US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday defended a memo aimed at combating threats against school officials nationwide, while senators insisted that he rescind the directive.
The memo took center stage as Garland appeared before the US Senate Judiciary Committee — his second congressional appearance in a week — and said it was meant to respond to violence and threats of violence directed against local school board officials.
The memo came out on Oct. 4, less than one week after the National School Board Association wrote to the administration of US President Joe Biden about the threats to school officials and asked for help.
Senators also discussed a case at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia, on May 28.
The father of a girl was arrested during a school board meeting the following month, as officials were discussing transgender school bathroom policies, after an altercation with another parent.
On Oct. 6, a separate incident occurred at Broad Run High School, about 4.8km from Stone Bridge.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that a 14-year-old male was arrested in connection with the May 28 assault and charged with two counts of forcible sodomy.
At a trial on Monday, a judge found evidence to sustain charges that the teen had sexually assaulted the victim, the Washington Post reported.
Some board meetings have turned into shouting contests over issues such as how racial issues are taught, masks in schools and COVID-19 vaccines requirements.
Senators said that Garland went too far in instructing US Department of Justice divisions to coordinate with local law enforcement.
US senators Chuck Grassley and John Cornyn criticized Garland for issuing a memo this month directing the FBI to help address threats of violence against school officials.
The threats are coming from some parents and others who are against mask requirements during the pandemic, and oppose teaching that focuses on race in US culture and history.
Cornyn demanded to know if Garland had considered the chilling effect the memo might have on parents exercising their constitutional rights.
“I don’t believe it’s reasonable to read this memo as chilling anyone’s rights,” Garland said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion