Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee shot back at Senator Chuck Schumer Wednesday after the New York Democrat defended the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) after the supposed anti-hate group was indicted regarding its funding of radical, supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
Instead of condemning the use of money donated to stop hate to, instead, actually fund groups that foment hate, Schumer used a post on X.com to vilify the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and claim that SPLC is a victim:
“The Trump administration is waging a vindictive campaign against the organizations that safeguard our democracy. Weaponizing the DOJ to indict long-standing watchdogs is a message: if you defend voting rights, fight white supremacy, or protect civil rights, you’re next…”
“Committing wire fraud to send money to the KKK is an odd way to safeguard democracy, Senator,” Sen. Lee replied to Schumer’s post.
“America suffered from a deficit of hatred, so the SPLC supplied some—all the while smearing normal conservatives and Christians,” Sen. Lee wrote on Tuesday, reacting to a DOJ announcement of the indictment.
“Our indictment alleges SPLC secretly funneled MORE THAN $3 MILLION in funds to members of white supremacist and extremist groups,” the DOJ post explains.
Schumer’s post was in response to a X.com post by The New York Times:
“Breaking News: The Justice Department charged the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group, with financial crimes, accusing the organization of fraud.”
As CNSNews reported on Tuesday, the indictment alleges that the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party).
Charges in the 11-count grand jury indictment include wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
According to the indictment, the objective of the SPLC scheme and artifice was to obtain money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the donated funds would be used for. In order to covertly pay the individuals, the SPLC allegedly opened bank accounts connected to a series of fictitious entities.
SPLC “stands accused of manufacturing and creating the very extremism it purports to oppose. Instead of dismantling extremism, @splcenter was funding it,” U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche explained in a post Tuesday.
