Whistleblowers may be telling GOP members the truth. Attorney General Merrick Garland was lying to Congress when it was denied that parents were being investigated for counterterrorism related to the “crime of getting mad at school board meetings.”
Garland stated that he couldn’t think of any situation in which the Patriot Act could be used to address parents complaining about their children. He also said that he cannot imagine domestic terrorism being applied to them.
However, whistleblowers informed GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee that Garland did exactly that. Witnesses say that “dozens” were investigated with the Patriot Act counterterrorism tools at their disposal.
In a Wednesday letter to Attorney General Garland, the GOP senators note that charges were not filed. The FBI opened an FBI investigation into them and established an FBI case file with their political views. They also applied a “threat tag” to their names. This was in direct response to their exercising their constitutional right to advocate for their children.
Parents of the targeted children had opposed school COVID-19 requirements for vaccines and masks. The letter to Garland stated that the FBI used “counterterrorism resources” to investigate First Amendment protected activity.
The lawmakers noted that each of the parents was identified with the threat tag “EDUOFFICIALS” and they were found in “almost every country and related to all types of educational settings.” They stated that the information they received showed how federal law enforcement uses counterterrorism resources to investigate First Amendment protected activity as a direct result. Reps. Jim Jordan (the ranking member of this committee) and Mike Johnson (the ranking member on the subcommittee of civil rights and civil liberties) signed the letter.
According to the letter which provided three examples, the FBI opened an investigation into parents based upon tips from a “National Threat Operations Center” snitch line.
🚨 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
Unidentified Democrats used the “snitch” line to report differences with Republican counterparts in a state legislature. Referrals were made over allegations that a state Democratic Party official had said that Republicans “incited violence” by criticizing school districts’ vaccination mandates. The FBI received the complaint through the National Threat Operations Center’s snitch line.
Another example was a man described as “the profile an insurrectionist” who was under investigation for not complying with mandates. He also had a gun. According to the letter, the congressmen claimed that the FBI had taken seriously the claims that the man “rails towards the government,” believed all conspiracy theories, and “owns a lot of guns and threatens them with using them.” However, after an investigation was opened and the threat tag was attached to the name of the man, an agent spoke to him to find out “that the complainant said they didn’t have any specific information or observations about. . . they were threatening or committing crimes.” They called the snitch phone after finding out that the Justice Department had a website where they could submit tips to the FBI about any concerning behavior directed at school boards.
Jordan and Johnson gave one more example of the “dozens” that they claimed took place. The FBI field office was contacted by a tipper to the “snitch-line” who dropped a dime on an anti-mandate mom. She had allegedly told a local school board that “we are coming after you.” The letter stated that “the FBI received a complaint through the National Threat Operations Center and that the mother was considered a threat due to her membership in a ‘right-wing moms’ group called ‘Moms for Liberty,’ as well as because she ‘is a gun owner. The FBI agents were told by the terror mom that she intended to work for the replacement of the school board members.
Al Queda and ISIS are not for everyone, Merrick Garland is one example.
Garland was required to turn over all documents and materials in the letter addressed to Departmental components on November 1, 2021, November 2, 2021, November 3, 2021, and November 18, 2021.
Jordan expressed shock at President Biden’s use of law enforcement resources to target parents concerned since last fall.
Fox News’ Jordan said that it was “startling” that the concocted complaint filed by the National School Boards Association under the direction of the White House, and then turned into a counterterrorism investigation took 22 days. They were going after people, so they moved that fast. It’s just as bad as it gets.
