Jim Jordan: It appears AG Garland 'misled' Americans during congressional hearing
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan discusses the leaked email that reveals the FBI created a system to track parents who voiced dissent at school board meetings. He then calls for Attorney General Garland to be brought back to testify before Congress.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, R., sounded off on Attorney General Merrick Garland, who now faces calls for resignation after a leaked email showed the FBI had created a system to track parents who posed potential threats at school board meetings. Jordan called for Garland to be brought back before Congress to testify on the new developments.
Jordan explained on "America’s Newsroom" that the email reportedly went out to FBI agents the day before the attorney general testified in late October.
"We asked Chairman Nadler yesterday, ‘When will you bring back the attorney general to answer questions?’" Jordan said.
"After all, it sure looks like he misled the American people when he gave the answers that he did," Jordan continued.
Jordan told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer that Garland told the House Judiciary Committee that "nothing of the sort is going on."
"He tells us that. Testifies to that. Tells the American people that. At the same time, just 24 hours earlier, this email had been sent out," he said.
Garland said during the October 21 House hearing that he couldn’t imagine a circumstance that would warrant labeling parents as domestic terrorists, as the National School Board Association suggested doing.
"As he made that statement, the counterterrorism division at the FBI was sending an email to FBI agents around the country saying ‘put a threat tag on parents’ names,’" Jordan said. "He’s got, I think, a lot of questions to answer."
Jordan said the fundamental question is, "How many Americans?"
"How many parents? How many moms? How many dads now have this tag, this label put on their name?"
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) questions Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing of the Department of Justice on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. October 21, 2021. Greg Nash/Pool via REUTERS (Reuters)
The FBI released a statement saying that the use of threat tags is "merely a statistical tool to track information for review and reporting."
Jordan, however, cited the need for context.
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The directive for threat tags came after the NSBA requested that concerned parents be equated with domestic terrorists and coordinated with the White House on a letter asking for the FBI to look into local school board meetings.
The NSBA later apologized and withdrew the letter.
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"Why won't Merrick Garland do the same thing? He needs to stop this in its tracks. He needs to stop tracking parents with whatever label, whatever they're going to call it," Jordan said.
"This is what needs to happen, and the American people understand it for what it is."
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