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Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich says her organization feels “vindication” after a new Justice Department report revealed the FBI opened dozens of assessments involving parents following a controversial Biden-era directive targeting threats against school officials, including an investigation stemming from a tip that cited one mother’s membership in a “right-wing mom’s group.”
“My reaction and our reaction at Moms for Liberty is vindication,” Descovich told Fox News Digital. “We feel… we’re finally being heard.”
Descovich said parents involved with her organization became fearful of speaking publicly after the Justice Department and FBI’s response to heated school board battles beginning in 2021, claiming some received calls asking about their mental health and whether they had weapons in their homes.
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Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich speaks during the 2024 Joyful Warriors National Summit on Aug. 30, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Parents were afraid to show up,” Descovich said. “They were afraid to lose their jobs. They were members of our organization, sometimes privately and silently standing with us, but too afraid to speak out because of what our government did in the United States of America. We need to not forget where we were in 2021 as we go into these midterm elections.”
The Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group reported Monday that the FBI opened 25 “Guardian assessments” involving parents following then-Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Oct. 4, 2021, memorandum addressing threats against school officials.
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The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), part of the U.S. Department of Justice, is displayed at the J. Edgar Hoover Building on August 8, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
The report says an FBI whistleblower disclosed that one mother was investigated following a tip that noted she was a gun owner and belonged to what was described as a “right-wing mom’s group.” A separate joint DOJ-Education Department release identified that organization as Moms for Liberty.
“We have known since 2021 that the DOJ and the FBI under the Biden administration were basically enemies to parents and to Moms for Liberty,” Descovich said. “Our parents were getting phone calls after attending school board meetings asking if they had mental health problems, if they had weapons in their home. They were given case numbers and file numbers. And this latest report that’s come out and press release from the DOJ and the DOE acknowledging that fact and declaring that, officially, parents are not domestic terrorists. It’s almost ridiculous. It’s absurd that that’s happened in America and that has to be the headline today that we’re actually returning to normalcy.”
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A DOJ sign on the edifice of the building. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
The press release from the Department of Justice reported that personnel internally called the effort “ridiculous,” raised First Amendment concerns and said it appeared political, but that emails show Attorney General Garland issued the memo, persuaded by the Biden White House officials.
The Working Group found that the memo, according to the DOJ press release, “was the product of pressure exerted by the White House and wrongly weaponized the Department of Justice against parents.”
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers a statement at the Department of Justice on April 26, 2021, in Washington, D.C. ((Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images))
“The effect of Merrick Garland and the DOJ and the FBI under the Biden administration issuing a threat tag, that was founded on the basis of using the Patriot Act against parents in this country that were showing up at school board meetings. It sent a chill through the country,” Descovich said.
She continued to say that parents “need to not forget where we were in 2021 as we go into these midterm elections.”
“There needs to be accountability to a government that was out of control,” Descovich added. “The first step of accountability was losing their power and their election, and we need to continue that through the midterms, because we cannot give power back to the people that weaponized the government against citizens, against ordinary parents. Beyond that, I really hope the current administration will take further steps to hold the individuals accountable that were driving these attacks against its citizens.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and the White House for comment. The Department of Education deferred to their press release and letter on the matter.