House Republicans are demanding answers from the Justice Department’s National Security Division in the wake of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s controversial school boards memo that was spurred by a since-withdrawn National School Boards Association letter comparing protesting parents to domestic terrorists.
Rep. Jim Jordan, ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter signed by 18 fellow Republicans to Mark Lesko, acting assistant attorney general for the NSD, calling upon the agency to provide information on its potential involvement in any school board protest crackdowns.
“We are continuing to investigate the troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target concerned parents at local school board meetings and chill their protected First Amendment activity,” the Republicans wrote. “It is unclear what threat the Department believes American parents pose to our national security, nor why the Department could view any threat posed by parents as requiring coordination with our foreign intelligence agencies. Unfortunately, in testimony before the Committee, Attorney General Garland was unable or unwilling to explain why he directed the National Security Division to participate in this ill-conceived endeavor.”
HOUSE GOP DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM 93 U.S. ATTORNEYS ABOUT GARLAND MEMO
Garland revealed to the House last month that DOJ and the White House communicated about the September NSBA letter just before Garland issued his memo. The NSBA letter said protesting parents were akin to domestic terrorists and urged DOJ to look into deploying the Patriot Act against them. Garland told lawmakers last month he could not “imagine a circumstance where [parents] would be labeled as domestic terrorism.”
Emails from the NSBA showed it was in touch with the White House about its letter prior to its publication. Internal emails also showed several NSBA board members objected to sending the letter to Biden, and the school boards group apologized for the letter the day after Garland’s House testimony last month. Garland stood by his memo during Senate testimony last week, though the House GOP has asked him to withdraw it.
While Garland’s memo did not mention the NSD, the accompanying DOJ press release did, naming it as part of the DOJ’s new task force, along with the FBI, aimed at combating allegations of threats and violence.
Jordan seized on the language last month to ask why the specialized DOJ arm would play a role in policing parents.
“You said there’s no way you’re going to be treating parents as domestic terrorists,” Jordan said. “But you’ve got the National Security Division in a press release regarding your memo that day.”
Garland insisted that his memo did not mention the NSD — even though it did.
The Republican letter pointed out that the NSD was created during the Patriot Act’s reauthorization and noted that its mission is to “protect the United States from threats to our national security by pursuing justice through the law.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Although Attorney General Garland testified that the NSBA letter to President Biden was the basis for his October 4 directive to insert federal law enforcement into local school board matters, the Attorney General has yet to rescind his memorandum,” the Republicans wrote. “His directives to the National Security Division remain in effect.”
The Republicans asked the NSD to hand over records, including “all documents and communications referring or relating to the establishment of the Department’s task force and the National Security Division’s role as a member of the task force” as well as “all documents and communications between employees of the Department of Justice and U.S. intelligence agencies referring or relating to alleged threats posed by concerned parents at local school board meetings” or tied to NSBA’s late September letter or Garland’s early October memo. The GOP also asked for “all agendas, minutes, and notes created by or relied upon by NSD employees referring or relating to the Department’s task force” and for an explanation of the role the division has played or what federal statutes “it intends to use in investigating concerned parents at school board meetings.” The GOP asked for these details by Nov. 16.
Garland doubled down on his memo during Senate Judiciary Committee testimony last week, arguing that the NSBA’s follow-up apology “does not change the association’s concern about violence and threats of violence.”
