Tipsheet

Democrats and the Media Go to Bat for the Southern Poverty Law Center

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  April 22, 2026 1:30 PM

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was indicted yesterday on multiple counts of wire and bank fraud, just hours after the group said it was under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the SPLC paid millions to White supremacy groups to "stoke racial hatred" in the groups the SPLC investigated. FBI Director Kash Patel said the SPLC, "allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public."

The DOJ said the SPLC paid members of extremist groups, including those affiliated with the KKK, the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, and the National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party). The SPLC also reportedly played a major role in organizing the Charlottesville United the Right rally, which the Left used against President Trump for years. It was also the reason Joe Biden claimed to run for president in 2020.

And in 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins attacked the headquarters of the Family Research Council using a list of "hate groups" compiled by the SPLC. Corkins shot a security guard who managed to subdue him until police arrived. The guard survived and Corkins was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2013.

With all this in mind, check out how the Left and media are framing the indictment of the SPLC:

"Paying sources to infiltrate hate groups," is a hell of a framing. That's not what they were doing. Law enforcement infiltrates groups.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also criticized the indictments, claiming the DOJ was weaponized against the SPLC.

"These partisan hacks who continue to weaponize the criminal justice system against perceived opponents will never intimidate us," Jeffries wrote on X. "And all of them will be held accountable for their corrupt behavior no matter what it takes."

This isn't corruption. But keep threatening to weaponize government against the Trump administration.

An interesting choice of words, no?

The Democrats will probably go after the Alabama citizens, too.

Democrats in California are promising to prosecute journalists who expose fraud, so yes. This is the next logical step.

Yes, it is.

Jeffries knows this is reckless. That's the point. He wants the narrative of a weaponized indictment to dominate the news cycle so the truth doesn't get out there.

That's literally what he's arguing for.

Jeffries wasn't the only one. Senator Adam Schiff also attacked the indictments, saying it was the Trump administration's attempt to defend white supremacists.

Incredible.

And so did Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

It's painfully, alarmingly clear that Democrats believe some people are above the law, and that includes organizations and people with whom the Democrats are ideologically aligned and support.