A major mark against the Biden-Harris administration and the FBI at the time led by then Director Christopher Wray involved blatant anti-Catholic bias. During the previous administration, a document known as the Richmond Memo was circulated from that field office to other offices and employees, with a whistleblower sounding the alarm and raising awareness in 2023. Wray and then Attorney General Merrick Garland were hauled before Congress to testify. The information they provided was often less than satisfactory. In hindsight, it's even worse, given how much more we now know. Not surprisingly, the bias was worse than initially known.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Tuesday revealed that there were more documents that were anti-Catholic, and also relied on the far-left and highly discredited Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Even more incredible is that Grassley also revealed that there was a second memo. Though it was never published, it contradicts Wray's testimony.
As a news release from Grassley mentioned:
Per the Grassley-obtained records, the Biden FBI's targeting of Catholics based on biased sources was more widespread than previously known. In fact, Grassley found the FBI produced at least 13 additional documents and five attachments that used anti-Catholic terminology and relied on information from the radical far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). One FBI agent admitted over email, “[O]ur overreliance on the SPLC for hate designation [of traditional Catholics] is ... problematic.”
A second FBI memo, released by Grassley, was drafted by the FBI Richmond field office for Bureau-wide distribution. The draft memo repeated the unfounded link between traditional Catholicism and violent extremism, but was never published due to backlash following the Richmond Memo’s public disclosure. The existence of this second memo contradicts former-FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony that the Richmond field office only produced “a single product.”
Grassley is urging FBI Director Kash Patel to continue producing records related to the Richmond Memo’s origins, as well as former-FBI Director Christopher Wray’s misleading and obstructive response to Grassley’s oversight of the memo.
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Grassley's release indicated the chairman is "urging" FBI Director Kash Patel to produce more records not just on the origins, but also now on "Wray’s misleading and obstructive response to Grassley’s oversight of the memo."
The 7-page letter was delivered on Monday to Patel, with the memos in question included. Grassley began such a letter by pointing out that he had contacted Wray on March 1, 2023, August 24, 2023, October 11, 2023, and January 31, 2024. "The FBI under Director Wray consistently failed to provide full responses to these requests," Grassley noted.
Not only did Wray give Grassley a hard time, but he also provided unsatisfactory answers during a July 12, 2023 hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, as we covered at the time. Such examples are included in Grassley's letter to Patel:
Mr. WRAY. We are working on finishing an internal review into what happen there.
Mr. WRAY. When we finish our internal review, which will be very soon, we will come back before the Committee and provide a briefing on what we found. Then we can—
Mr. WRAY. Well again, I think that’s what our internal review will find, and I’d rather wait until I hear what the results of that internal review are.
Mr. WRAY. I expect us to be able to brief the Committee on our internal review later this summer.
Mr. WRAY. I’m not sure yet what it will include because it’s not done yet, but when it is, we’ll provide you with an appropriate briefing.
Based on those answers, it appears that Wray was certainly being much less than forthcoming about what the FBI knew what it did about the memo and when. Just before his letter shared such excerpts, Grassley lambasted what he described as "deception" and said it "was echoed by Director Wray in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in July 2023, where he repeatedly evaded questions by claiming the internal review hadn’t been completed even though by then it most assuredly was[.]"
Even with the information we didn't know at the time but have now thanks to Grassley, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) during his back and forth with Wray for that July 2023 hearing was not satisfied with such a response.
TARGETING CATHOLICS: Why did the @FBI want to investigate Catholics? @Jim_Jordan pic.twitter.com/L4o2xnrjn2
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) July 12, 2023
A statement from Grassley's release also highlighted another part of the letter. "I’m determined to get to the bottom of the Richmond memo, and of the FBI’s contempt for oversight in the last administration," he wrote. "I look forward to continuing to work with you to restore the FBI to excellence and prove once again that justice can and must be fairly and evenly administered, blind to whether we are Democrats or Republicans, believers or nonbelievers."
The chairman also posted about the revelation to X on Tuesday.
I released FBI records showing anti-Catholic Richmond Memo was WIDELY distributed to 1000+ FBI employees& FBI produced at least 13 docs+5 attchmnts w similar anti-Catholic bias Biden Admin targeting of churchgoers went deeper than we 1st knew UNACCEPTABLE Appears Wray lied 2cong
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) June 3, 2025
The Senate Judiciary Republicans X account on Wednesday shared a Fox News clip as well, with Griff Jenkins pointing out that "Wray has a lot to answer for." As Jenkins also reminded, Wray "was claiming under sworn testimony this was 'an isolated incident.'"
Jenkins highlighted that same part of Grassley's letter included as a statement in the news release, previewing how this story is not going away.
‼️NEWS: Chairman @ChuckGrassley's oversight unveils the Biden-era @FBI's anti-Catholic memo was sent to over 1,000 FBI employees. Grassley looks forward to working with @FBIDirectorKash to restore integrity and get answers. pic.twitter.com/yhILFkr8QT
— Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) June 4, 2025
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