The FBI has a long history of collaborating with the “entirely fraudulent” Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Fox News’ Tucker Carlson reported on his show exclusively Friday night.

“The organization has nothing to do with the South — or with poverty,” Carlson pointed out. “It’s a left-wing political group that uses ‘hate crime’ designations to target its ideological enemies and to crush people.”

The Fox News host also reminded his audience that the SPLC inspired a shooting attack on the innocuous Christian group, the Family Research Council in 2012, and was recently forced to pay a $3.3 million settlement to the Quilliam Foundation for falsely calling them “anti-Muslim extremists.”

“The Southern Poverty Law Center lies. They are utterly reckless and they’re totally dishonest,” Carlson argued, adding that it was a shock to find out that the FBI has been working closely with the far-left group.

“In 2009, for example, the FBI called the SPLC ‘a well-known, established and credible organization that monitors domestic terrorism in the U.S,'” he added. “The SPLC repeatedly has been allowed to brief FBI personnel on alleged terror threats to this country. Disturbingly, though, this relationship is ongoing, if you can believe it. Despite multiple requests from this program, the FBI has refused to describe the extent of its collaboration with the SPLC.”

Rather than explain why it still works with a group as shady, dishonest and unethical as the SPLC, Carlson said that the FBI has sent Fox News “meaningless and mindless boilerplate statements,” like:

For many years the FBI has engaged with various organizations, both formally and informally. Such outreach is a critical component of the FBI’s mission, and we welcome information from these organizations on any possible violation of civil rights, hate crimes or other potential crimes and threats. We do, however, evaluate our relationships with these groups as necessary to ensure the appropriateness of any interaction.

Tucker called the statement “mindless pap that does not answer the question.”

The FBI also mentions the SPLC as a partner in the Civil Rights/Hate Crimes section of its website:

The FBI has forged partnerships nationally and locally with many civil rights organizations to establish rapport, share information, address concerns, and cooperate in solving problems. These groups include such organizations as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Association of University Women, Anti-Defamation League, Asian American Justice Center, Hindu American Foundation, Human Rights Campaign, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Council of Jewish Women, National Disability Rights Network, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Organization for Women, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Sikh Coalition, Southern Poverty Law Center, and many others.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has sent a letter to FBI leadership asking them to explain their relationship with the SPLC.

And DOJ Director of Public Affairs Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement to Fox News on Friday that the attorney general has directed the FBI to reevaluate “their relationships with groups like this to ensure the FBI does not partner with any group that discriminates.”

Carlson had on Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz to talk about the SPLC’s $3.375 million settlement with his nonprofit, the Quilliam Foundation.

“The oddity — the sheer oddity of placing a Muslim on a list of anti-Muslim extremists is what led me to then say, ‘I need justice in this case,'” Nawaz said. “It’s undermined my entire life’s work by placing me on a list of anti-Muslim extremists.” The former Islamist said it was “a step too far” and that’s why he hired lawyers and “took the action we did.”