The Southern Poverty Law Center had at least one informant embedded in Patriot Front’s orbit, according to an intelligence report published by the left-wing “hate” watchdog, fueling further speculation about the extent of the SPLC’s alleged network of paid agitators.
In a May 2025 exposé based on insider intelligence it received about Patriot Front’s latest recruitment efforts, the SPLC’s Hatewatch blog repeatedly cited “a source close to the group.”
The source provided the SPLC with personal contact information for Patriot Front’s leader, Thomas Rousseau, as well as audio messages between Kieran Morris, a member of Rousseau’s inner circle, and Rhett Loftis, the founder of the Parker County Active Club, one of Patriot Front’s apparent recruitment arms in Texas.
In the Hatewatch debriefing post, the SPLC said that Patriot Front was “secretly controlling a large swath” of locally organized groups across the country, called active clubs, to “sustain its influence.” The anonymous source told the SPLC that the audio messages, posted to the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, were sent in early 2024.
Leaked chat logs, however, show that Patriot Front has struggled since roughly late 2020 to recruit new members, raise its profile, and stay financially afloat. In a conversation with Patriot Front “lieutenants,” dated Dec. 14, 2021, Rousseau reportedly wrote, “We are absolutely desperate for new people. We’ve been in the 220’s to 230’s membership rut for nearly a full year.”
According to copies of the communications obtained by Unicorn Riot, a revolutionary-left media outlet, Patriot Front was so cash-strapped that its members were required to purchase official stickers, flyers, and other branded material from Rousseau personally at a markup.
“If any of the prices seem above market rate it’s because it also goes toward paying for our servers, our digital accounts and subscriptions, and the food I can afford to eat,” Rousseau wrote. One member complained that his Patriot Front chapter was “single-handedly paying Thomas’ rent” with the merchandise they were buying.
The SPLC is facing federal fraud charges for allegedly paying a covert network of field operatives to infiltrate right-wing organizations and promote their activities from within after many of these groups faded out of relevance or were bankrupted by the law firm’s own litigation.
Prosecutors say that the SPLC diverted more than $4 million in donor funds to finance these undercover operations and artificially fuel hate, including by covering the cost of Ku Klux Klan hoods, equipment expenses incurred while carrying out cross-burnings, and expenditures associated with running recruitment drives.
The wire fraud and money laundering charges outlined in the 11-count indictment allege that SPLC leadership concealed its payments from contributors who believed that their money went toward dismantling white supremacist groups, not keeping them in operation.
Patriot Front, a white nationalist group, drew attention over the Fourth of July weekend for deploying hundreds of masked members to march on Washington, D.C., in commemoration of the nation’s 250th birthday.
In response to Patriot Front’s appearance, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) called for an investigation into the group, urging the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to “do some digging.”
“What I find odd about Patriot Front is how under Biden they were never investigated,” Luna wrote on X. “Well funded. Never investigated. The FBI under Biden looked into Catholics instead.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the SPLC and Patriot Front for comment.