WASHINGTON, DC- And the plot thickens. Newly released emails show that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was behind the letter sent last September from the National School Boards Association which requested federal intervention against parents protesting at school board meetings, comparing them to “domestic terrorists,” the New York Post reports.
An email shows that on October 6, NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett told NSBA board member Marnie Maraldo that Chip Slaven, then serving as interim CEO of the organization had admitted to fellow officers that “he was writing a letter to provide information to the White House, from a request by Secretary Cardona.”
The email was obtained based on a public records request by Parents Defending Education and shared with the Post. This provides a smoking gun tying the letter directly into the Biden administration. On September 29, Slaven wrote Biden and suggested parents objecting to mask mandates, as well as opposed to the teaching of critical race theory in schools were engaging in “a form of domestic terrorism”.
He asked the administration to “examine appropriate enforceable actions,” including the use of the PATRIOT Act, legislation enacted in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks ostensibly to protect against international-based terrorist attacks on the homeland. On that same day, the Post said, Slaven told fellow NSBA officers that he had been “in talks over the last several weeks with White House staff” who “requested additional information on some of the specific threats.”
Meanwhile on October 4, just two days before the exchange between Swett and Maraldo, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice would unleash federal law enforcement assets such as the FBI to take the lead on looking into that he referred to as “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”
All of this despite the fact that these incidents were hardly the norm, rather the exception. Just over a week later, on October 12, then-NSBA president Viola Garcia wrote a memo in which she said the organization had been “actively engaged with the White House, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Education, Surgeon General, and other federal agencies on pandemic-related issues.”
Only two weeks after, Garcia was (not so ironically) selected for a position on the National Assessment Governing Board by Cardona. That board oversees and examines student performance in a number of subjects and reports on their achievements, the Post said. The Post said a spokesperson for the Department of Education said in a statement that Cardona “did not solicit” a letter from Slaven, which contradicts the email Slaven had sent.
“While the Secretary did not solicit a letter from NSBA, to understand the views and concerns of stakeholders, the Department routinely engages with students, teachers, parents, district leaders and education associations,” the spokesperson said, still not answering the question about contact with the White House or Garland. After Garland issued his October 4 order, which he has refused to walk back, Republicans slammed the attorney general and accused the administration of targeting parents using the FBI as a virtual Gestapo.
After the revelation about Cardona’s alleged involvement in the NSBA letter came about, Republicans slammed him, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who tweeted: “Stunning. The original source of the letter lobbying the Biden admin to use the Patriot Act to target parents as domestic terrorists? THE BIDEN ADMIN ITSELF. Biden Education Secretary: in effect, ‘Please ask us to treat Moms & Dads as terrorists.’”
Rep Mike Johnson (R-LA) tweeted: “We now know where the idea for the NSBA letter to the Biden Administration labeling parents as domestic terrorists originated: The Biden Administration.”
Meanwhile, Fox News reported that two lawmakers, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) called on Cardona to resign. “The truth comes out,” Scott tweeted. “Woke @SecCardona asked @NSBAPublicEd to write the letter @TheJusticeDept used to mobilize the FBI to begin treating parents like domestic terrorists. Cardona should resign.”
Banks meanwhile wrote: “It appears Biden’s Education Secretary may have helped initiate the NSBA’s now-retracted letter to the DOJ requesting they spy on parents under the Patriot Act. If true, he needs to resign.”
In Senate testimony in October, Garland refused to retract his letter, repeating the same talking points repeatedly in basically thumbing his nose at senators. “The memo…responds to concerns about violence, threats of violence, other criminal conduct,” Garland repeated ad nauseum. “That’s all it’s about and all it asks is for federal law enforcement to consult with, meet with local law enforcement to assess the circumstances, and strategize about what may or may not be necessary to provide federal assistance if it is necessary.”
“The language in the letter that they disavow is language that was never included in my memo and never would have been,” Garland later added. “I did not adopt every concern that they had in their letter.”
An email shows that on October 6, NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett told NSBA board member Marnie Maraldo that Chip Slaven, then serving as interim CEO of the organization had admitted to fellow officers that “he was writing a letter to provide information to the White House, from a request by Secretary Cardona.”
The email was obtained based on a public records request by Parents Defending Education and shared with the Post. This provides a smoking gun tying the letter directly into the Biden administration. On September 29, Slaven wrote Biden and suggested parents objecting to mask mandates, as well as opposed to the teaching of critical race theory in schools were engaging in “a form of domestic terrorism”.
He asked the administration to “examine appropriate enforceable actions,” including the use of the PATRIOT Act, legislation enacted in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks ostensibly to protect against international-based terrorist attacks on the homeland. On that same day, the Post said, Slaven told fellow NSBA officers that he had been “in talks over the last several weeks with White House staff” who “requested additional information on some of the specific threats.”
Meanwhile on October 4, just two days before the exchange between Swett and Maraldo, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice would unleash federal law enforcement assets such as the FBI to take the lead on looking into that he referred to as “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”
All of this despite the fact that these incidents were hardly the norm, rather the exception. Just over a week later, on October 12, then-NSBA president Viola Garcia wrote a memo in which she said the organization had been “actively engaged with the White House, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Education, Surgeon General, and other federal agencies on pandemic-related issues.”
Only two weeks after, Garcia was (not so ironically) selected for a position on the National Assessment Governing Board by Cardona. That board oversees and examines student performance in a number of subjects and reports on their achievements, the Post said. The Post said a spokesperson for the Department of Education said in a statement that Cardona “did not solicit” a letter from Slaven, which contradicts the email Slaven had sent.
“While the Secretary did not solicit a letter from NSBA, to understand the views and concerns of stakeholders, the Department routinely engages with students, teachers, parents, district leaders and education associations,” the spokesperson said, still not answering the question about contact with the White House or Garland. After Garland issued his October 4 order, which he has refused to walk back, Republicans slammed the attorney general and accused the administration of targeting parents using the FBI as a virtual Gestapo.
After the revelation about Cardona’s alleged involvement in the NSBA letter came about, Republicans slammed him, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who tweeted: “Stunning. The original source of the letter lobbying the Biden admin to use the Patriot Act to target parents as domestic terrorists? THE BIDEN ADMIN ITSELF. Biden Education Secretary: in effect, ‘Please ask us to treat Moms & Dads as terrorists.’”
Rep Mike Johnson (R-LA) tweeted: “We now know where the idea for the NSBA letter to the Biden Administration labeling parents as domestic terrorists originated: The Biden Administration.”
Meanwhile, Fox News reported that two lawmakers, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) called on Cardona to resign. “The truth comes out,” Scott tweeted. “Woke @SecCardona asked @NSBAPublicEd to write the letter @TheJusticeDept used to mobilize the FBI to begin treating parents like domestic terrorists. Cardona should resign.”
Banks meanwhile wrote: “It appears Biden’s Education Secretary may have helped initiate the NSBA’s now-retracted letter to the DOJ requesting they spy on parents under the Patriot Act. If true, he needs to resign.”
In Senate testimony in October, Garland refused to retract his letter, repeating the same talking points repeatedly in basically thumbing his nose at senators. “The memo…responds to concerns about violence, threats of violence, other criminal conduct,” Garland repeated ad nauseum. “That’s all it’s about and all it asks is for federal law enforcement to consult with, meet with local law enforcement to assess the circumstances, and strategize about what may or may not be necessary to provide federal assistance if it is necessary.”
“The language in the letter that they disavow is language that was never included in my memo and never would have been,” Garland later added. “I did not adopt every concern that they had in their letter.”
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