On Wednesday, Republican Congressmen Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson disclosed in a bombshell letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland that a whistleblower has come forward revealing that the FBI has "labeled at least dozens of investigations into parents with a threat tag created by the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division to assess and track investigations related to school boards."
🚨 SMOKING GUN: Whistleblowers reveal the FBI has labeled dozens of investigations into parents with a threat tag created by the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division pic.twitter.com/uDMd7x1no3
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) May 11, 2022
Now, Congressmen Jordan and Johnson are asking Attorney General Garland to produce more information on the investigations and to fulfill previous requests from Republicans regarding the DOJ's targeting of concerned parents:
Committee Republicans have been investigating the Biden Administration’s misuse of law-enforcement resources to target concerned parents since last fall. 6 You have failed to substantively respond to our requests for documents and your sworn testimony to the Committee is now contradicted by whistleblower information. Please be assured that Committee Republicans will not let this matter drop.
Here are some examples of investigations labeled with the FBI's new threat tag targeting parents:
• In one investigation begun following your directive, the FBI’s [redacted] Field Office interviewed a mom for allegedly telling a local school board “we are coming for you.” The complaint, which came into the FBI through the National Threat Operations Center snitch-line, alleged that the mom was a threat because she belonged to a “right wing mom’s group” known as “Moms for Liberty” and because she “is a gun owner.” When an FBI agent interviewed the mom, she told the agent that she was upset about the school board’s mask mandates and that her statement was a warning that her organization would seek to replace the school board with new members through the electoral process.
• The FBI’s [redacted] Field Office opened an investigation, subsequent to your directive, into a dad opposed to mask mandates. The complaint came in through the National Threat Operations Center snitch-line and alleged that the dad “fit the profile of an insurrectionist” because he “rails against the government,” “believes all conspiracy theories,” and “has a lot of guns and threatens to use them.” When an FBI agent interviewed the complainant, the complainant admitted they had “no specific information or observations of . . . any crimes or threats,” but they contacted the FBI after learning the Justice Department had a website “to submit tips to the FBI in regards to any concerning behavior directed toward school boards.”
• In another case initiated after your directive, the FBI’s [redacted] Field Office opened an investigation into Republican state elected officials over allegations from a state Democratic party official that the Republicans “incited violence” by expressing public displeasure with school districts’ vaccine mandates. This complaint also came into the FBI through the National Threat Operations Center snitch-line.
As Congressman Jordan noted to Fox News, Attorney General Garland assured Congress last fall that counterterrorism resources would not be used to go after parents:
If you're a mom, you're a dad, you're a gun owner, you're a Republican and you're standing up for your kids, oh my goodness, look out, because here comes the FBI. And again, in a direct contradiction to what he told us under oath in the committee. Never forget this… remember how quickly this happened. Sept. 29, the School Board Association sends a letter to the Biden White House. Five days later, Oct. 4, Merrick Garland issues this memorandum that lays out, put this snitch line together, to go after parents. And then 16 days later, the FBI sends out the email that establishes this threat tag designation that was put on these parents. All that happened last fall in 22 days. When have you ever seen the federal government move that fast? So they move that fast because they were going after people… just like the Obama White House went after, and the Obama IRS went after, conservatives. Same dynamic here.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) May 12, 2022
Just like their status quo on numerous other issues, parental rights is an area where the Biden Administration refuses to be forthcoming with the American people.