{"id":2601089,"date":"2026-05-11T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-splcs-drama-queen-media-defense-swings-and-misses\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T08:17:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:17:50","slug":"the-splcs-drama-queen-media-defense-swings-and-misses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-splcs-drama-queen-media-defense-swings-and-misses\/","title":{"rendered":"The SPLC&#8217;s Drama Queen Defense Swings And Misses"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-splcs-drama-queen-media-defense-swings-and-misses%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2601089&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The text describes a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutors-claim-overwhelming-evidence-against-trump\/\" title=\"Prosecutors assert strong evidence against Trump\">legal dispute involving<\/a> the southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), accused of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/vaccine-lockdown-critic-dr-simone-gold-sentenced-to-2-months-in-prison\/\" title=\"Vaccine, lockdown critic Dr. Simone Gold sentenced to 2 months in prison\">federal crimes related<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-democrat-governor-gretchen-whitmer-caught-allegedly-making-false-statements-about-travels-report\/\" title=\"Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer Caught Allegedly Making False Statements About Travels: Report\">allegedly making false statements<\/a> to banks and conducting wire transfers using the names of companies that allegedly did not exist. It claims the SPLC hired Hunter Biden\u2019s lawyer among others and framed the prosecution as a partisan effort-arguing that it is being targeted for political reasons.<\/p>\n<p>According to the piece, the SPLC filed a motion starting April 28 asking the court to stop federal officials from <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >allegedly making false public statements<\/a> and to order the immediate release of grand jury testimony to make \u201creal evidence\u201d public. it says a magistrate judge (Kelly Pate) required a government response by May 5, after which the Justice Department replied briefly and did not meaningfully address the underlying request. On May 6, pate denied the SPLC\u2019s motion as moot, concluding there was no evidence the government intended to lie.<\/p>\n<p>The article then notes that the SPLC entered a not-guilty plea and that the case is moving toward trial, including an order for a pre-trial revelation schedule. It adds that the author believes the charges could expand, citing reporting that expects a potential superseding indictment. The piece concludes that while the SPLC has due process rights and a presumption of innocence, the outcome will be decided in court rather than through public-facing legal conflict, and it mentions that The Federalist attempted to contact SPLC\u2019s legal team without receiving a response.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Charged with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/media\/1437146\/dl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal crimes<\/a> for allegedly making false statements to banks and making wire transfers in the names of companies that didn\u2019t exist, the Southern Poverty Law Center hired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowellandassociates.com\/aboutabbe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hunter Biden\u2019s lawyer<\/a> (among many others) and signaled an Orange Man Bad defense: Mean Donald Trump is having us prosecuted as a partisan attack, because we\u2019re politically left and he\u2019s politically right.<\/p>\n<p>Previewing the strategy with an opening salvo on April 28, the SPLC\u2019s small army of lawyers filed a 27-page brief (and do remember that page count) demanding that the courts protect their client against the DOJ\u2019s cruel public lies on scary Fox News. The SPLC posted the whole brief on its website, and you can read it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/us-splc-motion-government-statements.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. It claims that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has falsely claimed that the SPLC never <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/protester-with-confederate-flag-in-us-capitol-arrested-in-delaware-with-his-son\/\" title=\"Protester with Confederate Flag in US Capitol Arrested in De...are with His Son\">told law enforcement<\/a> about things learned from its informant program, when they actually did. Screenshot of the opening statement, after a long table of contents and table of authorities that took up five whole pages:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The SPLC\u2019s lawyers demanded that federal officials be ordered to stop lying in media appearances about their client, and they asked the court to order the immediate release of grand jury testimony so all of the <em>real<\/em> evidence could be made public. The opening move was a publicity move: Get the testimony out before trial, and frame it as a lie, while telling observers that the government is lying about the indictment.<\/p>\n<p>Magistrate Judge Kelly Pate ordered the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Middle District of Alabama to reply to the SPLC\u2019s motion by May 5. They did, and the response was a shrug: four pages, with headers, signatures, and proof of service, amounting to a single page of text. Here\u2019s the entire heart of the DOJ\u2019s argument:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You can almost hear the heavy sigh: That\u2019s not what he said, and it doesn\u2019t have anything to do with the charges, so it\u2019s not worth discussing further. Go watch some TV if you need further clarification. On May 6, the day after the government filed its response, Pate denied the SPLC\u2019s motion as moot: The government isn\u2019t lying, and there\u2019s no evidence that they intend to, so there\u2019s no need to order them not to.<\/p>\n<p>On May 7, the SPLC was arraigned and pled not guilty. On Friday, May 8, Pate ordered the SPLC\u2019s lawyers to propose a schedule for pre-trial discovery, and the case proceeds toward trial.<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist has written, experts on banking laws describe the SPLC\u2019s alleged behavior as clear violations of law, if the indictment describes them accurately. As we <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/analysts-splc-fraud-money-laundering-charges-could-be-the-tip-of-the-iceberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported on April 28<\/a>, the existing charges might be \u201cthe tip of the iceberg,\u201d with more charges and defendants expected. Appearing to acknowledge that reality, SPLC lawyer Abbe Lowell has begun <a href=\"https:\/\/ktvz.com\/politics\/cnn-us-politics\/2026\/05\/07\/attorney-for-splc-expecting-a-superseding-indictment-in-fraud-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">telling the media<\/a> that he expects to see a superseding indictment in the case, expanding the list of charges.<\/p>\n<p>The SPLC has due process rights, and the organization is entitled to a presumption of innocence. But the outcome will be determined in a courtroom, not in the Lowellesque staging of public drama. The SPLC\u2019s lawyers are likely to continue to attack the prosecution in the public sphere, a maneuver that still won\u2019t help in front of a judge and jury.<\/p>\n<p>The Federalist has contacted the SPLC\u2019s legal team with questions several times, but has never received a response.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SPLC faces federal charges; hires Hunter Biden\u2019s lawyer, argues Trump is partisan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2601090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/lowell-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[50410,41273,32140,79453,79452],"class_list":["post-2601089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-controversy-2","tag-legal-drama","tag-media-coverage","tag-plc-defense","tag-s-isplc"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/lowell-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2601089"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2601093,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601089\/revisions\/2601093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2601090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2601089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2601089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2601089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}