New Yorkers’ old criminal records will be sealed automatically should they not reoffend for several years under a proposal that passed the state Assembly on Friday.The proposal omits perpetrators of high-level offenses, such as sex crimes and homicide.The bill, championed by Democrats, was castigated by Republicans, many of whom are eyeing crackdowns on crime. ‘I’m sorry, you committed it, you’re convicted of it … and some aspects of those will be with you forever, just like you did to your victim,’ Republican Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo said of the legislation.

People in New York who have old criminal records could have them automatically sealed as long as they remain out of trouble for a certain number of years under a bill passed by lawmakers in the state Assembly on Friday.

The ‘clean slate’ legislation would automatically seal most recent convictions — three years after serving time or parole for a misdemeanor, and eight years for felony convictions. Sex crimes and most Class A felonies, such as murder, will not be eligible for sealing.

The state Assembly debated the bill for almost five hours before passing it on a party-line vote, garnering applause and cheers. The state Senate is expected to follow and pass the measure, according to state legislative leaders.

Some liberal lawmakers and unions who support the bill say it would give New Yorkers a path forward that is not encumbered by past mistakes. They say a criminal record often means difficulty obtaining secure work and housing.

That’s the case for Ismael Diaz Jr., of Long Island, who was released from prison seven years ago and is still struggling to find secure employment.

Diaz, who served almost 10 years in prison for manslaughter, said he went through three rounds of interviews for a janitorial position at a supermarket before being told he was ‘unemployable’ because of his criminal record.

‘I was stressed out because I was trying to get a job and you can’t because of having a record,’ said Diaz, 52. ‘I want to earn a salary and take care of my family and start building up my life where it is supposed to be.’

Other states including Utah and Michigan have passed similar measures. California passed legislation last year that would automatically seal conviction and arrest records for most ex-offenders who are not convicted of another felony for four years.

Business groups including big companies like JPMorgan Chase and Verizon have also endorsed the New York legislation. They say increasing the labor pool would boost the state’s economy and make the state more competitive.

Under New York state law, employers can ask about conviction records at any point in the hiring process, but they must consider factors such as whether the conviction has any bearing on the person’s ability to do the job. But advocates for the legislation say that despite that, those with criminal records face huge barriers to stable employment.

Nearly 2.2 million people in New York have criminal convictions, according to a study by the Data Collaborative for Justice, a research center at John Jay College. The study is based on New Yorkers who had convictions from 1980 to 2021.

But Republican lawmakers and victim advocacy groups have criticized the legislation, warning it will take away accountability for those who have committed crimes.

‘I’m sorry, you committed it, you’re convicted of it, and unfortunately you have a debt to pay to society, and some aspects of those will be with you forever, just like you did to your victim,’ said Republican state Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo, also a former prosecutor, before floor deliberations. ‘I think this is completely disregarding the victims of those crimes and disregarding society as a whole.’

Palumbo said he favors an existing sealing statute in New York through which people can apply to seal their records depending on the type of conviction and whether they’re a repeat offender. But advocates for the state’s ‘clean slate’ bill said the application process is cumbersome and expensive.

Less than 1% of New Yorkers eligible for sealing criminal records through that statute have successfully done so, according to a study conducted by Santa Clara University.

The automatic sealing would not apply to a person who has a pending felony charge in another state.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, in coordination with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, will be tasked to provide data to state administrative agencies so that they can seal eligible convictions.

Those sealed convictions could be later accessed by any court, prosecutors and defense attorneys under certain conditions, as well as by federal and state law enforcement agencies. Gun licensing agencies, law enforcement employers, and employers for work with vulnerable populations such as children and older adults will still be allowed to access the criminal records.

The original version of the bill excluded only sex crimes from automatic sealing and required seven years to pass until a felony conviction could be sealed.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she wants to make sure the bill would not have ‘any negative, unintended consequences’ while also giving those with criminal records a second chance.

‘It’s not a simple answer. These are complicated issues, far more than people may realize at first glance,’ Hochul told reporters at an unrelated event earlier in the week. ‘My goal as governor is to make sure we have forward-thinking, progressive policies that actually work.’

The bill would go into effect one year after it is signed into law.

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Rep. John Garamendi is demanding the Justice Department investigate the merger of the PGA Tour with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, while proposing legislation to strip the organization of its tax-exempt status.

Garamendi, D-Calif., rolled out legislation this week called the ‘No Corporate Tax Exemption for Professional Sports Act,’ after what the congressman called the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund’s ‘surprise takeover’ of the PGA.

That legislation would end the tax loophole that the PGA Tour benefits from to avoid paying any federal corporate income tax.

Garamendi, during an interview with Fox News Digital, said the PGA’s exemption, if left untouched, ‘will now flow to the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund through their acquisition of LIV.’

‘The Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund and MBS is going to get a tax break—an American tax break,’ Garamendi told Fox News Digital, adding that the PGA pays ‘no taxes, because under the tax code, it is a charity.’

Garamendi explained that a number of professional sports leagues had tax-exempt status for years, but have since relinquished that status. 

‘PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan should be ashamed of the blatant hypocrisy and about-face he and the rest of the PGA Tour’s leadership demonstrated by allowing the sovereign wealth fund of a foreign government with an unconscionable human rights record to take over an iconic American sports league and avoid paying a penny in federal corporate income tax,’ Garamendi said, adding that the merger ‘flies in the face of the PGA Tour players who turned down hundred-million-dollar paydays from the Saudi-backed LIV to align themselves with the right side of history and human decency.’

Garamendi said ‘the notion that the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund would pay zero dollars in taxes on their blood money and potentially billions of dollars in profits while countless American families pay their fair share while struggling to make ends meet is ludicrous.’

Garamendi described his new legislation as ‘commonsense’ that would ‘right this wrong and bring some much-needed accountability to this matter.’ 

Meanwhile, Garamendi said the PGA-LIV merger ‘creates an international monopoly in which they effectively control all professional golf, or nearly all professional golf.’

‘And when put it this way, it appears that the deal is such that Saudi Arabia controls a monopoly that controls professional golf,’ Garamendi said. ‘And so from the viewpoint of a wannabe professional golfer, they basically are going to have to bend their knee to Saudi Arabia and say, Well, what can I join? Can I be part of this? And Saudi Arabia can say yes or no. And so and so it goes.’

Garamendi said Congress and even the European Union should ‘seriously look into this.’ 

‘I would hope that the Justice Department takes it up. I would hope the European Union does and I would certainly call upon my congressional committees, for example, the House Judiciary Committee,’ Garamendi said.

Garamendi pointed to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, in which a foreign government ‘uses a bribe to achieve a goal could be a financial goal, it could be a political goal.’

‘So what is this deal— right? What are the financial guts of this deal? Where’s the money flowing?’ Garamendi asked. ‘Follow the money.’

A Texas appeals court on Friday dismissed a billionaire’s defamation lawsuit against Democrat Beto O’Rouke that was brought after O’Rourke criticized a $1 million campaign contribution to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

The ruling by the Third Court of Appeals in Austin comes more than a year after O’Rourke repeatedly made critical remarks about the donation during a failed run for governor, at one point saying that it ‘looks like a bribe to me.’

The contribution came from Kelcy Warren, chairman of pipeline company Energy Transfer, which reported about $2.4 billion in earnings related to the catastrophic February 2021 winter storm that sent natural gas prices soaring in Texas.

Warren, a major Republican donor, accused O’Rourke of trying to humiliate him and discourage other Abbott supporters from making campaign donations.

In the court’s opinion, Chief Justice Darlene Byrne wrote that a reasonable person would view O’Rourke’s statements as ‘the type of rhetorical hyperbole that is commonplace in political campaigns.’

Dean Pamphilis, an attorney for Warrren, said the decision would be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court.

Abbott’s campaign said at the time that it was not involved in the lawsuit. The governor went on to easily beat O’Rourke and win a third term.

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Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm admitted in a letter Friday that she made a false statement when she recently told lawmakers she didn’t own any individual stocks.

While Granholm divested from a variety of stocks in 2021, she acknowledged in the letter — which was sent to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leadership — that she maintained shares of six companies. On April 20, however, Granholm testified under oath that she had sold all of her shares of individual companies.

‘As you know, as part of the confirmation process before this Committee, in 2021 I divested from assets that could be in conflict with my official duties,’ Granholm wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital. ‘I did, however, retain assets that were determined by Government ethics officials to not conflict with my official duties.’

‘I mistakenly told the Committee that I did not own any individual stocks, whereas I should have said that I did not own any conflicting stocks. In order to make my financial holdings consistent with my testimony, on May 18, 2023, I divested my remaining stock holdings which consisted of stock in six companies, even though these assets were deemed non-conflicting,’ she continued.

Granholm didn’t say in the letter which companies she had owned shares of — and which she divested from on May 18 — but vowed to share that information in her Annual Public Financial Disclosure Report in mid-June.

In addition, Granholm said she discovered on May 13 that her husband Daniel Mulhern owned $2,457.89 worth of shares in Ford Motor Company. Those shares were then sold on May 15, a Monday, when the stock market opened.

Granholm acknowledged she hadn’t disclosed those shares in her two prior Public Financial Disclosure Reports and had mistakenly believed her family’s divestiture of Ford was complete in early 2021. The Ford stock she and her husband held in their retirement accounts had been sold off on March 22, 2021, she said.

‘As a public servant, I take very seriously the commitment to hold myself to the highest ethical standards, and I regret the accidental omission of my spouse’s interest in Ford,’ Granholm added in the letter. ‘This is a commitment I made to you, the President, and most importantly the American people.’

‘My spouse and I have double-checked our financial assets, and there are no other reportable assets that were omitted from my financial disclosure report,’ she concluded.

In response to the letter, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., criticized Granholm.

‘Secretary Granholm lied to the committee about her family’s stock holdings,’ Barrasso said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘This comes after her failure to follow basic ethics and disclosure rules. This is a troubling pattern. It is unacceptable.’

Granholm noted that all of her transactions listed in the letter would be disclosed on a Public Financial Disclosure Periodic Transaction Report in July.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, an Energy Department spokesperson said Granholm remained committed to ‘the highest ethical standards.’

‘The Secretary takes the commitment to uphold the highest ethical standards very seriously, which is why, upon realizing a comment made in error, the Secretary moved quickly to divest non-conflicting assets along with an asset held by her spouse of which she was previously unaware,’ the spokesperson said. 

‘The letter submitted to Congress clarifying the record underscores the Secretary’s commitment to transparency and to leading a DOE that puts the interests of the American people above all else.’

E&E News first reported the letter.

A new Indiana law’s provision barring teachers from providing instruction on ‘human sexuality’ to students from pre-K through the third grade is unconstitutional and so vaguely written that teachers wouldn’t know whether they are complying with it, a federal lawsuit filed Friday argues.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana’s lawsuit targets a portion of a new law that also requires schools to notify a parent if a student requests a name or pronoun change at school, but it does not challenge the pronoun and name change notification provision.

Republican lawmakers approved the law this year during a session that targeted LGBTQ+ people in the state. It is due to take effect July 1 after Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed it into law in May.

The ACLU’s lawsuit names Indiana’s secretary of education, Katie Jenner, as the defendant and seeks an injunction preventing the ‘human sexuality’ instruction provision from taking effect July 1.

The office of Attorney General Todd Rokita issued a statement saying it ‘will review the lawsuit and defend what the duly elected legislators find to be the appropriate age for sexuality discussions with Indiana’s elementary school students.’

The suit contends that by prohibiting Indiana teachers from providing ‘human sexuality’ instruction to students from pre-K through third grade, it violates their First Amendment rights.

Because the law defines neither ‘instruction’ nor ‘human sexuality,’ the complaint also contends, those terms ‘are impossibly vague and lack any ascertainable standards for determining whether or not the law has been violated.’

Ken Falk, legal director for the ACLU of Indiana, said it ‘is written so broadly that it would be next to impossible for teachers to determine what they can and cannot say to students.’

‘In addition, teachers have a First Amendment right to express themselves as private citizens outside of the classroom, including in the school’s hallways, playground, or before and after school, but the vagueness of this law would certainly have a chilling effect on those rights,’ Falk added in a news release.

The suit also contends that the provision violates the due process clause under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

It was filed on behalf of a teacher with Indianapolis Public Schools, Kayla Smiley, who will be teaching students in grades one through three in the upcoming school year and states that she maintains a classroom library with ‘age-appropriate books across a diverse spectrum of subjects and concerns, including LGBTQ issues, such as biographies of Harvey Milk, and Elton John.’

The suit adds that Smiley ‘has no idea whether these books’ qualify as instruction on human sexuality.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump’s leading rival for the 2024 GOP nomination, said the decision to charge the former president demonstrated political bias in the Biden Justice Department and it’s ‘weaponization’ of its police powers.

Trump was indicted Thursday on federal charges involving conspiracy, obstruction, and taking classified documents.

‘The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,’ Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated Thursday.

‘We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation. Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?’

DeSantis said his administration ‘will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponization once and for all.’

Other GOP candidates made supportive statements, but not all.

Sen. Tim Scott who announced his candidacy last month, said in an interview Thursday evening with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner that Trump’s indictment indicates the ‘scales’ of the justice system ‘are weighted.’

‘One thing that makes America a city on the hill is confidence in our justice system. And today, what we see is a justice system where the scales are awaited. That seems to be the outcome of where we are today,’ Scott said. 

‘As President of the United States, I would purge all of the injustices and impurities in our system so that every American can have confidence that they will be seen by the lady of justice with a blindfold on. That is what we need in this nation,’ he said. 

But former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who threw his hat into the ring earlier this week, stated on Twitter that ‘we don’t get our news from Trump’s Truth Social account.’ Trump first announced that he was indicted via his social media platform, prior to reporting that his legal team received a summons from DOJ. The indictment itself remains under seal.

‘Let’s see what the facts are when any possible indictment is released. As I have said before, no one is above the law, no matter how much they wish they were. We will have more to say when the facts are revealed,’ Christie said. 

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson called for Trump to end his campaign saying, ‘With the news that Donald Trump has been indicted for the second time, our country finds itself in a position that weakens our democracy.’

‘Donald Trump’s actions – from his willful disregard for the Constitution to his disrespect for the rule of law – should not define our nation or the Republican Party. This is a sad day for our country,’ he continued.

‘While Donald Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the ongoing criminal proceedings will be a major distraction. This reaffirms the need for Donald Trump to respect the office and end his campaign, he said. 

Entrepreneur turned GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said if he were to win the White House he would ‘promptly’ pardon Trump.

‘It would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump weren’t in the race, but I stand for principles over politics,’ Ramaswamy wrote on Twitter Thursday night. ‘I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country.’

This is the second time Trump has been indicted this year. Trump pleaded not guilty in April after being charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

Trump has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said his federal indictment is ‘election interference at the highest level,’ telling Fox News Digital that the Biden administration is ‘the most corrupt’ in history.

During an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital Thursday night, Trump said the case is ‘election interference’ and ‘the greatest witch hunt of all time.’ Trump said he will ‘of course’ plead not guilty to charges in federal court on Tuesday, and said he is ‘totally innocent.’

Trump, the current front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, was indicted on federal charges Thursday evening stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s months-long investigation into the former president’s alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump is listed in the indictment, which has not been unsealed, as a criminal defendant charged with at least seven counts involving obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and illegal retention of classified government material. He has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday. The indictment remains unsealed. 

‘This is the most corrupt administration in history—there has never been an administration so corrupt, and they’re just starting to find it right now,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘They are trying to deflect all of their dishonesty by bringing this ridiculous boxes hoax case.’

He added: ‘They’re not going to get away with it.’

‘I did absolutely nothing wrong,’ he said, citing the Presidential Records Act, saying it ‘makes me totally innocent.’

President Biden is under special counsel investigation for his alleged improper retention of classified records from his time as vice president in the Obama administration and as a senator. 

When asked whether he thought Biden could, too, be charged, Trump said, ‘Probably not—nothing will happen.’ 

He said the indictment was handed down Thursday because it was the same day an allegation, first revealed by Fox News Digital, emerged that Biden received $5 million for involvement in a bribery scheme.

Fox News Digital, hours before the indictment, exclusively reported that a confidential human source told the FBI during a June 2020 interview that President Biden was allegedly paid $5 million by an executive of the Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings, where his son Hunter Biden sat on the board.

Sources familiar briefed Fox News Digital on the contents of the subpoenaed FBI-generated FD-1023 form alleging a criminal bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national that involved influence over U.S. policy decisions.

‘The reason that they did this today, at this time, is because of the fact that the $5 million was found out in the document, and that’s just the beginning,’ Trump said.

Fox News Digital exclusively reported that the FD-1023 form was an interview with a ‘highly credible’ confidential source who detailed multiple meetings and conversations he or she had with a top Burisma executive over the course of several years, starting in 2015. Fox News Digital has not seen the form, but it was described by several sources who are aware of its contents.

Sources familiar told Fox News Digital that the confidential human source believes that the $5 million payment to Joe Biden and the $5 million payment to Hunter Biden occurred, based on his or her conversations with the Burisma executive. 

The confidential source said the Burisma executive told him he ‘paid’ the Bidens in such a manner ‘through so many different bank accounts’ that investigators would not be able to ‘unravel this for at least 10 years.’

The document then makes reference to ‘the Big Guy,’ which, has been said to be a reference to Joe Biden.

The Burisma executive told the confidential source that he ‘didn’t pay the Big Guy directly.’ 

A source familiar said according to the document, the $5 million payments appeared to reference a kind of ‘retainer’ Burisma intended to pay the Bidens to deal with a number of issues, including his effort to end the investigation into Burisma led by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Another source referred to the arrangement as a ‘pay-to-play’ scheme. 

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and at the time, Hunter had a highly-lucrative role on the board receiving thousands of dollars per month. The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.

In 2019, then-President Trump, pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine —specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings and Joe Biden’s successful effort to have Shokin ousted.

Trump was later impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — all stemming from the phone call and the question about the Bidens’ dealings. The Senate voted for acquittal in February 2020.

‘I was asking the right question,’ Trump said, referring to his July 2019 phone call with Zelenskyy. ‘I said, ‘if you have any corruption on the Biden administration, call our attorney general.’ I was doing my job—and it turns out, my job was done correctly.’

The Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis camps are trading blows after the Florida governor’s 2024 campaign debuted an AI-generated image depicting the former president hugging Dr. Anthony Fauci.

It’s also further fueling concerns about how AI ‘deepfakes’ of altered video, photos or audio portraying candidates saying and doing things they did not could affect the 2024 campaign.

‘Fake images from a fake campaign for a fake candidate. This stunt had the ‘please clap’ energy of Ron DeSanctimonious’ mentor, Jeb Bush,’ a Trump campaign adviser told Fox News Digital of the images.

One of Trump’s most vocal allies in the Senate, freshman Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, tweeted on Thursday, ‘Smearing Donald Trump with fake AI images is completely unacceptable. I’m not sharing them, but we’re in a new era. Be even more skeptical of what you see on the internet.’ 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shared Vance’s statement and added, ‘Those fake AI campaign ads need to be taken down immediately.’

However, someone with knowledge of DeSantis’ operation accused Trump of putting out misleading content long before the social media post dropped, when asked about Vance’s tweet.

‘If the Trump team is upset about this, I’d ask them why they have been continuously posting fake images and false talking points to smear the governor,’ the person told Fox News Digital.

Just last month, Trump triggered an uproar on Twitter after he shared an AI-generated video mocking DeSantis’ campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces. It depicted DeSantis along with Twitter owner Elon Musk, along with George Soros, Adolph Hitler, and the devil among the guest participants.

Amid the fallout from the AI images showing Trump and Fauci, DeSantis’ rapid response director Christina Pushaw shared a post from the ex-president’s Truth Social app account, where Trump had posted a photoshopped image of DeSantis atop a rhino.

‘I think this might be an AI-generated image. Who knows?’ Pushaw wrote on Twitter.

Vance’s office did not return a request for comment on whether he believes political campaigns should be able to use AI-generated images or photoshopped pictures.

Trump is still the leading GOP primary candidate in a crowded 2024 field. DeSantis has consistently come second in national polls, though he trails Trump by double-digits in most.

Democrat lawmakers were quick to react following the news that former President Trump had been indicted on charges connected to his handling of classified documents, with some saying that the former president is not ‘above the law’ and calling his behavior ‘extremist’ and ‘toxic.’

‘No one is above the law,’ Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said in a Twitter post. 

‘The chaos of Trump continues,’ Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said on Twitter. ‘What he’s doing to this country, the extremism and danger he and his allies present, has to end. Only when those who support and enable him decide to be done with this toxic behavior, will this all be behind us.’

While many Republican lawmakers accused the Justice Department of attempting to interfere with the upcoming 2024 presidential election, Democrats called the indictment an ‘affirmation of the rule of law.’

‘Trump’s apparent indictment on multiple charges arising from his retention of classified materials is another affirmation of the rule of law,’ Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) wrote in a Twitter post. ‘For four years, he acted like he was above the law. But he should be treated like any other lawbreaker. And today, he has been.’

‘Grand Jury votes to indict Trump!’ tweeted Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), cheering the decision. 

‘It’s time that we ensure Trump is banned from running for any public office again,’ echoed Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in a press release.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) shared in the celebration, saying the indictment is ‘one of many steps’ toward eliminating Trump as a threat to fair elections.

‘I will always believe that this twice-impeached former president is a threat to our democracy,’ he tweeted.  

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) tweeted a short clip of a crowd of women giving a standing ovation. And Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) shared a short response to Trump’s indictment, writing, ‘Good,’ in a Twitter post along with an image of the former president. 

Other lawmakers responded in a more subdued manner, saying that Trump is ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and 

‘Everyone is innocent until proven guilty,’ Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) said in a Twitter post. ‘But we don’t need a judge or jury to determine if his destruction of decency and dangerous incompetence continues to stain America.’

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) cautioned Republicans against what he called the ‘dangerous rhetoric about a ‘two-tiered system of justice.’’

‘Instead of trying to divide the country and undercut our legal system, Congressional Republicans should respect the outcome of the Special Counsel’s comprehensive investigation and the decisions of the citizens serving on the grand jury,’ Raskin said in a statement, warning that ‘rhetoric about a ‘two tiered system of justice,’ to ‘prop up’ the former President ‘not only undermines the Department of Justice but betrays the essential principle of justice that no one is above the commands of law, not even a former President or a self-proclaimed billionaire.’

This is the second time Trump has been indicted this year. Trump pleaded not guilty in April after being charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

Trump has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, June 13.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) sparked a firestorm this week after it added several prominent parental rights groups to its annual ‘Hate and Extremism’ report, including Parents Defending Education and Moms for Liberty, describing them as ‘hard-right’ and ‘reactionary anti-student inclusion groups.’

According to the new SPLC report, schools ‘have been on the receiving end of ramped-up and coordinated hard-right attacks.’

 After being ‘spurred by the right-wing backlash to COVID-19 public safety measures,’ parental rights groups appeared to have ‘grown into an anti-student inclusion movement that targets any inclusive curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination and LGBTQ identities,’ according to the SPLC, which has tax-exempt status from the IRS.

‘Like many other hard-right groups, these reactionary anti-student inclusion groups are constantly painting themselves as an oppressed class, while vilifying those discriminated against,’ the SPLC added.

The SPLC itself has faced a long history of allegations of discrimination while it simultaneously purports to be a ‘catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond.’

Despite its controversial past, the SPLC often partners with the federal government and is frequently cited as a reference by agencies at the state and federal levels. 

For instance, the SPLC began partnering with the FBI in 2007 for its ‘Cold Case Initiative’ seeking to identify racially-motivated murders committed decades ago, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), and SPLC research and data analyst Zachary Mahafza was recently enlisted as a panelist who helped shape the administration’s ‘Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.’

1. The SPLC’s co-founder was driven from the organization and multiple other executives resigned following accusations of rampant internal racism and sexism

Founded in 1971, the Alabama-based SPLC gained prominence in the 1980s for winning several civil lawsuits on the behalf of Ku Klux Klan victims. However, with the exception of its co-founder Morris Dees, the SPLC’s entire legal staff resigned in protest in 1986 over a disagreement about the organization’s direction. They wanted to focus on civil rights while Dees wanted to continue targeting white supremacist groups like the KKK, AL.com reported in 2019.

In 1994, the Montgomery Advertiser published an eight-part series about the SPLC that went on to be a Pulitzer Prize finalist, examining the ‘litany of problems and questionable practices at the SPLC, including a deeply troubled history with its relatively few black employees, some of whom reported hearing the use of racial slurs by the organization’s staff and others who ‘likened the center to a plantation’’ and ‘misleading donors with aggressive direct-mail tactics,’ the publication’s former managing editor, Jim Tharpe, recounted in a 2019 op-ed for The Washington Post.

Tharpe’s editorial came soon after the SPLC fired Dees in March 2019 following accusations of unchecked internal racism and sexism. His ouster came after the SPLC faced two dozen employee complaints saying its workplace fostered an intolerable workplace environment, including mistreatment, sexual harassment and a lack of diversity based on race and gender.

The New York Times reported at the time that several employees were subject to ‘racially callous remarks’ and that some on staff were sidelined because of their skin color – ultimately affecting their pay and advancement within the organization.

‘As a civil rights organization, the SPLC is committed to ensuring that the conduct of our staff reflects the mission of the organization and the values we hope to instill in the world,’ SPLC’s then-president Richard Cohen said at the time. ‘When one of our own fails to meet those standards, no matter his or her role in the organization, we take it seriously and must take appropriate action.’

Cohen later stepped down from the organization amid the harassment and diversity allegations.

Amid the scandal, The New Yorker’s Bob Moser, who worked for the SPLC as a writer from 2001 to 2004, wrote a piece slamming the lack of diversity at the nonprofit. 

‘But nothing was more uncomfortable than the racial dynamic that quickly became apparent: a fair number of what was then about a hundred employees were African-American, but almost all of them were administrative and support staff—‘the help,’ one of my black colleagues said pointedly,’ Moser wrote at the time. ‘The ‘professional staff’—the lawyers, researchers, educators, public-relations officers, and fund-raisers—were almost exclusively white. Just two staffers, including me, were openly gay.’

2. SPLC union members protested the organization’s ‘inequitable’ policies last year

The 2019 scandal prompted SPLC staff to unionize that December in an effort to enact more equitable policies. In March 2022, the union organized an employee protest, claiming there was a racial disparity in the nonprofit’s return-to-work policy.

‘Black women, many of whom have been working at this organization for decades in positions with little or no opportunities for advancement are four times more likely to be denied telework and/or remote work than white women and are seven times more likely to be denied telework options than white men at the Center,’ the SPLC Union wrote in a news release about the protest held in Montgomery.

The union said the event aimed to ‘protest management’s forcing mostly Black women employees to return to the office while allowing the option of remote work for white and higher-paid employees.’

The SPLC’s current president and CEO, Margaret Huang, defended the organization’s policies in a statement, saying the SPLC had created a flexible work model that allowed staff in certain, eligible roles to work entirely remotely.

‘We have nearly 400 employees and have identified only 9% of employees whose positions require them to be in the office, performing activities such as processing legal mail and donor contributions,’ Huang said at the time. 

3. A D.C. gunman said SPLC’s ‘hate map’ motivated his attack on the Family Research Council

Critics have long accused the SPLC of falsely slapping the ‘hate group’ label on non-violent groups that hold traditional beliefs about hot-button issues such as gay marriage and abortion.

One of those conservative Christian groups, the Family Research Council (FRC), was targeted in August 2012 by a gunman who said he was driven by the SPLC’s ‘hate map.’

A man named Floyd Lee Corkins II showed up to the FRC building in Washington, D.C, with a 9 mm pistol, multiple ammunition clips and a box of extra rounds. 

Prosecutors said his mission was to ‘kill as many people as possible,’ but one heroic building manager’s action was ​’the only thing that prevented Floyd Corkins, II from carrying out a mass shooting.’

The shooter opened fire, striking Leo Johnson, an office manager who successfully tackled him until police arrived, preventing the intended massacre. The shooter, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges including terrorism, told the FBI that he found FRC on the SPLC’s ‘hate map.’ 

SPLC SILENT ON ADDING PRO-CHOICE EXTREMIST GROUPS TO ITS LIST OF HATE GROUPS 

‘Southern Poverty Law lists, uh, anti-gay groups,’ Corkins told the FBI, according to interrogation footage. ‘I found them online — did a little research, went to the website, stuff like that.’

More than 10 years after the attack and the FRC is still listed as an ‘anti-LGBTQ’ hate group by the SPLC, while other organizations that have openly carried out attacks on organizations across the country have not been included on its website. Jane’s Revenge, for example, has taken responsibility for dozens of attacks against pro-life and pregnancy centers from coast to coast since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but is not listed as a ‘hate group’ on the SPLC website or even mentioned, according to a search of the site.  

4. The SPLC maintains vast amounts of cash in offshore entities

Despite being based in Alabama, the SPLC has for years held vast amounts of cash in offshore accounts, which has led to criticism of its finances. 

According to its most recent financial audit, the group reported $138 million in non-U.S. equity funds as of Oct. 31, 2022. The Washington Free Beacon previously reported its offshore money has included accounts in the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands. 

The SPLC is a fundraising powerhouse and has pulled in substantial cash from the ‘hate’ industry. The group reported $108 million in contributions and $723 million in total assets on its most recent tax forms. 

Amid the 2019 scandal that led to Dees’ firing, a former staffer came forward, claiming that the SPLC used its ‘hate group’ accusation to exaggerate hate in a fundraising scheme to ‘bilk’ donors. 

In 2000, nearly two decades before Dees’ firing, Harpers Magazine’s Ken Silverstein published a series characterizing the SPLC co-founder as a con man profiting off of white guilt, as most of SPLC donors were white, and accusing the organization of spending ‘most of its time – and money – on a relentless fund-raising campaign, peddling memberships in the church of tolerance with all the zeal of a circuit rider passing the collection plate.’

Gloria Browne, a lawyer who resigned from the SPLC in the early ‘90s, told The Montgomery Advertiser at the time that the organization was cashing in on ‘black pain and white guilt.’

5. The SPLC supports parents’ rights when it comes to gender-reassignment treatments and surgeries

Despite SPLC’s new decision to consider conservative parents’ rights groups ‘extreme,’ it claims parental rights are at the heart of its fight for transgender kids to be able to access sex-change treatments and medical procedures.

In March, the SPLC Action Fund issued a statement condemning Georgia’s new law banning doctors from performing gender-reassignment surgeries or prescribing hormone replacements to Georgians under 18.

‘Denying safe, effective medical treatment to transgender youth — based only on prejudice and political pandering — is inhumane,’ the group said in March after the bill passed the state Senate. ‘The SPLC Action Fund urges Gov. Brian Kemp to leave personal healthcare decisions in the capable hands of parents, children, and their doctors by vetoing S.B. 140.’

6. The SPLC was ordered to pay $3.375 million after branding a reformed Islamist an ‘anti-Muslim extremist’

In 2018, the SPLC agreed to publicly apologize and pay $3.375 million in damages after branding British anti-extremism group Quilliam Foundation and its founder, Maajid Nawaz, ‘anti-Muslim’ extremists. 

‘We’ve found that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have made valuable and important contributions to public discourse, including by promoting pluralism and condemning both anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamist extremism,’ Cohen, the then-SPLC president, said in his apology. ‘Although we may have our differences with some of the positions that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have taken, they are most certainly not anti-Muslim extremists.’

7. The SPLC was forced to apologize and retract a 3-part series painting liberal journalists as Russian pawns

In March 2018, the SPLC was forced to retract and apologize for an article that falsely asserted several reporters were enabling white supremacists and Russia while labeling them as fascists and racists.

The SPLC published the misleading article by Alexander Reid Ross headlined, ‘The multipolar spin: how fascists operationalize left-wing resentment.’ The story attempted to frame progressive journalists as pawns being used by the alt-right and made dangerous accusations in an attempt to fit its narrative.

The convoluted 2,500-plus word article was removed the following day after journalist Max Blumenthal, who was named in the article, expressed concern that he was falsely portrayed as being part of a nefarious plot by Kremlin-backed white supremacists to advance a fascist agenda. Several of the named reporters were minorities well-known for activism on the antiwar and antiracism fronts.

The SPLC published a lengthy apology and retracted the story, as well as the two other stories in the three-part series.

8. The SPLC apologized after labeling Ben Carson an ‘extremist’

In May 2016, the SPLC apologized to Ben Carson after placing the then-potential Republican presidential candidate on its ‘Extremist Watch List’ — which is mostly made up of hate groups and white supremacists — for allegedly being ‘anti-gay.’

‘In October 2014, we posted an ‘Extremist File’ of Dr. Ben Carson,’ SPLC wrote on its website. ‘This week, as we’ve come under intense criticism for doing so, we’ve reviewed our profile and have concluded that it did not meet our standards, so we have taken it down and apologize to Dr. Carson for having posted it.’

Among the reasons the SPLC gave for initially putting Carson on the list included a March 26, 2013, interview on Fox News’ ‘Hannity.’

In that interview, Carson said: ‘Marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s a well-established pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA [North American Man/Boy Love Association], be they people who believe in bestiality — it doesn’t matter what they are, they don’t get to change the definition.’

Though the SPLC apologized for putting Carson on the list, it maintained that Carson ‘made a number of statements that express views that we believe most people would conclude are extreme’ and said ‘we believe that his views should be closely examined.’

9. The SPLC works with students and educators on far-left ‘justice’ initiatives

The SPLC, through its Learning for Justice program, works with students and educators to push its far-left mission.

Learning for Justice, previously called Teaching Tolerance, seeks to be a ‘catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people,’ according to its website. 

The project pushes its mission through four core areas: culture and climate, curriculum and instruction, leadership, and family and community engagement. Its educational resources include articles, guides, lessons, films, webinars and frameworks to ‘help foster shared learning and reflection for educators, young people, caregivers and all community members.’

The project is currently taking action ‘to support LGBTQ+ youth in increasingly hostile school environments and in our communities,’ its website states. 

10. An SPLC attorney was arrested on domestic terrorism charges during the ‘Cop City’ attack

A Georgia-based SPLC staff attorney, Tom Jurgens, was arrested following the Georgia ‘Cop City’ terror attack earlier this year.

Jurgens was one of nearly two dozen radical activists arrested for domestic terrorism after a protest of the proposed 85-acre Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, labeled by opponents as ‘Cop City,’ turned into a violent assault on law enforcement. The individuals arrested conducted a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers at the site east of Atlanta, using large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails and fireworks. 

The SPLC rushed to the defense of Jurgens and the domestic terror suspects by shifting the blame to the police.

‘This is part of a months-long escalation of policing tactics against protesters and observers who oppose the destruction of the Weelaunee Forest to build a police training facility,’ the SPLC said in a statement. 

‘The SPLC has and will continue to urge de-escalation of violence and police use of force against Black, Brown and Indigenous communities — working in partnership with these communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people.’

The SPLC did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Brian Flood and Emma Colton, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.