The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) after the organization failed to produce documents tied to allegations that it paid members of the KKK and other extremist groups using donor money intended to combat those very organizations.
The subpoena — reviewed by The Federalist — requests the SPLC turn over any and all documents and communications between any SPLC employee and “field source” that was paid by the SPLC.
The SPLC was indicted by a federal grand jury last month for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. The SPLC allegedly used millions of dollars it received through donations to pay “a covert network of individuals” that were a part of “violent extremists groups” like the KKK. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that the SPLC was “manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”
The organization allegedly did not disclose to its donors that “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,” a press released from the Department of Justice states.
The House Judiciary Committee previously requested documents from the SPLC, according to a May 20 letter. But the SPLC failed to provide a single requested document and “misrepresented both the timeline and purpose of the Committee’s oversight.”
“Accordingly, the Committee is initiating compulsory process to obtain the documents and material needed to fulfill its oversight and legislative obligations,” the letter continues. The subpoena compels document production by June 3.
The subpoena also requests any documentation or communication between the SPLC and the Department of Justice, FBI, or other executive branch agency for the duration of the Biden administration.
Notably, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice and FBI were both aware that the SPLC was paying “informants” in the KKK, former Associate Attorney General in the Biden administration Vanita Gupta disclosed during a recent virtual press conference.
The judiciary committee also invited SPLC Interim President Bryan Fair to testify on June 9.
“The hearing will examine the role that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has played in distorting civil rights policy in recent years. Additionally, the hearing will explore recently released information revealing that the SPLC has funneled money to some extremists, raising questions whether the SPLC has been artificially elevating the domestic extremist threat and misleading its donors,” the Judiciary Committee said in a letter to Fair.
