The Department of Justice charged the SPLC with fraud Tuesday. Trump called it “one of the greatest political scams in American History” and a “Democrat hoax.”
“If it is true, the 2020 Presidential Election should be permanently wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect!” the president said on Truth Social Friday.
The DOJ said the organization “secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist Party of America.”
The indictment also said the SPLC had a paid informant, who was part of a group that planned the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Documents from the House of Representatives and Congress show Trump’s comments about the rally.
The documents detailed a news conference where Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides,” in reference to protesters and counterprotesters. He also confirmed then that he was not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists, whom he “condemned totally.”
Former President Joe Biden cited the trauma from Charlottesville as a reason for seeking the presidency in 2020.
“Are we a nation that believes there’s a moral equivalence between white supremacists, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and those with the courage to stand against them?,” Biden said in his campaign video. “No, we don’t. But Trump does. Trump said there’s a moral equivalence.”
The DOJ said the SPLC is charged with 11 counts of wire fraud, in addition to “false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.”
The SPLC is known to fight white supremacist organizations, but the DOJ investigation alleged it was actually supporting them through these funds.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche argued that the organization is “manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”
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