FBI Director Kash Patel cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League after the bureau formed a relationship with the organization under former FBI Director James Comey.
“James Comey disgraced the FBI by writing ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedding agents with an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization and the disgraceful operation they ran spying on Americans. That was not law enforcement, it was activism dressed up as counterterrorism, and it put Americans in danger,” Patel told Fox News. “That era is finished. This FBI formally rejects Comey’s policies and any partnership with the ADL.”
The ADL wrote on X that it “has deep respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers at all levels across the country who work tirelessly every single day to protect all Americans regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith, political affiliation or any other point of difference.” The entity added that it remains “more committed than ever to our core purpose to protect the Jewish people.”
The FBI’s decision to cut ties with ADL comes as the group pulled its “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” following widespread conservative backlash in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death.
“At ADL, we always are looking for how we can and should do things better. That’s why we are moving to retire the Glossary effectively immediately,” the organization continued. “This will allow ADL to explore new strategies and creative approaches to deliver our data and present our research more effectively. It will keep us focused on ensuring we do what we do best: fighting antisemitism and hate in the most impactful ways possible.”
Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, is listed as a “Center of Extremism” by the ADL. The entity claims the conservative organization has “ties to a range of right-wing extremists and has generated support from anti-Muslim bigots, alt-lite activists and some corners of the white supremacist alt-right.”
