Records Show Top FBI Lawyers Reviewed Controversial Targeting of Traditional Catholics
Secret Service Records Disclose Agency Boats Inoperable for Obama Chef Drowning Emergency
Border Patrol: Migrants Know They Will be Released, Fueling Immigration Crisis
Records Show Top FBI Lawyers Reviewed Controversial Targeting of Traditional Catholics
More evidence that the FBI can’t be trusted.
We received 98 pages of heavily redacted documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) showing that the agency’s Office of General Counsel reviewed the controversial targeting of the Catholics by the Richmond field office of the FBI.
FBI Director Christopher Wray had told congressmen that the memo was “a single product by a single field office,” but the records we uncovered show that it was “Reviewed by: OGC/CDC [Office of General Counsel/Chief Deputy Counsel].” The records also indicate coordination with officials from Portland and Milwaukee.
These documents disprove the FBI’s narrative that the spy operation against Catholics and churches was limited to one field office. In fact, the operation seems to have been approved by top lawyers in the FBI. These documents should trigger a criminal inquiry into this Biden FBI scandal.
We obtained the records in response to an April 2023 FOIA lawsuit filed with CatholicVote Civic Action against the FBI and the Department of Justice after they failed to respond to March 2023 requests for records about the FBI intelligence memo targeting “radical traditionalist” Catholics (CatholicVote Civic Action and Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-01166)).
In February 2023, an FBI intelligence document was leaked that showed the FBI targeting of Catholics who adhere to traditional beliefs on abortion and other cultural issues. The Catholic News Agency reported: “The leaked document has been condemned by several federal and state officials, as well as clergy, including Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond, who recently called the memo a ‘threat to religious liberty.’”
The records include a January 23, 2023, document labeled “Domain Perspective – Threat Target/Facilitation Platform, FBI Richmond” that has a section titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities:”
Executive Summary
FBI Richmond assesses the increasingly observed interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) in radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology almost certainly presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development. FBI Richmond makes this assessment with high confidence [redacted]
Increasingly Observed Interest of RMVEs in RTC Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Opportunities for Threat Mitigation
FBI Richmond assesses the increasingly observed interest of RMVEs [Racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists] in RTC [Radical-Traditionalist Catholic] ideology almost certainly presents new opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development. This assessment is based on [redacted]
Reviewed by: OGC/CDC [Office of General Counsel/Chief Deputy Counsel]
Coordinated with: SA [Special Agent] [redacted] (FBI Portland) and IA [Intelligence Agent] [redacted] (FBI Milwaukee)
Warnings and Caveats
Potential criminality exhibited by certain members of a group referenced herein does not negate nor is it a comment on the constitutional rights of the group itself or its members to exercise their rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The FBI does not investigate, collect, or maintain information on U.S. persons solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment.
FBI Richmond prepared this Domain Perspective. Please direct comments and queries to the FBI Richmond Intelligence Program …
The House received a similar but not identical record.
In the same email chain, Michael Machtinger of the Counterterrorism Division (CTD) emails colleagues Kellie Hardiman and Robert Wells, on February 8: “I spoke at length with our RMVE SMEs [Racially/Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist Subject Matter Experts] and we provided this response to [redacted] et al to help craft the OPA [Office of Public Affairs] language.”
On the same email chain that day Ugoretz writes to multiple colleagues:
For the background of ALCON [All Concerned], this product type, a Domain Perspective, is an FBI product intended to highlight how a shift or new development related to an environmental variable (EV) may affect threats or mitigation in a particular domain. [Redacted]
The Field Office’s IPC is the final approver [redacted].
On February 9, Ugoretz emails multiple colleagues:
Good morning,
We understand there is discussion of recalling this Domain Perspective. DI [Directorate of Intelligence] conducted a preliminary review of the product’s analytic tradecraft to help inform that decision, with the following key takeaways: [redacted]
A separate email chain that has been declassified indicates an attachment, “ATA_Complicated_Questions,” which refers to an Annual Threat Assessment. On February 16, a person whose name is redacted emails General Counsel Jason Jones and others:
[Assistant Director] Dunham asked that we circulate the attached draft “Complicated Questions” document for the Director’s upcoming testimony for your review. As you will see, the draft reflects feedback received from various divisions/stakeholders to date, and certain topics continue to evolve.
[Office of Congressional Affairs] is hoping to have this draft finalized by COB Tuesday, February 21.
The attachment itself is not included in the production of records.
“Since last February, we have worked to expose this unconstitutional targeting of faithful Catholics by the FBI,” said former Congressman Tim Huelskamp, Senior Advisor to CatholicVote, “and the results are stunning, unprecedented, and should concern all Americas. Contrary to statements under oath by Director Wray and Attorney General Garland, this flagrantly anti-Catholic program by the FBI was widespread, fully supported by senior officials, authorized undercover agents to infiltrate Catholic parishes, attempted to influence elections, and may be ongoing. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has stood idly by as Catholic churches have been attacked more than 200 times since May of 2022.”
We previously uncovered records from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) showing top officials rushing to craft a public response to the leaked FBI intelligence memo that revealed its targeting of Catholics who adhere to traditional beliefs on church issues.
Secret Service Records Disclose Agency Boats Inoperable for Obama Chef Drowning Emergency
Slowly the troubling details of the drowning death of the Obamas’ chef are coming out.
Judicial Watch received 31 pages of records from the Department of Homeland Security that show the identity of the companion of Obama’s chef Tafari Campbell as a woman named “Ms. Taylor,” who reported that “[Campbell] fell in the water and struggled for a couple of seconds before giving up and sinking underwater.”
The records also show that the Secret Service could not get the first two boats they tried to use to search for Campbell to function and had to use the groundskeeper’s boat. Also, at least one, and possibly multiple, agents from the Secret Service’s Little Rock, Ark., office were involved in the search for Campbell’s body.
And we learned that when Obama arrived at the scene the search was paused because he wanted to talk with an unidentified person.
We obtained the records thanks to an October 25, 2023, FOIA lawsuit against the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after it failed to respond to an August request for Secret Service video recordings and other records relating to the death of the Obamas’ personal chef, Tafari Campbell, in July 2023 in the Edgartown Great Pond behind the Obamas’ estate on Martha’s Vineyard (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:23-cv-03194)).
The records include a July 24 report from a Secret Service agent whose name is redacted that reveals the interview details – including the name – of Campbell’s paddle boarding companion: “Ms. Taylor stated that Mr. Campbell was not wearing a life jacket and had no personal flotation devices aboard the paddleboard at the time of the incident.”
A separate report notes how Campbell’s companion “collapsed on the ground and stated that Tafari had drowned. She stated that he fell in the water and struggled for a couple of seconds before giving up and sinking underwater.” The agent continued, describing how a supervisory agent and another agent “attempted to start one of the boats but had difficulties lowering the motor. I headed down with [redacted] but told her to continue down and yelled to SA [redacted] and SSA [redacted] that I would run to get the keys for our USSS boat. I sprinted to the CP [Command Post], grabbed the keys and sprinted back towards the boats. A similar issue occurred with the motor on the second boat. We jumped into a third boat belonging to the groundskeeper and it worked without issue.”
The same report notes former President Obama came to the incident scene and the search was paused so President Obama could speak to the eyewitness:
We continued our search with flashlights. Shortly thereafter we were called to Wilson’s Landing as FPOTUS Obama was there and the local Fire Department in conjunction with Massachusetts Police Department and other local agencies were setting up an Incident Command Post. He had wanted to talk with [redacted]. The first EMS/Police response we saw may have occurred within an hour. I recall seeing a small PD or Fire boat scanning the shoreline just after it was getting dark.
It is disturbing that Secret Service boats did not work for this emergency situation. This new information perhaps explains why the Secret Service is still hiding video related to the tragic drowning.
In October, we received 40 pages of records from the Massachusetts State Police that indicate the presence of Barack Obama for a witness interview in the death investigation. The records, which are heavily redacted, indicate Barack Obama arrived at the emergency response scene via motorcade. A short time later, a cold, wet woman, who was a witness, arrived. The next morning, the eyewitness was interviewed in the Obama residence, seemingly with Barack Obama again present. The records also detail the existence of a Secret Service video of Campbell and his paddleboarding companion entering the water, and the Secret Service emergency response in the immediate aftermath of the drowning. The State Police records show they concluded “no foul play” in Campbell’s “accidental” death.
In August 2023, we released records from the Edgarton, Mass., Police Department that show the Secret Service reported Campbell missing and that the body was found using sonar. The records also detail that clothing was found separate from the body and that he was not wearing a life vest.
Our lawsuit in Federal court for more information continues and I will be sure to update you here as events warrant!
Border Patrol: Migrants Know They Will be Released, Fueling Immigration Crisis
The Biden administration has largely stopped the enforcement of our laws against illegal immigration, and those coming know it, as our Corruption Chronicles blog reports.
The Biden administration impedes Border Patrol agents from fulfilling their duty of securing the southwest border by prohibiting consequences for most individuals crossing into the United States illegally and instead practicing a mass release policy that encourages more illegal immigration. In fact, the expectation of “prompt release into the interior” has helped craft the nation’s historic border crisis, according to scathing material provided to a congressional panel by Border Patrol sector chiefs. In Arizona’s Yuma Sector alone, about 70% of illegal immigrants apprehended since Biden became president have been released inside the U.S. “There needs to be a consequence to the illegal activity, otherwise it won’t stop,” San Diego Sector Border Patrol Chief Aaron Heitke told members of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “And when you look at a population that’s coming, the only real consequence that we have is to send them back to their home country.”
But that has not occurred under the Biden administration, the San Diego Sector chief as well as his counterparts along the Mexican border confirm. Lack of meaningful consequences for unlawful entry has created perverse incentives to enter the U.S. illegally, the Homeland Security committee found after extensive interviews with eight Border Patrol sector chiefs. Unprecedented numbers of illegal aliens have been released, including more than 1.6 million under some form of parole despite the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) limiting parole to a “case by case” and “temporary” basis. The Border Patrol has also released over 1.2 million illegal immigrants with a Notice to Appear (NTA) on their own recognizance for hearings that are often years away and Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) has issued over half a million NTAs since February 2021. Also, for a brief period in 2021, at least 104,000 illegal aliens were released in the country with a Notice to Report (NTR) to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office within 60 days.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created after 9/11 to prevent another terrorist attack, frees inside the U.S. the overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants who use the CBP One App, including those from “hostile nations.” The congressional panel found that 95.8% (278,431) of all inadmissible aliens who scheduled appointments through the app between Jan. 12 an Sept. 30, 2023 were ultimately issued an NTA and released into the U.S. on parole. This includes individuals from “countries of concern,” including Russia, China, Yemen, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Egypt. Nearly all the Russian, Afghan, Chinese and Iranian nationals who made CBP One appointments were released in the U.S., according to the records. Most of the Latin Americans were also freed into the country, including illegal immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela. Another recently created program to welcome migrants into the U.S. has granted 269,744 Cubans Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans mass parole at ports of entry nationwide and ICE’s non-detained docket has grown by nearly two million while CBP has recorded 1.7 million known “gotaways” since Biden became commander-in-chief.
Because the migrant population knows the U.S. will more than likely release illegal border crossers in the country, big groups are giving themselves up to federal agents, Border Patrol officials say.
“They’re giving up because they believe they’re going to stay in the United States,” said Chief Border Patrol Agent John Modlin of Arizona’s Tucson Sector. “If not, they would be, like everyone else in Tucson, dressed head to toe in camouflage, running as fast as they could, staying up in the mountains or in the valleys to avoid detection by our system.” The Yuma, Arizona deputy chief, Dustin Caudle, confirmed that “the belief that they are going to be released with no consequence is certainly something that many migrants tell our agents.” The chief of California’s El Centro Sector, Gegory Bovino, told lawmakers that providing a consequence to someone that illegally enters the country “has a great effect on migration routes and those who seek to come across the border.” The chief of the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas, Gloria Chavez, said “when there’s not a consequence, we continue to see some of these surges that we—that we’re experiencing here recently.”
The Biden policies have proven to be devastating. Fiscal year 2023, which ended in September, was a record-breaker for illegal immigration with a ghastly 2.48 million migrants, surpassing what was previously a historical high of 2.38 million in 2022. The last month of the fiscal year (September), federal agents encountered a whopping 269,735 illegal aliens constituting an all-time high for a single month and a substantial increase over August when CBP encountered 232,963 migrants. The Tucson Sector saw an unprecedented 109% spike in illegal immigrants during the last month of the fiscal year compared to August and a total 48% increase for 2023, from 251,984 last year to 373,625. The El Paso crossing in Texas had a 39% boost in illegal immigration compared to last year with 427,471 crossings compared to 307,844 in 2022. Texas sectors located south of El Paso also saw large numbers of illegal immigrants, with Del Rio recording 393,226 and Rio Grande Valley 338,337. California got bombarded as well with a 31% hike in illegal aliens in San Diego and a 30% rise in El Centro. If there are no repercussions for violators the numbers will just keep growing.
Until next week,
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