2026年4月25日 美国东部时间凌晨5:00 / 福克斯新闻
密歇根州务卿乔斯林·本森的竞选团队周五回击了共和党人的攻击，此前密歇根州共和党要求这位民主党州长热门候选人就其曾与被联邦起诉的南方贫困法律中心（SPLC）合作的过往经历作出解释。
本森曾是南方贫困法律中心的志愿者，之后还担任过该组织的董事会成员。该中心周二因11项罪名被起诉，罪名包括虚假支付三K党等极端组织成员以及与2017年弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔“团结右翼”集会相关人员的费用。
代理司法部长托德·布兰奇表示，南方贫困法律中心向这些极端组织成员支付费用，目的是制作“一份报告这些活动的工作成果”。
“乔斯林·本森经常吹嘘自己作为南方贫困法律中心（SPLC）领导人的经历，而司法部称该组织秘密向三K党和其他他们声称在追踪的仇恨组织提供资金，”密歇根州共和党周五在其官方X账号上发帖称。
“乔斯林知道些什么？她是什么时候知道的？”
杰伊·琼斯遭瞄准，总检察长敦促全国组织因丑闻拒绝其成员资格：“这是我们机构的污点”
据《哈佛法律评论》报道，本森2004年从马萨诸塞州的大学毕业后，前往阿拉巴马州为南方贫困法律中心工作，协助调查仇恨团体和仇恨犯罪。
她还参观了塞尔玛的埃德蒙·佩图斯大桥，已故佐治亚州民主党众议员约翰·刘易斯等民权人士曾在此游行并遭到执法人员的严重殴打。
本森竞选团队的一名官员证实，她大学毕业后曾作为志愿者研究员为南方贫困法律中心工作，并于2014年至2018年期间在这个位于蒙哥马利的组织的董事会任职。
但当被追问本森对司法部起诉书中的指控知晓多少时，她的竞选团队回击了共和党方面的攻击。
“乔斯林·本森的职业生涯一直在推进民权运动未竟的事业，扩大经济机会，包括帮助摧毁遍布全国、制造仇恨犯罪的白人至上主义和新纳粹极端网络，”该竞选团队周五告诉福克斯新闻数字频道。
“而当唐纳德·特朗普试图利用他的司法部转移人们对其鲁莽经济政策的注意力时，这些政策正在推高密歇根州民众的生活成本，乔斯林仍专注于降低成本、提高工资以及保护本州人民的权利和自由。”
共和党人继续向本森追问答案。
密歇根州共和党主席吉姆·鲁内斯塔德告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，本森在南方贫困法律中心董事会的任期与司法部指控该组织“向三K党和其他极端组织支付费用”的时间重合。
民主党州长候选人的新竞选团队经理曾称“宗教右翼”因“白人至上主义”团结在一起
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393723680112
“考虑到犯罪活动在本森被任命为董事会成员前后就已开始，本森应该向公众解释她对南方贫困法律中心所谓的犯罪行为知晓多少，”鲁内斯塔德说。
本森此前曾将自己在南方贫困法律中心的早期工作描述为专注于调查极端组织。
在2025年接受“Keen on America”采访时，本森回忆起研究“自称是阿道夫·希特勒转世”的组织的经历，称她曾独自待在斯帕坦堡的一家酒店房间里，担心那些人“会发现我的身份，过来杀了我，而且没人会知道这件事之类的”。
“那是一种勇气，虽然微不足道，没人看见，但它帮助我锻炼了勇气，在我人生的其他几个时刻也是如此，以至于20年、25年后，当我站出来对抗美国总统时，这已经不是我第一次不得不参与这些令人胆寒的斗争了，”本森在采访中继续说道。
南方贫困法律中心一位名叫佩妮·韦弗的官员在之前的评论中称，本森“大学毕业就直接来到蒙哥马利，担任无薪实习生，之后为我们工作”。
“本森当时靠做服务员养活自己，这样才能继续在该中心做志愿者，”韦弗补充道，并称本森曾恳求能在南方贫困法律中心做志愿者。
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南方贫困法律中心是一家历史悠久的左翼非营利组织，声称通过报道极端组织并开展研究为执法部门提供相关信息，以摧毁这些组织，从而打击白人至上主义和种族仇恨。该组织首席执行官布莱恩·费尔在网上发布的一段视频中就此次调查发表了讲话，称特朗普政府“毫不掩饰他们想要保护谁，想要摧毁谁”。
“我们正在审查这些指控，”费尔随后发给福克斯新闻数字频道的一份声明补充道。“然而，在司法部今天的新闻发布会后，我们对针对南方贫困法律中心的虚假指控感到愤怒——这个组织55年来一直是希望的灯塔，为打击白人至上主义和各种形式的不公正而奋斗，以建立一个多种族的民主国家，让我们都能在这里生活和发展。对抗暴力仇恨和极端组织是最危险的工作之一，我们认为这也是我们开展的最重要的工作之一。需要明确的是，这个项目挽救了生命。”
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393800186112
根据司法部新闻稿，这些组织的完整名单包括三K党、美国联合三K党、团结右翼、全国联盟、国家社会主义运动、与雅利安民族有关联的虐待灵魂摩托车俱乐部、美国国家社会主义党（美国纳粹党）以及美国阵线。
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布兰奇和联邦调查局局长帕特尔周二还表示，南方贫困法律中心试图隐瞒其向其向捐赠者声称正在打击的组织支付的费用，这导致起诉书中的多项指控。
福克斯新闻数字频道的亚历山德拉·科赫、亚历克·舍梅尔以及福克斯新闻的杰克·吉布森和大卫·斯庞特为本报道撰稿。
Michigan governor hopeful pressed on past SPLC work after DOJ indictment: ‘What did Jocelyn know?’
April 25, 2026 5:00am EDT / Fox News
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s campaign hit back at Republican attacks Friday after the state GOP demanded answers from the Democratic gubernatorial front-runner on her past work with the federally-indicted Southern Poverty Law Center.
Benson is a former volunteer and later board member of the SPLC, which was indicted Tuesday on 11 counts over accusations it fraudulently paid members of extremist groups like the KKK and those tied to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the SPLC paid members of these extremist groups so it could create a “work product that reported on these activities.”
“Jocelyn Benson regularly touted her experience as a leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a group that the Department of Justice says secretly funneled money to the KKK and other hate groups they were purportedly tracking,” the Michigan Republican Party posted on its official X account on Friday.
“What did Jocelyn know, and when did she know it?”
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Michigan Attorney General Jocelyn Benson is seen at an event.(Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
After her 2004 graduation from college in Massachusetts, Benson moved to Alabama to work for the SPLC where she aided investigations of hate groups and hate crimes, according to the Harvard Law Review.
She also visited the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma where civil rights figures like the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., marched and were badly beaten by law enforcement.
An official with the Benson campaign confirmed she served as a volunteer researcher for the SPLC after college and later served on the Montgomery-based group’s board from 2014-2018.
But when pressed on what Benson knew about the allegations in the DOJ’s indictment, her campaign pushed back on the Republican Party’s attacks.
“Jocelyn Benson has spent her career advancing the unfinished work of the civil rights movement and expanding economic opportunity, including helping dismantle white supremacist and neo-Nazi extremist networks responsible for hate crimes across the country,” the campaign told Fox News Digital on Friday.
“And while Donald Trump is trying to use his Justice Department to distract from his reckless economic policies that are driving up costs for Michiganders, Jocelyn remains focused on lower costs, raising wages, and protecting the rights and freedoms of the people in this state.”
Republicans continued to press Benson for answers.
MIGOP chairman Jim Runestad told Fox News Digital that Benson’s tenure on the SPLC board coincided with the timeframe in which the DOJ alleged the group began “paying the KKK and other extremist groups.”
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https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393723680112
“Benson owes an explanation to the public in what she knows about the SPLC’s alleged criminal behavior, considering the criminal activity started around the same time Benson was named to the Board,” Runestad said.
Benson has previously described her early work at the SPLC as focused on investigating extremist groups.
In a 2025 interview with “Keen on America”, Benson recounted researching groups “claiming to be the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler,” saying she once sat alone in a hotel room in Spartanburg and feared those people “were going to find out who I was and come and kill me and no one would ever know about it and all the rest.”
“And that was an act of courage, small and no one saw it, but it helped me build a bravery muscle that and several other points throughout my life so that 20 years later, 25 years later, when I’m standing up to the president of the United States, it wasn’t the first time I’ve had to take on those harrowing fights,” Benson went on in the interview.
In prior comments, an SPLC official named Penny Weaver described Benson as coming to Montgomery “straight out of college as an unpaid intern, then worked for us.”
“Benson worked as a waitress to support herself so she could continue to volunteer at the center,” Weaver said, adding that Benson begged to be able to volunteer for the SPLC.
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The SPLC is a longstanding left-wing nonprofit that claims to fight white supremacy and racial hatred by reporting on extremist groups and conducting research to inform law enforcement about them with the goal of dismantling the groups. SPLC’s CEO, Bryan Fair, addressed the probe in a video message posted online, arguing the Trump administration has “made no secret who they want to protect and who they want to destroy.”
“We are reviewing the charges,” a subsequent statement from Fair sent to Fox News Digital added. “However, after today’s Department of Justice press conference, we are outraged by the false allegations levied against SPLC – an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive.Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work we do. To be clear, this program saved lives.”
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393800186112
The complete list of these groups, according to a Justice Department press release, includes the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, Unite the Right, National Alliance, the National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party), and the American Front.
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Blanche and FBI Director Patel also argued Tuesday that the SPLC tried to hide its payments to groups the SPLC told its donors it was trying to combat, leading to several of the charges in the indictment.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and Alec Schemmel and Fox News’ Jake Gibson and David Spunt contributed to this report.
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