Whistleblower: School parents really were targeted as terrorists by FBI after Biden directive

Are concerned parents really being treated as “domestic terrorists”? It seems unimaginable, but apparently some are.

Moms and dads of schoolchildren, in nearly every region of the US, now have an FBI case file with a “threat tag” because they dared to speak out against school boards, according to whistleblower information released Wednesday.

The revelations came in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland from House Republicans Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson, who serve on the House Judiciary Committee.

In one example, a mom was investigated because she is part of a “right wing mom’s group” known as “Moms for Liberty” – and because she “is a gun owner.” 

That case is just one of “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,” the letter reads. The trigger to most of the investigations appears to be a tips hotline that anyone can call to make an allegation.

The FBI investigations followed Garland’s directive in an Oct. 4 memo to the FBI, giving the agency 30 days to convene meetings in each of the nation’s judicial districts to address what he blanketly described as “violence, threats of violence, and other forms of intimidation and harassment” at school board meetings.

His memo came after the National School Boards Association requested assistance from the Biden administration in a letter that many interpreted as labeling parents as domestic terrorists: “the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” 

These documents were seen by many, including lawmakers, as an attempt to suppress parental involvement in local schools.

“The DOJ’s threat to investigate concerned parents as ‘domestic terrorists’ will intimidate those parents, chill free speech, and discourage lawful assemblies,” Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton posted to Twitter at the time.

Garland has denied that counterterrorism resources are being used to investigate parents, but the new revelations seem to contradict that. Indeed, Jordan and Johnson’s letter cites the specific “EDUOFFICIALS threat tag” used in the FBI files.

“This information is evidence of how the Biden administration is using federal law enforcement, including counterterrorism resources, to investigate concerned parents for protected First Amendment activity,” they write.