The author of the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) recent annual report, which listed several parental rights organizations as "hate groups" along with the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis, met with a Biden administration counterterrorism official in January, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon.
According to the Beacon, White House records show the SPLC's Intelligence Project director Susan Corke and other SPLC researchers visited the White House on Jan. 6, 2023, to meet with National Security Council counterterrorism director John Picarelli.
On Tuesday, the SPLC released its annual report titled "The Year in Hate and Extremism Comes to Main Street" for 2022, which Corke authored.
Moms for Liberty, a grassroots coalition of conservative women based in Florida that advocate for protecting children from sexualized material, Critical Race Theory (CRT), and ideological indoctrination in public schools, was listed as an "antigovernment" extremist group.
The SPLC's report also included several other organizations focused on parental rights, over 700 alleged antigovernment extremist groups and 523 supposed "hate groups."
The report drew the ire of several popular conservative personalities and has received criticism from Republican lawmakers such as U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
The SPLC has faced criticism and accusations of hypocrisy, fostering a toxic work environment and using its influence to promote progressive ideological goals and has faced several defamation lawsuits over the past three decades.
According to the Beacon, what Corke discussed with Picarelli during her visit at the White House is unclear, but it's not the first time the SPLC has worked with federal agencies.
The SPLC not only categorizes organizations as "hate groups" on their website but also shares information about these groups with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Earlier this year, a controversial FBI memo cited the SPLC and recommended the federal law enforcement agency should monitor traditionalist Catholics through "the development of sources with access," including in "places of worship." The FBI later rescinded the memo following backlash from concerned Christians.
On its website in 2017, the FBI claimed to have "forged partnerships" with the SPLC and other leftist organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Human Rights Campaign "to establish rapport, share information, address concerns and cooperate in solving problems."
However, this paragraph no longer appears on the FBI's current website.
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