The Dictatorship

False claims and a Comey comparison: Southern Poverty Law Center goes on offense

Published

3 hours ago

May 8, 2026

False claims and a Comey comparison: Southern Poverty Law Center goes on offense

The Trump administration’s fraud prosecution against the Southern Poverty Law Center was in an Alabama courtroom for arraignment on Thursday, where the Montgomery-based civil rights group pleaded not guilty. But even ahead of that scheduled court appearance, the group’s defense lawyers had already started playing offense.

In one of its motions ahead of Thursday’s hearing, the center called out what it deemed a “false and unfairly prejudicial statement” made by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Fox News: that the government didn’t have information to suggest the group shared with law enforcement what it learned from informants. The SPLC said that claim was false, writing in its motion that its counsel provided such information to the government.

In responsethe Justice Department effectively acknowledged there was at least some merit to the defense’s point. But the DOJ cited a subsequent statement Blanche made on another Fox News program, where he said over the years the group has “selectively shared information with law enforcement. That’s well-documented and there’s no dispute there.” The DOJ said that follow-up comment sufficed to address the defense allegation, “to the extent that any clarification was needed.”

It added, “The United States of America has no intention of making any false or misleading statements in this case or any other case.”

In a separate motionthe SPLC’s lawyers are seeking disclosure of the grand jury proceedings that led to the group’s indictment. The DOJ accused the group of misleading its donors about what their donations would be used for, while the defense argued the charges represent “a stunning and unremitting departure from Justice Department policy and established law.”

In the grand jury motion, the SPLC called the prosecution “as unprecedented as it is irregular,” saying the DOJ is trying to “criminalize some of the very investigative tools and programs that the SPLC has used for decades to infiltrate and dismantle violent extremist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations — tradecraft that has produced vital intelligence that has been shared with law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

Against that backdrop, the SPLC’s lawyers argued the indictment “suffers from obvious legal infirmities” and that its “particularized irregularities suggest that the grand jury was not merely misled by the government’s presentation of the law, but likely that it was actively weaponized to facilitate such charges.”

Given those alleged irregularities, the defense wants to review the otherwise secret grand jury proceedings.

In support of its bid for those materials, the defense cited another one of the Trump DOJ’s political prosecutions: the one against James Comey. The former FBI director was recently charged with threatening Trump’s life in an Instagram post that showed seashells on a beach arranged to make the numbers “86 47.”

In a separate, since-dismissed case against Comey, a judge granted the sort of motion the SPLC made regarding grand jury materials.

“As that court concluded, when the government may have misstated the law to the grand jury and thereby allowed corruption of the probable cause assessment, the defense is entitled to examine what was said and how the law was presented. So too here,” the SPLC’s lawyers wrote, arguing that disclosing the grand jury transcripts “is necessary to avoid injustice and will inform the SPLC’s forthcoming motions, including a potential motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution.”

The DOJ responded that the defense claim is based on “speculation and unsubstantiated allegations” and “is neither particularized nor compelling.” The DOJ called the Comey case “hardly comparable” to this one, writing, among other things, that “misstatements of the law were hardly the only underlying basis for the court’s decision to disclose all grand jury materials” in the Comey case.

The SPLC can file final reply briefs by Tuesday, May 12, before an Alabama judge rules on the false statement and grand jury motions.

Those are not the only pretrial motions the defense will likely file in this case, including the potentially forthcoming vindictive prosecution motion the defense has signaled may come.

Announcing the charges last month, the DOJ said a conviction “will result in the forfeiture of financial gains from the alleged illegal activities.”

According to a whistleblower account obtained by MS NOW, the charges were rushed through despite concerns about the strength of the case.

Earlier in the day last month, when the charges were announced, SPLC CEO Bryan Fair said due to the group’s history of fighting white supremacy and other injustices, it was “unsurprised” to be “targeted” by this administration.

“They have made no secret of who they want to protect and who they want to destroy,” Fair said.

FBI Director Kash Patel said last year that the SPLC “long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine” and that the group’s “so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence.” Patel’s claim followed Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, which increased conservative pressure against the group that called Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization “a case study of the hard right.”

The SPLC’s reporton the subject called TPUSA “a well-fundedhard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists and a tremendous amount of influence in conservative politics.” TPUSA’s main strategy, according to the SPLC, was “sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and civil rights activists.”

This article has been updated to include the SPLC’s plea of not guilty.

The Dictatorship

Democratic lawmakers launch probe of Trump’s clemency decisions

Published

3 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democratic lawmakers launch probe of Trump’s clemency decisions

May. 7, 2026, 3:53 PM EDT

Democrats in the House and the Senate are launching an investigation into President Donald Trump’s use of presidential pardon powers amid allegations of bribery.

Two House Democrats from California, Reps. Dave Min and Raul Ruiz, have linked up with Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in pressing for details about an alleged “pay to play” scheme involving pardons and commutations. The allegations — and Trump’s second-term trend of doling out pardons to convicted criminals who have shown favor to his movement and done business with his family, regardless of whether they showed contrition for their crimes — are a central focus of MS NOW’s new series on Trump’s clemency decisions, “Justice Interrupted.”

The Democratic lawmakers sent letters to 17 people who received pardons or commutations from Trump. The list includes Changpeng Zhao, a billionaire cryptocurrency investor who pleaded guilty to violating money laundering laws — and struck a deal with the Trump family’s crypto firm. Since taking office, the president — whose administration has a hand in regulating the crypto industry — has reportedly seen his family’s wealth balloon by billions of dollarsaided by such investments in the crypto firm, World Liberty Financial.

The letter recipients also include David Gentile, a convicted fraudster whose presidential commutation prevented his victims — that is, thousands of people — from collecting $15.5 million in restitution. Gentile’s commutation is particularly rich given the Trump administration’s supposed focus on prosecuting fraud.

In the letters, the Democratic lawmakers expressed concern about the lost restitution for victims and said their inquiry is designed to “ensure that no President abuses their power to grant executive clemency.”

Here’s the information they’re seeking, laid out in a press release:

● The process by which clemency requests were initiated and considered;

● Whether intermediaries, lobbyists, or advocates were involved;

● Any contacts with Trump administration officials or associates;

● Whether financial contributions or payments were made in connection with clemency efforts; and

● The extent of third-party advocacy supporting the requests.

Trump reportedly said in a recent meeting that he would “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval [Office]” before he leaves office. In response, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Wall Street Journal that it “should learn to take a joke” — before declaring that the president’s pardon power “is absolute.”

As for the Democratic lawmakers’ investigation, Leavitt denied any impropriety in Trump’s clemency decisions and repeated a previous claim that anyone “spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money.” She added that the administration has a “robust pardon review process.”

Liz Oyer, who served as the Justice Department’s pardon attorney before Trump fired her last year, has been sounding the alarm that the president is making “a mockery” of the pardon system. In an essay for The New York Timesshe wrote that Trump has shown how “unfettered executive power can be used to degrade, corrupt and politicize the justice system.”

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.

The Dictatorship

Man who firebombed pro-Israel demonstration in Colorado sentenced to life in prison

Published

3 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Man who firebombed pro-Israel demonstration in Colorado sentenced to life in prison

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty Thursday to killing one person and injuring a dozen others in a 2025 firebombing attackon a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostagesin Gaza.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman looked down at a desk throughout the sentencing. He has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges for the attack last June. Prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty in the federal case, according to his attorneys.

Authorities say Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at demonstrators at a pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder, a city of 100,000 people northwest of Denver that’s home to the University of Colorado.

Karen Diamond, 82, was injured in the attack and later died. A dozen others were also injured.

Soliman is an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the U.S. illegally.Investigators allege he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people.”

Speaking to the court through an interpreter for nearly half an hour, Soliman offered apologies to the victims and condolences for Diamond’s death. “There are no words that can express my sadness for her passing,” Soliman said.

He said he wasn’t asking for leniency at sentencing for his convictions in state court and wants prosecutors pressing federal hate crime charges against him to seek the death penalty.

“If I went back, I would not have done this as this is not according to the teaching of Islam,” Soliman said. “What I did came out of myself and only myself.”

In a statement read earlier in court by a prosecutor, Diamond’s sons asked that Soliman not be allowed to see his family again “since he is responsible for our mother never seeing her family again.”

Andrew and Ethan Diamond said their mother suffered “indescribable pain” for over three weeks before her death. “In those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions ‘living hell’ and ‘fate worse than death,’” Diamond’s sons said in the statement.

In another statement read by a prosecutor, a physician who was a victim of the attack described the helplessness of seeing Diamond suffering and knowing that she would not survive.

Boulder Mayor Pro Tem Tara Winer said the victims included some of her close friends.

“It was a horrific attack,” Winer said by email this week. “Their lives were changed forever.”

Soliman’s attorneys revealed he would plead guiltyin a Sunday court filing in a related federal case.

Soliman’s federal attorneys have said in court filings that the attack “was profoundly inconsistent” with Soliman’s prior conduct and “came as a total shock to his family.”

At the time of the attack, Soliman had been living with his family in a two-bedroom apartment in Colorado Springs — about 97 miles (156 kilometers) away. He had moved to the U.S. from Kuwait in 2022 with his wife and their five children and worked in a series of low-paying jobs.

The couple divorced in April.

Investigators allege Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration at Boulder’s Pearl Street pedestrian mall. He threw two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, “Free Palestine!”

Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.

Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. Soliman’s federal defense lawyers argue he should not have been charged with hate crimes because he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.

An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.

State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen were physically injured. The others were nearby and considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, and Soliman was charged with animal cruelty.

Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal, and their children spent 10 months in immigration detention until a federal judge in Texas ordered their releasein April.

An immigration appeals court had dismissed their case to stay in the U.S. and issued a deportation order. But U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio allowed their release on the condition that El Gamal and her oldest child, who is 18, wear electronic monitoring.

Soliman’s attorneys seek to block the family’s deportation until a judge determines they won’t need to be present for court proceedings in his federal case.

The Dictatorship

GOP leader touts Trump as ‘an icon for the ages’ as party sycophancy reaches new depths

Published

3 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

In October 2023, Republican lawmakers had a surprisingly difficult time finding a House speaker. After Kevin McCarthy was ousted under historically unprecedented circumstances, it seemed likely that the torch would be passed to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. When his tenure as speaker-designate collapsed after one day, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan appeared likely to get the gavel.

When he also failed to have the necessary support, the party turned to its fourth choice, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, whose tenure as speaker-designate was killed by Donald Trump — who held a grudge against the Minnesotan after he sided with democracy and voted to certify the 2020 presidential election.

Almost immediately after House Republicans nominated Emmer for speaker, the former president issued a public condemnation of the congressman, labeling the Minnesotan “a Globalist RINO” who was “totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters.” (Emmer had reached out to Trump directly ahead of the conference vote, making his case, telling him that he’s Trump’s “biggest fan.” The lobbying didn’t work.)

Thanks to Trump, a mere four hours after Emmer became the speaker-designate, he was the former speaker-designateas part of an unprecedented turn of events. As the dust settled, Trump gloated about having taken Emmer down. “He’s done. It’s over,” the former president reportedly said in reference to his party’s majority whip. “I killed him.”

Common sense might have suggested that the Minnesotan would hold a grudge. The opposite proved true: Emmer joined his party’s club of shameless Trump sycophants, as was clear during his appearance Wednesday on Fox Business.

Reflecting on the president’s success in bringing down a group of Indiana state senators in GOP primaries, Emmer told host Stuart Varney:

All of these polls that try to suggest that Donald Trump’s influence is waning are completely false. Donald Trump has never been stronger, especially with the Republican base, and you saw it last night in Indiana. He has become more than Donald Trump. He is an icon of the ages, and when he speaks, people listen, and I know the left doesn’t like to hear that, Stuart, but it’s fact, and you saw it last night on display in Indiana.

I recently made the case that as the president’s approval rating reaches new depths, congressional Republicans eyeing this year’s midterm elections have a decision to make: tie themselves to a flailing and unpopular leader, or put some distance between themselves and the White House.

Evidently, Emmer has made up his mind. He’s sticking with the guy who mocked him as “a Globalist RINO.”

As a substantive matter, the congressman’s over-the-top praise was bizarre. The fact that Trump can take down some state senators in a red state in low-turnout primaries in early May is notable, but it does not make him a political colossus.

Emmer probably knows this, but in his desperate effort to avoid presidential criticism, he labeled Trump “an icon of the ages” anyway, seemingly indifferent to self-respect.

After the Minnesota Republican went to humiliating lengths to work his way back into Trump’s good graces with groveling sycophancy, Trump reportedly boasted privatelyin reference to the congressman, “They always bend the knee.”

Two years later, as Emmer’s latest pitiful display helped demonstrate, too little has changed.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”