Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and other state attorneys general this week repudiated the Biden administration as well as the National School Boards Association (NSBA) for colluding with one another to threaten parents nationwide.
Carr announced the news Wednesday in an emailed press release.
Fourteen state attorneys general sent a letter expressing their outrage to the Biden administration, and 12 state attorneys general sent a letter to the NSBA, the press release said.
NSBA officials, in a September 29 letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ), accused parents nationwide of “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” This, the NSBA officials went on to say, warranted the feds invoking the Patriot Act.
The state attorneys general said last week that the Biden administration provided no convincing evidence of any significant spike in threats against school personnel. They also said these actions “seem designed to chill the lawful dissent of parents who express concerns about their children’s education at local public school board meetings.”
In Tuesday’s letter to Biden, the state attorneys general said the DOJ did not rely on information provided by private citizens.
“As Attorney General [Merrick] Garland observed in his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, in an e- mail to the NSBA Board dated September 29, 2021, the NSBA Executive Director stated that he had been ‘in talks over the last several weeks with White House staff, they requested additional information on some of the specific threats, so the letter details many of the incidents that have been occurring,’” according to the state attorneys general’s letter.
“In addition, Attorney General Garland admitted that the DOJ officials were involved in discussions with the NSBA and the White House over the now repudiated NSBA letter that formed the factual basis for the October 4, 2021 memorandum.”
The state attorneys general went on to say that potential collusion between the White House, the DOJ, and the NSBA —as a pretext for threats against parents—raises serious concerns.
“Officials with the awesome power to initiate criminal actions using the USA PATRIOT ACT abuse citizens when they solicit, as an excuse for mobilizing federal law enforcement, complaints against ordinary Americans who merely disagree with local school officials,” the attorneys general said.
The NSBA’s Board of Directors have since repudiated their September 29 letter.
“With the NSBA’s repudiation of its core allegations, the White House and the DOJ must in turn disavow their own involvement in this offensive episode,” the state attorneys general told Biden.
In Tuesday’s letter to the NSBA, the state attorneys general said that the group’s colluding with the White House and the DOJ “have been both reprehensible and offensive.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
