The Southern Poverty Law Center says a Justice Department indictment against the group is part of a “top-down” campaign of retribution against President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies and represents a vindictive prosecution that must be dismissed.

The leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center has pleaded not guilty on behalf of the organization to charges that the civil rights group has defrauded donors by failing to disclose that money would be paid to informants inside extremist groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has been indicted on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information.