It wasn’t a misstep.
FIB could have easily solicited echoed input from any number of Marxist NGOs for plausible deniability that it was generated by political hack Meritless Garland.
The Feebs have been sucking up Morris Dees’ stuff for decades. His stupidly misnamed “Southern Poverty Law Center” has never been anything other than a purveyor of leftist disinformation.