Gutfeld ripped into it last night, calling it a massive hate hoax. He said the SPLC, while labeling everyone on the right as haters, was secretly paying millions to actual Klan members and neo-Nazis, even one guy who helped organize the Charlottesville rally.
After that event, their donations tripled from like 50 million to over 130 million. His punchline? They were better at being the Klan than the Klan was.
The DOJ indictment backs the core claim: over three million in donor cash funneled to extremists from 2014 to 2023 through shell companies, while they told donors they were fighting hate. SPLC says it was just using informants to gather intel, law enforcement knew, and it saved lives. Trial’s still coming. Gutfeld’s take is basically that they were manufacturing the hate they fundraised off of.
The SPLC’s interim leader, Bryan Fair, just faced a tough House Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday. The group’s been hit with an April indictment, 11 counts including wire fraud, false statements to banks, and money laundering conspiracy.
DOJ says between 2014 and 2023 they secretly paid over three million, maybe up to four million, in donor funds to people tied to groups like the KKK, Aryan Nations, and National Socialists, using shell companies to hide it. Prosecutors claim they were telling donors they were fighting hate while funding it.
Fair pleaded not guilty for the organization and testified that they don’t fund hate groups, the program helped law enforcement stop violence, and law enforcement knew about it. He said they stopped it because extremism moved online and into government agencies. Democrats called the whole thing political payback from the Trump DOJ, Republicans hammered him on the payments and accused them of manufacturing hate for fundraising. It’s still headed to court.