The FBI circulated an anti-Catholic intelligence memo to more than 1,000 employees nationwide during the Biden administration — a much broader internal reach than what former FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged in sworn congressional testimony, according to newly disclosed bureau records.
The documents, obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), reveal that the memo, initially described as an isolated product of the Richmond field office, was part of a broader effort involving multiple FBI divisions. Internal emails show the memo warning about “Radical Traditionalist Catholics” was shared widely within the bureau and received no internal pushback, only positive responses from other offices seeking to monitor Catholic groups flagged by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “hate groups.”
“This raises serious concerns that FBI field offices may have relied on the Richmond memo, and placed groups in their areas of responsibility under suspicion based on reporting from the deeply biased sources used in the memo,” Grassley wrote Monday in a letter to President Donald Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The 2023 memo, which came through the bureau under former President Joe Biden’s administration and the leadership of former Attorney General Merrick Garland, characterized certain Catholic communities as potential domestic terrorism threats, accusing them of harboring “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.” Its release by a whistleblower on Feb. 8, 2023, prompted Wray to tell Congress the document had been disavowed and withdrawn.
But Grassley’s findings undermine that narrative. The records show the memo, known internally as the “Richmond Domain Perspective,” was sent on Feb. 2 that year to more than 1,000 employees, including officials in Buffalo, Milwaukee, Portland, and Louisville. At least one office acknowledged that Catholic organizations cited in the memo fell under its jurisdiction.
The newly disclosed records also included a separate draft report for wider internal distribution called a Strategic Perspective Executive Analytic Report. That version, scrubbed of SPLC references, nonetheless repeated the memo’s central claim linking traditionalist Catholics to violent extremism. Grassley said this contradicts Wray’s March 2023 testimony, when he told senators the FBI had produced “a single product.”
Perhaps most damaging, Grassley said the FBI later sought to delete records tied to the memo’s distribution. He accused former Deputy Director Paul Abbate of ordering the memo and related materials scrubbed from FBI systems the day it became public. According to internal emails, another official ordered the removal of an Excel file showing who had accessed the memo, potentially erasing key evidence of the memo’s reach.
FBI MEMO TARGETING CATHOLIC GROUP WENT BEYOND RICHMOND OFFICE, DOCUMENTS SHOW
In the letter, Grassley also demanded answers on the FBI’s internal efforts to erase records related to the memo’s production and distribution. He asked Patel to identify the official who ordered the removal of a document listing FBI users who accessed the memo, explain the rationale for deleting such files, and clarify whether the deletions were intended to obstruct Congress or internal investigators. He also pressed the FBI to determine if any deleted materials can be recovered. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
“The reported permanent loss of records related to the production of the memo … shows once again that Director Wray’s previous testimony to Congress … was false,” Grassley wrote.
