The Daily Signal’s Own Tyler O’Neil Is Set to Testify Before Congress on the SPLC-Manufactured Hate

Congress has called on The Daily Signal’s Tyler O’Neil to testify Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee as lawmakers investigate the Southern Poverty Law Center following a Department of Justice indictment.

“I’m honored to testify before the full House Judiciary Committee tomorrow, and I look forward to exposing the SPLC’s corruption to Congress,” O’Neil told the Daily Signal. “My years of research highlight the SPLC’s financial incentive to exaggerate ‘hate,’ and the Justice Department’s indictment vindicates what I’ve been saying for years.”

O’Neil, a senior investigative reporter at the Daily Signal, has written extensively on a network of left-wing nonprofits and dark money groups he says influenced the Biden administration. A preview of his opening testimony appears at the end of this article.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, was another early voice calling out the SPLC.

“I’m proud to have been among the first to speak out against the SPLC’s pattern of targeting and spreading hatred about conservatives, Christians, and others who do not conform to their radical progressive agenda,” Roy told the Daily Signal.

The DOJ recently announced 11 federal charges against the SPLC, including wire fraud, false statements, and conspiracy related to an alleged $3 million money laundering scheme involving individuals tied to violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan.

“Now we know the SPLC funneled money to extremists, raising questions about whether the organization has artificially elevated the domestic extremist threat and misled donors,” a spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told the Daily Signal.

O’Neil has long criticized the SPLC’s widely cited “hate map,” which places mainstream conservative organizations alongside extremist groups.

“The SPLC’s ‘hate map’ equates mainstream conservatives with the KKK by placing them alongside Klan chapters,” O’Neil said. “It routinely defames individuals who oppose positions such as transgender ideology, open borders, and critical race theory.”

The committee spokesperson echoed those concerns, saying the SPLC has “wrongfully targeted conservative groups as hate groups.” Organizations identified on the SPLC map include Turning Point USA, Moms for Liberty, Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council, and PragerU.

In a 2023 analysis, O’Neil argued the SPLC inflates its figures by counting chapters as separate groups and including defunct organizations, estimating the map exaggerates hate by at least 267%.

O’Neil is the author of “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center” and “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.” This will be his fifth time testifying before Congress on issues related to left-wing activism, including a December hearing before the House subcommittee on the Constitution and limited government.

“This hearing builds on the important work that subcommittee began in December and follows serious DOJ charges involving fraud and money laundering,” Roy said. “We must continue exposing NGOs that undermine American values and sow division.”

O’Neil will testify alongside Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and author Carol Swain. Democrats have called Maya Wiley, a lawyer and former SPLC official, as their witness.

Preview of O’Neils Opening Remarks 

I will argue that the Southern Poverty Law Center does not merely track hate—it systematically inflates it, profits from it, and, according to a federal indictment, may even have helped create it. 

The first thing to know about the SPLC is that it has nothing to do with poverty. The “Poverty Palace” has an endowment of eight hundred twenty-two million dollars. That’s more than three times the assets of the national YMCA, and almost twice the sum of Planned Parenthood.  

That’s why former employees have suggested mocking mottos for the SPLC, such as “Making Hate Pay.” 

How did the SPLC become so wealthy? Co-founder Morris Dees set up a lucrative fundraising engine by suing the Ku Klux Klan into bankruptcy.  

When the SPLC ran out of grand dragons to slay, the center needed to find more “hate” to justify the fundraising. It has a financial incentive to juice the numbers.