Hawley Blasts Garland, Demands Answers on Coordination Between Biden Administration and NSBA for Memo Ordering FBI to Investigate Parents

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding answers in light of recent revelations about the Biden Administration’s controversial memo instructing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate concerned parents speaking at local school board meetings.  

Last year, Garland admitted he drafted the memo in response to a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) smearing parents as “domestic terrorists.” Now, new reporting from Fox News revealed that the head of the NSBA had advance notice of Garland’s memo, despite Garland’s previous testimony that he was not aware of any coordination with the NSBA. 

“We now know from documents unveiled this week that the NSBA did in fact have advance knowledge of your memo and what it would include. This is only the latest revelation of coordination between the Biden administration and the NSBA. Last month, documents revealed that Secretary of Education Cardona personally solicited the NSBA to send its letter. While you have tried to portray your memo as ordinary law enforcement activity, these documents suggest instead that an outside group was intimately involved with your decision to issue this memo,” wrote Senator Hawley. 

He concluded, “The American people deserve answers. You said last fall that you did not know whether members of your office coordinated with the NSBA, but since then you have had plenty of time to find out. You must immediately explain your own role in this affair, as well as how intimately involved the NSBA and other groups were in shaping the official actions of your office.”

Senator Hawley also requested additional details about who wrote the controversial memo, what outside groups suggested language for the memo, and when the White House was made aware of the memo.

Last October, Senator Hawley ripped Attorney General Garland over his attempt to weaponize the FBI and called for his resignation following the memo from the NSBA revealing that the Biden’s Administration’s plan to intimidate parents with the FBI was premised with misinformation.

Read the full letter here or below.

The Honorable Merrick Garland  
Attorney General 
United States Department of Justice 
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.  
Washington, D.C. 20530 

Dear Attorney General Garland: 

Yet again, reports have revealed even more concerning details about your infamous school-board memorandum from last October. In light of those new revelations, you must promptly disclose how much coordination your Department—at any level—had with outside groups. 

Your memo instructed the FBI and federal prosecutors to investigate parents who were speaking at school board meetings. Although you admitted that you issued the memo in direct response to a September 29 letter by the National School Boards Association, which smeared parents as “domestic terrorists,” you claimed in testimony before Congress that you did not know whether your office had other communications with that group. Specifically, you said, “I have no idea whether there were conversations with the School Board Association.” 

We now know from documents unveiled this week that the NSBA did in fact have advance knowledge of your memo and what it would include. This is only the latest revelation of coordination between the Biden administration and the NSBA. Last month, documents revealed that Secretary of Education Cardona personally solicited the NSBA to send its letter. While you have tried to portray your memo as ordinary law enforcement activity, these documents suggest instead that an outside group was intimately involved with your decision to issue this memo. 

To its credit, the NSBA has since apologized for its letter and disavowed it, saying there was “no justification” for it and that the letter “directly contradict[ed] our core commitment to parent engagement.” But nobody has yet received a public apology from you or Secretary Cardona. And you have continued to stay silent on questions about your office’s coordination with the NSBA. 

That silence must end. The American people deserve answers. You said last fall that you did not know whether members of your office coordinated with the NSBA, but since then you have had plenty of time to find out. You must immediately explain your own role in this affair, as well as how intimately involved the NSBA and other groups were in shaping the official actions of your office. 

Please provide responses to the following questions by March 1: 

1. You previously testified that you “worked on [the memo] myself.” Exactly what did your work on this memo entail?
    
2. If another person was the principal drafter,
   1. Who was it?
   2. Did you request any changes?
   3. If so, what were those changes?
       
3. Did anybody at or on behalf of the NSBA, or any other outside organization, suggest language for the memo?
    
4. Did you or anybody in your office communicate with anybody at or on behalf of the NSBA between September 29 and October 4 last year?
    
5. Did you or anybody in your office communicate with anybody at or on behalf of the NSBA, or any other outside organization, before September 29 about topics addressed in the NSBA’s September 29 letter or your October 4 memo?
    
6. Did you or anybody in your office communicate with the White House before October 4 about this memo?
    
7. Did you or anybody in your office communicate with the Secretary Cardona before October 4 about this memo?