BIRMINGHAM, AL – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Jones released the following statement regarding the FBI charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center:

“The charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center are as outrageous as they are dangerous. The Trump Administration has now taken the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the FBI to levels we have never seen.

For more than 50 years, the SPLC has been on the front lines of fighting hate and securing justice for individuals and communities without the means to secure that justice for themselves. The SPLC’s work in legal battles such as that of Michael Donald, a 19 year old Black man who was lynched by the Klan in Mobile in 1981, did not just achieve a courtroom victory but literally dismantled the KKK here in Alabama.

In many cases, efforts to expose and stop extremist violence have relied on gathering information from within these groups, whether the KKK in Alabama or other modern white supremacist groups. These are necessary tools that have been used to protect civil rights in this country and were more often than not shared with law enforcement, including the FBI. It is the same information gathering tactics used by the FBI everyday to take down drug cartels and extremist organizations.

Now we are watching the Trump Administration weaponize the Justice Department to target those organizations who have been on the front lines protecting civil rights. This doesn’t look like a pursuit of justice, but instead smacks of political retribution, which should alarm every American.

Alabama and the country is better because of the Southern Poverty Law Center and any efforts to discredit or intimidate them should be condemned, plain and simple.”

Jones also released a video statement on X addressing the issue, which can be viewed here: https://x.com/DougJones/status/2047147745257955384?s=20