Biden's FBI labeled the Latin Mass a domestic terror warning sign.
That memo came out three years ago – and until today, no one outside FBI headquarters knew what Biden's leadership did next.
A 210-page DOJ report just dropped, and one email inside it is going to be very hard for Christopher Wray to explain.
How the FBI Used One Church Visit to Target Traditional Catholics Nationwide
In January 2023, Biden's FBI Richmond Field Office issued an internal memo identifying traditional Catholics – Americans who attend the Latin Mass, oppose abortion, and hold conservative family values – as potential domestic violent extremists worth monitoring.
The entire theory rested on one man.
Federal investigators had been tracking a violent, racist subject since 2020 – a man who turned up in November 2022 with Molotov cocktails, weapons components, ammunition, and a target list at his Virginia home.
That man attended a few catechism classes at a Richmond chapel affiliated with the Society of St. Pius X.
The chapel's priest told the FBI directly that the man was not Catholic, was not a church member, had never been to confession, and held views that "definitely need[ed] to be modified before he c[ould] join the church."
The FBI built a domestic terror theory out of it anyway.
Analysts searched bureau databases for more examples of traditionalist Catholics connected to extremism and found exactly two – one was a deceased subject in Portland whose only Catholic connection came from a Southern Poverty Law Center dossier, and one was a subject in Milwaukee.
The Justice Department's report concluded the research turned up "nothing linking Catholics or groups not in full communion with the Catholic Church to domestic extremism."
Richmond pressed forward anyway.
The Richmond Catholic Memo Listed Actual Parishes as FBI Surveillance Targets
An internal FBI presentation titled "Traditionalist Catholicism Overview" treated attendance at the Traditional Latin Mass and support for "conservative family values/roles" as elements of a violent extremist ideology.
The same presentation described traditionalist Catholicism as "comparable to Islamist ideology."
The finished memo – issued internally on January 23, 2023 – listed four specific Catholic chapels beneath a passage suggesting church leaders could serve as suspicious-activity "tripwires."
The FBI was drawing up plans to plant informants inside law-abiding American parishes.
When the memo circulated for internal review, not a single reviewer raised First Amendment concerns. The Richmond Field Office's own lawyer signed off.
How Christopher Wray Buried the FBI Catholic Memo Scandal
The memo leaked on February 8, 2023, and congressional Republicans immediately demanded answers.
FBI Counterterrorism Division reviewed the product and found no basis for further collection tied to Catholic traditionalism.
An internal tradecraft review reached the same conclusion – the memo had made claims about Catholic extremism it could not support with evidence.
FBI headquarters pulled the memo and ordered it removed from bureau systems.
Then-Director Christopher Wray leaned on the finding that no "malicious intent" had been proven – and used it to treat the matter as resolved.
Leaders told staff at a July 2023 meeting: "There are no inconsistent performers in this room."
When one analyst apologized for the fallout, Richmond chief Stanley Meador told her, "No apology needed. Keep that head up, this too shall pass. Will make for a great chapter in your memoirs some day!"
By the end of fiscal year 2023, the analysts behind the memo held performance ratings ranging from "Exemplary" to "Consistent."
On March 17, 2023 – more than a month after headquarters ordered the memo removed from FBI systems – one of the original authors sent an internal email saying he had spent the day "tinkering with the DP."
He reworked the language, adjusted the analytical conclusions, and bolstered the sourcing – then told colleagues he would not formally pursue a revised product without assurances from senior officials that the effort still had backing.
The analyst was not correcting the record. He was shopping for permission to keep building the case.
Kash Patel Fired the Agents Biden's FBI Was Rewarding
Wray's FBI gave the analysts behind the Catholic memo positive performance reviews, supportive leadership, and employee-assistance counseling following congressional scrutiny of the memo they wrote.
Kash Patel fired five of them.
Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed in today's release that the employees are gone: "This Department of Justice will not tolerate a weaponized bureaucracy that chills First Amendment activity.
The individuals who developed the Richmond Domain Perspective are no longer with the Department, and our Working Group's efforts to investigate weaponization under the previous Administration will continue."
Patel added: "Weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI. Releasing information to the public about what occurred under the prior regime is an important part of the process."
The 210-page DOJ report released today shows Richmond leadership validated the memo, protected the analysts who wrote it, handed out performance awards, and arranged counseling for the congressional backlash – all while Wray publicly called it a mistake.
Biden's DOJ spent three years calling this an isolated error by employees who meant no harm. The new report proves the cover-up was deliberate.
Sources:
- "Weaponization Working Group Releases Report on 2023 FBI Richmond Field Office Memo," U.S. Department of Justice, August 28, 2026.
- Gabe Kaminsky, "Biden-era FBI took 'minimal corrective action' and defended staff after targeting Catholics," Washington Examiner, August 28, 2026.
- Tyler Olson, "Heavily redacted records show FBI's targeting of Catholics went beyond what they've claimed: watchdog," Fox News, December 15, 2023.
- Sen. Josh Hawley, "Hawley Presses FBI to Probe Biden-Era Targeting of Christians," hawley.senate.gov, 2025.
- Sen. Chuck Grassley, Letter to Director Kash Patel, June 2, 2025.
- "FBI fires 5 Richmond analysts tied to disputed 'Catholic ideology' memo," Washington Times, June 2026.
