FBI Cuts Ties with Civil Rights Group Southern Poverty Law Center

The FBI has severed its ties with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights group known for monitoring extremist organizations. The move comes after mounting criticism from conservatives, particularly over SPLC’s decision to list Turning Point USA—founded by slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk—as a hate group.

In a post on X Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel accused the SPLC of transforming from a defender of civil rights into a “partisan smear machine,” adding that the agency had ended all collaboration. Without offering further details, Patel claimed the group’s so-called “Hate Map” has been used to vilify mainstream Americans and even incite violence.

The SPLC, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, maintains a Hate Map that lists nearly 1,400 groups, including Kirk’s Arizona-based conservative youth organization, labeling it “anti-government.” The FBI also declined to elaborate on Patel’s remarks, but a Justice Department official, speaking anonymously, said the working relationship had already been winding down for months.

Patel’s announcement came just two days after he declared that the FBI would also cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish organization that tracks antisemitism. The ADL had previously categorized Turning Point USA under its “extremism and hate glossary” before removing it amid backlash from conservatives and criticism from billionaire Elon Musk.

Kirk was killed last month during an event at a Utah college campus, an attack that has intensified concerns over rising political violence in the U.S. and prompted former President Donald Trump to sharpen his rhetoric against what he calls the “radical left.” Prosecutors allege the 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Robinson, told his roommate he acted because of Kirk’s “hate.” Authorities believe Robinson acted alone.

On Thursday, Musk posted on X that the SPLC had mentioned Kirk briefly in a newsletter published just a day before his death, accusing the group—without evidence—of being “culpable” in inciting the killing.