US House Panel Says FBI Interviewed Priest, Choir Director in Targeting of Catholic Church

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The FBI interviewed a Catholic priest and a choir director as part of an effort to target traditional Catholics as potential extremists, the US House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government said in an interim staff report.

Earlier this year, the panel began investigating whistleblower allegations of an FBI memorandum that proposed infiltrating the traditional Catholic community as a form of threat mitigation against potential violent extremism.

"The Committee and Select Subcommittee’s oversight shows that the FBI abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists," the panel said on Monday, citing whistleblower disclosures.

"Not only did the FBI propose to develop sources, but it already interviewed a priest and choir director affiliated with a Catholic church in Richmond, Virginia for the memorandum."

The panel determined that there were errors at every step of drafting, reviewing, approving and removing the memo, the report said.

The FBI had no legitimate basis to insert federal law enforcement into traditional Catholic communities, the report said. The FBI targeted anti-abortion Catholics and those who believe in biology-based gender distinctions as potential domestic terrorists, the report said.

"Perhaps most concerning is that without the whistleblower, this document would still be actionable in FBI systems, potentially endangering the religious liberties of countless Americans who might be investigated simply for espousing certain sincerely held views," the report said.

The FBI must take decisive action to rebuild public trust, the report said. The panel will continue oversight in an effort to protect religious liberty from government overreach, the report said.