Contradicting the DHS, DOJ Repeats Unfounded Claim of Rising School Board Violence

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen stated throughout the Jan. 11 congressional hearing on domestic terrorism that there has actually been a boost in violence versus teachers– straight opposing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information.

The Jan. 11 congressional hearing recorded headings due to Department of Justice (DOJ) authorities declining to respond to concerns about Ray Epps, the questionable Jan. 6 demonstration individual who some declare to be a federal possession.

But Olsen, the head of DOJ’s nationwide security branch, likewise made unsupported claims about increasing school board violence. Olsen was reacting to concerns from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) about why Attorney General Merrick Garland is committing counterterrorism resources to examine opposing moms and dads dedicating violence versus school board members.

” As the attorney general of the United States’s memo showed, there has actually been a boost in violence and hazards of violence versus people who serve in positions of public trust– school board members, instructors, other public authorities– and this is a major issue,” Olsen stated.

This declaration, nevertheless, opposes DHS stats.

DHS Counterterrorism Coordinator John Cohen exposed this throughout a previous congressional hearing Nov. 3. Reacting to concerns from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Cohen stated the DHS hasn’t seen any measurable proof of an increase in death hazards.

” We did connect to state and regional police,” he stated at the time. “There have actually been some erratic circumstances of violence at school board conferences and in instructional centers. The info that we got is that state and regional law enforcement were not seeing prevalent action.”

Neither the DHS nor the DOJ reacted to concerns about whether the information has actually altered ever since.

The DHS authorities’s November declarations followed Garland confessed in October that the proof underpinning his claims of increasing hazards of violence was a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent out to the Biden administration– a letter defining objecting moms and dads as domestic terrorism risks and requiring the FBI to utilize statutes such as the Patriot Act.

Since then, the NSBA has actually withdrawed and excused the letter. Republican legislators along with a group of 17 state chief law officers have likewise called for Garland to rescind his memo, stating it “chills legal dissent.”

Nevertheless, the federal probe continues. Grassley stated at the Jan. 11 hearing that he hasn’t got a reaction from Garland to letters about his school board examination.

Garland protected continuing the probe at an Oct. 27 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, stating that the NSBA’s follow-up apology letter “does not alter the association’s issue about violence and dangers of violence.”

At the Jan. 11 hearing, Olsen and FBI main Jill Sanborn minimized the significance of federal resources being released to examine moms and dads. They worried that they were just examining violent criminal offenses, and in no other way are infringing on First Amendment-protected activity.

Responding to a November FBI whistleblower dripping files about the bureau tracking all circumstances of school board-related violence in a main repository, Sanborn stated tagging the cases is “merely an administrative procedure to much better evaluate patterns.”

But previous FBI representative Marc Ruskin disagrees. Ruskin informed The Epoch Times in November that the bureau’s actions are substantial.

” The reality that a tag has actually been designated to these cases would suggest to me that it’s something they’re expecting progressing with these examinations,” he stated at the time.

He likewise stated the participation of the FBI’s counterterrorism department recommends that the police will be dealing with a few of the school board risks as domestic terrorism cases. This is the real significance of the whistleblower files, he stated.

” There’s an intent or a possibility that people being examined are going to be classified as domestic terrorists,” Ruskin stated in November.

He stated the choice by the FBI to categorize mad moms and dads as domestic terrorism risks has dark ramifications totally free speech rights.

” The concept that the FBI is dealing with people who reveal viewpoints contrary to the fundamental federal government viewpoint as domestic terrorists is disrupting from a First Amendment perspective,” Ruskin stated. “And it might extremely well be planned to have a chilling impact on flexibility of expression.”

Ken Silva

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Ken Silva covers nationwide security problems for The Epoch Times. His reporting background likewise consists of cybersecurity, criminal offense and offshore financing– consisting of 3 years as a press reporter in the British Virgin Islands and 2 years in the Cayman Islands. Contact him at [email protected]

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