SPLC pushes back hard against DOJ claims, says informant program was known to law enforcement

The Southern Poverty Law Center is pushing back against a Trump administration-backed indictment accusing the nonprofit of secretly funding leaders of hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi factions. In court filings, the SPLC insists that law enforcement agencies have been fully aware of its informant program, which it says has helped stop violent extremist plots and bring criminals to justice.

Last week, the DOJ charged the Alabama-based civil rights group with fraud and money laundering, alleging it misled donors by funneling millions to informants embedded in racist organizations. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed the government had “no information” about the program—a statement the SPLC calls false and damaging to its right to a fair trial.

The nonprofit detailed multiple instances where it shared intelligence gathered from informants with federal law enforcement. For example, it provided a 45-page alert to the FBI ahead of the 2017 white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, including warnings about armed attendees. In 2019, tips from the program helped the FBI arrest a man linked to the violent white supremacist group Atomwaffen Division, who was later sentenced for plotting attacks on a synagogue and an LGBTQ bar.

Another case involved information that led to the conviction of a Navy Yard worker who lied about white supremacist ties during a security clearance process. The SPLC presented evidence of these collaborations to prosecutors in April, yet the DOJ declined to retract Blanche’s misleading public statements.

Prosecutors argue the SPLC was “manufacturing extremism” by paying informants to stoke racial hatred, framing the nonprofit as a fraud. But the SPLC calls the charges a politically motivated attempt to punish a longtime target of conservative attacks. President Trump has called the group “one of the greatest political scams in American History,” tying the case to his false claims about the 2020 election.

Bryan Fair, SPLC’s interim president, emphasized the group’s role in preventing violence. “When threats and other unlawful activity were revealed, the SPLC immediately passed that information to law enforcement officials… and assisted in efforts to prevent violence and stop criminal activity,” Fair said.

This case highlights the ongoing weaponization of the Justice Department to target organizations that hold power to account. The SPLC’s defense raises serious questions about the politicization of federal law enforcement and the erosion of democratic norms under the Trump administration. We’ll be watching closely as this battle unfolds in court.