Psaki Asked About Admin Using PATRIOT Act To Investigate ‘Harassment’ Against School Administrators | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Amanda Prestigiacomo.

    President Joe Biden's Department of Justice announced this week that they will be investigating and, potentially, cracking down on "harassment" and "threats of violence" against school boards and administrators - incidents that typically take place at school board meetings where concerns are addressed about curriculum and schools' COVID restrictions and policies.

    As highlighted by The Daily Wire, the DOJ ordered the FBI on Monday to work on curbing "harassment" and "threats of violence" against school administrators after it said the number of such incidents spiked in the past year.

    Troublingly, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the deployment of the FBI mere days after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) pushed the Biden administration to take action against the rise in "malice, violence, and threats," which was categorized as "a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes."

    Even more concerning, NSBA appealed to Biden to consider the employment of things like the PATRIOT Act when targeting supposedly "malicious" or "violent" individuals, including parents, Red State reported.

    When White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed Wednesday on the matter, specifically NSBA's appeal for use the PATRIOT Act, Psaki refused to give a straight answer, redirecting Fox News reporter Peter Doocy. Here's the line of questioning, per Red State (emphasis added):

    "A week ago, the National School Boards Association wrote to the president to say that their teachers feel like some parents protesting recently could be equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism," Doocy said. "Then the attorney general put the FBI in the case. So does the administration agree that parents upset about their kids' curriculums could be considered domestic terrorists?"

    Psaki failed to actually respond to the question, saying the NSBA wasn't part of the U.S. government and she cited the Attorney General's letter saying, "threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation's core values....These were threats against public servants, threats against members of the school board," she claimed. "Regardless of the reasoning, threats and violence against public servants is illegal, that's what he was conveying, from the Department of Justice."

    But even if there are actual real threats - and they haven't shown anything more than a handful of actions - she didn't explain why they necessitated federal action.

    So Doocy continued, asking about the NSBA's request that the DOJ consider employing the PATRIOT Act and other acts they might have at their disposal in response. "So would the administration be okay with the FBI using the PATRIOT Act to surveil these parents if that is what they decide?"

    "I don't speak on behalf of the National School Boards Association, I speak on behalf of this government," Psaki said. She continued that the AG will "take actions they take and I will point you to them for more information." So she totally avoided the question.

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