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
How Robert Hur Ghosted Joe Biden’s Ghost Writer
/54 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election, Leak Investigations/by emptywheelIn his 388-page report, Robert Hur doesn’t explain one of the most important details about why he invented a nonsense motive for Joe Biden to retain 2 folders of documents pertaining to Afghanistan in his garage: what led him to reach out to Joe Biden’s ghost writer and when that happened.
Robert Hur Complained about Biden Notes that Trump Almost Certainly Already Declassified
/38 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election, Biden Administration, emptywheel, Leak Investigations/by emptywheelRobert Hur licensed himself to rifle through Joe Biden’s most personal thoughts by calling Biden’s stacks of paper “notebooks” rather than “diaries.” He then provided specific details about not just where to find the painful memories of his family struggles. But also one event that Trump has spent years trying to misrepresent.
Robert Hur’s Box-Checking
/255 Comments/in 2024 Presidential Election, emptywheel, Leak Investigations/by emptywheelBefore Robert Hur confessed that jurors who “are unwilling to read too much into Mr. Biden’s brief aside” that Hur quoted out of context would never vote to convict Joe BIden, Hur went to ridiculous lengths trying to make something of a very weak “strongest case for criminal charges.”