On April 10, a new subpoena was released by the Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
This helped to uncover how the FBI has sent at least one undercover agent into Catholic churches in order to spy on the American people.
For months now, the FBI remained unresponsive to requests for information and documentation by the committee.
However, the limited documentation the FBI has provided have led Rep. Jim Jordan to determine that undercover agents were used to infiltrate Catholic churches.
The Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government posted the announcement on Twitter which reads:
“We now know 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.”
🚨 #BREAKING: We now know 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.” pic.twitter.com/97veIGtvq4
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) April 10, 2023
According to the subpoena, there were FBI agents in Richmond, Virginia that would actively engage in outreach with leaders of local Catholic churches or congregations to assess “the warning signs of radicalization and to enlist their assistance to serve as suspicious activity tripwires.”
The committee explained that, “This proposed outreach plan included contacting so-called ‘mainline Catholic parishes’ and the local ‘diocesan leadership’. The documents reveal that the FBI also expressed an interest in ‘leverag[ing] existing sources and/or initiat[ing] Type 5 Assessments to develop new sources with the placement and access’ to report on suspicious activity.”
Placing a large amount of focus and attention on the protection of the First Amendment, the committee wrote, “Although the FBI claims to have ‘numerous’ and ‘rigorous’ policies to protest First Amendment rights, the FBI’s Richmond document plainly undercuts these assertions. The document itself shows that its contents…were reviewed and approved by two senior intelligence analysts and even the local Chief Division Counsel.”
The committee has since labelled the information “outrageous” and requested additional materials related to the investigation from FBI Director Wray.
