The Federal Bureau of Investigation will no longer work with the Anti-Defamation League after conservative influencers said the organization overstepped in adding Turning Point USA to its repository of hate and extremist groups. The ADL has since retired its Glossary of Extremism and Hate in response to the criticism.
FBI Director Kash Patel made the announcement on X on Wednesday afternoon, accusing the ADL of being a political front that masquerades as a watchdog. It followed an intense 24 hours for the organization after it classified Turning Point USA as an extremist group, Jewish Insider reported.
Patel’s move represents a shift from the approach taken by former Director James Comey in running the bureau.
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“That era is finished,” Patel told Fox News in an exclusive interview. “This FBI formally rejects Comey’s policies and any partnership with the ADL.”
The ADL said in a statement shared online that it remains committed to protecting Jewish people and has “deep respect” for the FBI and other law enforcement who protect people. The organization didn’t immediately respond to Straight Arrow News’ request for comment.
Patel’s move came days after a federal grand jury in Virginia indicted Comey on Sept. 25 for allegedly lying to Congress. In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to charge Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and other political opponents with criminal charges.
“JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED,” Trump wrote, “NOW!!!”
The ADL’s Glossary of Extremism and Hate had entries on the Proud Boys, Patriot Front and others. According to screenshots shared on X, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) was added in February 2019, an organization founded by slain conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in 2012.
A cache of the webpage on the Wayback Machine showed that the ADL condemned Kirk’s Sept. 10 killing and denounced violence. The group added that conspiracy theories about the assassination targeted Jewish people and Israel. The ADL and other Jewish groups have said anti-Israel sentiment isn’t inherently antisemitic, but has led to a rise in hate crimes.
Comey’s supposed ‘love letters’ to the ADL
Coupled with the Jewish advocacy organization’s entry on Turning Point USA, Patel told Fox News that Comey “disgraced” the FBI in writing what he called “love letters” to the ADL.
Comey was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2013 to lead the bureau. Trump fired him in 2017 and later blamed Comey for the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s alleged actions during the president’s 2016 campaign.
According to its website, the ADL has worked with law enforcement for more than 80 years to help train officers on how to identify and address hate crimes, namely those against Jewish people. Comey said in 2014 at the ADL’s leadership summit that his remarks about the organization are a love letter, as the FBI has learned how to better address hate crimes, according to FBI archives.
Patel said that the ADL is an “extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization” and accused the organization of “spying on Americans.”
Much of the condemnation on the ADL reportedly started after billionaire Elon Musk claimed on X that the organization is a hate group and the reason why the FBI was “investigating Charlie Kirk and Turning Point, instead of his murders.” Posts on X falsely claimed the ADL added the conservative group recently.
The Jewish advocacy group permanently retired its Glossary of Extremism on Monday because terms had evolved to become outdated, and people were intentionally misrepresenting and misusing it. The ADL said on X that the retirement was necessary to focus on “new strategies and creative approaches” to deliver its data and research effectively.
After Patel’s announcement, Musk shifted focus to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization focused on racial equality and civil rights.
