Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) made an accusation against Attorney General Merrick Garland following his testimony about Catholic churches and the FBI.
On Tuesday, Hawley posted a letter he wrote to Garland on his Twitter account about the issue.
Opening the letter, Hawley noted he questioned Garland “about recent anti-Catholic actions by the Department of Justice.”
The senator mentioned how he asked Garland if the Department of Justice had a “problem with anti-Catholic bias.”
He continued, “Your response could not have been clearer: according to you, the Department of Justice ‘does not have any bias against any religion of any kind.'”
The letter goes on to refer to questions asked about whether the department was “cultivating sources and spies in Latin mass parishes and other Catholic parishes around the country.”
Garland said at the time that was not happening.
“Finally, I asked you ‘how many informants do you have in Catholic churches across America?’ You denied the claim a third time: ‘I don’t know, and I don’t believe we have any informants aimed at Catholic churches.’ All of this was false, as recent investigative findings by the House Judiciary Committee show,” Hawley wrote.
Hawley suggested it is “altogether unclear how many other FBI field offices received these directives. The potential scale of this anti-Catholic program is extremely concerning.”
Read the letter below:
Merrick Garland told me – under oath – the FBI was not targeting Catholic parishes. That appears to have been a lie. I want the truth 👇 pic.twitter.com/HE8ncapeYz
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 11, 2023
The letter then argues the department “has decided to turn Catholic congregations into front organizations for the FBI, and when asked about it, you’ve decided to fudge the truth before Congress.”
Hawley added, “This is an unconscionable assault on American Catholics’ First Amendment rights and an abdication of your duty to enforce the law without fear or favor.”
Concluding the letter, Hawley wrote, “Everyone involved with this chilling surveillance campaign must face accountability.”
The letter comes a month after Republican senators pressed Garland during a hearing about a Catholic pro-life activist who was arrested while appearing to disregard the attacks on crisis pregnancy centers.