Garland Visibly Upset After Lawmaker Presses Him On Anti-Catholic FBI Memo

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland became visibly upset after a House lawmaker pressed him about the FBI producing a memo earlier this year that labeled so-called Radical-Traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.

During a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Garland faced a barrage of questions over the Biden Administration’s actions over the last two years.

But when Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) asked about the Department of Justice and FBI persecuting traditional Catholics, the question triggered an enraged response from the attorney general.

“I have no idea what ‘traditional’ means here,” Garland said.

“Catholics that go to church,” Van Drew replied. “Yes or no?”

“The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous — is so absurd,” Garland said.

“Mr. Attorney General,” Van Drew interrupted. “It was your FBI that did this. It was your FBI, and we have the memos and emails [sic] sending undercover agents into Catholic churches.”

Earlier this year, FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin first published in UncoverDC, an unclassified intelligence document out of the bureau’s Richmond field office that targeted traditional Catholics who are “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists in radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology.”

Seraphin wrote in his piece for UncoverDC that the intelligence document shows a permissive tolerance within the bureau for left-leaning ideological actors that furthers the weaponization of the FBI against conservative Americans and could lead to “investigations into Americans in violation of their God-given, First Amendment-protected civil liberties.”

Almost immediately after the document leaked, FBI authorities purged the ant-Catholic memo from its system, saying the bureau would “never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.”

During the Wednesday hearing, Garland said that the memo “appalled” both him and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“Are they extremists or not — I’m asking a simple question,” Van Drew said. “Say no, if you think that was wrong?”

“Catholics are not extremists, no,” Garland admitted.

When Van Drew asked if federal officials fired anyone for producing the memo, Garland said, “I don’t know.”

Attorney General Garland responds to Rep. Jeff Van Drew's (R-NJ) questions about the DOJ and FBI persecuting traditional Catholics: "The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous! So absurd!" pic.twitter.com/RKoTcXIL0o

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 20, 2023

Garland, who is Jewish, said during his opening statement at the hearing that his family fled antisemitism and persecution in Eastern Europe in the early 1900s.

“This country took her in, and under the protection of our laws, she was able to live without fear of persecution,” Garland said of his grandmother.

“Repaying this country for the debt my family owes for our very lives has been the focus of my entire professional career,” he later said.

Tucker Carlson Debunks ‘Totally Made Up’ Story That Claimed DeSantis Kicked His Dog

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson debunked a claim this week that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis kicked Carlson’s dog while meeting with Carlson and his wife, Susie Carlson.

The claim was contained in a new book — “The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty” — from author Michael Wolff, whose work in the past has often been criticized as not accurate.

Wolff claimed in his book:

The Carlsons are dog people with four spaniels, the progeny of other spaniels they have had before, who sleep in their bed. DeSantis pushed the dog under the table. Had he kicked the dog? Susie Carlson’s judgment was clear: She did not ever want to be anywhere near anybody like that ever again. Her husband agreed. DeSantis, in Carlson’s view, was a “fascist.” Forget Ron DeSantis.

In a statement to The Daily Wire, Carlson said of Wolff’s claims: “It’s totally made up. Ridiculous actually.”

“This is absurd,” Carlson said in a separate statement to Insider. “He never touched my dog, obviously.”

DeSantis’ presidential campaign also strongly pushed back on the story, calling it “absurd and false.”

“Some will say or write anything to attack Ron DeSantis because they know he presents a threat to their worldview,” said Communications Director Andrew Romeo. “But rest assured that as president the one thing he will squarely kick is the DC elitists in both parties either under or over the table, and that’s why they are so desperately fighting back.”

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Wolff’s reputation is so suspect that CNN wrote a report on Tuesday urging people to be skeptical of Wolff’s new book attacking their archrival Fox News.

“When reading and reporting on the book, journalists and the public at large would be smart not to mistake Wolff’s word for the word of God,” CNN’s left-wing media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote. “Wolff has a history of printing claims that end up being strongly disputed by the subjects themselves. Critics have chided him in the past for sloppy or unethical reporting practices. And his bestselling ‘Fire & Fury’ even contained outright factual errors.”

CNN noted that a “quick glance” of Wolff’s new book showed that he made “sloppy mistakes, struggling to even spell the names of top Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Jesse Watters.”

Sources at Fox News told CNN that Wolff did not even attempt to fact check the claims in his book.

“When it comes to reporting on any subject, however, taking basic fact-checking measures is important,” CNN added. “With Fox News, where an author might be basing major claims using less-than-reliable sources, the risks are more pronounced, making such reporting efforts even more paramount. Some sources could harbor an agenda — and it takes little effort or risk to provide information as an unnamed source.”

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