Durbin Statement On Justice Department Charging Southern Poverty Law Center

Durbin Statement On Justice Department Charging Southern Poverty Law Center

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement after the Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, a prominent and historic civil rights organization that has long fought hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, for so-called "financial crimes":

"Todd Blanche and Kash Patel are trying to turn back the clock to the infamous days of J. Edgar Hoover targeting Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders.

"The Trump Administration has brought this paper-thin indictment for one reason: the Southern Poverty Law Center has a long history of exposing violent white supremacist extremists who are allies of this White House.

"I am confident that this vindictive prosecution will fail, just like the Administration's other efforts to target the President's political enemies."

-30-