On Wednesday, Merrick Garland found himself at the center of a GOP ambush. The sitting Attorney General appeared at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, where Republican after Republican pelted him with over-the-top accusations. One of their biggest pet peeves: the violent threats made against school board members nationwide. No, they weren’t against those; they were against Garland, claiming he was unfairly investigating MAGA parents who have simply been endangering the lives of public servants. But one Senator came to his defense: Cory Booker.
It was a long day for Garland and anyone in the chamber, with one Republican after another making unhinged accusations and appearing to hope their rants wind up on Fox News that evening. Who was the most over-the-top? Was it Tom Cotton, who threw everything at him but the kitchen sink, informed Garland he “should resign in disgrace, then left in a huff (then came back for more)? Or was it Ted Cruz, who actually defended Trumpist parents doing Nazi salutes?
Eventually there was a break in the clouds. Cory Booker, former presidential candidate and New Jersey senator, took the microphone, and he came bearing receipts:
After hours of Republicans arguing that concerns about threats against school board members are overblown, Cory Booker brings receipts showing that there have been many such incidents, including physical violence pic.twitter.com/ueVhb82VMy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2021
Booker started by quoting Garland’s strangely controversial memo, which claimed that “there’s been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff” across the nation’s public schools. With this assessment, Booker agreed, then rattled off one horrifying story after another.
“In Texas, a parent physically assaulted a teacher,” Booker bean. “In Pennsylvania, a person posted threats on social media which required police to station outside of a school district… I can keep going: Ohio, a school board member was threatening a letter with, ‘We are coming for you.’”
Booker then pointed out, as Garland’s memo did, that while “spirited debate” should be and is allowed over education-related issues, threats of violence are not. And Booker had page after page of examples of the latter, to say nothing of scores of disturbing videos of same that have been making the rounds all year long. Booker then pointed out that, instead of rounding up parents, as Republicans have falsely claimed he’s doing, Garland simply asked for more investigation into such matters. If anything, he may have suggested Garland wasn’t doing enough to protect vulnerable school employees.
You can watch Booker’s full takedown in the video above.
(Via Raw Story)
Source: https://uproxx.com/viral/cory-booker-merrick-garland-list-violent-attacks-school-boards/