April 10 (UPI) — Republican House Judiciary Committee members have subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray for information about the agency’s plan to use sources in Catholic churches to report on suspicious activity.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Mike Johnson, R-La., issued a subpoena on Monday for information relating to an FBI document titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”
The subpoena comes after the Republicans requested information about this initiative from Wray on two prior occasions. In response to the second request, the FBI submitted an 18-page report that Jordan and Johnson deemed “substandard,” according to a press release from the committee.
“From this limited production, it is apparent that the FBI, relying on information derived from at least one undercover employee, sought to use local religious organizations as ‘new avenues for tripwire and source development,'” according to the release.
The document on “radical Catholic ideology” was generated by the Richmond Field Office in Virginia on Jan. 23. It allegedly describes a plan to develop sources in Catholic churches across the country to act as “tripwires” to raise any alarms about suspicious activity.
After the internal document surfaced, it was withdrawn and removed from the FBI’s database, Christopher Dunham, acting assistant director of congressional affairs, told CBS News.
“[The] Domain Perspective (report) did not meet the FBI’s exacting standards and was withdrawn,” Dunham said. “Upon learning of the document, FBI headquarters removed it from our internal system. The FBI also initiated a review — which is now ongoing.”
The committee is seeking “all responsive materials without redaction,” according to a letter attached to the subpoena.
“This information is outrageous and only reinforces the committee’s need for all FBI material responsive to our request,” the letter reads. “The documents produced to date show how the FBI sought to enlist Catholic houses of worship as potential sources to monitor and report on their parishioners.”