Judicial Watch Sues Over the FBI Investigation of Parents at School Board Meetings

It is staggering to think that our FBI was sent out to investigate parents at school board meetings. Let that sink in. We did, and we acted.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the Justice Department for all communications from FBI officials regarding investigations carried out after an October 4, 2021, memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland instructing investigators to target American parents due to an alleged “increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools” (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-01856)).

Judicial Watch’s legal team is following up on the controversial memo by Garland instructing federal law enforcement to “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response” on possible criminal threats to local school board members over politically charged issues such as Critical Race Theory and other extremism.

We filed the lawsuit after the Justice Department and FBI failed to respond to a February 17, 2023, FOIA request for:

Records and communications (internal and external) of the below named Federal Bureau of Investigation employees or former employees regarding 1) school board threats 2) meetings with U.S. attorneys’ offices in accordance with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Oct. 4, 2021 memo, which directed the FBI to partner with local law enforcement and U.S. attorneys to identify parental threats at school board meetings 3) EDUOFFICIALS 4) National School Boards Association (NSBA) 4) Moms for Liberty 5) Turning Point USA

a. Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI
b. Paul Abbate, Deputy Director of the FBI
c. Carlton L. Peeples, SAIC, Birmingham Field Office
d. Jay Greenberg, SAIC, St. Louis Field Office
e. Calvin A. Shivers, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division, FBI Headquarters
f. Brian M. Cohen, Unit Chief and Senior Program Manager, FBI Headquarters
g. Timothy Langan, Executive Assistant Director, Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, FBI Headquarters
h. Kevin Vorndran, former Deputy Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, FBI Headquarters

 The request also asked that the FBI search the following systems/databases for responsive records:

SENTINEL

Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR), Microphone
Surveillance (MISUR),
Physical Surveillance (FISUR) and Technical
Surveillance (TESUR) records/indices
Investigative Data Warehouse (IDW), including IDW-S,
SPT, and DOCLAB-S sub-systems/indices
Data Integration and Visualization System (DIVS)
Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-Dex)

Among the records we are seeking are those concerning “Moms for Liberty,” a nationwide advocacy group working empower parents to defend their parental rights.

Another group likely to be of interest to the FBI is, Turning Point USA, a conservative organization that educates and organizes students. It initiated a project to report indoctrination of school children, “school board watchlist.”

In a March 21, 2023, report on the Garland memo, the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government cited FBI data which states that 25 inquiries under the threat tag “EDUOFFICIALS” had been opened since the bureau began tracking the alleged incidents.

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on October 21, 2021, Garland said that he based his memo off of a letter from the National School Board Association (NSBA) (formerly available on its website, now available here) that labeled parents as “domestic terrorists.” The National School Boards Association later issued an apology for the letter. In November 2021, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee questioned the completeness of Garland’s testimony.

The House committee report concluded that Biden administration officials “colluded” with school board association leaders “to create a justification to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources against parents.”

The Biden administration sicced the FBI on political opponents – parents who objected to left-wing and sex propaganda being forced on children at schools. The American people deserve to know the full details of how and why their government surveilled Americans accused of being “domestic terrorists” simply for exercising their First Amendment rights to protect their children at school board meetings.

We filed a related lawsuit in December 2021 for all FBI records related to the October 4, 2021, memorandum issued by Attorney General Garland targeting parents with objections to Critical Race Theory in schools. In March, the DOJ stated that no responsive records had been located. An additional search is being conducted, and the DOJ is to begin producing material by mid-August.
 

Judicial Watch Sues DHS over Biological Defense Program Grant to EcoHealth Alliance

Our government’s secretive dealings with the Chinese virus lab where COVID-19 likely originated need a thorough airing, and we’re busy providing it.

Our latest move is a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for records and communications between DHS component offices and the U.S. Biological Defense Program regarding a $2 million grant awarded by the DHS’s Ground Truth Network to EcoHealth Alliance (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:23-cv-01855)).

EcoHealth Alliance is implicated in using tax dollars for “gain-of-function” coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute for Virology and elsewhere in China.

This U.S. government secretive grant to EcoHealth Alliance on “biosafety” deserves a full accounting, especially given the ongoing “gain-of-function” scandal in Wuhan.

The lawsuit names the National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC) and the Office of Health Affairs, which are part of DHS’s U.S. Biological Defense Program, which DHS states was established to increase the U.S.’s “preparedness against chemical and biological threats through improved threat awareness, advanced surveillance and detection, and responsive countermeasures.” The Ground Truth Network was set up under the National Biosurveillance Integration Center.

We sued after DHS failed to respond to a February 17, 2023, FOIA request for:

Records and communications of the National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC), Office of Health Affairs, DHS of the following current or former employees (1) Heather Poindexter, (2) LCDR Reajul Mojumder, (3) Teresa Quitugua, regarding:

A. Ground Truth Network Project
B. PIID HSHQDC16C00113
C. HSHQDC16C00113
D.HSHQDC-16-R-00116
E. EcoHealth Alliance interface with NBIC analysts through written documents (e.g., emails, written reports, maps, data, etc.), oral communication (e.g., phone calls, conference call, etc.), and face-to-face meetings.
F. Any requests for information (RFIs) sent to EcoHealth Alliance and any responses to RFIs from EcoHealth Alliance
G. Plans detailing Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) available to NBIC and the process for direct and indirect communications with SMEs
H. Credibility of the source(s) from whom any information was obtained under Ground Truth Network
I. Concurrence and / or Closeout letters from DHS to EcoHealth Alliance

This requests also includes communications or interface of DHS NBIC employees with the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis (DHS I&A) regarding:

1. Construction or editing of the Ground Truth Network RFP, grant or contract
2. Information shared between NBIC and DHS I&A received from EcoHealth Alliance or Ground Truth Network

According to the USASpending.gov federal database, the grant (PIID HSHQDC16C00113) awarded to EcoHealth Alliance was awarded in September 2016 with a potential end date of October 2022. Of the $2.1 million potential award, $974,298 was awarded. It was closed out in October 2021.

Lt. Commander Reajul Mojumder, Project Officer at DHS’s Bio-Preparedness Collaboratory, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office, was managing the grant to EcoHealth Alliance, according to the database. Mojumder was later replaced by Teresa Quitugua, deputy director and chief scientist of the National Biosurveillance Integration Center, Maryland.

Through FOIA, we have uncovered a substantial amount of information about the COVID-19 controversy, including information about the role of EcoHealth Alliance in conducting “gain-of-function” bat coronavirus research in China with U.S. tax dollars:

• HHS records included the initial grant application and annual reports to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from EcoHealth Alliance, describing the aim of its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China to create mutant viruses “to better predict the capacity of our CoVs [coronaviruses] to infect people.”
• HHS records included emails of then-Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Francis Collins showing a British physicians’ group recommended the use of Ivermectin to prevent and treat COVID-19.
• Heavily redacted HHS records showed that just two days prior to FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine a discussion was held between U.S. and UK health regulators regarding the COVID shot and “anaphylaxis,” with the regulators emphasizing their “mutual confidentiality agreement.”
• We obtained HHS records regarding data Moderna submitted to the FDA on its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, which indicated a “statistically significant” number of rats were born with skeletal deformations after their mothers were injected with the vaccine. The documents also revealed Moderna elected not to conduct a number of standard pharmacological studies on the laboratory test animals.
• Heavily redacted records from the FDA regarding the COVID-19 booster vaccine detailed pressure on COVID booster use and approval.
• HHS records detailed internal discussions about myocarditis and the COVID vaccine. Other documents detail adverse “events for which a contributory effect of the vaccine could not be excluded.”
• We uncovered HHS records detailing the extensive media plans for a Biden administration propaganda campaign to push the COVID-19 vaccine.
• HHS records revealed previously redacted locations of COVID-19 vaccine testing facilities in Shanghai, China. The FDA had claimed the name and location of the testing facilities were protected by the confidential commercial information exemption of the FOIA.
• NIH records showed an FBI “inquiry” into the NIH’s controversial bat coronavirus grant tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The records also show National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) officials were concerned about “gain-of-function” research in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2016. The Fauci agency was also concerned about EcoHealth Alliance’s lack of compliance with reporting rules and use of gain-of-function research in the NIH-funded research involving bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China.
• Texas Public Information Act (PIA) records showed the former director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB),  James W. Le Duc, warned Chinese researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology of potential investigations into the COVID issue by Congress.
• HHS records regarding biodistribution studies and related data for the COVID-19 vaccines showed how a key component of the vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), were found outside the injection site, mainly the liver, adrenal glands, spleen and ovaries of test animals, eight to 48 hours after injection.
• Records obtained from HHS through a FOIA lawsuit related to hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19 revealed that a grant to EcoHealth Alliance was cancelled because of press reports that a portion of the grant was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
• HHS records revealed that from 2014 to 2019, $826,277 was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research by the NIAID.
• NIAID records showed that it gave nine China-related grants to EcoHealth Alliance to research coronavirus emergence in bats and was the NIH’s top issuer of grants to the Wuhan lab itself. The records also included an email from the vice director of the Wuhan Lab asking an NIH official for help finding disinfectants for decontamination of airtight suits and indoor surfaces.
• HHS records included an “urgent for Dr. Fauci” email chain, citing ties between the Wuhan lab and the taxpayer-funded EcoHealth Alliance. The government emails also reported that the foundation of U.S. billionaire Bill Gates worked closely with the Chinese government to pave the way for Chinese-produced medications to be sold outside China and help “raise China’s voice of governance by placing representatives from China on important international counsels as high level commitment from China.”
• HHS records included a grant application for research involving the coronavirus that appears to describe “gain-of-function” research involving RNA extractions from bats, experiments on viruses, attempts to develop a chimeric virus and efforts to genetically manipulate the full-length bat SARSr-CoV WIV1 strain molecular clone.
• HHS records showed the State Department and NIAID knew immediately in January 2020 that China was withholding COVID data, which was hindering risk assessment and response by public health officials.
• HHS records show that NIH officials tailored confidentiality forms to China’s terms and that the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted an unreleased, “strictly confidential” COVID-19 epidemiological analysis in January 2020.
• Fauci emails include his approval of a press release supportive of China’s response to the 2019 novel coronavirus.

Despite all this work, there is clearly more to be done on this issue. And Judicial Watch is happy to do the heavy lifting thanks to your support!

Biden Censorship: FBI Colludes with Ukrainian Intel to Silence Americans

The censorship tentacles of our leftist Deep State agencies in Washington have reached into some bizarre corners, as our Corruption Chronicles blog details.

In the most recently exposed Biden administration scheme to combat misinformation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) colluded with a compromised Ukrainian intelligence agency to censor the speech of Americans. The federal agency responsible for protecting the nation against terrorists, violent street gangs and serial killers joined forces with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which is widely known to be infiltrated by Russian-aligned forces, to take down the authentic social media accounts of Americans. This includes a verified U.S. State Department profile and those belonging to American journalists. Interestingly, accounts targeted for removal by the SBU and FBI criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed pro-Ukrainian views.

Details of the illicit operation are outlined in a new congressional report made public this week by the House Judiciary Committee. The document also exposes how the FBI offered Facebook and Instagram legal cover to delete social media accounts singled out by the SBU. The two agencies routinely sent the popular social media platforms spreadsheets and other documents identifying thousands of profiles to eliminate. “Regardless of its intended purpose in endorsing the SBU’s requests, the FBI had no legal justification for facilitating the censorship of Americans’ protected speech on social media,” the report states. “In contrast to the Biden Administration’s stated support for Ukraine, the FBI, on behalf of the SBU, flagged Americans’ accounts and posts that were critical of Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The report says that the FBI also delivered censorship orders from the SBU to Google and YouTube and reveals that a senior cybersecurity employee at Google said the company was “deluged with various requests” for content removal after Russia invaded Ukraine. The primary liaison between the FBI and Silicon Valley is Elvis Chan, a San Francisco-based assistant special agent in charge of the division’s cyber branch. The congressional probe highlights the FBI’s unconstitutional role in enabling the SBU’s censorship regime and raises grave concerns about the agency’s credibility and competence as the nation’s premier law enforcement organization. “Put simply, the FBI worked with and on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency—widely known to be compromised by Moscow at the time—and directly abetted efforts to censor Americans engaging in protected speech,” the report says. “As a result, the FBI agents’ actions had the potential to render substantial aid to the Kremlin’s war effort.

Strangely—or perhaps not surprisingly—the alarming document has received scant coverage from the mainstream media. One national outlet that did publish a story about it dismissed it as “the latest in a series of Republican efforts to attack the Biden administration’s work with social media platforms, which ramped up over intervention on stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop.” The operation is hardly the first involving the administration’s highly questionable efforts to control information. Just days ago, a federal judge issued an order prohibiting the Biden administration from pressuring social media companies to suppress free speech protected under the Constitution. The ruling involves a lawsuit filed by states accusing the federal government of going too far to supposedly combat COVID-19 disinformation. In the decision, the judge wrote that there was “substantial evidence” of a far-reaching censorship campaign.

It is part of a broader effort to divert public funds for a fictitious crisis created by the Biden administration to control information. The movement started with a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) panel known as the Disinformation Governance Board, which was technically dismantled after major backlash. Taxpayer dollars keep flowing to related causes, however. Millions in DHS terrorism prevention grants have gone to combat “misinformation and disinformation” and to create media disinformation _networks worldwide. Large sums have also gone to related projects such as fighting science misinformation and misperceptions in black communities and, of course, COVID-19 misinformation, especially involving minorities and vaccines.
 

Until next week,