FBI Rescinds Memo Citing Southern Poverty Law Center After Daily Signal Report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation rescinded a report on “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” on Thursday, one day after an FBI whistleblower published the document and The Daily Signal reached out to the FBI for comment. Former FBI agents condemned the document for citing the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-wing smear factory infamous for branding mainstream conservative and Christian organizations “hate groups” and placing them on a map with Ku Klux Klan chapters.

“While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product—disseminated only within the FBI—regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI,” the FBI told The Daily Signal in a statement emailed Thursday.

“Upon learning of the document, FBI Headquarters quickly began taking action to remove the document from FBI systems and conduct a review of the basis for the document,” the bureau added. “The FBI is committed to sound analytic tradecraft and to investigating and preventing acts of violence and other crimes while upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans and will never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.”

More From Daily Signal: