Under questioning earlier today, Attorney General Merrick Garland admitted that he had created a task force to look into alleged threats based upon a letter that he received from the National School Board’s Association. When specifically asked about the data that he was basing his decision on, he said, “The National School Board Association represents thousands of school boards and school board members and says that there are these kinds of threats.” So it sounded like he had largely made his decision based upon the letter of the NSBA, he didn’t identify any data showing real threats in that exchange during questioning.

Now that’s bad, meaning he’s basing his decision largely on a political letter. And that letter was lacking, markedly, in its listing of threats. Instead, the NSBA was actually at least in part complaining about things that would be considered freedom of speech, such as speech or gestures that might be offensive but were not threats or crimes. Yet, the NSBA suggested that the parents could be involved in “domestic terrorism.”

But according to the Free Beacon, the NSBA president and its CEO consulted with the White House on that very letter before it was released.

The emails, obtained by Parents Defending Education through public records requests and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, reveal that the National School Board Association’s president and CEO sent the letter to Biden on Sept. 29 without approval from the organization’s board. The letter said that the acts of some parents at school board meetings across the country could be considered “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

The emails also show that the White House asked the association for examples of threats against school board members days before Attorney General Merrick Garland created a task force of officials from the FBI and the Justice Department to determine how to prosecute alleged crimes at school board meetings.

The letter makes clear that the White House was aware of the letter before it was released, while raising questions about whether the White House colluded with the association on the letter to prompt federal action.

.@Jim_Jordan: AG Garland said, "I don't know" on @NSBAPublicEd talks w/ WH @TheJusticeDept.
We know. @DefendingEd we filed a FOIA.
9/29, NSBA chief wrote an email NSBA had had "talks over the last several weeks with White House staff."
10/4 AG memo
see: https://t.co/MZmIxZeDcd pic.twitter.com/M5WAdT58AP

— Asra Q. Nomani 🐻Mama Bear “Domestic Terrorist” 🧸 (@AsraNomani) October 21, 2021

The emails indicated that the NSBA had been in contact with the White House for several weeks over the issue.

So basically, the Biden Administration is using this letter for justification for an investigation while having themselves been involved in the letter. Once again, if this is true, we see Joe Biden blowing up all norms and acting improperly. The White House is not supposed to be involved in dictating DOJ action, which it may have effectively done through this process.

The emails also showed that some in the NSBA were upset that this letter had been sent without their approval.

One director at the association said that the letter had “reawakened hostilities” that were just beginning to subside.

“Many of us have been put in a position now of explaining or defending this action of our association as we are asked by members of our community if we consider them domestic terrorists for showing up to our meetings and expressing their opinions,” John W. Halkias, a director from the association’s Central Region, wrote on Oct. 1.

Halkias said that he and other board members would not have likely approved the letter, which he said “used terms that were extreme, and asked for action by the Federal Government that many of us would not request.”

Those objecting were right, of course. But, as with everything else the Biden White House touches, this has blown up on them.