a second memo for distribution, attempting to link traditional Catholicism with violent extremism. But it was never published due to the “backlash following the Richmond Memo’s public disclosure.”
As I pointed out, the “backlash” did not come from the big media—they mostly ignored this issue. Nor did it come from any other lay Catholic organization. It came from the Catholic League.
In 2023, I wrote ten news releases on this subject. I wrote to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray. I wrote to Senator Grassley. I had our email subscribers contact these people. We published the correspondence in our monthly journal, Catalyst. We did radio and TV interviews on it.
We continued to write to all the principals for the next three years. I wrote again to Chairman Jordan. I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland. I wrote to Inspector General Horowitz. We pressed this issue in the media and with our members. All we wanted was the truth and accountability.
Injustice was done to Catholics, and not just those on the fringe. But at least with Trump’s FBI, this ugly chapter has come to an end.
LifeNews Note: Bill Donohue is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
