{"id":924364,"date":"2021-10-26T11:59:33","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T15:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=924364"},"modified":"2021-10-26T11:59:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T15:59:36","slug":"gop-leaders-fire-off-letter-demanding-garland-withdraw-memo-to-fbi-about-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-leaders-fire-off-letter-demanding-garland-withdraw-memo-to-fbi-about-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Leaders Fire Off Letter Demanding Garland Withdraw Memo To FBI About Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgop-leaders-fire-off-letter-demanding-garland-withdraw-memo-to-fbi-about-schools%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=924364&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On Monday, a group of GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee fired off a <a href=\"https:\/\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-10-25-HJC-GOP-to-Garland-re-school-memo.pdf\">letter<\/a> to Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding he \u201cfully and unequivocally withdraw\u201d his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/ag\/page\/file\/1438986\/download?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\">memorandum<\/a> that \u201ctarget[ed] concerned parents at school board meetings\u201d and was sent to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>The group started by referring to Garland\u2019s testimony before the Judiciary Committee last week concerning the October 4, 2021, memorandum, calling the testimony \u201ctroubling.\u201d They pointed out:<\/p>\n<p><em>You acknowledged that you issued the unusual directive soon after reading about the thinly sourced letter sent by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to President Biden and not because of any specific request from state or local law enforcement. You appeared to be surprised that the Department\u2019s press release publicizing your memorandum noted the involvement of the National Security Division, the Departmental component responsible for prosecuting terrorism cases\u2014despite testifying that concerned parents expressing themselves is protected First Amendment activity.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou admitted to being completely unaware of a widely reported, high-profile case in Loudoun County, Virginia, cited in the NSBA\u2019s letter as an example of domestic terrorism, in which a father angrily confronted the local school board about the heinous sexual assault of his daughter,\u201d they continued.<\/p>\n<p>They turned to Garland\u2019s efforts to avoid discussing the effect of his memorandum:<\/p>\n<p><em>During your testimony, you sidestepped the obvious effect of your ill-conceived memorandum and the chilling effect that invoking the full weight of the federal law enforcement apparatus would have on parents\u2019 protected First Amendment speech. Parents have an undisputed right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, especially as school boards attempt to install controversial curricula. Local law enforcement\u2014and not the FBI\u2014are the appropriate authorities to address any local threats or violence.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn October 22, 2021, the NSBA expressed regret about and formally apologized for its letter to President Biden,\u201d they noted, claiming, \u201cBecause the NSBA letter was the basis for your memorandum and given that your memorandum has been and will continue to be read as threatening parents and chilling their protected First Amendment rights, the only responsible course of action is for you to fully and unequivocally withdraw your memorandum immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the memorandum, Garland wrote:<\/p>\n<p><em>In recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation\u2019s public schools. \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Department takes these incidents seriously<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, a group of GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee fired off a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding he \u201cfully and unequivocally withdraw\u201d his memorandum that \u201ctarget[ed] concerned parents at school board meetings\u201d and was sent to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and federal prosecutors.The group started by referring to Garland\u2019s testimony before the Judiciary Committee last week concerning the October 4, 2021, memorandum, calling the testimony \u201ctroubling.\u201d They pointed out:You acknowledged that you issued the unusual directive soon after reading about the thinly sourced letter sent by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to President Biden and not because of any specific request from state or local law enforcement. You appeared to be surprised that the Department\u2019s press release publicizing your memorandum noted the involvement of the National Security Division, the Departmental component responsible for prosecuting terrorism cases\u2014despite testifying that concerned parents expressing themselves is protected First Amendment activity.\u201cYou admitted to being completely unaware of a widely reported, high-profile case in Loudoun County, Virginia, cited in the NSBA\u2019s letter as an example of domestic terrorism, in which a father angrily confronted the local school board about the heinous sexual assault of his daughter,\u201d they continued.They turned to Garland\u2019s efforts to avoid discussing the effect of his memorandum:During your testimony, you sidestepped the obvious effect of your ill-conceived memorandum and the chilling effect that invoking the full weight of the federal law enforcement apparatus would have on parents\u2019 protected First Amendment speech. Parents have an undisputed right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, especially as school boards attempt to install controversial curricula. Local law enforcement\u2014and not the FBI\u2014are the appropriate authorities to address any local threats or violence.\u201cOn October 22, 2021, the NSBA expressed regret about and formally apologized for its letter to President Biden,\u201d they noted, claiming, \u201cBecause the NSBA letter was the basis for your memorandum and given that your memorandum has been and will continue to be read as threatening parents and chilling their protected First Amendment rights, the only responsible course of action is for you to fully and unequivocally withdraw your memorandum immediately.\u201dIn the memorandum, Garland wrote:In recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation\u2019s public schools. \u2026The Department takes these incidents seriously and is committed to using its authority and resources to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate. In the coming days, the Department will announce a series of measures designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel. \u2026 \u00a0I am directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with each United States Attorney, to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders in each federal judicial district within 30 days of the issuance of this memorandum. These meetings will facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.Last Thursday, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) grilled Garland over a possible conflict of interest from the\u00a0memorandum. In the letter, the National School Boards Association stated, \u201cAs these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.\u201dJohnson pointed out a federal regulation dealing with rules of impartiality for executive branch employees and officials in reference to Garland\u2019s son-in-law, who reportedly co-founded a company that publishes and sells materials sympathetic to Critical Race Theory and so-called \u201canti-racism\u201d ideas to schools across the country.Johnson repeatedly asked Garland if he had asked for ethical guidance as to the propriety of the memo; Garland repeatedly answered that the memorandum targeted \u201cviolence and threats of violence\u201d but would not commit to any kind of an ethics inquiry.Johnson pointed out, \u201cWe need objective third-parties to review our activities. You don\u2019t get to make that decision yourself.\u201dThe Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}