FBI Lawyer Hoped Justice Department Would ‘Reconsider’ 2021 Memo on Alleged School Board Threats, Documents Reveal

Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington on March 16, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Documents the FBI recently released show that a lawyer for the agency expressed her reservations about a draft version of U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Oct. 4, 2021 memo that initiated a controversial federal effort to investigate alleged harassment at school board meetings around the country.

The documents, which the America First Legal Foundation (AFL) recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, showed FBI attorney Miriam Coakley expressed her hope that Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) would reconsider their actions.