PORTLAND, Ore. — The FBI says the bureau does not label the far-right hate group the Proud Boys an extremist group, contradicting an internal report from earlier this year.
The designation appeared in an August internal affairs report from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and was posted online by the government transparency nonprofit Property of the People.
The report called the Proud Boys “an extremist group with ties to White Nationalism.”
In a statement to KGW on Tuesday, FBI Portland spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said the FBI does not designate groups in that manner.
The Proud Boys, a group of self-described “western chauvinists,” were established by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes in 2016, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Although the SPLC lists them as a hate group, they have repeatedly denied any connection to the “alt-right.”
USA TODAY's N'dea Yancey-Bragg contributed to this story.