Citing an internal email provided by an FBI whistleblower, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee revealed Tuesday that the Bureau has created a system to track threats against school board officials and administrators, and accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of misleading lawmakers when he was asked about the subject during his previous testimony before the committee.
The FBI’s “Counterterrorism and Criminal Divisions created a threat tag, EDUOFFICIALS, to track instances of related threats,” according to the email. “The purpose of the threat tag is to help scope this threat on a national level and provide an opportunity for comprehensive analysis of the threat picture for effective engagement with law enforcement.”
The email was signed by Counterterrorism Division assistant director Timothy Langan, and former Criminal Division assistant director Calvin Shivers, who retired earlier this month.
Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices on October 4 to investigate threats against school boards following publication of the letter, which the NSBA apologized for on October 22. The attorney general testified on October 21 that the Department of Justice and FBI were not using counterterrorism tools to investigate the alleged threats.
“At best, if we assume that you were ignorant of the FBI’s actions in response to your October 4 memorandum at the time of your testimony, this new evidence suggests that your testimony…was incomplete and requires additional explanation,” Jordan wrote.
“If however, you were aware of the FBI’s actions at the time of your testimony, this evidence showed that you willfully misled the Committee about the nature and extent of the Department’s use of counterterrorism tools to target concerned parents at school board meetings,” Jordan added.