The Trump administration on Friday fired five F.B.I. employees tied to a 2023 internal intelligence document that conservatives have said was anti-Catholic, according to people familiar with the dismissals.
The decision by Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, is the latest move by the administration to push out law enforcement personnel it accuses of “weaponizing” the government against President Trump, his supporters and conservatives generally. Some former federal law enforcement officials have said those efforts amount to a purge of the ranks of independent civil servants, turning law enforcement agencies into ideologically driven arms of the presidency.
The 11-page memo, produced in 2023 by analysts at the bureau’s office in Richmond, Va., has been cited by Republicans as evidence of bias by investigators against Catholics and conservatives. The memo said far-right extremists could be attracted to Catholic churches or groups, and suggested that investigators develop sources in that community.
Shortly after the firings, Mr. Patel posted on social media: “This FBI will never infringe on religious freedom.”
David Laufman, a lawyer representing the five fired employees, called the action “manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts, and in violation of F.B.I. policy and procedure. These individuals deserved far better for the exceptional public service they rendered.”
For decades, the F.B.I. has worked to develop tipsters and what it calls “tripwires” at businesses, churches, universities and mosques, in order to alert them of suspicious or alarming behavior. Yet the Richmond memo, as it is being called, became a talking point on the right as Republicans argued that it showed the bureau was targeting Catholics in violation of their religious rights under the Constitution.
The memo said investigators had noticed that “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” seemed increasingly interested in “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology, and that interest “presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development.”
Public reporting and F.B.I. investigations “have noted a growing overlap between the far-right white nationalist movement” and “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology, the memo said.
The memo was not meant to be made public but after it was leaked and attracted public criticism, senior F.B.I. officials withdrew it. An internal review concluded in 2024 that it violated professional standards but showed “no evidence of malicious intent.”
More recently, the Trump administration released a report describing the “weaponization” of the Justice Department by the Biden administration, citing the Richmond memo as one example.
That report, issued in April, said the Richmond memo was based in part on “misplaced reliance on baseless allegations from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the religious affiliation of a single law enforcement target who happened to identify himself as a ‘radical traditional Catholic.’”
That same month, the Justice Department indicted the S.P.L.C., a civil rights group that has long tracked hate groups, accusing it of defrauding donors by using their money to secretly pay informants inside extremist organizations. The group has denied the accusations and accused the Trump administration of targeting it for political reasons.
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
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