'Maybe This Will Refresh Your Memory': Hawley Presses AG On Dad Arrested At School Board Meeting

senator holy thank you very much mr chairman attorneys general garland on october 4th you issued an unprecedented memo that involves the department of justice and the fbi and local school districts local school boards nothing like it in our country's history it was based you've testified on this letter from the national school board association that we now know the white house was involved in writing they've retracted the letter they've apologized for the letter they say they regret the letter but you won't retract the memo and said earlier that you have no regrets and you've defended yourself repeatedly today before this committee by saying well you're focused on violence but now of course we've seen the memo from your own justice department advising state and local and other prosecutors about all of the different federal causes of action that they can bring against parents that are not about violence they're about harassment and intimidation i'm looking here at this memo it identifies no fewer than 13 possible federal crimes involving harassment and intimidation including making annoying phone calls do you think a parent who makes a phone call to a school board member that she has elected that that school board member deems anointing should be prosecuted general garland no i don't and the supreme court has made quite clear that the word intimidation with respect to the constitutional protection is one that directs a threat to a person with the intent of placing the victim in fear of bodily harm or death prosecutors who investigate these cases know the supreme courts this is a a very famous prosecutors do but but parents don't general garland do you think that a parent who looks at the 13 different federal crimes that your justice department has identified they might be subject to and prosecuted for like making annoying phone calls do you think that they're going to feel that they're welcome to speak up at a school board meeting how about this one they could be prosecuted for using the internet i guess that would be facebook in a way that might cause emotional distress to a victim is that is that a crime of violence senator i haven't seen the memo that you're why i haven't and i don't i and i even from the description it doesn't sound like it was addressed to parents but if you no it wasn't a dress appearance it was addressed to prosecutors that's the problem why haven't you seen the memo i i i don't know why i haven't i don't look at every i have i do not get every memo that every u.s attorney uh sends out but if you're wait a minute don't don't i i just want to be sure i understand this this this is a memorandum that collects 13 different federal crimes parents could be charged with it has united states department of justice on the top of it and you're telling me you haven't seen it who's the memo from senator the united states department of justice united states attorney for the district of montana i have not seen a memo from the district of montana not high enough priority for you that's not that's not the question i don't it is the question answer my question is it not a high enough priority for you when you're threatening parents with 13 different federal crimes these aren't crimes of violence you've testified today you're focused on violence that's not what your u.s attorneys they work for you that's not what they're saying you haven't seen it because it's not a high enough priority or what question a priority no one has sent me that memo so i haven't seen it what do you mean no one has sent you the memo you run the united states department of justice do you not there are a hundred and fifteen thousand employees of the department of justice indeed and you are in charge of every one of them and this is a sufficiently important case that you issued a memo you over your signature issued a memo involving the fbi and the department of justice in local school boards local school districts your u.s attorneys are now threatening prosecution with 13 different crimes but it's not a high enough priority for you it got lost in the mix i'll send again i've never seen that memo that's what concerns me general garland well it wasn't sent to me i hope you will assure your constituents that what we are concerned about here is violence and threats of violence that only leads me to conclude general garland all i can conclude from this is either that you're not in control of your own department or that more likely what i think to be the case is that you knew full well that this is exactly the kind of thing that would happen when you issued your memo when you involved the department of justice and all of its resources and the fbi and all of its resources in local school boards and local school districts you knew that federal prosecutors would start collecting crimes that they could use against parents you knew they would advise state and local officials that these are all of the ways parents might be prosecuted you knew that that was the likely outcome and that's exactly what's happened and we're talking about parents like scott smith who's behind me over my shoulder this is a father from loudoun county virginia here he is at a school board meeting he was forcibly restrained he was assaulted he was arrested why because he went to an elected school board meeting he's a voter by the way he went to an elected school board meeting to raise the fact that his daughter was assaulted sexually assaulted in a girl's restroom by a boy this is what happened to him now you testified last week before the house that you didn't know anything about this case i find that extraordinary because the letter that you put so much weight on the letter that's now been retracted it cites this case it cites mr scott's case directly there's a news article cited in the letter it's discussed in the letter but you testified you just couldn't remember it maybe this will refresh your memory do you think people like scott smith do you think parents who show up to complain about their children being assaulted ought to be treated like this man right here parents who show up to complain about school boards are protected by the first amendment do you think that they ought to be prosecuted in the different ways that your u.s attorneys are identifying if what they're doing is complaining about what the school board is doing policies curriculum anything else that they want to as long as they're not committing threats of violence then they should not be prosecuted and they can't be let me ask you about this several of my democrat colleagues have today just today in this hearing multiple times have compared parents who show up at school board meetings like mr smith here have compared them to criminal rioters you think that's right you think that a parent who shows up at a school board meeting who has a complaint who wants to voice that complaint and maybe she doesn't use exactly the right grammar you think they're akin to criminal writers do you agree with that i do not and i do not remember any senator here compare making that comparison oh really these people are just like the folks who came here on january 6 and and the riot at the capitol i don't think it was they were referring to the picture that you're showing there well i certainly would hope not they were referring to parents who go to school board meetings mr smith is a parent who went to a school board meeting i'll leave it at this general garland you have weaponized the fbi and the department of justice your u.s attorneys are now collecting and cataloging all the ways that they might prosecute parents like mr smith because they want to be involved in their children's education and they want to have a say in their elected officials it's wrong it is unprecedented to my knowledge in the history of this country and i call on you to resign thank you mr chairman senator cruz

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

Views: 1,770,464

Keywords: Sen. Josh Hawley, AG Merrick Garland, school board

Id: 3jILwhennws

Length: 7min 20sec (440 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 27 2021