SHOCKING: Biden FBI Tells Court It Has Found 1,200 Pages of Documents “Potentially Responsive” to Our FOIA About Its Targeting of “Radical Traditionalist” Christians

Previously, we told you about our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding the FBI’s targeting of “radical traditionalist” Christians under the guise of targeting “white supremacy.” Specifically, an FBI intelligence analyst wrote what is called a “Domain Perspective,” i.e., a memo outlining the ideas and habits of a group under surveillance – i.e., conservative and pro-life Christians in churches.

The ACLJ then leaped into action and sent a FOIA to the FBI in order to expose who in the FBI knew about and was behind this abhorrent memo. When the FBI did not comply, we went to court. The Biden FBI has just informed the ACLJ and a federal judge that it has found at least 1,200 pages of “potentially responsive documents” to our FOIA and needs more time to continue further searches. This begs the question: What in the world is the FBI doing with 1,200 pages of documents related to the targeting of Christians?

The Joint Status Report filed in federal court this week states, in relevant part: “[T]he FBI represented to [the ACLJ] that, thus far, it has identified 1,200 pages of potentially responsive documents.” (This is important because the FBI told the court this information and cannot change its statement without admitting that it misrepresented something to the court.)

Two questions immediately come to mind about the pages: (1) Why is the FBI surveilling churches at all? (2) And do they have more?

We don’t know what they have, but we have an idea based on what we asked for. To summarize:

In our FOIA we asked the FBI for documents [and communications between key FBI officials] related to pro-life people, Christianity, Catholics, or the memo regarding the targeting of “radical traditionalist” Christians, for any discussions about the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision (which our Whistleblower client testified they were targeting pro-lifers after Dobbs), and one question about the standards used to create the outrageous memo.

Some of our specific requests are reproduced below:

1. All records of communications between or including the FBI’s Director, Deputy Director, Chief of Staff, General Counsel, or any of their senior staff or assistants, or of any other FBI official of a GS-13 or appointee level or higher personnel (including forwarded email messages or CC or BCC email messages), about pro-life people OR Catholicism (including adherents of Catholicism) OR Christianity (including adherents of Christianity) – all in the context of analysis, threat assessment, domestic terrorism, or the monitoring of such people.
   
   
2. All records of briefings or communications between or including the FBI’s Director, Deputy Director, Chief of Staff, General Counsel, or any of their senior staff or assistants, or of any other FBI official of a GS-13 or appointee level or higher personnel (including forwarded email messages or CC or BCC email messages), that mention the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392, 597 U.S. __ (2022).
   
   
3. All records of communications between or including the FBI Richmond field office personnel, including analysists, senior staff or assistants, or of any other FBI official of a GS-13 or appointee level or higher (including forwarded email messages or CC or BCC email messages), about the memo described in the “Background” section above.
   
   
4. All records of communications between or including the FBI Richmond field office personnel, including analysists, senior staff or assistants, or of any other FBI official of a GS-13 or appointee level or higher (including forwarded email messages or CC or BCC email messages), about pro-life people OR Catholicism (including adherents of Catholicism) OR Christianity (including adherents of Christianity) – in the context of analysis, threat assessment, domestic terrorism, or the monitoring of such people.

Now, the purpose of our FOIA is to find out why, and it will not be easy. For example, Director Wray represented to Congress that the “Domain Perspective” was only “a single product by a single office.” But Congress has now found that sworn testimony to be false.

The “Domain Perspective” mentions that the Portland Office contributed to it in a part that was previously redacted. So new questions arise: Did Wray know about the Portland Office’s contribution when he first testified? Or did he not read the “Domain Perspective” (or only a redacted part) before he testified?

We don’t know, but we will continue probing until the answers come to light and we put an end to the unconstitutional targeting of Christians by this Administration and the Deep State FBI.