A top official within the Biden administration has been busted after new emails obtained by a parent activist group show that he solicited the now-infamous letter from the National School Boards Association calling parent activists “domestic terrorists.”
The Letter
According to the emails, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona personally requested the letter, which was sent to the Biden administration and prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to form a joint DOJ-FBI task force to investigate threats against school board members amid nationwide pushback from parents who were concerned over COVID mandates, X-rated sex-ed curriculums, and critical race theory in schools.
The letter, which was issued on September 29th by National School Boards Association President Viola Garcia, called “for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation.”
Of course, when they say “intimidation” and “threats,” the majority of what they are referring to is just parents getting loud and angry during school board meetings, and threatening to take these school board members’ jobs away from them.
The portion of the letter that elicited the most concern was this sentence, (particularly the conclusion of the sentence): “As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
In the letter, the NSBA also accused “extremist hate organizations” of “inciting chaos” at school board meetings, and claimed that concerned parents were “spreading misinformation.”
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) has since apologized, and has withdrawn the letter.
Emails
The emails, which were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by nonprofit group Parents Defending Education, reveal that the White House was already “actively engaged” with NSBA President Viola Garcia and interim CEO Chip Slaven before the group sent the letter to the Biden administration.
The email exchange between NSBA board member Marnie Maldonado and NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett, dated October 5-6, 2021, features Swett claiming that Slaven “told the officers he was writing a letter to provide information to the White House, from a request by Secretary Cordona.”
New FOIA document obtained by Parents Defending Education asserts NSBA letter was drafted at request of Education Secretary.
Read the full emails here: https://t.co/3YpmzNwRAh pic.twitter.com/DQ1KWmBXwg— Parents Defending Education (@DefendingEd) January 11, 2022
Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, responded to the news, stating: “Should this allegation be true, it would reveal that this administration’s pretextual war on parents came from the highest levels.”
“Attorney General Merrick Garland unequivocally stated that he based his memo on the NSBA’s letter – which in turn, mobilized the FBI and US Attorneys,” she added. “If Secretary Cardona was truly involved in this ugly episode, it is a significant breach of public trust, and he should be held accountable.”
