Online Journal of the Hudson Valley Coalition for Life.
"Every human being is called to solidarity in a world battling between life and death" - Ignacio Ellacuria, Jesuit martyr in El Salvador
“Based on the limited information produced by the FBI to the Committee, 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,” the letter says. (RELATED: ‘It’s Appalling’: Attorney General Merrick Garland Disavows Memo Targeting Catholics)
Documents produced by the FBI reportedly show it desired “to sensitize the congregation to the warning signs of radicalization and enlist their assistance to serve as suspicious activity tripwires,” according to the letter.
This information reinforced the Committee’s need for “all FBI material responsive” to its request without redactions, the letter continued.
The subpoena was issued in response to Wray’s alleged “disregard” for the Committee’s voluntary requests.
The FBI confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that it received the subpoena and is working to respond to the records requests.
“The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and remains fully committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests consistent with its constitutional and statutory responsibilities,” the Bureau said in a statement. “The FBI is actively working to respond to congressional requests for information including voluntary production of documents.”
Jordan wrote in the Monday letter that the FBI has not been sufficiently responsive to demands for further documents related to the investigation of Catholics, and demanded that Wray explain the lack of cooperation. The documents the FBI has turned over reveal that the bureau “sought to enlist Catholic houses of worship as potential sources to monitor and report on their parishioners,” according to the letter.
The memo that prompted Jordan’s oversight efforts was retracted after being made public, and FBI director Wray earlier condemned it during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in March.
“When I first learned of the piece I was aghast, and we took steps immediately to withdraw it and remove it from FBI systems. It does not reflect FBI standards. We do not conduct investigations based on religious affiliation or practices, full stop. We have also now ordered our Inspection Division to take a look at how this happened and try to figure out how we can make sure something like this doesn’t happen again,” Wray said at the time.
“I will note it was a product by one field office, which, of course we have scores and scores of these products. And when we found out about it, we took action. We’re also taking steps to reinforce with our workforce, all of the long standing policies we have that speak to this kind of thing. We’ve got refresher training for the relevant employees, etc. And we do not and will not target people for religious beliefs, and we do not and will not monitor people’s religious practices.”