FBI targeted two priests during controversial extremism probe into traditional Catholics, DOJ says

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The Biden-era FBI targeted two priests for investigation, surveillance, and credit card checks as part of a controversial probe into whether traditional Catholics posed an extremist threat inside America, a new Justice Department report reveals.

The DOJ Weaponization Working Group report released Friday revealed that the bureau’s conduct went much further than the publication of a memo inside its Richmond office that depicted traditional conservative Catholics as “violent extremists.”

The internal memo was filed in the FBI’s Richmond Field Office and attempted to link “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” with “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology.

The memo also allegedly distinguished what it called “traditional Catholics” from the RTC adherents, whom the FBI characterized as embracing “antisemitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, and white supremacist ideology.”

The FBI kept working on the memo even after its leadership ordered it destroyed, and it investigated two priests related by family ties after one of them had contact with a convicted felon who was making violent threats, the report showed.

Neither priest was found to have done anything wrong, the report said.

The 231-page report concluded that the FBI under the Biden administration engaged in improper and unjustified law enforcement and intelligence activity, including by relying on biased and unverified materials without assessing their credibility.

“This Department of Justice will not tolerate a weaponized bureaucracy that chills First Amendment activity,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “The individuals who developed the Richmond Domain Perspective are no longer with the Department, and our Working Group’s efforts to investigate weaponization under the previous Administration will continue.”

The Trump administration said it was committed to addressing the issues found in the report and preventing it from happening again.

“Weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “Even while those who developed the unacceptable Richmond Catholic memo under the previous administration have been held accountable, releasing information to the public about what occurred under the prior regime is an important part of the process.”

The report comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year to eliminate the political weaponization of federal agencies.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.