The FBI opened 25 “Guardian assessments” involving parents after then-Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum on threats against school officials, according to a Justice Department working group report. Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich said federal scrutiny of school board activists left parents afraid to speak publicly. “Parents were afraid to show up,” she told Fox News Digital.
Parents Under Federal Scrutiny
Descovich said some parents got calls asking about their mental health and whether they kept weapons at home. Callers gave them case numbers and file numbers, she said. “They were afraid to lose their jobs,” she said of organization members who stood with it privately and silently. Her account describes ordinary parents facing federal attention tied to school board disputes.
The report and a separate joint release from the Justice Department and Education Department described an investigation prompted by a tip about a mother who owned a gun and belonged to a “right-wing mom's group.” The joint release named the group as Moms for Liberty. The working group said the FBI opened the assessments after Garland’s Oct. 4, 2021, memorandum addressing threats against school officials.
The Justice Department’s press release said department personnel called the effort “ridiculous,” raised First Amendment concerns and said it appeared political. Emails, the release said, showed Biden White House officials persuaded Garland to issue the memorandum. The working group concluded that the memo “was the product of pressure exerted by the White House and wrongly weaponized the Department of Justice against parents.”
The Memo and Its Fallout
Descovich said the memo’s “threat tag,” which she said involved using the Patriot Act against parents attending school board meetings, “sent a chill through the country.” The report and joint release acknowledged the matter and declared that parents were not domestic terrorists, she said. “It's almost ridiculous. It's absurd that that's happened in America and that has to be the headline today that we're actually returning to normalcy,” Descovich said.
Her account of the consequences was personal and practical: fear of speaking publicly, worry about losing jobs, and calls asking about weapons and mental health. The federal investigation began, according to its stated account, with a tip about one mother; the working group report counted 25 assessments involving parents. Those details show how a response to alleged threats against school officials reached parents involved in school board activism.
Accountability Through the Ballot Box?
Descovich called on the government to take responsibility. “The first step of accountability was losing their power and their election, and we need to continue that through the midterms,” she said, adding that she hoped the current administration would take further steps against individuals she said drove the attacks. Her appeal puts elections and action by another administration at the center of the response to federal power exercised against parents.
Descovich also warned, “We need to not forget where we were in 2021 as we go into these midterm elections.” The report’s findings, as described in the article, trace the memorandum to pressure from White House officials and say the Justice Department was wrongly weaponized. Fox News Digital said it contacted the FBI and the White House for comment. The Department of Education referred the outlet to its press release and letter.