EXCLUSIVE: Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom Calls for Solutions on FBI Focusing on ‘Radical-Conventional Catholics’

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Advancing American Freedom, a coverage advocacy group launched by former Vice President Mike Pence, is demanding solutions from the FBI about its memo urging brokers to develop “sources with entry,” together with in “locations of worship,” to probe an alleged relationship between “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” and “radical-traditional Catholic ideology.”

“This leaked doc focusing on conventional Catholics is disturbing to all individuals of religion,” J. Marc Wheat, normal counsel at Advancing American Freedom, instructed The Day by day Sign on Thursday. “The First Modification ensures free train of faith, with out surveillance or worry of being labeled as extremists by the federal authorities.”

The FBI publicly introduced in a press release that it was rescinding the memo about Catholics after FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin revealed it Feb. 8 on UncoverDC.com. The nationwide FBI workplace claimed that the memo “doesn’t meet the exacting requirements of the FBI” and promised to take away the doc from its programs and “conduct a assessment of the idea for the doc,” however it refused to reply additional questions in regards to the transfer.

The FBI memo cited the discredited Southern Poverty Regulation Heart, together with a listing of organizations the SPLC manufacturers “radical conventional Catholic hate teams.” As I clarify in my e book “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart,” the SPLC took this system it used to bankrupt organizations related to the Ku Klux Klan and weaponized that program towards conservative teams, partially to scare donors into ponying up money and partially to silence ideological opponents. The SPLC locations conservative teams on a “hate map” with KKK chapters.

In 2018, then-Legal professional Basic Jeff Classes mentioned he ordered the Justice Division—of which the FBI is a component—to not accomplice with teams that “discriminate.” Talking of the SPLC, Classes pledged that the Justice Division wouldn’t “accomplice with teams that unfairly defame People for standing up for the Structure or their religion.” Seraphin and different FBI sources instructed The Day by day Sign that the FBI had beforehand skilled analysts to not cite the SPLC.

The Pence group’s Freedom of Data Act request calls for that the Justice Division launch any paperwork relating to “the topic of Christian perception” and specifies that “‘Christian perception’ consists of, however is just not restricted to, such phrases as ‘radical-traditionalist Catholic,’ ‘RTC,’ ‘Vatican II,’ ‘traditionalist Catholics,’ ‘John Paul II,’ ‘Benedict XVI,’ ‘Latin Mass,’ ‘Novus Ordo Missae,’ ‘Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP),’ ‘Society of St. Pius X (SSPX),’ ‘Opus Dei,’ ‘evangelical,’ ‘protestant,’ ‘Anglican,’ ‘Baptist,’ ‘Episcopal,’ and ‘Orthodox.’”

Pence’s group requested the FBI to show over all communications on this topic, together with outreach, public schooling, listening classes, and extra, together with any file that will reveal “the id and title of any FBI worker who reviewed or accredited the doc in query or any of the paperwork cited or utilized in its creation, together with the Richmond FBI subject workplace’s Intelligence Analyst, Supervisory Intelligence Analyst (SIA), and Chief Division Counsel (CDC), and Intelligence Squad.”

The Day by day Sign filed an identical request below the Freedom of Data Act earlier this month, particularly demanding paperwork pertaining to Catholicism and the SPLC.

Advancing American Freedom additionally requested Justice Division paperwork relating to the violent assaults towards pro-life organizations that occurred after the Could 2 leak of the Supreme Courtroom’s draft majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, in addition to paperwork regarding the division’s subpoena focusing on Eagle Discussion board of Alabama. Pence’s group has but to obtain responses to the requests, each filed in September.

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