Patriot Front’s Recent March Sparks Investigation Attention

Over the Fourth of July weekend, a masked march by the Patriot Front in Washington, D.C., has once again spotlighted the group’s actions. This comes alongside a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which indicates that an anonymous informant provided contact details to the Patriot Front.

Published last year, the report from SPLC’s Hate Watch blog notes that this source shared a Telegram audio message from early 2024. In this audio, a leader of the Patriot Front criticized the group’s founder for not offering sufficient support.

“The SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donations to individuals associated with various violent extremist groups,” the report claims.

Interestingly, the report does not include the mentioned Telegram audio messages. The mention of this anonymous informant ties with later allegations from the Department of Justice, suggesting that the SPLC may have been funding confidential sources within the organization, all while publicly claiming to combat extremist groups.

In April, a federal grand jury indicted the SPLC on charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to launder money. Prosecutors alleged, “From 2014 to 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donations to individuals linked to various violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation,” which they consider very concerning.

Moreover, it has been claimed that the SPLC had sources within the chat groups that organized the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ event.

Despite the accusations, the SPLC maintains its innocence, denying any wrongdoing. CEO Brian Fair acknowledged back in April that the SPLC had “paid confidential informants” to gather reliable information about violent groups but stated that they had since ceased using such informants.

Requests for comments from both the SPLC and the Patriot Front have not received replies.

On the morning marking America’s 250th anniversary, numerous members of the Patriot Front paraded through streets near the Capitol, brandishing flags from the Patriot Front, the Confederacy, and the United States.

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna from Florida expressed her concerns. She indicated that it was odd the Patriot Front had not faced any investigations during the Biden administration, while suggesting that there seemed to be a lack of focus on investigating well-funded groups like the Patriot Front.

Her tweet stated, “What I find strange about the Patriot Front is that they were never investigated under the Biden administration. The FBI under this administration, interestingly, investigated Catholics instead. It’s about time for some scrutiny into this.”