DOJ pressured local officials to accept their help in combating the parent group’s pushback against LGBTQ and DEI policies.
The Department of Justice deployed its “hate crimes” unit to track conservative group Moms for Liberty in the same manner it tracked the KKK, according to internal emails.
Moms for Liberty, a conservative education policy reform group, was tracked by the DOJ’s Community Relations Service (CRS) alongside symbols like the noose, the Confederate flag, the swastika, and white supremacy, the emails obtained by the Daily Wire show.
The emails reportedly show the only other groups whose movements were similarly tracked were the Ku Klux Klan, a “second KKK-style group”, and the Oath Keepers militia.
Justice: Moms For Liberty Targeted By FBI And DOJ “Hate Unit” That Also Tracks KKK And Oath Keepers @4TiffanyJustice @Moms4Liberty pic.twitter.com/i0YPHGHwYL
— Grace Chong ?? (@gc22gc) May 29, 2024
The CRS says its role is “preventing and responding to community tensions and hate crimes, bias, bullying, and discrimination.”
The emails show the DOJ pressured local officials to accept their assistance.
For example, DOJ-CRS “Conciliation Specialist” Hannah Levine emailed school board officials in Roanoke county to offer her assistance to ease “community tensions” over LGBTQ policies at its schools.
“CRS is aware of ongoing community tensions in Roanoke County following the release of the new model policies for transgender students,” Levine wrote in an email reported in August. “I’d like to connect to see if we might be able to offer support and services as you work to manage conflict within the community related to this.”
There is no evidence Moms for Liberty or elected officials in Roanoke were committing hate crimes.
The DOJ initially refused to disclose the emails through a FOIA request but relented in the face of a lawsuit by America First Legal.
From The Daily Wire:
The DOJ concealed the records from the public by ignoring a Freedom of Information Act request, but released them pursuant to a lawsuit filed by America First Legal on behalf of The Daily Wire. They show the Community Relations Service, which says its role is “preventing and responding to community tensions and hate crimes, bias, bullying, and discrimination,” tracked targets like Moms for Liberty through Google and LexisNexis alerts.
The DOJ did not return a request for comment on why it was tracking Moms for Liberty. It appears to have used its tracking of Moms for Liberty to identify school boards considering enacting conservative-leaning education policy. It then pressured school boards to defer to the DOJ to resolve the differences of opinion between duly-elected conservative officials and leftist activists, instead of enacting platforms they won elections on.
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice condemned the revelations and called on the DOJ to answer for its targeting of her organization, which it has not done as of this writing.
“We reject the notion that advocating for parental rights and the well-being of children is an act of hate and we call on the Department of Justice to clarify its position on this matter,” Justice told The Daily Wire.
“The actions of the federal government should never infringe upon the rights of parents to engage in the democratic process,” she added.
