NEWS PROVIDED BY
Liberty Counsel 
March 29, 2019
 
MONTGOMERY, Ala., March 29, 2019 /Standard Newswire/ -- After the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) fired co-founder Morris Dees, and the president, Richard Cohen resigned, the board of directors appointed Michelle Obama's former chief of staff, Tina Tchen, to lead a review regarding the ongoing sexual harassment and racial discrimination inside the organization.

Ironically, Bryan Fair, chairman of the board of the SPLC, said Tchen will "hold a mirror" up to the organization and its leaders.

However, Tchen has garnered scrutiny after text messages traded with Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx regarding the alleged hoax linked to actor Jussie Smollett emerged. Tchen called Foxx as a friend of Jessie Smollet and the family, complaining about the media coverage and alleged leaks of the investigation. After the call, Foxx tried to get the FBI to take the case from the Chicago Police Department, and she called back Tchen to tell her that may happen. Shortly after Tchen called Foxx on behalf of Smollet, Smollet's family member began calling Foxx. Then Foxx recused herself from Smollett's prosecution because she had been in frequent contact with the family. Now it looks like Tchen was the person responsible for connecting the family to Foxx.

Public records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times showed that Tchen sent Foxx an early-morning text on Feb. 1 saying she "wanted to give you a call on behalf of Jussie Smollett and family who I know. They have concerns about the investigation." Three days earlier, Smollett had said two men attacked him on the way home. The text messages show Foxx told both Tchen and Smollett's relative that Foxx had reached out to Johnson personally about handing the investigation off to the FBI. The prosecutors have now dropped all charges against Smollett after he agreed to do volunteer service and to let the city keep his $10,000 in bail. Yet the Assistant State Attorney stated he believed Smollet was guilty.

So now, the SPLC will have the same Tchen who ran interference for Smollet investigate the SPLC. The SPLC maliciously labels Christian, pro-family and conservative nonviolent groups as "hate groups" while advancing its enormous fundraising efforts by misleading its donors into thinking it needs the funds in order to advance justice. Yet the Los Angeles Times and the Alabama Political Reporter recently reported that Dees' removal had come amid a staff revolt over racial and sexual harassment allegations of nonwhite and female staffers. The New Yorker recently published an essay from Bob Moser, a former writer with the SPLC who now writes for Rolling Stone. Moser stated "that a number of staffers subsequently signed onto two letters of protest to the center's leadership, alleging that multiple reports of sexual harassment by Dees through the years had been ignored or covered up, and sometimes resulted in retaliation against the women making the claims."

"The hypocrisy continues at the SPLC as the person they hired to investigate its ongoing immoral behavior appears to have engaged in her own efforts to protect Jesse Smollet from prosecution," said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver. "Using Tina Tchen as an investigator reveals that the SPLC has no intention of correcting its wrongs."

Find more information that exposes the truth about the Southern Poverty Law Center here.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.

SOURCE Liberty Counsel

CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org

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