At the end of Thursday’s Morning Joe, co-host Jonathan Lemire interviewed the CEO of the National Urban League, Marc Morial, and former U.S. Attorney and MS NOW analyst Joyce Vance to defend the Southern Poverty Law Center amid the recent indictment from the DOJ related to wire fraud, as Morial called the indictment an “assault on civil rights.” In the same program, an advertisement aired for the indicted SPLC. Just about an hour before the segment, MS NOW and Morning Joe aired a 2-minute-long ad, which asked for donations to the SPLC for “$19 a month” for a “special Fight Hate t-shirt.” Essentially, amid the criminal indictments, MS NOW was still taking money from the SPLC. The two-minute SPLC advertisement also aired on Tuesday Night’s 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, mere hours after the announcement of the indictment. Lemire's introduction of the topic gave actual details, unlike his colleague Chris Hayes’s non-detailed version. Lemire described the indictment as “claiming that a DOJ investigation found that the SPLC used donor money to pay informants in extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the national socialist movement, and then hid the payments through shell companies.”   On Morning Joe, Jonathan Lemire and a panel that included the Urban League CEO, Marc Morial, and legal analyst Joyce Vance defended the SPLC amidst their fraud indictment. All three implied the indictment was political, as Morial said it was an "assault on civil rights." pic.twitter.com/zWtUerqzuH — Nick (@nspin310) April 23, 2026   Vance described the indictment and focused on the informant aspects, as she went towards the new talking point of the FBI, a government agency, relationship with informants as similar to the SPLC, an activist group, allegedly paying extremist group members as informants while they committed wire fraud: And, you know, this is not unused or unused in federal law enforcement either. If you want to get information about a domestic terror group, you have to go and talk to domestic terrorists. Oftentimes, those are unscrupulous people, and your best way in is to pay them. Vance continued on the claim the indictment uses “fiction”: So, what this indictment does is it sort of uses the fiction that the only thing that the Southern Poverty Law Center was doing was paying informants, and it ignores the center's larger work, which involved dismantling those entities. They were the entity that was responsible for bankrupting the Ku Klux Klan and putting them out of business. Guest Pablo Torre, former ESPNer turned Morning Joe regular, asked Morial about “how this has now been used politically on the internet” and showcased a New York Post cover that, Torre said, claimed the KKK “is funded by the SPLC.” Torre asked him only to “process the conversation that’s happening as a result.” The Urban League CEO stated, “the indictment is nakedly political,” and turned to complain about the DOJ’s end of the relationship with the SPLC under the Trump administration. Morial further went on to accuse the DOJ of political prosecutions and said the indictment “is furthering this pattern and practice of an assault on civil rights through frivolous, political motivated indictments.” Lemire implied the investigations were only for interim AG Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel to gain more notoriety and, in Patel’s case, an attempt to squash bad headlines. Morial responded with the favorite word of Democrats during Trump's second term:  Distraction away from the problems that they're facing. A distraction away from the FBI director's continuing controversy over his personal conduct. And of course, the acting attorney general wants to be confirmed. And so maybe he's playing to a certain audience. Vance then agreed with Lemire and Morial, as she stated the press conference was “very unusual” and it was “relatively rare” for the Attorney General to announce indictments. She ended the presser, “underscores the analysis that this was nakedly political.” Lemire’s mention of the actual details of the indictment was the next step, but it was unlikely a network that takes ad money from the indicted SPLC would not do much of anything but defend the group. The transcript is below. Click "expand": MS NOW’s Morning Joe April 23, 2026 9:48:36 AM Eastern JONATHAN LEMIRE: Welcome back. The Southern Poverty Law Center is vowing to vigorously fight an indictment leveled against the civil rights organization by the Department of Justice, FBI director Kash Patel joined acting attorney general Todd Blanche earlier in the week, claiming that a DOJ investigation found that the SPLC used donor money to pay informants in extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the national socialist movement, and then hid the payments through shell companies. The 11-count indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury in Alabama, where the Southern Poverty Law Center is located.  The organization's interim CEO and president said he is, quote, “outraged by the false accusations.” Joining us now, the president and CEO of the National Urban League, Marc Morial, and former U.S. Attorney and MS NOW legal analyst Joyce Vance. Our thanks to you both for being with us.  Joyce, I'll start with you. Can you just walk us through this indictment? You know what allegations are made. And in your estimation, do they have merit? JOYCE VANCE Well, this, Jonathan, is something we've discussed before. It's a speaking indictment. So, instead of just being bare bones, the Justice Department lays out its entire theory of the case. They then charge the Southern Poverty Law Center. They only charge the entity. They don't charge any individuals with wire fraud, with making false statements to banks, and to money laundering.  The money laundering charge first, that depends entirely on whether there's any merit to the other two substantive charges. If they don't work out for the government, then money laundering is off the table. And so it's interesting. I think the easiest way to summarize the merits of this indictment is to say that it's hyper-focused on one aspect of how the Southern Poverty Law Center operated, that for a period of time, they paid informants, they paid them a lot of money to provide information about various domestic terror, white supremacist hate groups.  And, you know, this is not unused or unused in federal law enforcement either. If you want to get information about a domestic terror group, you have to go and talk to domestic terrorists. Oftentimes, those are unscrupulous people, and your best way in is to pay them. So, what this indictment does is it sort of uses the fiction that the only thing that the Southern Poverty Law Center was doing was paying informants, and it ignores the center's larger work, which involved dismantling those entities. They were the entity that was responsible for bankrupting the Ku Klux Klan and putting them out of business. As domestic terror groups reformed in that vacuum, they then began scrutinizing them, often working with law enforcement to provide information.  You know, the point here is that this might be an indictment that looks good on its face in some ways, but it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. And a jury, of course, will hear the evidence in this larger context. Tough sell for prosecutors to convict. PABLO TORRE: Mark, when you look at how this has now been used politically on the internet, on the cover of the New York Post today, the argument is that this money has funded this is the money that was responsible for the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. That the KKK actually, per the cover of the Post, funded by the SLPC. And so, for you, and the question of paid informants, how do you process the conversation that's happening as a result? MARC MORIAL: The indictment is nakedly political, and it's the Justice Department turning on itself. For years, federal law enforcement worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center to ferret out hate groups and domestic terrorist groups, and recently, the Justice Department canceled its relationship with the Southern Poverty Law Center.  So, the government has been intimately involved in what the Southern Poverty Law Center has done, which has been an important public service, and that is to ferret out these hate groups, these domestic terrorist groups, these anti-semitic groups. And this Justice Department, once again, is furthering this pattern and practice of an assault on civil rights through frivolous, politically motivated indictments. Think of Comey, think of the Attorney General in New York. Think of these. This is a continuation indeed of that pattern.  And to stand up against this is really the call to action for the American people, because the Justice Department itself in recent years has identified these types of groups as the biggest threat to the public safety, to mass violence in this country, these supremacist groups, these domestic terrorist groups. So, the Southern Poverty Law Center has performed an important public service consistently and continuously working with our government to ferret out these groups. So, this indictment, I think, is political. I think it's a grasping at straws. And let's see how it evolves in the courts. LEMIRE And, Mark, you can't help but note that the two men up front announcing this,. FBI Director Kash Patel trying to ward off some negative headlines, and interim attorney general Todd Blanche, who's trying to make a bid for the job full-time. Feels like this is an audience of one move too, no? MORIAL: Distraction away from the problems that they're facing. A distraction away from the FBI director's continuing controversy over his personal conduct. And of course, the acting attorney general wants to be confirmed. And so maybe he's playing to a certain audience.  But this is what's so important. The civil rights community and the American people have to stand up to prosecutorial misconduct, to the weaponization of the power of the state and the justice department. And this is just another example of that pattern continuing. So, we're going to stand with the Southern Poverty Law Center. I think the more people understand the magnitude and the importance of the work that they've done, I think the public is going to understand it, and they're going to support it, and they're going to see this indictment for what it is. And that is nakedly political. LEMIRE: And Joyce, lastly and briefly, can you walk us through what the next steps are going to be? VANCE: Right. So, we'll see a flurry of pretrial motions trying to determine what goes forward. There will, of course, be discovery, but these are largely the kinds of charges that get vetted, either on a guilty plea or at trial. Very unlikely that we'll see a guilty plea here.  And to the point that you just made, you know, this is a very unusual press conference. It's relatively rare for the Attorney General of the United States, or an acting one in this case, to announce a case that a United States Attorney's Office has indicted. Usually, those announcements happen in the district. It's very rare for main justice to send high-ranking officials down here. We've got the two top leaders at DOJ making the announcement without the U.S. Attorney alongside them. I think that that underscores the analysis that this was nakedly political. (...)

POLL: What was the worst media quote of the week? (Vote below)   Watch the Worst Quotes presented by @Schineman pic.twitter.com/y0EH0R3p1Z — Media Research Center (@theMRC) April 23, 2026   NOMINEES:    Sunny Hostin: Iran War Cost $50 Billion, More Than Spent Since WWII “You know, I just read that this war is estimated to have already cost us $50 billion. $50 billion, which is more money than this country has spent since World War II.”— Co-host Sunny Hostin on ABC’s The View, April 22.   Keith Olbermann: “Trump Is Entirely Full of S***” On Iran  “Trump is entirely full of shit. It is as if you took all the shit in the world, squeezed it into a bag, and made it President. He insists he has opened Hormuz, and Iran’s leaders fire on ships and insist it’s closed. He insists there are talks. Iran’s leaders say they know nothing about them. We are losing the war in Iran and as of today, a total idiot is still President and Commander-in-Chief.”— Former ESPN and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann on his Countdown podcast, April 20.   Lawrence O’Donnell Praises “International Sound of Resistance” to “Hitler,” “Gangster” Trump Host Lawrence O’Donnell: “The international sound of resistance to Donald Trump was heard in the British House of Commons, and the language used to describe Donald Trump was on a par with the language Winston Churchill used to describe Adolf Hitler during World War II.”Winston Churchill (June 22, 1941): “Hitler is a monster of wickedness.”O’Donnell: “A monster of wickedness. Words to describe the worst, most murderous dictator in European history and world history. And yesterday in the British parliament, the words ‘he is a dangerous and corrupt gangster’ [by MP Ed Davey] were used to describe the President of the United States, an office once occupied by the President who beat Adolf Hitler in World War II.”— MS NOW’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, April 14.      Sponsored by James P. Jimirro

When a PBS reporter tried to bait Pres. Donald Trump with a question about the war with Iran on Thursday, the president shot back with a question of his own, slamming her blatant bias. “Why would a stupid question like that be asked?” Trump replied when PBS Correspondent Liz Landers asked him if he’d use a nuclear weapon against Iran. Trump then explained to Landers what should have been self-evident: the U.S. is dominating the fight using conventional means, has gained near-complete military superiority – and is in the war because no nation, especially Iran, should ever use a nuclear weapon. PBS’s Liz Landers: “Sir, would you use a nuclear weapon against Iran? You posted on Truth Social a few weeks ago —” President Trump: “No. No, I wouldn’t. We don’t need it.” PBS’s Landers: “- that’s not -” Pres. Trump: “Why do I need it? Why would a stupid question like that be asked? “Why would I, why would I use a nuclear weapon when we’ve totally, in a very conventional way, decimated them without it? “No, I wouldn’t use it. A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”   .@POTUS to Jim Acosta's girlfriend (@ElizLanders) when she asks one of the dumbest questions ever — if he'd use a nuclear weapon on Iran: "Why would a stupid question like that be asked?... No, I wouldn't use it. A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody." pic.twitter.com/U235920fwD — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 23, 2026   Liberal media’s negative, biased coverage of Trump, Republicans and conservative Americans has long been well-established – and PBS’s animus only increased after Trump successfully saved taxpayers from having to continue funding it.

Taking $3 million from donors under the pretense of fighting hate and giving it to those who are infamous for stoking hate is the ultimate hypocrisy, FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday, discussing the indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). “Money doesn’t lie,” Patel explained in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity”: “The charity that supposedly fought the Klan - funded the Klan. “The charity that supposedly fought Neo-Nazis - funded Neo-Nazis. “The Southern Poverty Law Center led a methodical, calculated scheme to defraud their donor base of $3 million.” The FBI director said that The Southern Poverty Law Center: Lied to donors. Used an illicit banking structure system to create shell companies. Used the shell companies to hide its money and the fact that it was sent to infamous hate groups. Sent the money specifically for the purpose of sowing discord and hate into the U.S. Patel called SPLC’s behavior “the ultimate definition of hypocrisy,” since the organization was “paying the very villains of our society they supposedly wanted to protect us from,” Patel said: “If you look at the indictment produced by the Department of Justice and the FBI you will see that these banking institutions tie directly to the funding mechanisms, which the Southern Poverty Law Center used to fund at least eight hate groups they supposedly wanted to take out - but they were paying the very villains of our society they supposedly wanted to protect us from.”   The money doesn’t lie. The evidence shows the charity who supposedly fought the Klan - FUNDED the Klan. The charity who supposedly fought Neo-nazis - FUNDED Neo-nazis. The SPLC engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, funded the very hate groups they… pic.twitter.com/azUPhfEfgM — FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 23, 2026   Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC allegedly secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including: Ku Klux Klan United Klans of America Unite the Right National Alliance National Socialist Movement Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party) American Front Charges in the 11-count grand jury indictment issued Tuesday include: Wire fraud, False statements to a federally insured bank, and Conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.   “These people knew what they were doing. It was calculated,” Patel said, noting that it’s impossible to accidentally set up shell companies, deceive the financial banking sector, solicit thousands of donations and millions of dollars and use the media to promote lies without creating a sophisticated complex system. The SPLC relied on the fake news media and friends in Congress to promote its narrative and lies, Director Patel said. “This was done in a caldron of hate by the very group that said they were going to eliminate hate,” Patel said.

With The View giving up the practice of issuing legal notes last year, they’ve effectively let themselves off the leash to make up and push whatever ridiculous reality they wanted. On Thursday’s episode, ABC News co-host Joy Behar suggested that President Trump was trying to kill everyone. Meanwhile, moderator Whoopi Goldberg was busy suggesting that Trump had fired “all the women” from his administration. During a segment where they once again decried Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Behar suggested that his appointment and other Trump actions gave her the impression Trump wanted everyone dead: BEHAR: Sometimes I feel like they're trying to kill us. GOLDBERG: You think? BEHAR: Yeah. I mean, you got - you know, Trump just vetoed anything that has to do with climate change that would alleviate the problem. And we can see it everywhere that the Earth is in a lot of trouble.   ABC News co-host Joy Behar suggests the Trump administration is literally trying to kill everyone: "BEHAR: You know, sometimes I feel like they're trying to kill us. GOLDBERG: You think? BEHAR: Yeah. I mean, you got - you know, Trump just vetoed anything that has to do with… pic.twitter.com/71sZMfMtnz — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 23, 2026   Behar also bashed Kennedy for his past battles with addition, seemingly arguing that he wasn’t allowed to come back from it. “But here you've got a guy who is in charge of our health, who is a former heroin addict … And that snorted cocaine off of a toilet seat. This is who is in charge of your health, America. Do not put up with this! We're in a lot of trouble!” she rhetorically sneered. Giving an unintended example of someone she felt did deserve grace, later in the show Behar downplayed the child molestation allegations against deceases pop star Michael Jackson. “Nobody's perfect. [Composer Richard] Wagner was a Nazi, they still listen to his music,” she declared.   To downplay the allegations of child molestation against Michael Jackson, Behar claims German composer Richard Wagner was a Nazi, but he dies in 1883, almost 40 years before the founding of the Nazi Party: "Nobody's perfect. Wagner was a Nazi, they still listen to his music." pic.twitter.com/GBau9BrGUM — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 23, 2026   Besides giving a free pass to an accused pedophile and attacking a former addict, Behar’s invocation of German composer Richard Wagner was also factually false. Wagner died in 1883, nearly 40 years before the Nazi Party was founded in 1920. Adolf Hitler was indeed a fan of Wagner and made his music a fixture in German culture, Wagner should not be abled a Nazi because what a fan of his did decades after his passing. Back in the Kennedy minute-of-hate segment, Goldberg demanded that he’d be fired. Her argument hinged on the lie that Trump had fired all the women he had hired to fill out his administration: HOSTIN: And he did and now he's in a position that he’s so deeply unqualified for and now Senator Cassidy is questioning him, but to what avail? I think we're stuck with this guy. BEHAR: No. No. GOLDBERG: No. Listen, they're getting rid of people left and right. Get rid of some of the men. You got rid of all the women. Get rid of some of the men.   ABC News moderator Whoopi Goldberg claims Trump "got rid of all the women" in his administration. "They're getting rid of people left and right. Get rid of some of the men now. You got rid of all the women. Get rid of some of the men," she claimed while demanding RFK Jr. be… pic.twitter.com/ryfIQAiUb7 — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 23, 2026   Again, that’s not true. Just because Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, and Lori Chavez-DeRemer had left the administration, it didn’t mean Trump had fired “all” the women. It;s worth the reminder that ABC News regards The View as a news program. That’s why it’s important for NewsBusters to put a spotlight on the crazy things they say. ABC is laundering nonsense and propaganda through them. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View April 23, 2026 11:06:50 a.m. Eastern (…) WHOOPI GOLDBERG [speaking to camera with a message for Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA)]: I'm really mad at you too. I’m really made at you JOY BEHAR: Sometimes I feel like they're trying to kill us. GOLDBERG: You think? BEHAR: Yeah. I mean, you got - you know, Trump just vetoed anything that has to do with climate change that would alleviate the problem. And we can see it everywhere that the Earth is in a lot of trouble. But here you've got a guy who is in charge of our health, who is a former heroin addict, a -- he swam in sewage. Who does that?! Who does that?! And that snorted cocaine off of a toilet seat. This is who is in charge of your health, America. Do not put up with this! We're in a lot of trouble! Don't we -- don't people see that?! (…) 11:09:25 a.m. Eastern ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: RFK lied to him. He effectively lied to him. [Crosstalk] SARA HAINES: He said he wasn't going to mess with the vaccinations. SUNNY HOSTIN: And he did and now he's in a position that he’s so deeply unqualified for and now Senator Cassidy is questioning him, but to what avail? I think we're stuck with this guy. BEHAR: No. No. GOLDBERG: No. Listen, they're getting rid of people left and right. Get rid of some of the men. You got rid of all the women. Get rid of some of the men. [Applause] FARAH GRIFFIN: Very quickly though. This week, the administration appointed a highly qualified director of the CDC. GOLDBERG: Yes. HOSTIN: Dr. Erica Schwartz. FARAH GRIFFIN: I was a little bit surprised. HOSTIN: And I wonder if she's going to last. FARAH GRIFFIN: Let's confirm somebody who’s credentialed and ready to do the job. HOSTIN: She's actually a doctor. GOLDBERG: You know, wouldn’t that be something? Somebody who actually knew the job. BEHAR: How about a president like that? GOLDBERG: What a concept? We'll be right back. (…) 11:18:32 a.m. Eastern HOSTIN: By the way, Nia Long, that was the actress who plays Katherine Jackson, she sort of intimated that there may be a sequel and that that sequel may be able to address that part of his life. And so, I think people can see this movie and feel comfortable. BEHAR: Nobody's perfect. Wagner was a Nazi, they still listen to his music. (…)