Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has called for the resignation of Attorney General Merrick Garland over the Department of Justice's memorandum directing the Federal Bureau of Investigations and other law enforcement agencies to "address threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff."
"Merrick Garland mobilized the FBI to intimidate parents without legal basis and, we now know, premised on misinformation he didn’t bother to verify," Hawley said in a tweet Friday. "It was a dangerous abuse of authority that has badly compromised the Justice Dept’s integrity and Garland’s. He should resign."
This comes after the National School Boards Association issued an apology to its members Friday over its Sept. 29 letter to the White House requesting "federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation" in response to outraged parents showing up to school board meetings to voice their frustration over transgender policies, mask mandates and critical race theory.
The letter also likened these criticisms from parents at board meetings to a "form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes." The majority of the 24 incidents cited in the letter did not consist of any physical threats, only verbal exchanges.
At least 20 state school boards associations have distanced themselves from the NSBA following the letter to the White House.
The Biden administration reportedly knew about the letter from the NSBA before it was sent to the White House, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Hawley's comments come after Garland appeared Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee to address questions from lawmakers about the memorandum, which was issued in response to the NSBA's letter to the president. During his testimony, Garland denied that the memorandum constituted a financial conflict of interest with Panorama, a consultancy co-founded by his son-in-law that sells progressive education materials.