Heavily redacted documents released by the FBI showed that the agency's controversial targeting of Roman Catholics was more widespread than a single incident in one field office, watchdog Judicial Watch reported Friday.
Judicial Watch reported that the 98 pages it obtained through a Freedom of Information lawsuit showed that the FBI memo from earlier this year that tagged some Catholics as violent extremists due to their religious beliefs was reviewed by the agency's Office of General Counsel. Coordination also took place with Portland and Milwaukee officials.
Hardly a "single product but a single field office," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said Friday.
"These documents disprove the FBI's narrative that the spy operation against Catholics and churches was limited to one field office. In fact, the operation seems to have been approved by top lawyers in the FBI," Fitton said in a statement. "These documents should trigger a criminal inquiry into this Biden FBI scandal."
The FBI in February renounced the memo, titled "Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities," which was leaked in early February by Kyle Seraphin, who was an FBI special agent for six years.
The FBI released a statement then, saying that headquarters "quickly began taking action to remove the document from FBI systems and conduct a review of the basis for the document."
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Judiciary Committee in July that the bureau's actions were limited to "a single field office."
However, the committee found that multiple FBI field offices worked to produce the memo targeting traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.
"Since last February, we have worked to expose this unconstitutional targeting of faithful Catholics by the FBI, and the results are stunning, unprecedented, and should concern all Americans," said former congressman Tim Huelskamp, senior adviser to CatholicVote.
"Contrary to statements under oath by Director Wray and Attorney General [Merrick] Garland, this flagrantly anti-Catholic program by the FBI was widespread, fully supported by senior officials, authorized undercover agents to infiltrate Catholic parishes, attempted to influence elections, and may be ongoing.
"Meanwhile, the Biden administration has stood idly by as Catholic churches have been attacked more than 200 times since May of 2022."