Jamie Raskin Lies to CBS’s Margaret Brennan About the SPLC Indictment, Goes Unchecked

Jorge Bonilla
April 26th, 2026 3:13 PM

Text to Speech

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The horrid White House Correspondent’s Dinner shooting was, as is to be reasonably expected, top of mind across the Sunday show dial and on the minds of the respective hosts. For some of their guests, it was an opportunity to weave partisan talking points into concern over the shooting and its aftermath.

Such was the case for U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) who, while on CBS’s Face the Nation, took a question from Margaret Brennan on the need for Democrats to dial down their rhetoric and used it as the basis for his defense of the recently-indicted Southern Poverty Law Center:

MARGARET BRENNAN: The President, I want to make sure that I recognize what he said because we don't hear him speak this way very often. He said “I ask all Americans to recommit with their hearts to resolve our difference peacefully”, and he talked about being unified with members of the press.

JAMIE RASKIN: Yes. Well, that certainly -- that's a new message from him. That's great. He had called the press, of course, “the enemy of the people” and he’s been engaged in a lot of lawsuits against your profession.

Yes. We are going into this politically charged midterm season. There will be campaigning around the country with lawmakers out there.

BRENNAN: Well, we’re- Yes. We are going into this politically charged midterm season. There’s going to be campaigning around the country with lawmakers out there. Does something change? He said this. Does something change? Demo- does Democratic language need to change, as well?

RASKIN: Well- we have said all along that we need every politician in the country, every leader in the country, every citizen in the country denouncing political violence across the board regardless of where it's coming from.

BRENNAN: Yeah.

RASKIN: So, you know, I find this a welcome change in rhetoric, but what happened last week- they brought a lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose whole purpose is to or- investigate violent right-wing extremism in the country and now they're prosecuting them for having used undercover agents which, of course, the FBI uses and the government uses all the time.

BRENNAN: Understood. And there is across party lines some political violence, way too much of it right now and actually, Speaker Emerita Pelosi on this program said to me recently that she thought the threat or the concern about violence or threats to your family is what is hurting recruitment of people to run for office- particularly mothers, particularly women. Are you seeing that? That people are afraid to even join public life because of this? 

RASKIN: Sure. Anybody who’s thinking about running for office undoubtedly thinks about that. Anybody who’s thinking about running for President undoubtedly thinks about that. And those people have the most protection with the Secret Service, and other people don't have the same kind of protections. So look, we have to rediscover the great American tradition of non-violence and Dr. King and the civilizing movements have always opposed violence, versus the violent groups that have used violence historically beginning with the Ku Klux Klan in order to terrorize other people.

BRENNAN: Congressman Raskin, thank you for joining us, and we’re glad you were able to do so.

RASKIN: You bet.

BRENNAN: We’ll be right back. 

Brennan never did push back on Raskin’s multiple sophistries. Instead to her next question on whether the current climate of political violence is dissuading people from running for office, before ending the interview. 

Raskin shamelessly lied about the SPLC indictment by framing it as being solely about the use of confidential informants. It was not. As first reported by CBS, the SPLC was indicted on fraud charges for, among other things, funding events such as the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville and then using the events they funded in donor appeals. 

And do take notice of what sure appears to be a Freudian slip by Raskin, who checked himself before fully saying it:

…but what happened last week- they brought a lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose whole purpose is to or- investigate violent right-wing extremism in the country… 

What did the “or” mean there? Organize? The SPLC’s actions as enumerated in the indictment sure seem to indicate that, and it is unfortunate that Brennan let Raskin push these points unchallenged.

And while it is good and proper that Brennan ask Raskin about Democrats’ rhetoric, it is unfortunate that this question seems to be out of her alignment with her beliefs as expressed in her editorial to close out the show:

MARGARET BRENANN: A night to celebrate the First Amendment, abruptly ended by a gunman permitted by the Second Amendment to own those weapons. Gun violence is not new in America, but the threat of violence is now a cost of public life. It permeates our politics. Last month, Supreme Court justice Roberts publicly appealed for personal attacks on judges to stop. U.S. Marshals report there were 564 threats last year, and nearly 15,000 against lawmakers, staff and their families according to U.S. Capitol Police. 

Multiple Trump Cabinet members now live on military bases for their own protection. No such fortress for the federal and state officials who face growing number of threats in communities across the country. There’s a marked increase in harassment and threats of physical violence to journalists in the U.S. from the very public they are working to inform. As the nation wonders how to keep the next gunman out, let's also reflect on how we let this hate in, how we stop it from corroding our democracy, and how we grasp on to our civility before we lose it.

It is easy to blame the Second Amendment for the shooting. This editorial, however, absolves from responsibility those who have abused the First Amendment in order to gin deranged individuals up into committing unspeakable acts of violence against those with whom they disagree. This is part of what the SPLC sought to accomplish through its campaign of fraud, and what so many others across multiple institutions do on a regular basis. 

An unfortunate missed opportunity by Brennan.

 

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