A newly issued report by the Department of Justice reveals that law enforcement officials from multiple federal agencies pushed back on a Biden-era plan to label parents who protested at school board meetings as “domestic terrorists” and prosecute them under federal law.
Multiple officials warned that the move was likely outside federal jurisdiction, was unlawful since it implicated the parents’ First Amendment free speech rights, and would be seen as political.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” one attorney said in an email criticizing the plan.
“If they do this, they might as well rename the damn thing the Anti-MAGA Task Force,” another said.
Attorney General Todd Blanche told The Epoch Times that much of his work, and that of FBI Director Kash Patel, has been to divert federal law enforcement “back to the basics,” such as eliminating drugs and cartels, uprooting fraud, and stopping violent crime.
“If prosecutors and agents are working on those types of crimes, they don’t have time to meddle in places they shouldn’t be meddling in,” Blanche told Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekieklek on Oct. 5.
According to Monday’s report by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Weaponization Working Group, the 2021 plan was implemented despite the pushback, and included efforts to tie protesting parents to “threats against elections officials,” looping in the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ.
“We did not sign up for this and object in the strongest terms,” Public Integrity Section Chief Corey Amundson said when the plan was suggested. He warned that such an effort would be viewed as a partisan exercise that would tarnish the organization and severely handicap its work.
The plan, stemming from coordination between the DOJ under former Attorney General Merrick Garland and the National School Boards Association, called on the FBI and other federal entities to form a task force to investigate parents who were objecting to hot-button issues such as COVID-era mandates, critical race theory education, and school transgender policies.
On Sept. 29, 2021, the School Boards Association president and its interim CEO, Chip Slaven, issued a letter to then-President Joe Biden, citing “acts of violence” and threats against school officials, and asking these be labeled as “the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
The letter asked that such acts be punished under the Patriot Act and relevant hate crime statutes. Days later, on Oct. 4, 2021, Attorney General Garland issued a memo creating a task force to investigate the parents and determine appropriate federal involvement.
Following a public outcry, the Association rescinded its letter and apologized for its rhetoric. “We are going to do better going forward,” it said in an Oct. 22 statement to its members.
The DOJ’s report on Monday noted that, although 25 individuals were flagged for investigation, the task force didn’t actually prosecute anyone. However, one parent, whose protest against school policies came just days before the School Boards Association letter, narrowly dodged legal retaliation.
In May 2021, Scott Smith’s disabled daughter was raped in a bathroom stall at Stone Bridge High School by a male student who identified as transgender female. The school’s policy allowed such males to use female bathroom facilities.
Superintendent Scott Ziegler denied knowledge of the assault at a June 2021 Loudoun County Public School board meeting. “I think it’s important to keep our perspective on this, we’ve heard it several times tonight from our public speakers, but the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist,” he said.
When Smith challenged Ziegler’s claim, an activist called him a liar, and Smith responded by yelling back and pointing his finger at her.
He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
The assailant was convicted of sexual battery and forcible sodomy in October that same year. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin pardoned Smith weeks before his jury trial began in 2023.
