Jim Jordan threatens White House subpoena over school board domestic terrorist letter
Jeremiah Poff
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The House Judiciary Committee chairman is threatening a subpoena if the White House doesn’t turn over internal communications on the 2021 letter from the National School Boards Association that compared parents to domestic terrorists.
In a letter to White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) demanded the White House turn over internal communications pertaining to the NSBA’s September 2021 letter by Mary Wall, a senior adviser to the president who was aware that the letter was going to be sent. The letter asked the Department of Justice to investigate threats against parents protesting at school board meetings under domestic terrorism statutes.
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“The Committee has reason to believe that communications between the EOP and the relevant Executive Branch agencies exist and that these records are instrumental in fully understanding the Executive Branch’s actions in this matter,” Jordan wrote in the letter. “Based on documents and testimonial evidence received to date, it appears that Mary C. Wall, a Senior Advisor to the President, was the conduit between the White House and Executive Branch officials across multiple agencies, as well as the conduit between the White House and the NSBA.”
Jordan and the Judiciary Committee had previously subpoenaed the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Education for records and communications related to the September 2021 letter. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland launched an FBI-DOJ task force charged with investigating threats against school board members in response to the letter.
The FBI has since faced scrutiny for investigating a number of incidents involving parents speaking at school board meetings.
Jordan had previously requested the White House turn over Wall’s communications related to the NSBA memo on Jan. 17, but to date, the White House has not supplied the Judiciary Committee with the requested documents.
The new request gives the White House until June 20 to turn over the requested documents and provide the committee an opportunity to interview Wall. If the deadline is not met, Jordan said the committee would look to “the compulsory process,” which a committee spokesperson confirmed to mean a subpoena threat.
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“We trust that, consistent with the letter from the Special Counsel to the President, the White House will honor its commitment to engage in good faith and produce the requested documents,” Jordan wrote. “If not, the Committee may consider the use of compulsory process.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the White House for comment.