An unnamed FBI agent allegedly came forward accusing the agency of using counterterrorism tools against concerned parents at school board meetings across the country, a letter sent by Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, revealed on Tuesday.
The congressman’s letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland contained an FBI email allegedly given by the whistleblower, which revealed that the Counterterrorism and Criminal Division “created a threat tag, EDUOFFICIALS” to track threats made to school board members, teachers, or staff by parents or individuals, according to The Epoch Times.
“We ask that your offices apply the threat tag to investigations and assessments of threats specifically directed against school board administrators, board members, teachers, and staff,” the email claims. This email was signed by Counterterrorism Division Assistant Director Timothy Langan and then-Criminal Division assistant director Calvin Shivers.
In the letter, Jordan “calls into question” Garland’s Oct. 21 testimony where he denied any allegations that the FBI and Department of Justice were using counterterrorism tools to investigate school board threats.
The congressman claims that documents received by the whistleblower “provides specific evidence” that federal law enforcement used tools “at the behest of a left-wing special interest group against concerned parents.”
The letter states that the National School Boards Association issued a letter in September to Joe Biden labeling parents as domestic terrorists and demanding that the Justice Department use tools such as the Patriot Act to target concerned parents, which the association later apologized for. Days after, Garland issued a memorandum directing the FBI and other Departmental components to investigate threats against school board staff.
Jordan claims that the FBI’s actions “were an entirely foreseeable-and perhaps intended-result” of Garland’s Oct. 4 memorandum.
“The whistleblower disclosure calls into question the accuracy and completeness of your testimony before the Committee,” the letter reads. “At best, if we assume that you were ignorant of the FBI’s actions in response to your October 4 memorandum at the time of your testimony, this new evidence suggests that your testimony…was incomplete and requires additional explanation.”
“If however, you were aware of the FBI’s actions at the time of your testimony, this evidence showed that you willfully misled the Committee about the nature and extent of the Department’s use of counterterrorism tools to target concerned parents at school board meetings,” the congressman added.
The FBI denied allegations of targeting concerned parents in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.
“The FBI has never been in the business of investigating parents who speak out or policing speech at school board meetings, and we are not going to start now,” the agency said Tuesday. “We are fully committed to preserving and protecting First Amendment rights, including freedom of speech.”