CatholicVote Civic Action and Judicial Watch are suing the FBI and the Department of Justice to obtain the records behind the “Radical Catholics” document targeting traditional churches prepared by the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia, field office.
That intelligence report, posted online in February by a whistleblower, said “violent extremists” adhered to “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” and cited a list of nine “RTC hate groups” identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center, saying the groups present opportunities for “threat mitigation.”
The report drew immediate fire from Catholic leaders and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The FBI has disavowed the document, although bureau officials have not explained how or why it came into being.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal district court in Washington, seeks messages referencing terms such as “radical-traditionalist Catholics” from top FBI officials, including Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate, Assistant Director George P. Beach II, general counsel Jason Jones, chief of staff Jonathan Lenzner, Executive Assistant Director Larissa Knapp and Executive Assistant Director Timothy Langan.
The lawsuit makes the same demand for messages from officials at the Richmond field office.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs say the FBI has not promptly fulfilled legitimate Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the two groups seeking the records.
“We have an FBI that’s just too big and out of control. … They’re not working on the sorts of crimes that the American people expect them to. It becomes a political operation; they’re trying to create race cases. And in the case of this modern FBI, the cases they try to create are the kind of cases that they think will be well received by … their political masters.” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told The Washington Times.
“I suspect we’ll get documents as a result of this lawsuit” over the next several months, he said.
Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote Civic Action, said, “Weaponized and corrupt government agencies” are showing “a pattern of contempt for justice and the rule of law” by refusing to disclose the information. “We are demanding transparency from our government and are determined to uncover just how high up the anti-Catholic bigotry goes.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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