Washington’s swamp just got murkier. Republicans are tightening the screws on Biden-era officials accused of spinning tales to Congress about everything from FBI memos to the former president’s health. The stench of obfuscation is hard to ignore.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) dropped a bombshell with internal FBI memos showing the bureau’s targeting of “radical traditionalist Catholics” was far broader than former FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed in 2023, as Just the News reports. These memos, unearthed through Grassley’s probe, paint a picture of an agency casting a wide net over religious groups. It’s a classic case of bureaucrats saying one thing while doing another.
In 2023, Wray told Congress that a January memo from the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, labeling traditional Catholics as potential extremists, was a lone wolf effort. “A single product by a single field office,” he called it. Funny how that “single” memo ended up in the hands of over 1,000 FBI personnel across 13 field offices.
The Richmond memo wasn’t just a one-off; it sparked at least 13 more documents using similar language. Nearly 20 analysts from multiple field offices accessed it, and other offices even chipped in on its creation. So much for Wray’s isolated incident narrative.
Grassley, not one to let sleeping dogs lie, accused Wray of stonewalling his investigation. “Congress needs to know who participated in this obstruction,” he wrote, pointing to a “pattern of deception.” When a senator smells a cover-up, it’s usually because something stinks.
The memo’s fallout triggered a Justice Department Inspector General review, led by Michael Horowitz. His findings? The memo’s link between Catholicism and violent extremism was flimsy, riddled with “errors in professional judgment.”
Horowitz cleared the FBI of malicious intent but flagged the need to investigate one threatening individual tied to the memo. The bureau, under Wray’s orders, scrubbed the memo from its systems after his July 2023 House Judiciary Committee testimony. Too little, too late, some might say.
“The memo is not something I will defend,” Wray admitted in 2023. Yet, his earlier downplaying of its scope suggests either ignorance or something more calculated. Neither option inspires confidence in the FBI’s leadership.
Grassley’s letter to current FBI Director Kash Patel warned that field offices might have acted on the memo’s biased sources, putting innocent Catholics under scrutiny. “This raises serious concerns,” he wrote. That’s putting it mildly when faith-based profiling is on the table.
The FBI memo isn’t the only Biden-era controversy. House Oversight Committee chair James Comer launched a probe into Biden’s use of an autopen to sign documents, including pardons, in his final days. Questions swirl about whether Biden, given his admitted mental decline, even knew what he was “signing.”
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions,” Biden insisted Wednesday. Sure, and the autopen just happened to scribble his name on pardons while he napped. Comer’s probe, seeking testimony from former aides like Ron Klain and Anita Dunn, aims to uncover who was really calling the shots.
President Donald Trump jumped in, ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the autopen use for possible deception about Biden’s mental state. If aides were puppeteering the presidency, that’s not just unethical -- it’s a constitutional crisis. The MAGA base is watching closely.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also caught heat in 2023 for claiming the border was secure. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan called him out, noting the FBI couldn’t track over 12 migrants linked to an ISIS-tied smuggler. “Your testimony under oath” doesn’t match reality, Jordan wrote, exposing another Biden official’s loose relationship with the truth.
House Republicans tried to impeach Mayorkas for failing to enforce immigration law and lying to Congress, but Senate Democrats killed the effort without a trial. They also pushed to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for dodging subpoenas about Biden’s classified documents mishandling. Both attempts fizzled, proving Congress’s bark is often worse than its bite.
These scandals -- FBI memos, autopen shenanigans, border lies -- point to a Biden administration more focused on narrative control than governance. Republicans, now with Trump’s backing, are digging for answers. If they keep pulling threads, the whole tapestry of Biden’s legacy might unravel.
