The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced on Tuesday that they are the subject of a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the left-wing group's use of paid confidential informants.
Bryan Fair, SPLC’s president and CEO, announced the investigation in a YouTube video on Tuesday.
“The latest threat is the most serious: a criminal investigation and possible charges against the SPLC or some of our employees. Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” Fair said in the video. “We frequently shared what we learned from informants with local and federal enforcement, including the FBI. We do not however share our use of informants broadly with anyone to protect the identity and safety of the informants and their families. While we no longer work with paid informants, we continue to take their safety seriously.”
The SPLC has faced renewed scrutiny in recent months following the assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk. TPUSA had been placed on the SPLC's "hate map" just two months prior. FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly described the SPLC as a "partisan smear machine” and cut all ties between the FBI and the SPLC.
A spokesperson for the DOJ didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
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