FBI Severs All Ties With Southern Poverty Law Center

The FBI has cut all ties with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Director Kash Patel announced Friday.

Patel said the SPLC’s “hate map” and partisan activism made the group unfit for partnership, the Daily Signal reported. The SPLC, a left-wing activist group based in Alabama, is best known for labeling mainstream conservative and religious organizations as “hate groups.” (RELATED: Charlie Kirk Delivers Blunt Message SPLC Never Expected After It Labels Turning Point USA ‘A Hate Group’)

“The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine,” Patel wrote on X. “Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence. That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine. Their so-called “hate map” has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence. That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership.

In… pic.twitter.com/ZZ9yIkmzWj

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) October 3, 2025

Patel pointed back to remarks he made in April during a Justice Department task force on anti-Christian bias, where he pledged the FBI “will never rely on politicized or agenda-driven intelligence from outside groups — and certainly not from the SPLC.”

The SPLC had added Turning Point USA (TPUSA) to its “hate map” just months before founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

Reuters reported that the SPLC listed Turning Point USA on its “hate map” as recently as Friday afternoon, but the Daily Caller’s independent review found the group does not currently appear in the SPLC’s public database, and the organization has made no announcement of its removal.

The SPLC did not respond to the Caller’s repeated requests for comment on whether Turning Point USA had been removed from the map and, if so, why.

An FBI official told the Signal the bureau was aware of TPUSA’s inclusion on the SPLC’s map before the shooting. The bureau also confirmed it does not maintain contact or share intelligence with the group.

The SPLC, which for years has branded TPUSA as extremist and connected to white nationalism — despite Kirk’s repeated rejection of those views — issued a statement after his assassination urging civility and warning that “violence only fuels division.”

Authorities say a leftist suspect — whose significant other was reportedly transgender — shot and killed Kirk at Utah Valley University, just months after the SPLC had placed TPUSA on its “hate map.” (RELATED: ‘Furry Shades Of Gay’: Kirk Suspect Frothed Over Beastly Porn Game Promising ‘Hot Gay Sex And Slapstick Humor’)

On Friday, the FBI severed its long-running partnership with the SPLC — the second such split this week, having also cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for labeling TPUSA on its “Center on Extremism.”

In 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II entered the Family Research Council’s Washington, D.C., headquarters and opened fire, wounding a security guard before being subdued. Corkins later told the FBI he chose the target after seeing the organization on the SPLC’s “hate map,” where the Christian group had been listed since 2010 for opposing same-sex marriage and related issues, according to a Washington Post report from 2015.

The FBI did not immediately respond to the Caller’s request for comment.