FBI director Kash Patel has terminated the bureau’s partnership with the Anti-Defamation League following anger from MAGA over the group’s decision to list Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA as “extremist.”
The FBI had an intelligence-sharing and training partnership with the group, which campaigns to fight antisemitism, but now Patel has pulled the plug on the arrangement.
Patel also accused the organization of “spying” on conservative groups.
In 2019, the ADL — whose core mission is to combat defamation against Jewish people and organizations — published a since-deleted highly critical backgrounder page about the organization and its late leader, accusing Turning Point of promoting “Christian nationalism” and detailing the group’s ties to “far-right extremists and white nationalists.”
The page has been taken down, but it has prompted fury from prominent MAGA figures.
Elon Musk, who in the past couple of years has whipped up support for far-right movements in the United Kingdom and Germany, accused the group of becoming a “far left hate propaganda machine” Sunday in a post on X.
“The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is a hate group,” the billionaire said oif the group, which fights antisemitism.
The group has shared hundreds of tips about extremist activity with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies over the years, but Patel accused it of “spying on Americans” Wednesday in a post on X.
He cited remarks made by former FBI director James Comey, who in 2014 made training sessions with the ADL mandatory for agents.
“If this sounds a bit like a love letter to the ADL, it is, and rightly so,” Comey said in a speech at an ADL summit in 2014.
Patel seized upon the comments to justify cutting ties with the group.
“James Comey wrote ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedded FBI agents with them – a group that ran disgraceful ops spying on Americans,” Patel said. “That era is OVER. This FBI won’t partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs.”
The move follows Comey’s criminal indictment last week, accusing him of making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding in September 2020. He denies any wrongdoing.
In a statement, the ADL said it remained “more committed than ever” to its cause of “protecting the Jewish people.”
“As we prepare to observe the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar, we have seen the statement from FBI Director Patel regarding the FBI’s relationship with ADL,” the organization said.
“ADL has deep respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers at all levels across the country who work tirelessly every single day to protect all Americans regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith, political affiliation or any other point of difference.”
