A few weeks ago, after two years of work, I published a story unlike any I’d encountered in my 18 years at ProPublica. I’ve been off social media for a while, but I felt compelled to share some of my reporting journey here. 🧵

Alice Sebold, the Lovely Bones author, accused the wrong man of rape years ago. @propublica.org asks the question: so who did it? The answer is an amazing work of journalism, truly stunning in the writing and reporting. Put aside some time. It's a must read must read. By Joaquin Sapien.

“Chaps, I have had a go at rewriting the paper.” -Chris Mottershead, BP climate adviser Beyond Denial: How Oil Execs Shaped a Landmark Climate Study @themadstone.bsky.social @amywestervelt.bsky.social @katieworth.bsky.social @drilledmedia.bsky.social @propublica.org

Beyond Denial: How Oil Execs Shaped a Landmark Climate Study

BP sponsored an elite Princeton research center to address the climate problem without getting off fossil fuels. Its key work, a paper known as “Wedges,” guided climate discourse for a generation.

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NEW: We got a private SpaceX investor list, from way before the IPO. It's a rare window into a particularly delicate issue for Musk: which investors in countries like China got stakes in SpaceX, and how. One investor has ties to Chinese military contractors. www.propublica.org/article/spac...

Before SpaceX IPO, Investors in China Secretly Acquired Stakes

One previously unreported SpaceX investor has ties to Chinese military contractors. The information was revealed only after ProPublica went to court to obtain it.

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Imagine if France said they'd help the US with urgently needed medical aid and relief after a disaster, but only if we turned over sensitive medical data for millions of Americans. That's what Trump's State Dept. is doing across Africa. By @fastlerner.bsky.social @annamaria.bsky.social

“Digital Colonialism”: U.S. Demands to Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns

The United States is requiring access to health data as part of lifesaving aid deals with African countries. The U.S. says the data will be aggregated and anonymized, but privacy experts fear the info...

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NEW: Earlier this year, an obscure startup in Texas announced that it had received at least $100 mil from one of the richest men in Asia. We dug into the backstory. We discovered a saga involving Donald Trump Jr., Russian oil, and an Indian billionaire family’s private zoo.

NEW: An Indian billionaire was in Trump’s crosshairs. Then he poured millions into an obscure startup secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr. www.propublica.org/article/trum... w/ @justinelliott.bsky.social @amierjeski.bsky.social

An Indian Billionaire Was Targeted by Trump. Then He Poured Money Into a Startup Secretly Backed by Donald Trump Jr.

An obscure Texas firm secretly connected to the president’s son said it received at least $100 million from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. At the same time, the Ambani family secured major polic...

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Wild story: DOGE meets nuclear reactor safety

ProPublica@propublica.org · 5mo ago

NEW: To dramatically increase the amount of energy available to power artificial intelligence, the Trump administration is rewriting thousands of pages of nuclear power regulations while downplaying safety issues and focusing on industry incentives.

NEW: Kristi Noem Misled Congress About Top Aide’s Role in DHS Contracts, Internal Agency Records Show www.propublica.org/article/kris...

Kristi Noem Misled Congress About Top Aide’s Role in DHS Contracts

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Noem denied that Corey Lewandowski had any role in approving contracts. But internal DHS records and interviews with current and former agency staffer...

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NEW: The Trump administration is planning to use AI to write federal regulations despite the risk of hallucinations. “We don't even need a very good rule,” the Transportation Department’s top lawyer said of the plan, per meeting notes reviewed by ProPublica. “We want good enough.”🧵

Look at the lengths that my incredible @propublica.org colleagues @annamaria.bsky.social and Brett Murphy went to in order to report this story. Please take a moment to read what they found about the effect of USAID cuts on the world's most vulnerable people: www.propublica.org/article/usai...

Anna Clark@annaleighclark.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Remarkable reporting and writing. By @annamaria.bsky.social + Brett Murphy / @propublica.org

NEW: Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal www.propublica.org/article/trum... w/ @robert-faturechi.bsky.social @amierjeski.bsky.social

Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal

The Trump administration has argued that Fed board member Lisa Cook may have committed mortgage fraud by declaring more than one primary residence on her loans. We found Trump once did the very thing ...

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NEW: Senators have called for an investigation after a ProPublica story revealed that Kristi Noem-connected firm the Strategy Group was secretly hired as a subcontractor on a $220 million DHS ad campaign.

Lawmakers Call for Probe of How Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Got Piece of $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts

The demands for an investigation come after a ProPublica story revealed that the Noem-connected Strategy Group was secretly a subcontractor on the ad campaign.

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NEW: FBI Director Kash Patel granted waivers to Deputy Director Dan Bongino and two newly hired senior FBI staff, exempting them from polygraph exams normally required to gain access to America’s most sensitive classified information, officials said.

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff

As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...

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NEW: We’ve uncovered the first known example of taxpayer money flowing from DHS to businesses controlled by Kristi Noem’s allies and friends. It’s part of a money trail that’s been shrouded in secrecy—and involves $220 million, a mysterious Delaware LLC & a horse named Gill.

JOB ALERT! We are hiring a business editor. You have an unerring instinct for the jugular of the wealthy & powerful? Build a team with me and we’ll get after it! job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j... You can email me or on Signal at 718-496-5233

Senior Editor, Business

New York City, United States

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Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents. I did it because the government isn’t. This is what I found.

NEW: Elon Musk’s SpaceX has taken money directly from Chinese investors, according to newly unsealed testimony. It's the first time direct Chinese investment in the defense contractor has been disclosed. www.propublica.org/article/elon...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies

The newly unsealed testimony marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the company has been disclosed, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of America’s most importan...

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NEW: Income isn’t supposed to play a role in how much housing assistance FEMA gives families. But in some North Carolina counties, the highest-income homeowners received two to three times as much money after Hurricane Helene as those with lower incomes. With @theassemblync.bsky.social

Arduous and Unequal: The Fight to Get FEMA Housing Assistance After Helene

An analysis by ProPublica and The Assembly of the more rural counties in North Carolina hardest hit by Helene shows that the households that got the most aid tended to have the highest incomes.

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NEW: Kristi Noem has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA's response to natural disasters. But she fast-tracked $11 million+ to fix a Florida tourist attraction — after one of her big donors reached out. www.propublica.org/article/kris...

Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened

The DHS chief has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way to get help faster: have one of Noe...

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Horryifying. DOGE made false allegations against an Afghan man who had helped the U.S. Then the Taliban captured, blindfolded and beat his family. www.propublica.org/article/doge...

DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family.

Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his sensitive work for a U...

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New: Kristi Noem secretly took a cut of political donations. A dark money group routed the funds to Noem's Delaware LLC, tax records show. The original source of the money remains unknown. www.propublica.org/article/kris...

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations

A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirem...

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THREAD: An ex-DOGE engineer with no government or medical experience used AI to identify which Veterans Affairs contracts to kill, labeling them as “MUNCHABLE.” @vernalcoleman.bsky.social @ericumansky.bsky.social and I got the code. Here’s what it tells us 1/

NEW: We obtained DHS data that shows the US knew only 32 of the 238 Venezuelans deported to a prison in El Salvador in March were convicted of US crimes, only 6 of those violent. Trump called them “savages,” “monsters” and "the worst of the worst.” www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes

Homeland Security records reveal that officials knew that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having no criminal record in the U.S. and had only violated immigration laws.

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THREAD: We recently heard that the Trump administration was leaning on the government of Gambia to help Elon Musk. For weeks, our team made phone calls, wrote letters and knocked on folks’ doors to try to confirm it. But we were stuck. So our reporters got on a plane to Banjul. 1/

NEW: Behind closed doors, the Trump administration has mounted a “maximum pressure” campaign on a poor African democracy. The objective: push the country to help Elon Musk's Starlink business. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk.

The State Department has intervened on behalf of Musk’s satellite internet company in five developing nations. In Gambia, U.S. diplomats have lobbied and browbeat at least seven government ministers a...

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I have written many healthcare stories, but never before have I written about my own health. I decided to do so after learning one of my drugs costs nearly $1,000 a pill and just 25 cents to make. What I found was an incredible story of discovery and exploitation. www.propublica.org/article/revl...

The Price of Remission

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I set out to understand why a single pill of Revlimid cost the same as a new iPhone. I’ve covered high drug prices as a reporter for years. What I discovered shocked ...

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NEW: As a defense contractor, Elon Musk's SpaceX sees allowing Chinese ownership as fraught. But it will allow the investment if it comes through offshore secrecy hubs like the Cayman Islands, court records say. Expert: “It is certainly a policy of obfuscation." www.propublica.org/article/elon...

How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China

As a U.S. military contractor, SpaceX sees allowing Chinese ownership as fraught. But it will allow the investment if it comes through secrecy hubs like the Cayman Islands, court records say. “It is c...

propublica.org

An extraordinary, must-read story about what's happening inside the Social Security Administration. “Are we going to break something?” the agency's head asked in a meeting, referring to what DOGE has been doing with Social Security data. “I don’t know.” www.propublica.org/article/reco...

“The President Wanted It and I Did It”: Recording Reveals Head of Social Security’s Thoughts on DOGE and Trump

In a recording obtained by ProPublica, acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek portrayed his agency as facing peril, while also encouraging patience with “the DOGE kids.”

propublica.org

This article is a genuine must read if you care about the future of the US, the economy and Social Security. Not exaggerating. www.propublica.org/article/reco...

“The President Wanted It and I Did It”: Recording Reveals Head of Social Security’s Thoughts on DOGE and Trump

In a recording obtained by ProPublica, acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek portrayed his agency as facing peril, while also encouraging patience with “the DOGE kids.”

propublica.org