The FBI under the Biden administration took “minimal corrective action” after its Richmond office targeted traditional Catholics as possible extremists, defending the employees behind the scandal, giving them positive performance reviews, and continuing work on a revised memo after headquarters pulled the original product amid backlash, according to a new Justice Department report.
The DOJ’s 210-page Richmond Domain Perspective report, released Friday by the Trump administration‘s Weaponization Working Group, featured never-before-seen details charting the FBI’s extensive attempts to force a link between “domestic violent extremists” and Catholics. Trump administration officials described the episode as a “grave failure” by the Richmond Field Office to uphold First Amendment rights, while officials during the Biden era quietly praised staff handling the investigation.
The report details how the bureau built a theory about “radical-traditionalist Catholics” from three cases, including one involving a deceased person, despite failing to find a broader link between Catholics and domestic extremism. It then documents the Richmond office’s response after the memo leaked in February 2023, which describes the FBI’s efforts to protect the officials who drafted it and preserve their work.
How one violent suspect became an FBI theory about Catholics
The case that inspired the theory behind the memo involved a man identified as Target 1, whom the FBI had investigated since 2020 for violent, racist, and anti-government posts. Authorities found Molotov cocktails, weapons components, ammunition, and a target list at his Virginia residence in November 2022. He was later sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for possessing destructive devices.
In 2022, the man began attending several catechism classes at Our Lady of Fatima Chapel in Richmond, a chapel affiliated with the Society of St. Pius X. The chapel’s priest told the FBI that the man was not a church member, was not Catholic, and had never been to confession.
FBI reviews found no broad extremist link
The memo leaked on Feb. 8, 2023, and quickly sparked a backlash. Shortly after, the FBI Counterterrorism Division concluded that it saw no “significant linkage” between racially motivated violent extremists and the ideology described in the memo that would justify further FBI interest, analysis, or intelligence collection.
An internal tradecraft review likewise found that the memo effectively asserted “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology was violent and extremist without offering any evidence. It found the authors had not established a baseline for their claim that extremists were increasingly interested in Catholic traditionalism.
FBI headquarters ordered the memo removed from bureau systems. On Feb. 10, an FBI lawyer working on the removal told colleagues, “The 7th Floor is breathing down my neck on this one,” according to the newly-released documents.
Richmond staff kept working after memo was pulled
The withdrawal did not end the Richmond office’s effort to preserve the work.
On March 17, 2023, one of the memo’s drafters wrote, “I spent today tinkering with the DP,” using the abbreviation for Domain Perspective. The analyst said he had softened disputed language, changed the analytical line, added a substantiation point, and considered further sourcing.
Positive reviews followed formal admonishments
Richmond leadership, however, defended them behind the scenes.
At a July 7, 2023, staff meeting, the office’s assistant special agent in charge said, “There are no inconsistent performers in this room,” according to notes released by the Justice Department.
The Richmond special agent in charge apologized to the employees involved. When one analyst wrote that she was “terribly sorry” for what colleagues had endured because of the memo, the special agent in charge replied, “No apology needed.”
“Keep that head up, this too shall pass,” the official wrote. “Will make for a great chapter in your memoirs some day!”
Wray FBI leaned on ‘no malicious intent’ finding
That internal response matters because the bureau, under former Director Christopher Wray, relied heavily on the finding that “no evidence of malicious intent” had been proven.
Trump DOJ says personnel have since been removed
The report says the employees involved in the memo’s production have since been terminated. It does not identify them or give dates for their removals.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the report showed why the Trump administration would continue examining alleged weaponization of law enforcement against conservatives during the Biden years.
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<p>” data-large-file=”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/AP26226710568159.jpg?w=696″ src=”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/AP26226710568159.jpg?w=696″ alt=”Attorney General Todd Blanche” ><figcaption>Attorney General Todd Blanche listens as President Donald Trump speaks at the David Mack Center for Training and Intelligence, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, in Garden City, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)</figcaption></figure>
<p>“This Department of Justice will not tolerate a weaponized bureaucracy that chills First Amendment activity,” Blanche said in the <a target=)
Justice Department’s release. “The individuals who developed the Richmond Domain Perspective are no longer with the Department, and our Working Group’s efforts to investigate weaponization under the previous Administration will continue.”
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FBI Director Kash Patel called the memo “unacceptable” and said releasing records was part of the accountability process.
“Weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI,” Patel said. “Releasing information to the public about what occurred under the prior regime is an important part of the process.”