Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 5, 2024 / 15:10 pm (CNA).
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley this week warned the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to not destroy federal records including documents related to the investigation of traditionalist Catholics or the convictions of numerous pro-life activists.
In a Dec. 3 letter directed to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Hawley — a senator from Missouri who serves on the Judiciary Committee — claimed that he has received reports of employees “destroying records and other documents in an effort to conceal widespread misconduct that took place under the [Joe] Biden administration.”
The senator accused the federal agencies of engaging in “unprecedented abuses of the justice system” and specifically referenced “attempts to recruit undercover informants in Catholic parishes” and “bad-faith prosecutions of pro-life Americans for peacefully protesting abortion,” along with prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump.
“You must immediately stop this attempt to evade accountability and should terminate any employees involved,” Hawley wrote. “Further, you must preserve all department and bureau documents in anticipation of congressional investigations to come.”
I’m putting DOJ & FBI on notice: Don’t shred a single document. Don’t delete a single file. Accountability is coming. The Judiciary Committee WILL investigate – and find out who authorized spying on Christians, attacks on prolifers, the vendettas against Trump – all of it pic.twitter.com/ItjK06QpWT
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) December 3, 2024
When asked where the senator had learned about the alleged destruction of records, a spokesperson for Hawley’s office referred CNA back to the original letter.
In January 2023, the Richmond office of the FBI issued a memo that detailed an investigation into what it called “radical traditionalist” Catholics and potential ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.”
The memo referenced an opportunity for “trip wire or source development” within parishes that offer the Latin Mass and within online communities that the FBI considered to be “radical-traditionalist” Catholic.
The FBI immediately retracted the memo after it was leaked to the public and the DOJ issued a report in April 2024 that claimed there was no “malicious intent” behind the memo.
In August 2023, the House Judiciary Committee claimed it had evidence that multiple field offices were coordinating the investigation. The committee also found evidence that the FBI had approached a priest and a choir director to ask them to inform on parishioners.
During Garland’s leadership of the DOJ, meanwhile, the department has also overseen the prosecution of more than 30 pro-life activists for violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. More than a dozen are either in prison or awaiting sentencing, but Trump has vowed to get them “back to their families.”
In his letter, Hawley said: “This is a sordid track record, and the American people deserve the truth about how it happened and who was involved.”
“With sunlight now on the horizon, I’m not surprised by last-ditch efforts to stonewall the incoming administration,” Hawley wrote.
“But those efforts will fail. … I intend to investigate your respective agencies’ illicit actions over the past several years. If your staff are presently destroying relevant documents, then the American people will learn about that too and will learn who gave the orders to do so.”
Hawley wrote that the DOJ and FBI “must immediately take all necessary steps to preserve all documents, records, and other materials generated by your agencies during your respective tenures in office” and “must cease any bad-faith document destruction.”
“You should prepare for the real justice to come,” Hawley told Wray and Garland.
A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment specifically on the letter but told CNA that FBI records “are retained in accordance with records retention schedules, which are approved by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).”
“FBI records may not be destroyed without a NARA approved records schedule,” the statement said. “In instances of anticipated or pending litigation or other inquiry, normal disposition practices (to include destruction or transfer to NARA) are halted until resolution of the litigation or inquiry.”
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
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Could this be true? Trump has said he will “purge the DOJ and the FBI and replace them with loyalists”.
Hawley claimed that he has received reports of employees “destroying records and other documents in an effort to conceal WIDESPREAD misconduct that took place under the [Joe] Biden administration.” How valid is this source?
“You should prepare for the real justice to come,” Hawley told Wray and Garland.
Former Senator John Danforth, Hawley’s predecessor and a man of the cloth, from Missouri supported firebrand Hawley to replace him. He openly lamented his support.
Missouri Independent:
Former Republican Missouri Senator and United Nations Ambassador John C. Danforth has said he regrets having endorsed Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley during the 2018 midterm elections since Hawley led Wednesday’s Senatorial Republican challenge of the Electoral College’s vote in favor of President-elect Joe Biden. “Supporting Josh and trying so hard to get him elected to the Senate was the worst mistake I ever made in my life,”
We should all remember seeing Hawley sprinting from the Capitol to escape the rioters.
I would like to understand what the destroyed documents contained.
Perhaps the worst thing Garland ever did was to destroy the “slam dunk” Trump document case by appointing Jack Smith as Special Counsel. Suspect judge Aileen Canon, a Trump appointee, after many delays and judicial efforts dismissed the case based on that technicality.
I would be surprised if the DOJ and FBI evidence would not be made public.
Just curious. Did you get these DNC talking points from NPR, CNN, or MSNBC?
You should expand your knowledge of facts. You don’t even have to read it. It’s in-your-face. MSNBC may dwell too much on Trump’s illnesses, but I rarely watch Fox News or Newsmax. They shape the convicted felon’s image as one of peace and contrition. Remember “I will be your retribution”. Just imagine my sister insisting that neither Trump nor they lie!!!
God bless
MorganD – a reminder: your side lost and not in a small part due to the ideas that people like you espouse. He’s our president now so can we all join hands to support him?
“but I rarely watch Fox News or Newsmax. ”
That’s not exactly a surprising declaration.
“suspect Judge” isn’t factual.
People in glass houses.
Mr Morgan I don’t think we should assume what media other commenters consume or how much.
Isn’t checking a wide range of media sites the best way to get a balanced perspective on the news? Every media outlet has its biases. Some larger ones are owned by the same conglomerates.
You can tell which audience a news site is targeting by their advertising. I don’t have TV service but when I see cable news playing at an airport or waiting room every other commercial is selling geriatric drugs and products/ services for the elderly.
Thank you all for responding.
I may sound like a liberal, but I am not. I stand for smaller government, lower taxes, environmental protection, etc. But I’m not a MAGA proxy either. Because of the MAGA takeover, my party with its radicals like duplicitous evangelist Sp. Mike Johnson and arch radical and profuse liar M. J. Green, I have become a RINOP, a Republican In Need Of Party.
Not only has my party failed me, but the Catholic Bishops have. They have been duped into thinking Trump is pro-life. They have become immoral and complicit by blindly supporting Trump. That immortality manifests itself in the Catholic Vote website advertising their financial support conduit to Trump’s coffers on their home page.
I agree that we must move forward to give hope for our children’s future. I respect the office of the President. Given all his trappings, I hope I can rely on the President-elect to provide that hope.
God guide us to “That shining city upon a hill”. RR
Mr. Morgan, Mike Johnson has been good friend to some of my family members & yes, he is a sincere Evangelical Christian, but he is not duplicitous.
I wish as Catholics we’d pay more attention to the Catechism’s teaching on charity in speech.
mrsc. “Charity in speech” goes both ways. There is no charity in politics.
Johnson instituted a lawsuit to have the 2020 electoral votes returned to states that Trump lost, making him another false election denier. The numerous recounts in some of those states proved the election was fair. He has become a Trump MAGA lieutenant to save his speakership. All this, along with FAKE electors makes this picture sad. Johnson does not control the House, Trump does.
If Johnson continues to defy reality, he becomes immoral and complicit. Just today Trump reiterated that he will pardon all 1/6/21 convicted criminals. “I am your retribution”. He will deport millions of undocumented immigrants without regard to pain and suffering. Catholic Bishops, where are you? Perhaps more important is this event being reported by Catholic Vote?
I call anyone who enables Trump’s ideology to be immoral, complicit and an enabler.
I want my Republican party back, not a MAGA cult.
Thank you
“Your” party lost the recent election. You don’t seriously think that anyone here pegs you as a Republican, do you? January 20th will be a good day. The innocent American citizens who were jailed for January 6th will be freed, along with the pro-life people who were maliciously jailed by the progressive democrat politicians your support. Your support for the Democrats and their media outlets makes you complicit in their sins. As I have stated a million times, people (you) in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
You say, “as I have stated a million times…”, Millions? How old are you?
I am always reticent to provide an answer when you defy the in-your-face reality of the invasion of our bastion of democracy, the US Capitol and the pardoning of the 1/6 “innocent” criminals.
Lives were lost and many Capitol Police were severely injured. No president should be able to pardon convicted criminals, in this case, even himself! Would you release a hard criminal from a US prison who broke into your house?
You often use that worn metaphor about glass houses. Remember, Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.
Thank you and be well.
I sincerely hope Pres. Trump does free the Jan. 6th folks in jail. Whatever their trespassing or vandalism offenses might be they’ve surely served enough time by now. We’ve got drug dealers & all sorts of repeat offenders walking around free. It seems our criminal justice system acts like a revolving door-unless you get busted for entering the Capitol in silly costumes.
It’s fine to have political opinions in a free country. It’s not ok for Christians to cast about slander, calumny, or detraction.