The FBI opened 25 “Guardian assessments” involving parents after then-Attorney General Merrick Garland issued an Oct. 4, 2021, memorandum on threats against school officials, according to a new report from the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group. The probe that attracted the most attention began with a tip about a mother who owned a gun and belonged to a “right-wing mom’s group.” A joint release from the Justice Department and Education Department named the group: Moms for Liberty.
The Working Group’s central finding is blunt. It concluded the Garland memo “was the product of pressure exerted by the White House and wrongly weaponized the Department of Justice against parents.”
What the Documents Show
The Justice Department’s press release said emails show Garland issued the memo after Biden White House officials persuaded him. Inside the department, staff weren’t comfortable with the direction. According to the release, personnel called the effort “ridiculous,” raised First Amendment concerns and said it appeared political.
These were the department’s own people flagging constitutional problems—not outside critics. They objected to a federal response aimed at parents who showed up to local school board meetings.
The View From the Parents
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich said the report brought a sense of vindication. “My reaction and our reaction at Moms for Liberty is vindication,” she told Fox News Digital. “We feel... we’re finally being heard.”
She described a climate of fear. Parents tied to the organization became afraid to speak publicly once federal scrutiny of school board activists began, she said. Some received calls after school board meetings asking whether they had mental health problems or weapons at home; callers also gave them case numbers and file numbers.
“Parents were afraid to show up,” Descovich said. “They were afraid to lose their jobs. They were members of our organization, sometimes privately and silently standing with us, but too afraid to speak out because of what our government did in the United States of America. We need to not forget where we were in 2021 as we go into these midterm elections.”
She said the memo’s “threat tag,” which she said was based on using the Patriot Act against parents attending school board meetings, “sent a chill through the country.”
Descovich also said the new report and joint press release acknowledged what happened and declared parents weren’t domestic terrorists. She didn’t hide her frustration that anyone had to say so. “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,” she said.
Calls for Accountability
Descovich argued the first consequence has already come at the ballot box. “There needs to be accountability to a government that was out of control,” she said. “The first step of accountability was losing their power and their election, and we need to continue that through the midterms, because we cannot give power back to the people that weaponized the government against citizens, against ordinary parents. Beyond that, I really hope the current administration will take further steps to hold the individuals accountable that were driving these attacks against its citizens.”
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. Fox News culture reporter Rachel del Guidice wrote up the report.
Five years have passed since the Garland memorandum and the 2021 school board battles that Descovich describes as the start of federal scrutiny.
Why This Matters:
The findings raise a basic question: what should federal law enforcement do when citizens speak up at a local public meeting? The report says Justice Department staff raised First Amendment concerns and saw political motives, yet the FBI opened 25 assessments. That raises hard questions about institutional guardrails and how easily political pressure from the White House can direct a federal agency toward ordinary citizens. From a limited-government view, the harm extends beyond any single file. It’s the chilling effect Descovich describes: parents worried about their jobs and privacy for taking part in local self-government. How the current administration responds on accountability, and whether the findings shape the midterm debate, will show whether safeguards that failed here get strengthened or simply forgotten.