When the latest subpoena came in from the House Judiciary Committee, Christopher Wray simply sighed and said “throw it on the stack with the rest.” While ignoring those documents is practically a sport on Capitol Hill, the legal fees pile up just as fast, along with the pesky depositions under oath. When you get caught in a lie they can actually charge you with perjury for it. Worse, those charges tend to stick. Chris is a long way from his favorite comfort-zone fishing hole, these days.
Subpoena for Chris Wray
The pack of junkyard watchdogs called the House Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Jim Jordan, issued a fresh subpoena to the Director of the FBI. They already have new information that contradicts the things Chris and his boss, Merrick Garland, have been telling them and the Senate, under oath.
Things about planting feds in the Catholic church to rat out conservatives who do such controversial things as “pray the rosary” or “attend traditional Latin mass.”
Jordan is now demanding, with a formal subpoena, that Wray come in for a little discussion about a document dated January 23. One that was put out by the Richmond Field Office. Despite Wray’s previous denials, backed by Garland’s, that they didn’t target Catholics in any way, the title on that bulletin proves they’re lying.
Didn’t send any FBI agents into mosques though, did they? Christopher Wray needs to be fired and all of his retirement confiscated. pic.twitter.com/lM2YqWARiz
— OrthoTraumaGuy 🇺🇸 (@OrthoTraumaGuy3) April 10, 2023
“Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.” Conservatives in the house and a few in the senate see some opportunities in it as well. Opportunities to haul Wray and Garland over hot coals.
The contents of the document are even more interesting. it “outlined efforts from the FBI to investigate extremism among Catholics.” Contrary to prior testimony, churchgoers were categorized into pigeon holes “by theological beliefs.” They rely on research from the progressively liberal Southern Poverty Law Center to tell them who the bad guys are supposed to be.
Jordan’s subpoena seeks to get all the way down to the bottom of all of that. The FBI apparently has the “notion that some kinds of Catholics were domestic terrorists.” That’s why they tried “to use undercover agents to infiltrate Catholic parishes.”
First Amendment activity
As Jordan writes in the letter that went out with his subpoena, the committee is “conducting oversight” of the FBI and their “handling of domestic violent extremism investigations against Catholic Americans and its effect on protected First Amendment activity.” We used to have a Constitution to rely on.
“Based on the limited information produced by the FBI to the Committee, we now know that the FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to produce its analysis.” Where there’s one, there’s got to be more.
Jordan and his colleagues already know that “the FBI proposed that its agents engage in outreach to Catholic parishes to develop sources among the clergy and church leadership to inform on Americans practicing their faith.” Wray and Garland thought they could get away with blanket denials. The thought of even thinking about it hadn’t begun to cross their minds and they’re innocent as the driven snow, they maintain.
A new memo has exposed that the FBI was indeed targeting Christians as radicals. Unbelievable. Purging FBI director Christopher Wray's testimony before Congress that nothing like that was occurring. This administration is disgustingly evil. pic.twitter.com/CHRDpJb1dg
— Marcus Gordon Anthony 🇺🇲 🙏🐕🦺♥️⛰️ (@MarcusGAnthony) April 11, 2023
Now they need to cough up the very documents that prove they were lying. Paperwork that the committee has already seen in secret. “This shocking information reinforces our need for all responsive documents, and the Committee is issuing a subpoena to you to compel your full cooperation.”
After the bureau got busted with their hand in the cookie jar, acting assistant director of congressional affairs Christopher Dunham issued a formal response on March 23. He/she/they/it claimed that the “Domain Perspective (report) did not meet the FBI’s exacting standards and was withdrawn.” Yeah, after conservatives found out about it. Jordan mentioned that response as another reason to go ahead and formally file the subpoena.
That response was “substandard and partial” because it contained a significant number of redactions. He wants to see a clean copy. Jordan “demanded full access to the documents relating to the effort.” He’s upset because the ones turned in so far are preventing “the Committee from fully assessing the content and context of the documents and obtaining information requested from the Bureau.“
