Merrick Garland sicced the FBI on parents for showing up at school board meetings.
Now his own people have been caught on a paper trail.
Fox News just obtained internal DOJ emails that expose exactly what Garland's senior officials thought about his directive – and they didn't hold back.
DOJ Officials Called Garland's School Board Memo Stupid and Warned It Looked Like an Anti-MAGA Task Force
In October 2021, former Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing the FBI to coordinate with local law enforcement to address what he called an "increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence" against school board members.
He targeted parents pushing back on COVID restrictions and critical race theory in classrooms.
The emails, released Friday, show a revolt that erupted inside the Justice Department the moment that directive took shape.
One deputy assistant attorney general went straight for the jugular.
"I don't think it's possible to state how strongly I object to this," the official wrote on an internal email chain. "It will completely and totally nuke our election threats efforts, and will damage the reputation of the Public Integrity Section into the bargain."
Then the line that says everything: "If they do this, they might as well rename the damn thing the Anti-MAGA Task Force."
The Public Integrity Section chief fired back with one word: "Exactly!" – then added: "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
These weren't outside critics sniping from the Right.
These were Garland's senior officials – watching political targeting get a law enforcement badge pinned on it – and they were furious.
A principal deputy assistant attorney general refused outright.
"We will not do this," the official wrote. "There is no conceivable connection to public integrity – indeed, I'm not seeing a federal interest of any kind."
The Public Integrity chief piled on, warning the memo would turn the DOJ and the FBI into the "threat police" with "no limiting principle at all."
Garland sent it anyway.
How the FBI Ended Up Running a Threat Tag Operation Against Parents at School Board Meetings
The 2021 memo didn't emerge from a real law enforcement threat assessment.
It emerged five days after the National School Boards Association sent a letter to Biden asking him to deploy the Patriot Act against parents pushing back on critical race theory and COVID learning restrictions.
The NSBA called those parents the "equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism."
Garland issued his directive almost immediately – and as Jim Jordan's Weaponization Subcommittee later confirmed through FBI whistleblowers, the FBI's Counterterrorism Division quietly created a specific "threat tag" stamped on parents for exercising their First Amendment rights at school board meetings.
The NSBA eventually walked back its own letter, acknowledging there was no justification for the language it had used.
Garland never apologized.
He never rescinded the memo.
When Rep. Chip Roy pressed him in a 2023 hearing – asking point blank whether the memo had been pulled – Garland admitted it had not.
"There's nothing to rescind," Garland said, claiming the 30-day directive had simply expired.
The parents who had FBI case files opened on them, with their political views documented and a terrorism tag attached to their names, would likely disagree.
Jim Jordan's Investigation Found No Legitimate Basis for the Biden DOJ's Parent Targeting
Jordan spent years and over a hundred oversight letters building the case.
The Weaponization Subcommittee concluded in March 2023 that the Biden DOJ's pursuit of parents "lacked a legitimate predicate" – that it was "a reaction to these political circumstances rather than a legitimate law-enforcement response to any serious, nationwide threat."
Evidence further showed the Biden White House had advance knowledge of the NSBA letter and raised no objection before Garland issued his directive five days later.
Jordan said that "weaponization of law-enforcement powers against American parents exercising their First Amendment rights."
The newly released emails confirm what Jordan's investigation established – the people inside the DOJ knew it too, said so explicitly, and got overruled.
Pam Bondi Rescinded Garland's School Board Memo on Her First Day as Attorney General
When Pam Bondi was confirmed as attorney general in February 2025, she killed Garland's memo on her first full day in office – buried in a footnote, with no fanfare needed.
She also launched a Weaponization Working Group to examine, among other targets, the Biden DOJ's investigation of parents "who expressed sincere, good-faith concerns at local government meetings."
Jordan's response was immediate: "Attorney General Bondi's repeal of Merrick Garland's weaponized school boards memo is a huge win for parents and the rule of law."
Garland spent four years insisting the memo was about protecting people from violence.
His own officials called it the Anti-MAGA Task Force.
Now America knows who was right.
Sources:
- Robert Schmad, "Unearthed DOJ emails expose turmoil over Biden-era memo urging crackdown on parents," Fox News, June 12, 2026.
- "Weaponization Committee: DOJ's School Board Pursuit Lacked Legitimate Predicate, Was Product of Left-Wing Collusion," Breitbart, March 22, 2023.
- "Trump DOJ uses footnote to rescind Merrick Garland memo targeting parents as 'domestic terrorists,'" Just the News, March 4, 2025.
- "Attorney General Bondi Issues Memo Upholding Constitutional Rights and Parental Authority in America's Education System," Department of Justice, 2025.
- "Chairman Jordan Expands Investigation into Biden Targeting Parents at School Board Meetings," House Judiciary Committee, June 6, 2023.
