A pressure campaign by billionaire Elon Musk and conservative Christian groups has succeeded: The FBI said Oct. 5 it no longer will work with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, two groups that monitor extremism, Associated Press reported.
“This FBI won’t partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs,” said FBI Director Kash Patel, who called SPLC a “partisan smear machine.”
Conservatives condemned SPLC after the Sept. 10 murder of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, which SPLC categorized as a hate group on its hate map. It has since removed TPUSA from the map.
Elon Musk (Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
Elon Musk fueled the criticism with a Sept. 27 post on X: “The SPLC is an evil organization that spreads hate propaganda relentlessly.” A Heritage Foundation representative said: “It doesn’t fight hate — it manufactures it, embedding division into every press release they issue and every word they post; their business model is defamation, and America is finally waking up.”
The Family Research Council submitted a petition signed by more than 30,000 supporters to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche asking the Department of Justice to join the FBI in cutting all ties with SPLC.
The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 and originally focused on the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups but expanded its list of hate groups to include white supremacist groups and Christian groups, including Focus on the Family, that it says use hateful rhetoric toward members of the LGBTQ community.
The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 to combat antisemitism and has come under fire from conservatives for calling out antisemitism on the right at a time when the Trump administration has focused only on antisemitism and antizionism on the left.
Both SPLC and ADL previously provided resources and briefings to the FBI, and the end of this relationship could mean less agency scrutiny of the kinds of violent and deadly extremist groups behind the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City that killed 168 and an unprecedented rise in attacks on Jews and Jewish gatherings.
The FBI receives information from many groups. ADL has a web page devoted to its work with law enforcement agencies “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”
It’s not clear if the FBI has previously cut off contact with groups on the basis of social media posts or petitions. Patel announced it was cutting off ADL the day before Jews observed Yom Kippur, Jews’ holiest holiday.
FRC said it was time “to finally root out the SPLC’s influence from our government once and for all.”
“ADL has deep respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers at all levels across the country,” said the ADL in a statement. “In light of an unprecedented surge of antisemitism, we remain more committed than ever to our core purpose to protect the Jewish people.”
The Family Research Council says its listing on SPLC’s hate map “inspired” a gunman to attack its Washington, D.C., headquarters in 2012. It also blames the 2017 shooting of Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise on SPLC. After Kirk’s killing, some claimed he would still be alive if Turning Point USA had not been added to its hate map earlier this year.
FRC said it was time “to finally root out the SPLC’s influence from our government once and for all.”
“The FBI — Finally — Kicks the SPLC to the Curb,” said Alliance Defending Freedom, which called SPLC “a discredited and scandal-ridden group” with a “long history of ideological favoritism.”
SPLC is no fan of FBI Director Patel. In February, SPLC wrote to Congress asking it to “VOTE NO on the Confirmation of Kash Patel as Director of the FBI.”
“Patel’s political allegiance and financial ties to President Trump, his lack of professional qualifications to lead the agency, his past statements threatening to ‘come after’ perceived opponents, and his associations with race-based extremists are disqualifying,” said SPLC. The group said Patel lacks “ethical and moral standards, independence and impartiality, and a commitment to civil rights and the rule of law.”
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