The Trump administration’s fraud prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center is set for arraignment on Thursday afternoon. Ahead of the scheduled court appearance in Alabama, defense lawyers for the Montgomery-based civil rights group have already gone on the offense.
In one of its motions, the center called out what it deemed a “false and unfairly prejudicial statement” made by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Fox News: that the government didn’t have information to suggest the group shared with law enforcement what it learned from informants. The SPLC said that claim was false, writing in its motion that its counsel provided such information to the government.
In response, the Justice Department effectively acknowledged there was at least some merit to the defense’s point. But the DOJ cited a subsequent statement Blanche made on another Fox News program, where he said over the years the group has “selectively shared information with law enforcement. That’s well-documented and there’s no dispute there.” The DOJ said that follow-up comment sufficed to address the defense allegation, “to the extent that any clarification was needed.”
It added, “The United States of America has no intention of making any false or misleading statements in this case or any other case.”
In a separate motion, the SPLC’s lawyers are seeking disclosure of the grand jury proceedings that led to the group’s indictment. The DOJ accused the group of misleading its donors about what their donations would be used for, while the defense argued the charges represent “a stunning and unremitting departure from Justice Department policy and established law.”
In the grand jury motion, the SPLC called the prosecution “as unprecedented as it is irregular,” saying the DOJ is trying to “criminalize some of the very investigative tools and programs that the SPLC has used for decades to infiltrate and dismantle violent extremist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations — tradecraft that has produced vital intelligence that has been shared with law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Against that backdrop, the SPLC’s lawyers argued the indictment “suffers from obvious legal infirmities” and that its “particularized irregularities suggest that the grand jury was not merely misled by the government’s presentation of the law, but likely that it was actively weaponized to facilitate such charges.”
Given those alleged irregularities, the defense wants to review the otherwise secret grand jury proceedings.
In support of its bid for those materials, the defense cited another one of the Trump DOJ’s political prosecutions: the one against James Comey. The former FBI director was recently charged with threatening Trump’s life in an Instagram post that showed seashells on a beach arranged to make the numbers “86 47.”
In a separate, since-dismissed case against Comey, a judge granted the sort of motion the SPLC made regarding grand jury materials.
“As that court concluded, when the government may have misstated the law to the grand jury and thereby allowed corruption of the probable cause assessment, the defense is entitled to examine what was said and how the law was presented. So too here,” the SPLC’s lawyers wrote, arguing that disclosing the grand jury transcripts “is necessary to avoid injustice and will inform the SPLC’s forthcoming motions, including a potential motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution.”
The DOJ responded that the defense claim is based on “speculation and unsubstantiated allegations” and “is neither particularized nor compelling.” The DOJ called the Comey case “hardly comparable” to this one, writing, among other things, that “misstatements of the law were hardly the only underlying basis for the court’s decision to disclose all grand jury materials” in the Comey case.
The SPLC can file final reply briefs by Tuesday, May 12, before an Alabama judge rules on the false statement and grand jury motions.
Those are not the only pretrial motions the defense will likely file in this case, including the potentially forthcoming vindictive prosecution motion the defense has signaled may come.
Announcing the charges last month, the DOJ said a conviction “will result in the forfeiture of financial gains from the alleged illegal activities.”
According to a whistleblower account obtained by MS NOW, the charges were rushed through despite concerns about the strength of the case.
Earlier in the day last month, when the charges were announced, SPLC CEO Bryan Fair said due to the group’s history of fighting white supremacy and other injustices, it was “unsurprised” to be “targeted” by this administration.
“They have made no secret of who they want to protect and who they want to destroy,” Fair said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said last year that the SPLC “long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine” and that the group’s “so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence.” Patel’s claim followed Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, which increased conservative pressure against the group that called Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization “a case study of the hard right.”
The SPLC’s report on the subject called TPUSA “a well-funded, hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists and a tremendous amount of influence in conservative politics.” TPUSA’s main strategy, according to the SPLC, was “sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and civil rights activists.”
The post False claims and a Comey comparison: Southern Poverty Law Center goes on offense appeared first on MS NOW.
