FBI Director Christopher Wray was subpoenaed on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee for information relating to the accusation that the bureau targeted parents at school board meetings in 2021, according to Fox News.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed the Department of Education and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona as well on Friday, compelling the secretary to appear alongside Wray on March 1 on the school board issue, according to The Daily Caller. Jordan also sent a similar letter to the Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland, according to Breitbart.
The subpoenas compel the officials to testify in front of the committee on March 1 at 9 a.m. on the “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources” related to school board meetings. The subpoenas also seek documents and communications related to Garland’s October 4, 2021, memo directing the FBI to partner with local law enforcement to investigate threats against school boards and “prosecute them when appropriate,” according to Fox News.
Over the summer of 2021, parents came out en masse to pressure school boards on a slate of issues, including school mask mandates and the inclusion of gender studies and Critical Race Theory in classroom materials.
In late September, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for federal agents to investigate threats made against school board members.
“Coupled with attacks against school board members and educators for approving policies for masks to protect the health and safety of students and school employees, many public school officials are also facing physical threats because of propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction and curricula,” the letter said.
“NSBA respectfully asks that a joint collaboration among federal law enforcement agencies, state and local law enforcement, and with public school officials be undertaken to focus on these threats. NSBA specifically solicits the expertise and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, and its National Threat Assessment Center regarding the level of risk to public schoolchildren, educators, board members, and facilities/campuses,” the letter continues.
About a week after NSBA sent the letter, Garland published a memo directing the FBI to begin looking into the incidents at school board meetings. The action drove concern among Republicans that the Biden administration was using federal law enforcement to crack down on criticism of strict COVID policies in schools, as well as parental backlash against leftist theories involving gender and systemic racism.