(Reuters) -The FBI has cut ties with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks extremist groups, after conservatives criticized the nonprofit for including slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s organization on its list of hate groups.
In a post on X on Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel accused the SPLC of turning into a “partisan smear machine” rather than a civil rights advocate and said his agency had severed all ties.
“Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence,” Patel said, without offering details.
The SPLC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI also did not immediately respond to a request for more details, including Patel’s specific allegations, but a Justice Department official who was unauthorized to speak on the record said the working relationship had already been winding down for months.
The SPLC’s “Hate Map” lists nearly 1,400 groups, including Kirk’s Arizona-based Turning Point USA. The SPLC describes the conservative youth organization as an “anti-government” group.
Patel’s decision came two days after he announced that the FBI would end all partnerships with the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization that tracks antisemitism. The ADL had included Turning Point in a “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” before deleting the entire list from its website after criticism from billionaire Elon Musk and other conservatives.
Kirk was assassinated last month during an appearance at a Utah college campus, deepening fears about rising U.S. political violence and prompting President Donald Trump to escalate his rhetoric against what he calls the “radical left.”
The 22-year-old suspect in the case, Tyler Robinson, told a roommate he acted due to Kirk’s “hatred,” prosecutors have said. Authorities have said they believe Robinson acted alone.
In a post on X on Thursday noting that Kirk was briefly mentioned in an SPLC newsletter the day before his death, Musk accused SPLC of being “guilty” of inciting Kirk’s murder, without providing evidence.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Jana Winter; Editing by Frank McGurty)
