Inspector general report shows FBI's 'totally irresponsible' behavior, Catholic League says
A Catholic civil rights advocacy group is calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to continue probing the FBI's actions after a report cleared the agency of wrongdoing when it circulated a memo on the relationship between "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology."
In a Wednesday letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights President Bill Donohue reacted to the recently released U.S. Department of Justice inspector general's report.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that the FBI did not commit any wrongdoing or demonstrate particular hostility toward Catholics in a January 2023 Richmond Field Office memo warning about connections between "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology."
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"While he satisfied some of our concerns, serious issues remain," Donohue wrote. "While there was no evidence of malice, it was determined that the probe of Catholics' lacked sufficient evidence' to establish a relationship between the aforementioned extremists and RTC ideology."
Donohue addressed the report's analysis of FBI analysts as having "incorrectly conflated the subjects' religious views with their RMVE activities."
"This begs the question: Why did the Analysts think there was a relationship in the first place?" Donohue asked. "It is one thing to concede that there are racial and ethnic extremists in every religious and secular organization; it is quite another to assume a nexus between a mainstream religious organization and violence, especially when the grounds for making such an assumption are spurious."
Donohue expressed concern that the effort to start a probe on traditionalist Catholics was "based on one person, namely Defendant A."
The defendant was already on the FBI's radar for making concerning and threatening social media posts "advocating civil war and the murder of politicians."
The defendant spent time in jail on unrelated charges, and the FBI continued to monitor him after his release, where he made social media posts containing "Nazi symbols and rhetoric, as well as posts advocating killing police officers, 'ganging up on and beating' racial and religious minorities, [and] conducting a mass shooting at a school for special needs children."
In January 2022, the defendant began attending a church "associated with an international religious society that advocates traditional Catholic theology and liturgy but is not considered by the Vatican to be in full communion with the Catholic Church."
"That he is clearly a violent, bigoted thug — he hates everyone from Jews to cops — is uncontested. But where are the others? There isn't even a Defendant B," Donohue wrote.
Citing the conclusion that "'there was no evidence that Defendant A was being radicalized' at the church he attended, and that 'he had been on the radar 'as an unstable, dangerous individual' before 'any association with any Catholic related entity whatsoever,'" Donohue asked, "why was it necessary to investigate his fellow churchgoers?" He also questioned, "Since when does the FBI conduct an investigation of a world religion on the basis of one miscreant whom they admit was not radicalized by it?"
"To make matters worse, the report says that when those who attended church with Defendant A were questioned about him, they confessed that he 'displayed 'unusual' and 'concerning' behavior.' In fact, the report does not note a single person who attended church with him who found him persuasive — they knew he was odd. Thus does the admission undercut the rationale for a further probe of Catholics," Donohue asserted.
Donohue questioned the "totally irresponsible" judgment of the FBI analysts who proposed an investigation into relationships between "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology."
"Analyst 1 voiced the opinion that the probe had a 'national application'" while "Analyst 2 admitted that she was 'going to take a look at other RMVE actors that are rad-trads' (radical traditionalists)," Donohue stated.
"To top things off, the FBI HQ Analyst said she was 'really interested in this resurgence of interest in the [C]atholic [C]hurch from our [DVEs]. The latter refers to Domestic [Violent] Extremists. What occasioned this 'resurgence of interest' in the Catholic Church? Was it something that someone did? Or does this reflect the ideological predilections of the Analyst? Notice she wasn't referring to a 'resurgence of interest' in breakaway Catholic entities. She was referring to the Roman Catholic Church."
Donohue believes that there are "many issues left outstanding" and questioned the existence of a "cover-up." He wants Jordan to seek a "much more detailed response" from the FBI than what the Horowitz report affords, saying the Catholic Church is subject to "scrutiny by the FBI because of the beliefs and behavior of one maladjusted individual."
The inspector general's report defended the FBI's actions as an attempt to be proactive and look out for the safety of members of the church he attended, who "may not understand, or know what to do with someone of his caliber or … his mindset." One of the analysts described the notion that the agency was motivated by anti-Catholic bias as "patently false."
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
