Former Trump senior advisor Stephen Miller‘s legal group is demanding the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General launch an investigation into Attorney General Merrick Garland‘s memo that directs the FBI to discuss threats against school board officials.
The Garland memo is exceptionally weak, stating: “I am directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with each United States Attorney, to convene meetings with federal state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders” to “facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats.”
Nothing more.
After months of coaching and training of “grassroots” activists by right wing groups, including parents across the country, the nation has witnessed countless threats against school board officials and education professionals by parents whose anger is falsely ginned up by Fox news and other right wing media claims over critical race theory, masks, and vaccines.
Miller sees it differently, claiming his group is “demanding an investigation into AG Garland’s memo unleashing federal law enforcement against parents fighting racism/CRT. Letter includes shocking info on origins of the memo.”
Look at that language: “unleashing,” “parents fighting racism,” “shocking info” – all designed to create outrage.
(Also, parents who oppose CRT are not “fighting racism.”)
Meanwhile, in addition to threats, school board officials have been subjected to verbal and even physical abuse – including death threats.
As NCRM has previously reported, school board members and educators in at least nine states this year have been targeted with threats, death threats, and often racist death threats, including in Virginia, Arizona, Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Vermont, according to local news reports.
According to Miller, who was one of the architects of Donald Trump’s child separation policy, parents engaging in these threats should not be subjected to legal investigation, but protection.
Miller’s Senior Counselor Reed Rubinstein claims that “the nationwide protests by parents against public school policies and practices—regarding Critical Race Theory indoctrination; anti- religious and anti-family gender ideology; and/or forced online education and mask mandates—are entitled to the most robust federal constitutional protection.”
Rubinstein claims that “the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and others, have combined to oppress, threaten, and intimidate parents to chill and prevent them from exercising the rights or privileges secured by the Constitution,” offering no reason why they would do this, especially given they have not done it before.
He also claims, again, offering no proof, that in “early September, Biden Administration stakeholders held discussions regarding avenues for potential federal action against parents with a key Biden Domestic Policy Council official (Jane Doe #1) and White House staff (John Doe #1). Stakeholders also held discussions with senior department officials, including at least one political appointee in the department’s Civil Rights Division (Jane Doe #2). Jane Doe #1, John Doe #1, and others in the White House separately expressed concern regarding the potential partisan political impact of parent mobilization and organization around school issues in the upcoming midterm elections.”