The Southern Poverty Law Center pleads not guilty to a superseding federal indictment that alleges $4.1M in donated funds were used to pay informants inside the Ku Klux Klan and white nationalist groups.Federal prosecutors say some payments funded recruitment, Ku Klux Klan robes and materials for cross‑burning ceremonies and that some informants were Klan members who received monthly payments and expense reimbursements.The Southern Poverty Law Center denies wrongdoing, says its informant program provided vital intelligence to law enforcement and accuses the
Justice Department of a politically motivated prosecution targeting perceived opponents of former President
Donald Trump; trial is set for October.