SPLC Caught Funding KKK | The Wrap Up

A federal grand jury charges the SPLC with funneling millions to the KKK and neo-nazi groups. The FBI rescues a 10-year-old boy who was kidnapped by his trans-identifying father to allegedly undergo gender reassignment surgery in Cuba. An Iranian national living in California is arrested at LAX for allegedly brokering a $70 million weapons deal on behalf of Iran. And a federal appeals court hands down a major ruling on placing the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms. We'll get into all that and your Quick Hits now. What's up, guys? Welcome to The Wrap-Up, where we break down the biggest stories of the week that you might have missed but definitely need to know. I'm your host, Cher. First up, the Southern Poverty Law Center has long built its identity and its fundraising around fighting white supremacy. But on Tuesday, the Justice Department announced something very different. Prosecutors now allege the SPLC was actually financing members of the same extremist group it publicly condemned. A grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama has indicted the organization on 11 counts, including wire fraud, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Here's Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch. You're alleging that the Southern Poverty Law Center was paying the leaders of KKK and other groups to continue their operations? Is that... I'm not alleging it. The grand jury returned an indictment that says that. According to the indictment, between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC, which raises more than $100 million a year in donations, was secretly sending funds to individuals tied to groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, and organizers of the Unite the Right rally. Prosecutors say more than $3 million was funneled over that nine-year period, allegedly routed through shell companies and fake bank accounts to conceal the payments. One of the most serious allegations involves a member of an online leadership group connected to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. According to the indictment, that individual, allegedly funded by the SPLC, made racist posts and helped coordinate transportation for attendees. The Charlottesville event resulted in dozens of injuries and one death. It also sparked the, quote, very fine people hoax of President Trump's first term, in which he was deliberately taken out of context so it would appear he supported neo-Nazis and white supremacists. For its part, the Southern Poverty Law Center says the program was part of legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts that were shared with law enforcement and helped save lives. The organization's CEO says they plan to fight the charges, but also confirmed that the program in question has since been discontinued. Up next, the FBI rescued a 10-year-old Utah boy after his biological father, who pretends to be a woman, allegedly smuggled him out of the country for gender reassignment surgery in Cuba. The man, who goes by the name Rose, and his partner Blue, told the boy's mother that they were taking him on a camping trip to Calgary, Canada. They never arrived. Instead, the group crossed into Canada, flew from Vancouver to Mexico City, then boarded another flight to Havana. All while the mother waited for her son's return under a court-ordered custody agreement. Family members told investigators that the child's female identification was likely the result of manipulation by Rose. Their core fear? That the boy would undergo irreversible, life-altering gender mutilation surgery before he was even old enough to understand what was happening to him. On April 13, a Utah court granted the mother full custody. Cuban law enforcement located the group on the island on April 16 following an investigation. The DOJ dispatched a plane to retrieve the child, who was safely returned to the biological mother in Utah on April 21. An Iranian national living in Woodland Hills, California, was arrested last Friday for allegedly brokering a $70 million Iranian weapons deal. Shamim Mafi has been living in the U.S. for nearly a decade, and was allegedly in the middle of brokering a $70.6 million deal to ship Iranian military drones, bombs, and 10 million rounds of ammunition to Sudan. And Sudan isn't a random choice. Iran has been arming Sudan to gain influence on the Red Sea, a critical shipping route that runs through the Suez Canal. Court documents say Mafi set up a fake overseas company to hide the money trail, and was in regular contact with an Iranian intelligence officer. When questioned, she reportedly said she was, quote, more useful to them in Iran than in the United States. Agents caught her at the airport, ticket to Turkey in hand, and now she faces up to 20 years in prison. In our next story, a federal appeals court handed down a major ruling Tuesday on whether the Ten Commandments belong in Texas classrooms. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom in the state, reversing a lower court that had blocked the law. The ruling upholds Senate Bill 10, signed by Governor Greg Abbott, which has been in effect since September. The ACLU, which brought the suit on behalf of 18 families, said the ruling tramples families' rights to choose religious instruction for their children. But the court ruled that the law does not violate the First Amendment, writing that students are neither taught to adopt the commandments nor pressured to practice them. Putting a poster on a wall, the court said, is not the same as establishing a religion. Displays must be at least 16 by 20 inches, clearly visible, and donated rather than purchased with public funds. Check out this clip from Real Talk with Marissa in which Tim Barton discusses the history of the Ten Commandments in schools. From 1647 to 1980, not only was the Ten Commandments a foundational part of education, the Ten Commandments was even displayed in classrooms. The idea that it shouldn't be part of education in America is very counterintuitive to the way it had been in America. And by the way, the fact the founding fathers actually encouraged, spoke highly of the decalogue, the Ten Commandments. This is the foundation of religion and morality, which allows us to be a free people. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama have passed similar laws, and this decision likely set up a future showdown at the Supreme Court. The former executive editor of The Washington Post just admitted the media covered up Biden's cognitive decline and did it on purpose to avoid helping Trump. Virginia voters narrowly passed a redistricting referendum Tuesday that would have handed Democrats 10 of the state's 11 congressional seats. A judge threw it out the very next day, calling it unconstitutional. The state is appealing. Meet Emily Hart, a blonde, bikini-clad, gun-toting conservative nurse with millions of Instagram followers. She's also completely AI, created by a 22-year-old med student named Sam from northern India who made thousands from conservative men before getting caught. He said Google's Gemini chatbot told him the MAGA niche was a quote, cheat code. Navy Secretary John Phelan was ousted Wednesday after tensions with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth boiled over. Sources say Hegseth told him to resign or be fired. Undersecretary Hung Kao takes over as acting secretary, stepping in as the U.S. Navy maintains an active blockade of Iranian ports. Even Bill Maher and Woody Harrelson are done with California. The two unloaded on the state's tax burden on Maher's podcast this week, with Harrelson slamming the combined tax rate on their West Hollywood cannabis shop as more than double that of any other product. That's a wrap for this week. Make sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment telling us what you thought about these stories. And we'll see you back here next week on The Wrap-Up. Thank you so much for watching this video. In order to keep PragerU videos free, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today.