Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 23
SPLC Says 2025 Letter to Stephen Miller Sparked DOJ Probe
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 23

SPLC Says 2025 Letter to Stephen Miller Sparked DOJ Probe

1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 23

Summary

  • Court papers filed Monday say FBI records show a September 2025 letter from conservative groups to Stephen Miller helped trigger the Justice Department’s renewed investigation of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
  • The SPLC’s lawyers said wording in the letter from groups including Moms for Liberty and Turning Point USA closely matched an October FBI document outlining the new probe.
  • That October 2025 investigation led to April 2026 charges accusing the civil rights group of defrauding donors by secretly paying informants inside extremist organizations.
  • Lawyers said the records do not explicitly show Miller directed DOJ to reopen the case, but argued the documents suggest he may have played a role.
  • The renewed probe followed an earlier Trump-era inquiry into the informant program over possible tax violations that was later closed during the Biden administration.

Insights

By paying informants, was a prominent civil rights group dismantling extremism or secretly funding it?
How could the fraud indictment against a charity redefine legal risks for all American nonprofits?