AP's fact check falsely claims NSBA never requested protesting parents to be labeled as 'domestic terrorists'

The Associated Press backfired in its attempt to "fact-check" criticism against the National School Board Association's (NSBA) letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday.

The Associated Press attempted to fact-check critical race theory opponent Christopher Rufo for his tweet criticizing the NSBA’s request for the FBI to label school board protests as "domestic terrorism."

"The National School Boards Association asked the feds to crack down on anti-critical race theory protests as ‘domestic terrorism,’" Rufo tweeted.

The Associated Press listed the claim as false, writing "Contrary to false claims circulating online, the National School Boards Association didn’t ask President Joe Biden to label protesting parents ‘domestic terrorists,’ and there’s no indication Biden or the Justice Department called them terrorists, either."

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After this post, Rufo took to Twitter to prove that the Associated Press was actually the one mischaracterizing statements.

"The AP claims that my report about the NSBA is ‘misinformation.’ But their ‘fact check’ is easily debunked by the NSBA letter itself, which asks the administration to classify parent protests as ‘a form of domestic terrorism’ and recommends prosecution under the ‘PATRIOT Act,’" Rufo tweeted.

The request from the NSBA specifically wrote "As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes."

Later in the letter, the NSBA requests the Department of Justice to "review examine appropriate enforceable actions against these crimes and acts of violence under the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism."

Rufo criticized the AP reporter for not seeking his comment on the story.

"The reporter reached out to the NSBA for comment, but did not reach out to me for comment, which is a violation of basic journalistic ethics and practices. It's time for AP ‘fact checking’ editor @KarenMahabir to retract the story for its obvious bias and falsehood," Rufo said. 

The AP later updated their story to include a comment from Rufo. 

"Rufo, in a comment emailed Thursday to The Associated Press, said the Biden administration is ‘using the FBI to suppress parents and criminalize dissent.’"

Rufo shared the full statement he sent to the AP on Twitter, in which he criticized the AP and accused them of playing "word games."

In an email to Fox News, the AP said it stood by its story. 

Other critics blasted the "fact check" for overlooking the specific reference to domestic terrorism.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSanti's press secretary Christina Pushaw also criticized the AP saying it stands for "Activist Progressives." 

She later revealed on Twitter that a reporter from the news outlet reached out to her following her tweet.

"I can’t… an actual AP reporter just emailed this to me. Speechless," Pushaw tweeted.

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The request from the NSBA faced pushback from parents by suggesting that parents in opposition to school policies are akin to "domestic terrorists." Following the request, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced intentions to have the Department of Justice and the FBI investigate protests against school board members.

The post has been updated to include that the AP reached out to Rufo and that they stood by their story.