Donald Trump is warning Americans about "undercover spies" that he says are being sent by the FBI to persecute Christians.
On Thursday night, the former president posted a video to his Truth Social account with the caption "Stopping the Persecution of Christians!" His post says the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) have adopted an anti-Christian bias and are sending agents to churches as part of that alleged "bigotry."
"Under crooked Joe Biden, Christians and Americans of faith are being persecuted like nothing this nation has ever seen before," Trump said in the video.
He went on: "Catholics, in particular, are being targeted and evangelicals are surely on the watch list as well. Over the past three years, the Biden administration has sent SWAT teams to arrest pro-life activists. The FBI has been caught profiling devout Catholics as possible domestic terrorists and planning to send undercover spies into Catholic churches, just like in the old days of the Soviet Union."
Trump's comments appeared to reference a leaked FBI document from earlier this year that showed the bureau's Richmond, Virginia, office had warned agents of an extremist threat posed by "radical-traditionalist Catholics" (RTC), whom the bureau said was a small minority within the Catholic Church.
The memo, which said the FBI had found a "growing overlap" between a nationalist movement and RTCs, generated fury among Republicans who have accused the federal government of religious persecution. The bureau removed the memo from its system shortly after the document's existence was reported in February, saying it did not meet the "exacting standards of the FBI."
"While we have no comment on specific remarks, any characterization that the FBI is targeting Catholics is false," the bureau told Newsweek. "The FBI is committed to upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans, and we do not conduct investigations based solely on First Amendment–protected activity, including religious practices."
In his video, Trump said, "Catholics, you cannot vote for the Democrats. You cannot even think about voting for Biden. What they're doing to you is shocking."
White Catholics and white evangelicals both lean Republican. Data from the Pew Research Center shows that about 6 in 10 white Catholics who attended Mass often supported Trump in the 2020 election, while that number fell to about 5 in 10 among those who attend Mass less often.
Evangelicals are also among the most loyal constituencies for the GOP, showing strong support regardless of whether they frequently attend religious services. More than 8 in 10 white evangelicals supported Trump in both categories.
Although the FBI has pulled the document, the memo has prompted an investigation from the GOP-led House's Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee. Countering the FBI's response, the panel released its interim report, titled "The FBI's Breach of Religious Freedom: The Weaponization of Law Enforcement Against Catholic Americans," on December 4.
In a press release, the subcommittee said: "While the FBI claims it 'does not categorize investigations as domestic terrorism based on the religious beliefs—to include Catholicism—of the subject involved,' an FBI-wide memorandum originating from the FBI's Richmond Field Office did just that."
The release continued: "The FBI's Richmond memorandum is a startling reminder that Americans' civil liberties and core Constitutional rights must be vigorously guarded against government overreach, including in this case from an overzealous federal law enforcement agency."
In addition, FBI Director Christopher Wray has been grilled by senators about the memo. During a congressional hearing earlier this month, he said he was left "aghast" by the document.
He testified that none of the people involved in the creation of the memo had been fired because they "were not found to have engaged in any intentional or bad faith conduct." But he added that the matter would be factored into their annual performance reviews, which would directly affect their compensation.
Trump said Thursday that if he is reelected next year, he would create a new task force dedicated to "fighting anti-Christian bias" and lead a reform of the DOJ that would "investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and the persecution of Christians in America as well as the use of taxpayer dollars to promote anti-Christian bigotry."
The former president said the task force would also review past DOJ prosecutions for evidence of prejudice and probe any government agencies, higher educational institutions and major corporations that have deployed an "anti-Christian diversity, equity and inclusion program."
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs—which aim to address inequities against historically marginalized groups, typically on matters of race and gender—have been widely criticized by Republicans for unfairly favoring marginalized groups over other demographics.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, DEI programs have been attacked by conservatives who say they contribute to a rise in antisemitism at colleges.
Update 12/22/23, 2:12 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a comment from the FBI.
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