An arraignment hearing will be held in federal court in Montgomery on Thursday, May 7, in the Department of Justice’s case against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
According to the indictment, starting in the 1980s, the SPLC began operating a covert network of individuals who were either associated with violent and extremist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, or who had infiltrated violent extremist groups at the SPLC’s direction. Unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website, according to the DOJ.
Attorneys with the SPLC filed motions on Monday requesting a transcript of grand jury proceedings and a court order requiring Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to retract a “false and unfairly prejudicial statement” he made on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle shortly after the indictment was announced.
“Well, they communicated when they so chose, with law enforcement over the years. There’s no information that we have that suggests that the money they were paying to these informants and these members of these organizations, they then turned around and shared what they learned with law enforcement. To the contrary, or else we would have known, from their own words, that they had given this money to these guys. And we didn’t know,” Blanche said.
Addy Schmitt, an attorney representing SPLC, said in a filing on Monday, “The Court should exercise its authority to provide the relief necessary to protect the integrity of this proceeding.”
“The defense respectfully seeks an order directing the government to: (1) retract the false and unfairly prejudicial statement that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made on Fox News regarding the allegations against the SPLC as a pretrial equivalent of a curative jury instruction; and (2) refrain from making any further false or misleading statements about the allegations in the indictment and abide by the rules prohibiting extrajudicial statements that prejudice SPLC’s right to a fair trial,” Schmitt said.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
