The Justice Department has fired back at the Southern Poverty Law Center after it filed an injunction against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for saying the group didn’t share information from its confidential informants.
The feds now say that the SPLC’s demands over Blanche’s public comments are no longer relevant.
The SPLC asked a judge to force the DOJ to correct Blanche’s statements on Fox News the day a bombshell indictment was released accusing the non-profit organization of hiding from donors that it paid over $3 million to confidential informants — some of whom were allegedly leaders inside hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
On April 21, Blanche claimed on “The Ingraham Angle” that the DOJ didn’t have information showing the SPLC “shared what they learned with law enforcement” — while SPLC said their informants’ information helped the feds take down violent racists.
Five days later, Blanche went on Fox News’ “Sunday with Shannon Bream” and slightly amended his assertion: “It is true that over the years [the SPLC has] selectively shared information with law enforcement. That’s well-documented and there’s no dispute there. They aren’t charged with any of that conduct.”
Blanche’s second statement — which was viewed by over one million people — addressed the SPLC’s concerns and so its motion asking a judge to intervene and calling for the grand jury transcripts to be turned over should be rejected, the feds wrote in papers Tuesday.
“To the extent that any clarification was needed, Acting Attorney General Blanche’s remarks on a major Sunday television program certainly suffice,” prosecutor Kevin Davidson wrote in the filing.
In its motion from last week, the SPLC argued there was plenty of proof they provided “helpful information” to law enforcement that led to at least two convictions — including for a “member of a white supremacist extremist group Atomwaffen Division” who was planning a terrorist attack in Las Vegas.
That person is now in prison, the group said.
The SPLC also argued that Blanche’s first statement claiming they didn’t share information raised questions about whether the grand jury in the case was given bad evidence.
It asked for prosecutors to turn over the grand jury transcripts from the indictment — a bid the feds say should be rejected.
SPLC says the criminal indictment of the group is meritless and political motivated.