Psaki Refuses to Say if White House Believes Parents Opposed to Critical Race Theory are Terrorists

White House press secretary Jen Psaki refused to say on Wednesday whether the Biden administration considered parents who protest critical race theory to be domestic terrorists.

She was pressed on the issue at the daily White House press conference by Fox News’ Peter Doocy. “A week ago, the National School Boards Association wrote to the president to say their teachers feel like some parents protesting recently could be equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism,” Doocy noted. “So does the administration agree that parents upset about their kids’ curriculums could be domestic terrorists?”

The letter Doocy referenced prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to ask the FBI on Monday to investigate what he characterized as a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence,” and came after parental backlash against schools that have asked teachers to push theories about race in their classrooms.

“The Department of Justice said … threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” Psaki replied, dodging the question. “That is true. These are threats against public servants, threats against members of the school board. Regardless of the reasoning, threats and violence against public servants is illegal.”

Doocy persisted, asking Psaki to say whether the administration would support the FBI’s use of the Patriot Act to identify parents opposed to critical race theory. “Something that the School Boards Association is asking for is the administration to consider using the Patriot Act to consider investigating some of these school board protesters,” Doocy said. “So would the administration be OK with the FBI using the Patriot Act to surveil these parents?”

Psaki demurred a second time. “I don’t speak on behalf of the National School Boards Association,” she responded. “I speak on behalf of this government.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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