FBI Director Christopher Wray received a subpoena from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Friday, requiring him to turn over any agency communications or documents related to the alleged use of federal resources to target parents protesting at their local school board meetings.
The move stems from an October 2021 memo by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland directing the FBI to coordinate with state and local law enforcement across the country to develop “strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
In recent years, school board meetings have been sites for heated community debate and protest over issues like campus mask mandates, controversial library materials, transgender bathroom use, and Critical Race Theory.
In September 2021, the National School Board Association sent a letter to the Biden administration that likened the behavior of some parents and protesters to “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crime,” as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
A month later, The Dallas Express reported that a whistleblower subsequently claimed the FBI was designating certain investigations into parents and education activists with a “threat tag” created by the agency’s counterterrorism division, suggesting possible politicization at the bureau.
The current chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), previously accused the Biden administration of the “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings.”
Jordan leveled the allegation in a letter requesting documents from the U.S. Justice Department in October 2022, in which he referenced a collection of similar outstanding document requests the department has yet to honor.
“Parents voicing their concerns at school board meetings are not domestic terrorists. Yet, your anti-parent directive remains in effect, and as a result, the threat of federal law enforcement continues to chill the First Amendment rights of American parents,” wrote Jordan.
A spokesperson for the FBI national press office issued a statement to The Dallas Express, reading:
“As Director Wray and other FBI officials have stated clearly on numerous occasions before Congress and elsewhere, the FBI has never been in the business of investigating speech or policing speech at school board meetings or anywhere else, and we never will be.
“Our focus is and always will be on protecting people from violence and threats of violence. We are fully committed to preserving and protecting First Amendment rights including the right to free speech. Attempts to further any political narrative will not change those facts.”
The statement further insisted that the FBI was complying with the subpoena and working to produce the requested documents.
The Dallas Express reached out to the FBI’s Dallas field office and asked about any possible FBI investigations into parents and activists in the North Texas area that may have taken place in recent years.
A spokesperson responded, ignoring the question about North Texas and referring The Dallas Express back to the national office’s statement:
“Since they provided you with a statement from Director Wray, we have no further comment.”
I imagine we will just see more stonewalling by the DOJ, FBI and all of Biden’s Administration.
School boards are easy targets for crazies; FBI probably just doing their job. Consider the source; Gym, DX news and their conspiracy theorist audience.
A tactic I am sure they got from the Trump administration, and “Jacket Less” Jim Jordan himself.
Seems to me to be the usual Republican response. Investigate the investigators for “targeting” when THEIR supporters are the perpetrators. Only investigations into Democrats are “legitimate”. They love to latch on to PARTS of the truth, take it out of context, spread it as the WHOLE truth. Then push conspiracy theories and opinions that won’t hold up under sworn testimony.
Think of it this way. I see my neighbor watering their lawn with a sprinkler. Instead of the water going onto the lawn, it is going into the street. I decide to turn off the water, and the neighbor calls the police and tells them I should be arrested for turning off THEIR water. They neglect to tell them the reason I turned it off was because I felt it was being wasted.
Video doesnt lie but nice try!
This should be interesting since the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has FBI/DOJ emails proving they pulled this garbage on parents. Wray has proven time after time that he is dishonest and hiding information from Congress! Impeach Wray and Garland NOW!