The FBI announced on Friday it is cutting all ties with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-leaning nonprofit organization targeting what it believes are "hate" groups. (Barry Lewis/InPictures)
PATEL CUTS TIES COMEY’S FBI MADE WITH ADL AS ORGANIZATION FACES BACKLASH FOR TPUSA CRITICISM
Patel said during the FBI's Anti-Christian Bias Panel in April, he made it clear that the agency will "never rely on politicized or agenda-driven intelligence from outside groups—and certainly not from the SPLC."
The director's announcement comes less than a month after Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, killing the 31-year-old father of two.
In May, the SPLC listed TPUSA in its "hate and extremism" report, calling it a "hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists."
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) spokesman Andrew Kolvet, a longtime friend of Charlie Kirk, sounded off on the SPLC smear on X. (Patrick Fallon via Getty Images)
'MOST TRANSPARENT' FBI EVER: PATEL UPDATES SENATE ON KIRK ASSASSINATION PROBE
Kolvet highlighted that on Sept. 9, the day before Kirk's murder, the SPLC published a newsletter "directly attacking Charlie."
"Did these contribute to the assassin's motive?" Kolvet wrote Thursday. "We may never know, but the swirl of extremist propaganda certainly played a role. The SPLC has been credibly accused of corruption, mishandling of donations, union-busting, and covering up of sexual assault by senior leadership, all while sitting on nearly $1 billion in reserves and being based in red Alabama. These are legitimate predicates for investigation. Those should happen immediately.
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"The influence of the ADL and SPLC must be completely purged from any serious company, org, and agency. Companies like PayPal which still rely on these disgraced orgs should be the focus of future boycotts if they insist on continuing their association."
Elon Musk reacted to Kolvet's post with a simple, "Exactly."
Patel's announcement about the FBI cutting ties with the SPLC came just hours after Kolvet's post.
Alexandra Koch is a Fox News Digital journalist who covers breaking news, with a focus on high-impact events that shape national conversation.
She has covered major national crises, including the L.A. wildfires, Potomac and Hudson River aviation disasters, Boulder terror attack, and Texas Hill Country floods.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-cuts-ties-leftist-group-put-turning-point-usa-its-hate-map-before-kirk-assassination