'No legitimate basis': Biden admin blasted for directive telling FBI to investigate parents at school board meetings

WASHINGTON (TND) — The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released an interim report Tuesday, pertaining to its investigation into the FBI's alleged targeting of parents at school board meetings.

The report contested that there was "no legitimate basis" for Attorney General Merrick Garland's October 2021 memorandum directing federal law enforcement to begin working with local law enforcement to root out "a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators" stemming from contentious school board meetings.

The committee's investigation into whether the federal government was targeting disgruntled parents at school board meetings began following Garland's memo, which critics insist was spurred by a National School Boards Association (NSBA) letter that described parental actions at school board meetings as "domestic terrorism and hate crimes." The NSBA letter was later retracted by the organization amid immense backlash.

Although the Biden Administration declined to cooperate with this oversight in the 117th Congress, whistleblower disclosures and a report commissioned by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) shed some light on how the Biden Administration colluded with the NSBA to create a justification to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources against parents," the Judiciary Committee's interim report insists.

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As a result of the Biden administration's apparent lack of cooperation with its investigation, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed the Justice Department, the FBI and the Department of Education for relevant documents and information.

According to the committee's interim report, the documents and information obtained through its subpoena powers, as well as other evidence, showed no sign "of a legitimate nationwide basis for the Attorney General's directive to insert federal law enforcement into local school board matters."

It is apparent that the Biden Administration misused federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources for political purposes," the Judiciary Committee's interim report argues.

This weaponization of law-enforcement powers against American parents exercising their First Amendment rights is dangerous," the report goes on. "The Justice Department subjected moms and dads to the opening of an FBI investigation about them, the establishment of an FBI case file that includes their political views, and the application of a 'threat tag' to their names as a direct result of their exercise of their fundamental constitutional right to speak and advocate for their children."

The committee previously asked Garland to "rescind" his October 2021 memo, but, according to the interim report, he has refused to do so thus far.

The committee concluded in its report that the evidence produced to date allows for a better understanding of what took place, but still does not tell "the whole story."

Therefore, the committee and select subcommittee intend to "continue to pursue the relevant facts to inform legislative reforms to protect American civil liberties."