BREAKING: House GOP demand AG Garland retract his letter instructing FBI to investigate parents

The House Judiciary Committee members demanded that Garland retract his own memo that instructed the FBI to investigate concerned parents who attend school board meetings to hold them accountable for their children's educations. Garland's memo was in response to a letter from the National School Boards Association demanding action against parents, for which they then apologized on Friday.

In demanding that Garland withdraw his letter, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio noted the apology from NSBA, saying that "Because the NSBA letter was the basis for your memorandum and given that your memorandum has been and will continue to be read as threatening parents and chilling their protected First Amendment rights, the only responsible course of action is for you to fully and unequivocally withdraw your memorandum immediately."

This comes after Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee last week that he had trusted the word of the NSBA when he directed the FBI to start their investigation, without looking into the matter further himself.

Jordan wrote that during that hearing, Garland "acknowledged that you issued the unusual directive soon after reading about the thinly sourced letter sent by the [NSBA] to President Biden and not because of any specific request from state or local law enforcement."

Additionally, Garland had been entirely unaware of a case in Loudoun County, Virg., one of the wealthiest counties in the country, where a father had been arrested for speaking out at a school board meeting about the school board's unwillingness to deal with the fact that his daughter had been raped in a school bathroom by a male student taking part in the transgender bathroom policy allowing students to use the bathroom pertaining to their gender self-ID.

That father's outburst was one of those mentioned in the NSBA letter. The Daily Wire investigated that incident and uncovered the truth, that he was speaking up for his teen daughter in the face of a recalcitrant school board that refused to take action after she had been forcefully sodomized by a male student.

Garland wrote on Oct. 4 that the FBI and US Attorney's Offices would meet with law enforcement leaders across the country "to discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend."

"Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values," Garland said. "Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety."

That letter was in response to a letter from the NSBA of Sept. 29 sent to President Joe Biden asking for him to direct agencies to use all the tools they would use to combat domestic terrorism to investigate threats against school boards.

This letter did not have the backing of many school boards across the country, and once that became plain, the NSBA on Friday said that they "regret and apologized for the letter" they had sent asking for the Department of Justice to get the FBI to investigate parents using the Patriot Act.

The letter was signed by Reps. Jim Jordan, Steve Chabot, Louie Gohmert, Darrell Issa, Ken Buck, Matt Gaetz, Mike Johnson, and Andy Biggs.