A Justice Department report released Monday says career DOJ and FBI officials sharply opposed Merrick Garland’s 2021 school-board memo, warning it was politically charged and, in one official’s words, “stupid, stupid, stupid.”
The report says those officials feared the memo—issued during fights over Covid school restrictions—blurred protected parent speech with criminal threats and reflected pressure from White House officials and outside groups.
Garland’s memo had ordered a federal response to threats against school officials after the National School Boards Association urged action and likened some incidents to domestic terrorism; the group later apologized after conservative backlash.
The findings bolster Trump administration claims that Biden-era DOJ actions targeted conservatives, but they also show some of the officials who resisted the memo were later pushed out by Trump.