Southern Poverty Law Center chair put on defensive during heated congressional hearing: ‘We don’t fund hate groups’

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — The Southern Poverty Law Center’s interim president and CEO faced tough questions from Republican lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday over the organization’s former program of running informants in racist groups.

The hearing comes as the group faces criminal charges over the program, including allegations that it misused donor money to pay leaders in extremist groups and buy wood used in cross-burning events.

“We don’t fund the KKK,” the SPLC’s interim president, Bryan Fair, told Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman after being pressed on the program repeatedly. “We don’t fund hate groups.”

“Except the $4.1 million that you gave to the KKK, the National Socialist Movement, and the Aryan Nations,” Hageman shot back.

Fair, repeating language that he used throughout Tuesday’s hearing, responded that “those are allegations that will be addressed in the criminal case.”

Fair, on behalf of SPLC, pleaded not guilty last month in Alabama federal court to wire fraud, false statements and money laundering charges.

The Justice Department has accused the SPLC of hiding the undercover program from its donors and of using shell companies to fund the people it used to infiltrate White supremacy organizations.

The group, known for its legal and investigative work against violent extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, has been heavily criticized for decades by Republicans who allege the organization unfairly targets and maligns right-wing groups.

When asked by Rep. Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, why the SPLC dismantled the program, Fair turned on the government.

“We stopped the program because we believed hate and extremism has migrated significantly online and into government agencies,” Fair said.

“Wow,” Jordan replied. “That’s big. That makes no sense.”

Fair said law enforcement were aware of the program and have benefited from the intelligence gathered by these informants in past cases against the extremist groups.

“We’ve already asserted in our filings that we did not lie to our donors, that we did not fund any hate groups,” Fair told lawmakers Tuesday. “The Department of Justice knew that we were working with them.”

Democrats came to the SPLC’s defense throughout Tuesday’s hearing, alleging acting Attorney General Todd Blanche brought the case at the behest of President Donald Trump. Trump on Monday formally nominated Blanche to the post.

“We know why this indictment was brought,” Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross said during the hearing. “It’s just one of the many weaponized moves that Todd Blanche and the DOJ have taken at the president’s behest to silence dissent for his monthlong audition for attorney general.”

Ross continued: “This is proving loyalty to Donald Trump, but it’s clearly not loyalty to the law.”

A superseding indictment handed up earlier this month alleges the SPLC diverted $4.1 million from 2010 to 2023 through alleged shell companies, much of which prosecutors say was used to pay these informants.

The indictment also alleges one of the informants was in a romantic relationship with an SPLC employee who oversaw payments to the operatives. The pair allegedly lived together and used some of the funds to pay for living expenses, according to the indictment.

“We shared information that we learned through our confidential informant program with local, state and federal law enforcement to prevent racial violence against the public at large and to protect our staff,” Fair said in defending the program Tuesday.

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