The FBI opened 25 “Guardian assessments” involving parents after then-Attorney General Merrick Garland issued an Oct. 4, 2021, memorandum addressing threats against school officials, according to a report by the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group. Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich said parents connected to the organization became afraid to speak publicly and feared losing their jobs after federal scrutiny of school board activists.
The government’s scrutiny
The Working Group report and a separate joint release by the Justice Department and Education Department described an investigation that began with a tip about a mother who owned a gun and belonged to a “right-wing mom’s group.” The joint release identified that group as Moms for Liberty.
The Justice Department’s press release said personnel internally called the effort “ridiculous,” raised First Amendment concerns and said it appeared political. Emails, according to the release, showed Biden White House officials persuaded Garland to issue the memorandum.
The Working Group found the memorandum “was the product of pressure exerted by the White House and wrongly weaponized the Department of Justice against parents.” The release describes government employees questioning the effort while it unfolded.
Descovich said the memorandum’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.” The report concerned 25 assessments; the provided account doesn’t say every parent involved in school board activism became a subject of an assessment.
Parents describe the cost
Descovich told Fox News Digital that parents received calls after school board meetings asking whether they had mental health problems or weapons at home. Some, she said, received case numbers and file numbers.
“Parents were afraid to show up,” Descovich said. Members of Moms for Liberty sometimes stood with the organization privately and silently, she added, because they feared speaking publicly or losing their jobs. Her account links federal scrutiny to pressure on parents’ public participation and concerns about their employment.
Descovich said the report and joint press release acknowledged the matter and declared that parents were not domestic terrorists. “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.
The account identifies no financial gain from the assessments and gives no figure for the government’s costs. Descovich described consequences for parents’ ability to attend meetings, speak publicly and keep their jobs. Her statements are attributed to her; the report and releases provide the government’s account of the assessments and memorandum.
Calls for accountability
Descovich said Moms for Liberty felt “vindication” after the report. “We feel... we’re finally being heard,” she told Fox News Digital.
She called for accountability and said the first step was “losing their power and their election.” She urged voters not to return power to people she said had weaponized government against ordinary parents, and said she hoped the current administration would take further steps against individuals she said drove the attacks.
Fox News Digital said it contacted the FBI and the White House for comment. The Department of Education referred it to the department’s press release and letter. The provided account offers no response from the FBI or White House. It reports the Working Group’s finding about White House pressure, the Justice Department’s description of internal objections, and parents’ stated fears; it doesn’t describe further action against the officials involved.