'Moderate' Gov Abigail Spanberger Taps Former FBI Official Behind Retracted Biden-Era Memo Targeting Catholics as Terror Threat To Lead Prison Reform Council
The document called for surveillance of Catholic churches in Virginia and based its concerns that traditionalist congregants could be domestic terrorists on findings from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has a long history of labeling conservative groups as extremist and is now facing wire fraud charges. The memo leaked a few weeks later, and the FBI retracted it shortly thereafter. Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond called the memo a "threat to religious liberty" and urged lawmakers to "ensure that such offenses against the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion do not occur again," the Catholic outlet EWTN News reported.
- ▪The document called for surveillance of Catholic churches in Virginia and based its concerns that traditionalist congregants could be domestic terrorists on findings from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has a long history of labeling
- ▪The memo leaked a few weeks later, and the FBI retracted it shortly thereafter.
- ▪Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond called the memo a "threat to religious liberty" and urged lawmakers to "ensure that such offenses against the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion do not occur again," the Cat
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| Publication time | Mon, 13 Jul 2026 09:00:38 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-13T09:27:44.040Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-13T09:33:01.667Z |
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Democrats 'Moderate' Gov Abigail Spanberger Taps Former FBI Official Behind Retracted Biden-Era Memo Targeting Catholics as Terror Threat To Lead Prison Reform Council The panel Stanley Meador is co-chairing includes seats reserved for faith-based organizations Stanley Meador (FBI via Wikimedia Commons), Abigail Spanberger (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Jessica Schwalb July 13, 2026 image/svg+xml .st0{fill:none;stroke:#384f61;stroke-width:2;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:10;} .st1{fill:none;stroke:#384f61;stroke-width:2;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:10;} A cabinet official "moderate" Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger (D.) tapped to co-lead a prison reform council headed the FBI field office in Richmond that issued an infamous, since-retracted…
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