Trump’s vendetta fuels baseless charges against Southern Poverty Law Center

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The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has fought racism and worked with law enforcement and others to bring violent white supremacists to justice since 1973, is drawing well-deserved support as it defends itself against Trump administration criminal charges and its CEO prepares to testify before Congress.

More than 400 civil rights, labor, environmental and other groups have signed an open letter to members of Congress criticizing the 11 charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering that the Justice Department filed against the center in April.

A grand jury indictment accuses the organization of improperly using at least $3 million in donor funds, without informing donors, to pay informants who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups from 2014 to 2023. The organization says it shared information about the dangerous groups with law enforcement agencies.

The letter to lawmakers says the indictment “has no basis — it is a naked attempt to weaponize the criminal justice system to silence speech and activities this administration dislikes.”

The center filed a motion on May 26 asking a judge to dismiss the baseless charges, which are part of a campaign by President Trump to punish those “deemed to be his political enemies.”

This prosecution is just one of many examples of the weaponization of the Justice Department in Trump’s second term. ABC News has compiled a long list of individuals and groups that Trump has denounced on social media and that have been targeted for investigation and in some cases prosecution by the Justice Department.

The list includes former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), six Democratic House and Senate members who recorded a video telling members of the military they don’t have to obey illegal orders and former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who prosecuted Trump.

For years, Trump has repeatedly claimed people and groups he opposes are criminals who deserve to be prosecuted. At the same time, he contends that his supporters who are accused or found guilty of crimes are victims of political persecution. This is why Trump granted clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in an unsuccessful effort to overturn his reelection defeat.

Trump himself is the only convicted felon to ever serve as our nation’s president. He was convicted in 2024 of 34 counts of falsifying business records but received no penalties because he was reelected to a second term.

The nonpartisan fact-checking website Snopes concluded that the accusations against Southern Poverty Law Center “remain unproven” and are “not supported by the available evidence.”

CBS News reported last month that a federal investigation of some of the same accusations against the organization during Trump’s first presidential term did not result in charges because the IRS found no evidence that it broke any laws.

The Justice Department charged the Southern Poverty Law Center with crimes in April because the department now functions as Trump’s personal law firm and weapon of retribution. The department investigates and prosecutes the president’s enemies even when they have done nothing wrong, concocts legal justifications for whatever Trump does and defends him against all accusations of wrongdoing.

Alarmingly, the department no longer represents the interests of the American people and no longer defends our laws and Constitution when they come into conflict with Trump’s desire to rule like an all-powerful dictator.

The evidence of criminal activity against the center and many other groups and individuals targeted in Trump’s campaign of retribution is weak or nonexistent and will likely never result in convictions. But being charged with crimes or even just investigated forces those targeted to spend large amounts of time and money on a legal defense.

They also suffer costly reputational damage. For example, donor-advised funds managing charitable contributions for customers of three major investment firms — Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard — suspended customers’ ability to donate money from the funds to the Southern Poverty Law Center after it was charged with crimes.

It has never been illegal to criticize or oppose a president. Yet Trump has frequently and falsely accused people who criticize him of treason — a crime punishable by death that is defined by the Constitution as waging war against the U.S. or giving aid and comfort to our nation’s enemies.

As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, we should remain true to the ideals of freedom and equal justice embraced by our nation’s Founders, even though they fell short by allowing Black people to be enslaved and by depriving women and others of equal rights.

The political prosecutions of the Southern Poverty Law Center and others targeted by Trump and his administration are un-American. We must not follow the example of Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran and other dictatorships that criminalize the precious freedoms that have made America the greatest nation on Earth.

Donna Brazile is a political strategist, a contributor to ABC News and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. She is the author of “Hacks: Inside the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.“