A sign marking the Southern Poverty Law Center outside the organization's headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama on February 8, 2023. The civil rights group on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss criminal charges against it, alleging vindictive prosecution. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Attorneys for the Southern Poverty Law Center Tuesday asked a federal court to dismiss criminal charges brought against it by the U.S. Department of Justice, citing statements made by President Donald Trump and other high-ranking officials as evidence of vindictive prosecution. The motion highlighted comments made by Trump; Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche; FBI Director Kash Patel and other members of the administration that criticized the organization. In one instance, Trump alleged that the indictment “had nothing to do with the SPLC breaking the law; it had everything to do with the SPLC’s perceived political leaning” a couple of days after the news conference. The motion also cites an Ap...
Vice President JD Vance, center, arrives at a roundtable anti-fraud meeting with Republican attorneys general in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on May 26, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — A handful of Democratic state attorneys general said Tuesday that expert officials from their offices were denied access to a major White House anti-fraud meeting convened by Vice President JD Vance and attended by Republican AGs. Two dozen Democratic attorneys general had earlier declined invitations for their own attendance at the White House anti-fraud roundtable, citing extremely short notice and a lack of an agenda in a letter to Vance, who has helmed the Trump administration’s sweeping anti-fraud effort. Instead, some sent top officials from their offices to Washington. Democratic attorneys general in California, New York and New Jersey said at a press conference later Tuesday that officials from their states were...