Posted on 12/05/2023 3:20:48 PM PST by Morgana
FBI Director Chris Wray admitted to Sen. Josh Hawley that he has not fired anyone at the FBI’s Richmond office over the memo urging the FBI to investigate “radical traditional Catholics.”
“You haven’t fired anybody,” Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said to Wray in a Senate hearing Tuesday.
He pressed Wray on the FBI Richmond office’s Jan. 23 memo citing the Southern Poverty Law Center in urging an investigation of “radical, traditional Catholic hate groups.” After a whistleblower published it in February, the FBI rescinded that memo, saying it did not reach the bureau’s standards.
Hawley cited a report that the House Judiciary Committee and the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released on the Catholic memo Monday.
“In fact, what the House found is what is it, you admonished them,” Hawley said. Mockingly, he added, “Oh I feel much better. They’ve been sent to bed without food.”
“Good heavens, director! This is one of the most outrageous targetings,” the senator added. “You have mobilized your division, the most powerful law enforcement division in the world, against traditionalist Catholics—whatever the heck that means—and you have just told us you have not fired a single person.”
He went on to cite the House report, which found that key staff at the Richmond office did not see a problem with the report.
“What are you going to do about this? Are you going to fire these people or not?” the senator pressed.
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“Those individuals have all been admonished and it is all going into their… annual performance reviews, which has direct impact on their compensation, among other things,” Wray responded.
“Do you have a problem with systemic bigotry against Catholics at the FBI?” Hawley also asked.
Wray flatly responded, “No.”
The FBI memo urged agents to probe the supposed nexus between “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” and “radical-traditional Catholics,” citing the Southern Poverty Law Center and including a list of SPLC-designated “hate groups” for agents to target.
The FBI told The Daily Signal that it was rescinding the memo after FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin published it on UncoverDC.com on Feb. 8. The national FBI office claimed that the memo “does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI” and promised to remove the document from its systems and “conduct a review of the basis for the document,” but it refused to answer further questions about the move.
As I explain in my book “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center,” the SPLC took the program it has used to bankrupt organizations associated with the Ku Klux Klan and weaponized it against conservative groups, partially to scare donors into ponying up cash and partially to silence ideological opponents. The SPLC places conservative groups on a “hate map” with KKK chapters.
After the SPLC fired its co-founder amid a racial discrimination and sexual harassment scandal in 2019, a former staffer claimed that the SPLC’s accusations of “hate” are a “cynical fundraising scam” aimed at “bilking northern liberals.” Critics across the political spectrum have voiced opposition and alarm at the organization’s hate group smears. A terrorist even targeted an SPLC-designated “hate group” in Washington, D.C., in 2012, and he told the FBI he used the “hate map” to find his target. The SPLC condemned that act of terror, but kept the target on the list and the map.
The SPLC has also suggested that the Catholic Church itself holds a position on human sexuality that would qualify it as a “hate group.”
Wray flatly responded, “No.”
Weasel answer. Does he deny the existence of a problem or is he saying that he has no problem with the existence of systemic bigotry against Catholics at the FBI?
He would have to fire himself.
So zero out their budget, Senator.
L
Wonder if Wray is getting any calls from Putin he could use someone like him.
I would have demanded he explain the answer.
When Trump is elected to his third term. He should write a Presidential Order banning any use of SPLC publications by any Federal agency and that their website be blocked on all Federal government networks.
What I thought, that answer can be taken 2 diferent ways. Its a poorly worded question to give them such wiggle room.
The SPLC has also suggested that the Catholic Church itself holds a position on human sexuality that would qualify it as a “hate group.”
What he hasn’t admitted is that he gave them all raises.
No one has been fired because they were doing what they were told to do. Following FBI policy.
As overtly corrupt as the behavior is, one has to ask if the Director is even in control? Is the tail now wagging the dog?
Any or all of the other intelligence could be the same.
Of course he hasn’t fired anyone over that.
But I’d like to know how big the bonuses they were given.
If anyone wants to read the complete fbi memo, I guess the house judiciary republicans released the whole thing in pdf. I had never read an fbi memo concerning anything like this, it was pretty interesting and full of what I can only call “fbi speak.”
Freegards
The proper response would be, "Has anyone ever been able to fire a federal employee"?
It’s high time some of these political groups had some pressure put on them & I think most of the public might agree. The SPLC would certainly be one of those groups. Does anyone know of any good they have accomplished?
Obviously “NO” was not the response that Hawley wanted. Guess he has to more carefully analyze any questions he would ask Wray from here on out.
Ever since the Catholics took down the World Trade Center and blew up the Boston Marathon, I’ve been telling people they can’t be trusted. /s/s/s
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