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
Kash Patel Also Lied about Trump’s Personalization of US Intelligence
/17 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election, emptywheel, Leak Investigations/by emptywheelThe lies Kash Patel has told are likely to be aired at his confirmation hearing, but at unlikely to dissuade Republicans to vote against his confirmation to be FBI Director. The most important lies pertain to Trump’s efforts to put information obtained by US intelligence to his own personal use.
If an Informant Narcs on a Riot But No FBI Agent Asks about It, Did It Really Happen?
/13 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, January 6 Insurrection/by emptywheelIn spite of the fact that the FBI got key warnings about Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio that never got shared with FBI’s Washington Field Office, in spite of the fact that the FBI had 26 informants on site but only asked three for information, the FBI contested DOJ Inspector General’s critique that it should have done more to work its informants in advance of the attack.
Zeynep Tufekci’s Two Blind Spots Cross at DOGE
/109 Comments/in 2024 Presidential Election/by emptywheelThe glee surrounding Brian Thompson’s death is not unprecedented — Donald Trump campaigned on a similar mob glee, targeting Paul Pelosi, to get elected. And then he installed a bunch of billionaires to start looting. And politicians like Elizabeth Warren have already suggested some “broad public solutions” to that looting.