Ball of Thread: Barr’s Butchery
The latest installment of Ball of Thread focuses on Bill Barr’s hatchet job on the Mueller investigation.
Author Archive for: emptywheel
About emptywheel
Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog, publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.
Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand Rapids, MI.
Entries by emptywheel
NYT “Censors” Elon Musk’s Jokes about Assassinating the Vice President and His “Censorship” of JD Vance Dossier
/58 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election/by emptywheelIn a piece purporting to explain Elon Musk’s role in helping Trump get elected, NYT leaves out Musk’s jokes about assassination attempts against Kamala Harris and Trump’s hypocritical involvement in getting the JD Vance dossier suppressed.
Trump Demands Emergency Appendix Surgery
/69 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election, January 6 Insurrection/by emptywheelTrump’s latest efforts to keep details of how he almost got his Vice President assassinated under wraps may well draw more attention to them.
More on Jack Smith’s Immunity Filing
/23 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, January 6 Insurrection/by emptywheelMy discussion with Harry Litman about Jack Smith’s immunity filing.
Putin Has Convinced Trump He’s Keeping Trump’s Weakness Secret
/51 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, emptywheel, Mueller Probe/by emptywheelRussia’s 2016 intelligence operation and its aftermath may be the most successful intelligence operation in recent history, because Vladimir Putin has gotten Trump to believe that his KGB handler is hiding the proof he’s got of how weak Trump is.
Bombshell “New[s]:” Jack Smith DID Consult about Timing before Adopting Post-SCOTUS Path
/56 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election, January 6 Insurrection/by emptywheelJack Goldsmith joins Elie Honig complaining about new disclosures from Jack Smith that are not new. Chalk this up to yet another instance where the people complaining about what Jack Smith did end up revealing they don’t know what Jack Smith did.
As Russia Overtly Helps Trump Get Elected, Trump Continues to Check in with Vladimir Putin
/126 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election/by emptywheelBecause Trump has so successfully bullied journalists not to cover the Russia Russia Russia story, Vladimir Putin’s clear outreach to Trump this election has gone largely ignored. Now that Bob Woodward has revealed that Trump has spoken with Putin around seven times in since he left office, that needs to change.
Disaster Disinformation Is This Year’s John Podesta Emails
/72 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election/by emptywheelThe Republican party is treating deadly hurricanes like they treated John Podesta’s risotto recipe and Hunter Biden’s dick pics in past elections.
Trump Pardoned Unindicted Co-Conspirator Steve Bannon for Defrauding Trump’s Supporters
/62 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election/by emptywheelFour years later, Steve Bannon is in a worse position as he was four years ago: Finishing his prison term, but still facing accountability for cheating Trump’s supporters, even as being treated as a co-conspirator in Trump’s efforts to “break loose … all hell.”
All Hell Is Going to Break Loose: Maybe Jack Smith Did Precisely What Elie Honig Claims He Didn’t
/58 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election, emptywheel, January 6 Insurrection/by emptywheelIn a recent column, Elie Honig bitched that Jack Smith’s immunity filing violates DOJ’s prohibition on pre-election statements. I suspect, however, that Jack Smith actually did adhere to DOJ rules by withholding things he might otherwise have included in the superseding indictment against Trump.
Maybe we have those to look forward to, after the election. If we make it that far.