Today is the one-year anniversary of that letter sent to President Joe Biden by the National School Boards Association that led Attorney General Merrick Garland to set up an FBI “task force” dedicated to policing school board meetings, where angry parents were getting out of hand complaining about things like mask mandates and transgender access to locker rooms. In a few days, it will be the one-year anniversary of the AP’s fact-check of Christopher Rufo’s claim that the letter referred to parents as domestic terrorists.
The letter led to a huge backlash by state chapters of NSBA and a doubling-down by Garland. Here’s a timeline that shows just how things played out.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the NSBA’s infamous letter sent to President Biden asking for law enforcement to be deployed against parents who were speaking out at their local school board meetings.
🧵Thread recounting the full timeline
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
An early draft of the letter revealed that NSBA wanted the National Guard and Military Police be deployed against parents. https://t.co/6GBbz5rLTJ
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
The final letter is here; it was later retracted and removed from the NSBA website.https://t.co/wjTaqTKqkK
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
On October 1, @DefendingEd sent a letter to the NSBA condemning their letter, signed by 20 other parent organizations from across the country.https://t.co/Lr2gUvN8yZ
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
On October 4 – lightning speed in Washington DC – the US Department of Justice sent a memo to the FBI and US attorneys around the country, personally signed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. https://t.co/DUkyq4nTMX
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
On October 11 and 12, I filed public records requests in the home districts of the NSBA’s then-board members, all of whom were public officials serving on their local school boards.
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
I also contacted every single state affiliate of the NSBA to ask whether they agreed with the NSBA’s letter and were involved in its creation, logging their responses in real time
As of today, 26 states have quit the NSBA.https://t.co/LM7ne0BVPJ
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
On October 16, Carlton Peeples, Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, sent a joint message from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and Criminal Investigative Division noting the creation of a threat tag — EDUOFFICIALS.https://t.co/hrgPqKfedJ
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
These threat tags were to be applied to “investigations and assessments of threats specifically directed against school board administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
This memo was not revealed until a whistleblower provided it to the House Judiciary Committee in mid-November; in May 2022, House Judiciary stated that they had evidence that this had been used against parents dozens of times. https://t.co/VVUJUbQgRZ
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
On October 21, @DefendingEd’s initial FOIAs revealed coordination between the NSBA and the Biden Administration – as well as significant internal strife among board members about how this was handled and why it was done in the first place. https://t.co/CfXahHEiT4
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
Dozens of additional FOIAs trickled in over the next several months, including an email from NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett, who asserted that the letter was written at the behest of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.https://t.co/p2NRiZ3CnB
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
Yep … Education Secretary Miguel Cardona solicited that “domestic terrorists” letter from NSBA. And NSBA officials collaborated with the White House before sending the letter to Biden.
In hearings before the House Judiciary Committee on October 21 & Senate Judiciary Committee on October 27, Attorney General Garland remained unrepentant and unapologetic about the DOJ’s memo, which has never been retracted, nor has an apology been issued.pic.twitter.com/9xN441sOZF
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
On October 22, the NSBA finally apologized for its shameful letter. https://t.co/F3Yo1ubGDY
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
On May 20, 2022, the NSBA released the results of its internal investigation into the scandal, which corroborated @DefendingEd’s reporting on events. https://t.co/e0bewkp662
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
One additional detail was revealed: that the NSBA’s acting executive director, Chip Slaven, worked with senior White House advisor Mary C. Wall (who is currently serving as chief of staff of the White House’s Covid response team, earning $130,000/yr).
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
One additional detail was revealed: that the NSBA’s acting executive director, Chip Slaven, worked with senior White House advisor Mary C. Wall (who is currently serving as chief of staff of the White House’s Covid response team, earning $130,000/yr).
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 29, 2022
Fact-check: True.
The Virginia gubernatorial election that November showed that you don’t mess with parents, who do have a say in how their children are educated. This is just another chapter in “moderate” Democrat Biden’s call for unity.
Related:
NSBA expression of apology and regret shows just how badly letter that sparked the Garland ‘domestic terrorists’ memo is backfiring on Dems https://t.co/Yip9sEKvjL
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 23, 2021