FBI Director Kash Patel says the bureau is cutting ties with the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which has tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias for decades.It comes after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and increased attention on the group he founded, Turning Point USA. SPLC included it as a “case study in the hard right” in its report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024.”Video above details the charges against the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s death.Patel said on Friday that the FBI would sever its relationship with the SPLC, asserting that the organization had been turned into a “partisan smear machine” and criticizing it for its use of a “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States. Criticism of the SPLC escalated from some conservatives and prominent allies of President Donald Trump in the weeks after Kirk’s assassination. Prominent figures including Elon Musk condemned the SPLC this week for its descriptions of Kirk and the organization.Many of those political figures were also connected to the group in the Turning Point USA case study.”Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA is a well-funded, hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists and a tremendous amount of influence in conservative politics,” the SPLC case study states. “While the group was previously dismissed by key figures within the Republican National Committee (RNC), Trump attended several TPUSA events across the country throughout 2024, and several of his nominees have ties to the organization.”The case study characterized the organization as “authoritarian, patriarchal Christian supremacy dedicated to eroding the value of inclusive democracy and public institutions.” It stated that Turning Point USA exploited fear and “embraced aggressive state and federal power to enforce a social order rooted in white supremacy.”The August 2025 Intelligence Project Dispatch also named a leader of Turning Point Action, stating that former Arizona Rep. Austin Smith had been charged with election fraud.Video below: Charlie Kirk’s widow vows to continue his mission after his murderA spokesperson for the SPLC, a legal and advocacy group founded in 1971 as a watchdog for minorities and the underprivileged, did not directly address Patel’s comments in a statement Friday but said the organization has for decades shared data with the public and remains “committed to exposing hate and extremism as we work to equip communities with knowledge and defend the rights and safety of marginalized people.”The FBI also cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization that fights antisemitism. It faced criticism on the right for maintaining a “Glossary of Extremism.” The organization announced this week that it was discontinuing that glossary because a number of entries were outdated and some were being “intentionally misrepresented and misused.”What is the SPLC?The Southern Poverty Law Center was created by lawyers Morris Dees and Joe Levin in Montgomery in 1971.Civil Rights Activist Julian Bond was named the first president and people from across the country created the financial base for the organization, according to the SPLC website.”In the decades since its founding, the SPLC shut down some of the nation’s most violent white supremacist groups by winning crushing, multimillion-dollar jury verdicts on behalf of their victims,” the website states about the organization’s history. “It dismantled vestiges of Jim Crow, reformed juvenile justice practices, shattered barriers to equality for women, children, the LGBT community and the disabled, protected low-wage immigrant workers from exploitation, and more.”During the 1980s, the SPLC began monitoring white supremacist activity and what is now known as the Intelligence Project tracks hate and extremist groups across the country. This report is known around the world.
FBI Director Kash Patel says the bureau is cutting ties with the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which has tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias for decades.
It comes after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and increased attention on the group he founded, Turning Point USA. SPLC included it as a “case study in the hard right” in its report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024.“
Video above details the charges against the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s death.
Patel said on Friday that the FBI would sever its relationship with the SPLC, asserting that the organization had been turned into a “partisan smear machine” and criticizing it for its use of a “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States.
Criticism of the SPLC escalated from some conservatives and prominent allies of President Donald Trump in the weeks after Kirk’s assassination. Prominent figures including Elon Musk condemned the SPLC this week for its descriptions of Kirk and the organization.
Many of those political figures were also connected to the group in the Turning Point USA case study.
“Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA is a well-funded, hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists and a tremendous amount of influence in conservative politics,” the SPLC case study states. “While the group was previously dismissed by key figures within the Republican National Committee (RNC), Trump attended several TPUSA events across the country throughout 2024, and several of his nominees have ties to the organization.”
The case study characterized the organization as “authoritarian, patriarchal Christian supremacy dedicated to eroding the value of inclusive democracy and public institutions.” It stated that Turning Point USA exploited fear and “embraced aggressive state and federal power to enforce a social order rooted in white supremacy.”
The August 2025 Intelligence Project Dispatch also named a leader of Turning Point Action, stating that former Arizona Rep. Austin Smith had been charged with election fraud.
Video below: Charlie Kirk’s widow vows to continue his mission after his murder
A spokesperson for the SPLC, a legal and advocacy group founded in 1971 as a watchdog for minorities and the underprivileged, did not directly address Patel’s comments in a statement Friday but said the organization has for decades shared data with the public and remains “committed to exposing hate and extremism as we work to equip communities with knowledge and defend the rights and safety of marginalized people.”
The FBI also cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization that fights antisemitism. It faced criticism on the right for maintaining a “Glossary of Extremism.” The organization announced this week that it was discontinuing that glossary because a number of entries were outdated and some were being “intentionally misrepresented and misused.”
What is the SPLC?
The Southern Poverty Law Center was created by lawyers Morris Dees and Joe Levin in Montgomery in 1971.
Civil Rights Activist Julian Bond was named the first president and people from across the country created the financial base for the organization, according to the SPLC website.
“In the decades since its founding, the SPLC shut down some of the nation’s most violent white supremacist groups by winning crushing, multimillion-dollar jury verdicts on behalf of their victims,” the website states about the organization’s history. “It dismantled vestiges of Jim Crow, reformed juvenile justice practices, shattered barriers to equality for women, children, the LGBT community and the disabled, protected low-wage immigrant workers from exploitation, and more.”
During the 1980s, the SPLC began monitoring white supremacist activity and what is now known as the Intelligence Project tracks hate and extremist groups across the country. This report is known around the world.
