MORE FALSE STATEMENT FROM REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS

 

    …Rep Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).  Jordan is well known for amplifying false statements

 

Attorney General, Merrick Garland is once again mis-quoted by Republicans in the news

 

The following false statements show just how desperate the GOP has become:

• “Attorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them through intimidation. Florida will defend the free speech rights of its citizens and will not allow federal agents to squelch dissent.”

This is according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), this was a tweet on Oct. 5, 2021

• “Frankly, I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like it in American history. ... Are you aware of any time in American history when an attorney general has directed the FBI to begin to intervene in school board meetings — local school board meetings?”

This from Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), in a Senate hearing, also on Oct. 5, 2021.

• “Merrick Garland says he's going to use the Justice Department to spy on parents at school board meetings.”

This from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), in an interview on Fox News, Oct. 13, 2021.

• “Who would have ever thought that you would have an American president make a decision to leave Americans behind in Afghanistan now directing the DOJ to try to silence parents and actually separate parents from what their children can do inside schools?”

This is from House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), in an interview on Fox                   News, Oct. 10, 2021.

• “Now the FBI is trying to silence parents. That’s wrong.”

This is from Glenn Youngkin, Republican nominee for Virginia governor, in a campaign             ad, Oct. 13, 2021.

The Truth:

Because of a “disturbing spike” in threats directed at public school officials, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum this month calling on the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with local law enforcement agencies and set up “dedicated lines of communication.”

The above Republicans are turning a one-page memo on public safety falsely into a Democratic plot in which Big Brother erases well-meaning parents for thinking freely.

The reality is school officials are reporting more concerns for public school officials safety.  Some attendees at their school board meetings have been arrested for physical violence, and the Justice Department is calling for strategy sessions between federal and local law enforcement.  They want a task force and dedicated lines of communication to address these threats.  Also, they want training for school board members and others who might be targeted.

Garland’s memo doesn’t direct the FBI to “spy” on parents, as Jordan and Hawley falsely claimed.  They actually claim that for the first time in American history, the FBI was being told to “intervene” in local school board meetings. That is totally false..

Dissenting parents would not be “silenced” by the feds under the attorney general’s memo, as DeSantis, McCarthy and Youngkin have said.  Garland actually wrote, “While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.”

The Justice Department’s action could have a chilling effect on legitimate debate. Garland said in the memo that the federal government could be prosecuting some offenses or assisting local authorities handling these cases.

But the memo, and Senate testimony make it clear that only criminal conduct would be targeted, not free speech.

These false claims earned Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checkers.  That’s their maximum for false information.

Copyright G. Ater 2021