Report: How the Biden-Wray FBI Manufactured a False Narrative of Catholic Americans as Violent Extremists
July 22, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Judiciary Committee released an interim staff report titled, "Report: How the Biden-Wray FBI Manufactured a False Narrative of Catholic Americans as Violent Extremists." The report reveals that contrary to testimony from former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, the 2023 Richmond memorandum that derisively labeled traditional Catholics as "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists" was not an isolated incident. Under the new leadership of Director Kash Patel, the FBI has cooperated considerably with the Committee's subpoena, and has produced over 1,300 pages of additional documents related to the Richmond memorandum that the Biden-Wray FBI did not disclose.
New documents obtained by the Committee show that the Biden-Wray FBI put more federal law-enforcement resources into surveilling Catholics than previously known. The Richmond Field Office's targeting of Catholics extended to surveilling a priest by coordinating with other field offices nationally and internationally, including FBI Headquarters and the FBI's London Office. In addition, several internal FBI documents used derogatory terms like "radical traditionalist catholic" or "Radical-Traditionalist Catholic" between 2009 and 2023. An FBI internal database contained at least 13 documents, including the Richmond memorandum, that used these terms—all of which cited the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
New Documents produced to the Committee show that:
New documents obtained by the Committee show that the Biden-Wray FBI put more federal law-enforcement resources into surveilling Catholics than previously known. The Richmond Field Office's targeting of Catholics extended to surveilling a priest by coordinating with other field offices nationally and internationally, including FBI Headquarters and the FBI's London Office. In addition, several internal FBI documents used derogatory terms like "radical traditionalist catholic" or "Radical-Traditionalist Catholic" between 2009 and 2023. An FBI internal database contained at least 13 documents, including the Richmond memorandum, that used these terms—all of which cited the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
New Documents produced to the Committee show that:
- The FBI's Richmond Field Office interviewed a priest affiliated with a local Catholic church to discuss a subject under investigation whose case served as the basis for the Richmond memorandum;
- After the priest declined to share information about the subject, the FBI surveilled the priest and opened an investigative assessment into him;
- The Richmond memorandum relied on radical open-source material, including but not limited to information from the SPLC, as support for the FBI's focus on "radical traditionalist Catholics" and "racially motivated violent extremists;"
- The FBI's Richmond Field Office coordinated with the Louisville Field Office and the FBI's London Office to gather evidence about the priest;
- The FBI attempted to violate the priest-penitent privilege on the faulty reasoning that the Richmond subject under investigation seeking spiritual guidance had not been baptized or completed catechism.
These new findings make it apparent that the FBI under President Biden and Director Wray withheld key information responsive to the Committee's subpoena since the beginning of the 118th Congress. The Committee remains committed to conducting oversight of the Biden-Harris Administration's abuse of federal law-enforcement resources against Catholic Americans. With Director Patel’s commitment to transparency, the Committee will continue its oversight to inform legislative reforms to protect American's religious liberties from government overreach.
Read the full interim staff report here.
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