FBI Cuts Ties With Southern Poverty Law Center

FBI Director Kash Patel announced the bureau would sever ties with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the second time in a week he has ended a partnership with a group that monitors right-wing extremism.

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But Patel accused the group of being a “partisan smear machine.”

“The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine. Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence. That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership,” Patel wrote on X Friday.

“I made it clear that the FBI will never rely on politicized or agenda-driven intelligence from outside groups — and certainly not from the SPLC.”

The announcement came just two days after Patel similarly announced the FBI would cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a group that battles antisemitism and also monitors right-wing groups.

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