Catholic concerns over targeting from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were addressed by an Inspector General review exonerating the agency of “malicious intent.”
The FBI’s retraction of a memo that appeared to consider Catholic Christians and other pro-life groups and individuals “as potential domestic terrorists” had done little to allay the public’s increasing concerns over the alleged use of lawfare.
Prompted by congressional order, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz concluded a 120-day review of the bureau and revealed the memo’s origin with a particular defendant and contended analysts had “incorrectly conflated” the subject’s religious views with alleged domestic terrorism activities.
In a 10-page letter submitted to House and Senate committees, Horowitz detailed:
“The INSD (FBI Inspection Division) report found that although there was no evidence of malicious intent or an improper purpose, the Richmond DP (Domain Perspective) failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and evinced errors in professional judgment, including that it lacked sufficient evidence or articulable support for a relationship between RMVEs (Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists) and so-called RTC (Radical Traditionalist Catholic) ideology; incorrectly conflated the subjects’ religious views with their RMVE activities, creating the appearance that the FBI had inappropriately considered religious beliefs and affiliation as a basis for conducting investigative activity; and reflected a lack of training and awareness concerning proper domestic terrorism terminology.”
“As a result, the INSD report concluded that the employees involved in drafting, editing, and reviewing the Richmond DP failed to adhere to FBI standards,” added the IG.
Speaking to the origin of the infamous memo that had prompted Freedom of Information Act requests and legal action, the review singled out the specific investigation of “Defendant A,” whose case details, according to Fox News, reportedly matched those of Xavier Lopez, a convicted felon indicted in June 2023 for possessing ammunition and possessing destructive devices of which he pleaded guilty to in March.
The review proceeded to detail how the use of confidential human sources (CHS) was employed in the investigation of Defendant A who was said to only leave his home alone “to attend events at Church 1” making it “the only potential opportunity for a CHS to establish regular contact with him.”
An individual behind the Richmond DP referred to as Analyst 1, “acknowledged that all religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment and called any suggestion that he was motivated by anti-Catholic bias ‘patently false.’”
In their own statement on the review, the FBI said, “We thank the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General for its review. The FBI has said numerous times that the intelligence product did not meet our exacting standards and was quickly removed from FBI systems.”
“We also have said there was no intent or actions taken to investigate Catholics or anyone based on religion; this was confirmed by the findings of the OIG,” continued the statement. “The FBI’s mission is to protect our communities from potential threats while simultaneously upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans. We do not conduct investigations based solely on First Amendment protected activity, including religious practices.”
Meanwhile, reactions online were wholly suspicious of the DOJ exonerating its own agency of wrongdoing.
Oh did they inveştivate themselves?
— Kathleen Winchell ❤️ (@KathleenWinche3) April 19, 2024
“We’ve investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong.”
— Ty Frauenfelder (@FrauenfelderTy) April 19, 2024
The DOJ investigating the FBI hardly instills confidence that US citizens will get the truth.
— Robert Cooper (@robertatlee) April 19, 2024
Extra extra read all about it! Government finds itself innocent!
— Hugh_Janus (@Hugh_Janis1) April 19, 2024
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Author: Kevin Haggerty
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