This week, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a series of letters and preservation notices to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, continuing the Committee Republicans’ oversight of the Biden Administration’s use of law-enforcement resources, including counterterrorism resources, to target parents at school board meetings.
Excepts of the letter to Klain:
“We are investigating the Biden Administration’s misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings. We know from publicly available information that employees of the Executive Office of the President were involved in discussions surrounding the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) September 29, 2021, letter to President Biden and the letter’s specific request that the Biden Administration use the Patriot Act to target parents. We also know that President Biden called the NSBA head to tell her he was ‘appreciative’ of the letter and to invite her to the Oval Office. The American people, however, deserve much more accountability and transparency about the Biden Administration’s anti-parent directives.
“On June 14, 2022, Committee Republicans wrote to you requesting documents and information regarding the White House’s collusion with the NSBA and its involvement in effectuating the misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources against parents. Now over four months later, you have failed to produce any of the requested documents or information. This is unacceptable.
“Parents voicing their concerns at school board meetings are not domestic terrorists. Yet, the Attorney General’s anti-parent directive of October 4, 2021, remains in effect, and as a result, the threat of federal law enforcement continues to chill the First Amendment rights of American parents. Committee Republicans intend to continue to pursue this serious misuse of federal law-enforcement resources, including if necessary into the 118th Congress. We reiterate our requests, which are itemized in the attached appendix and incorporated herein, and ask that you produce the entirety of the requested material as soon as possible but no later than October 31, 2022.”
Excepts of the letter to Cardona:
“We are investigating the Biden Administration’s misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings. We know from publicly available information that the Biden Administration, including the Education Department, colluded with the National School Boards Association to manufacture a pretext for the use of federal law-enforcement authorities against parents. The American people, however, deserve much more accountability and transparency.
“On November 16, 2021, we wrote to you requesting documents and information regarding your Department’s interactions with the NSBA and the subsequent appointment of then-NSBA President Dr. Viola Garcia to the National Assessment Governing Board. To date, over eleven months later, the Department has only responded with a generic, hollow response letter, and has not produced any of the requested documents or information. This letter did not sufficiently respond to our reasonable requests or alleviate our concerns.”
Excerpt of the letter to Mayorkas:
“We know from publicly available information that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees were involved in discussions surrounding the National School Boards Association’s September 29, 2021, letter to President Biden and its request that the Biden Administration use the Patriot Act to target parents. The American people, however, deserve much more accountability and transparency.
“On June 14, 2022, Committee Republicans wrote to you requesting documents and information regarding DHS’s involvement in the Biden Administration’s misuse of federal law-enforcement resources. The Department responded to this request—over three months later—on September 16, 2022, stating that it was ‘working to identify responsive records.’ As of today, over four months since our initial request and a month since your initial response, the Department has failed to produce any of the requested documents or information.”
Read the full letter to Klain here. Read the full letter to Cardona here. Read the full letter to Mayorkas here.