{"id":2605399,"date":"2026-05-21T09:13:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/raskin-says-splc-donors-wont-sue-over-fraud-because-they-love-how-effective-its-been-hes-right\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:15:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:15:37","slug":"raskin-says-splc-donors-wont-sue-over-fraud-because-they-love-how-effective-its-been-hes-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/raskin-says-splc-donors-wont-sue-over-fraud-because-they-love-how-effective-its-been-hes-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Raskin: SPLC Donors Won&#8217;t Sue Over Fraud Because It&#8217;s &#8216;Effective&#8217;"},"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\">20<\/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%2Fraskin-says-splc-donors-wont-sue-over-fraud-because-they-love-how-effective-its-been-hes-right%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=2605399&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>Jamie Raskin, D-Md., defended the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) at a House Judiciary Committee hearing amid allegations that it committed federal fraud tied to how it investigated and used informants against groups it labeled \u201cracist\u201d or \u201cextremist.\u201d He argued that donors have not complained of being defrauded, implying the organization provided the value it&#8217;s supporters sought.<\/p>\n<p>The article contends the SPLC\u2019s work has been used to manufacture and amplify \u201chate\u201d narratives that then fuel fundraising and influence politics. It cites SPLC involvement connected to the planning of the 2017 \u201cUnite the Right\u201d rally in Charlottesville and claims SPLC material helped shape later controversies, including the persistence of a \u201cvery <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >fine peopel\u201d claim attributed<\/a> to Trump.It further argues the SPLC\u2019s \u201chate map\u201d has had real-world harm, including being used in targeting by an attempted mass shooter against the Family Research Council, and claims SPLC-linked efforts contribute to conservatives being de-platformed and financially restricted.<\/p>\n<p>The piece also describes SPLC\u2019s role in broader campaigns aimed at conservatives and says the organization is used by banks, payment processors, and technology companies to decide who can keep accounts and operate online. It argues the SPLC is selectively critical of conservatives and omits or downplays left-wing violent groups,while being consulted by the Biden governance.The author concludes that prosecutions or lawsuits have not materialized because the effect of SPLC-aligned pressure against conservatives is treated as acceptable by major institutional actors.  <\/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>Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., defended the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) from fraud allegations related to its funding of hate hoaxes, stating \u201cwhat its donors love about the Southern Poverty Law Center is how effective it\u2019s been.\u201d After donors purchased a decade of race riots and left-wing violence to help Democrats, he must be right.<\/p>\n<p>At a Wednesday hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Raskin was attempting to defend the SPLC from a federal fraud indictment which showed how the organization that claims to dismantle \u201chate groups\u201d actually funds them in order to manufacture hate and then fundraise even more off the chaos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe DOJ says that the SPLC defrauded its donors by paying undercover informants to infiltrate and collect intelligence on these racist groups, but where are all the donors complaining about having been defrauded?\u201d he said. \u201cTo my knowledge, there\u2019s not a single donor to the Southern Poverty Law Center who\u2019s come forward to say that he or she was defrauded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He may be right, but the lack of fraud claims from donors suggests that they got exactly what they paid for. Why would donors be enraged when their return on investment was able to cripple the presidency of Donald Trump and dominate American politics through literal mob rule?<\/p>\n<p>Democrat witness Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference On Civil and Human Rights, and former NAACP and ACLU litigator, said the quiet part out loud, telling Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that since the allegations against the SPLC have come out, \u201cdonors have supported it \u2026 the donors have spoken, and in fact, they\u2019re trying to send more money now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The SPLC is accused of funding one of the chief organizers of the 2017 \u201cUnite the Right\u201d rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as helping to plan it. The rally resulted in the death of one person, lit the fuse for national chaos, and created the basis for the \u201cvery fine people\u201d hoax that mired Trump\u2019s first term in office. Even since being heavily debunked, the hoax is still charged against Trump by Democrats like Raskin, who <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/20\/democrats-protect-splc-by-trying-to-censor-truth-about-very-fine-people-hoax-from-congressional-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">repeated<\/a> the hoax at the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>One witness at the hearing suggested that the SPLC\u2019s involvement in Charlottesville likely made it much bigger than it otherwise would have been.<\/p>\n<p>Left-wing extremists have also been inspired by SPLC\u2019s campaign against conservatives. In 2012, a gunman <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/06\/splc-uses-its-expertise-in-political-targeting-to-help-the-j6-committee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attempted<\/a> a mass shooting of Christians at the Family Research Council (FRC). The shooter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/family-research-council-shooter-pleads-guilty-two-three-felonies-including-terrorism-charge-in-federal-court\/2013\/02\/06\/aa2086b2-7075-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> police he found FRC using SPLC\u2019s \u201chate map.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The would-be mass shooting was ultimately thwarted by FRC\u2019s security guard, who was shot and survived, but the bodily threat and political chilling effect of simply operating as a conservative organization became real, and FRC President Tony Perkins said the attack cost the group $6 million in \u201csecurity related costs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that the issue before the committee was \u201clarger than SPLC fraud,\u201d describing the group as the \u201chub\u201d in a wheel that centralizes the \u201cspokes\u201d of a larger campaign to eradicate conservatives. That network includes groups like Black Lives Matter, Antifa, Jane\u2019s Revenge, and others.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, SPLC President Richard Cohen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/resources\/stories\/black-lives-matter-not-hate-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published<\/a> a full-throated defense of Black Lives Matter after a shooter murdered five police officers in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2016\/07\/08\/dallas-police-chief-gunman-wanted-to-kill-white-people-especially-white-officers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dallas, Texas<\/a>, claiming \u201cnothing at all to suggest that the bulk of the demonstrators hold supremacist or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-to-survive-elon-musks-pro-free-speech-twitter-a-guide-for-the-corrupted-national-press\/\" title=\"How To Survive Elon Musk\u2019s Pro-Free Speech Twitter: A Guide For The Corrupted National Press\">black separatist views<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2016\/07\/08\/dallas-police-chief-gunman-wanted-to-kill-white-people-especially-white-officers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> that the shooter said he was \u201cwas upset about Black Lives Matter,\u201d and \u201cwas upset at white people. The suspect said he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlack Lives Matter is not a hate group. But the perception that it is racist illustrates the problem,\u201d Cohen wrote. \u201cOur society as a whole still does not accept that racial injustice remains pervasive. And, unfortunately, the fact that white people tend to see race as a zero-sum game may actually impede progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Black Lives Matter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/resources\/stories\/black-lives-matter-meets-moment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rioted<\/a> in 2014 after the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.<\/p>\n<p>By 2020, when the Black Lives Matter-led George Floyd riots gripped American cities, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/crime-and-justice\/commentary\/we-need-congressional-investigation-the-2020-riots\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">causing<\/a> numerous deaths and billions of dollars in property damage, SPLC was there to defend the group again, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/resources\/stories\/black-lives-matter-meets-moment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stating<\/a> it \u201cmeets the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It worked like a charm, as far as SPLC donors are concerned: That summer changed the entire political landscape, and Joe Biden became president thereafter. <\/p>\n<p>But the SPLC\u2019s defense of hard-power politics is accompanied by its \u201chate map,\u201d where it labels normal conservative organizations as \u201chate\u201d groups on par with the Ku Klux Klan. That is how the FRC shooter got the information on who to target, and the SPLC has also targeted some of the other most effective groups in the conservative movement, like Turning Point USA and the Alliance Defending Freedom.<\/p>\n<p>As Cohen stated in 2016, the group\u2019s power is directly linked to its list, \u201cwhich is cited extensively by journalists, academics and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-journalists-killed-in-mexico-as-government-considers-change-to-protection-laws\/\" title=\"Two Journalists Killed in Mexico as Government Considers Change to Protection Laws\">government officials alike<\/a>, provides an important barometer \u2014 not the only one, of course \u2014 to help us understand the state of hate and extremism in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Notably, it makes no mention of Black Lives Matter, or Antifa, or ICE Watch, or Jane\u2019s Revenge, or any of the other violent, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-of-taxpayer-funded-antiracist-group-funneled-nearly-300k-to-husbands-law-firm\/\" title=\"... of Taxpayer-Funded Antiracist ... Funneled Nearly 0K to Husband\u2019s Law Firm\">left-wing organizations<\/a> that have destroyed cities, businesses, and the lives of countless Americans. But it was directly consulted by the Biden administration to provide a list of political enemies for it to attack.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond being able to effectively direct government resources toward its political ends, other entities also fell in line to cripple conservatives and conservative organizations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSPLC\u2019s intelligence project and associated labels became deeply influential on banks, payment processors, and technology companies\u201d which \u201cincreasingly relied on SPLC classifications to decide which organizations could maintain accounts, process transactions, and operate online,\u201d FRC President Tony Perkins testified at Wednesday\u2019s hearing. \u201cAround 2016 the SPLC began pressuring financial corporations and technology companies to de-platform and defund organizations that it labeled extremist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCharlottesville was a catalytic event for SPLC as major corporations like Apple [and] JP Morgan Chase aligned with SPLC, contributing millions of dollars,\u201d he added, noting that the SPLC\u2019s Center for American Progress formed a coalition called Change the Terms, \u201cestablishing standards that would encourage companies to deny digital access and financial infrastructure to organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FRC experienced debanking and deplatforming from Truist Financial, BB&#038;T, Fidelity Investments, and others, Perkins said. <\/p>\n<p>When Jamie Raskin asks \u201cWhy has no one sued the Southern Poverty Law Center?\u201d the answer is very clear: Because the violence against and annihilation of conservatives is a feature of premium membership.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Raskin defended SPLC fraud allegations, praising its impact and effectiveness with donors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2605400,"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\/Screenshot-2026-05-20-161043.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[80056,80055,39754,80057,15303],"class_list":["post-2605399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-court-and-lawsuits","tag-donor-response","tag-fraud-allegations","tag-media-and-politics","tag-splc"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-20-161043.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605399","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\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2605399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2605403,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605399\/revisions\/2605403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2605400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2605399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2605399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2605399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}