A whistleblower has revealed that the FBI investigated concerned parents after Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the agency to combat “threats of violence” against school board administrators last year.
In October of 2021, Merrick Garland issued a memorandum that expressed concern about a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools.”
To combat this alleged problem, Garland announced a 30-day plan that would have the FBI working with U.S attorneys across the country to discuss “strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.”
In the months that followed, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) conducted an investigation into this directive. In a letter issued to Garland on Wednesday, the two congressmen revealed that a whistleblower brought forward evidence that the FBI “labeled at least dozens of investigations into parents with a threat tag created by” the agency’s counterterrorism division “to assess and track investigations related to school boards.”
One FBI investigation centered on a mom described as a “right-wing” member of the group “Moms for Liberty.” Another investigation centered on a dad who “fit the profile of an insurrectionist” because he “rails against the government” and owned lots of guns.
“These cases include investigations into parents upset about mask mandates and state elected officials who publicly voiced opposition to vaccine mandates. These investigations into concerned parents are the direct result of, and would not have occurred but for, your directive to federal law enforcement to target these categories of people,” the congressmen’s letter said.