emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Coverage of American authoritarianism with a focus on legal cases. An American-Irish in Limerick, Ireland. Legendary potty mouth!

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Hypothesis: The Rest of World cannot, yet, launch an effective boycott of Donald Trump. He has weapons. He snatches political leaders with impunity. He shuts down banking. He might win. But Gianni Infantino? A far easier target.

@emptywheel.bsky.social

And the answer is NOT to say, wow, the zillionaire got away with it. It is to find ways to make this a liability (which Musk's support already was in WI in 2025). Make every Republican in states he's running in disavow his crime and USAID deaths, for example.

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Will check it out. Can you actually get into it? This all started when we went to Athlone to scoff at their castle, only to discover (anew, in the case of Shannonbridge) all the fortifications. So we're still checking out the (is it 6?) fortifications in the Estuary, but found the Martellos.

@emptywheel.bsky.social

He got GJ transcript destroying Pirro's case, then Pirro's flunky whined that he included those details in a filing. The best is that @ryanjreilly.com set Pirro up by asking abt precisely this issue. (Value of damage was a central issue in a slew of Jan6 cases.) www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

NBC News pressed Pirro this month about how she would prove Hearn caused more than $1,000 in damage, given that the pool was already damaged in several locations. “With an expert,” Pirro said. “Come to the trial.”
@emptywheel.bsky.social

Here's a post on the stuff pre-WI referral. Based on the shit Harmeet Dhillon claims is a crime, Elon Musk should be caged. emptywheel.net/2026/06/15/e...

emptywheel.netElon Musk Is the Election Cheat Harmeet Dhillon and Bill Essayli Claim to Be Hunting - emptywheelBill Essayli says that paying people to register to vote is a crime that justifies seizing state election rolls and conducting federal "audits" that don't exist. Yet that's what Elon Musk keeps doing ...
@emptywheel.bsky.social

Note: in addition to WI (noted in the story--that was Musk's 2025 suspected crimes) GA declared him to have violated election law in 2024. And there are a number of lawsuits (in AZ and PA) for both the FRAUD behind his $1M vote scheme and the fact that he stiffed workers on his reg efforts.

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Trump Decides He'd Rather Have Tax Crimes and Rewards for Terrorists Than a Todd Blanche Confirmation emptywheel.net/2026/07/30/t...

emptywheel.netTrump Decides He'd Rather Have Tax Crimes and Rewards for Terrorists Than a Todd Blanche Confirmation - emptywheelTrump may have been unable to placate John Cornyn's demands for changes to the Terrorist Slush Fund for sound legal reasons. Or, maybe he just likes terrorists and tax crimes more than he likes Todd B...
@emptywheel.bsky.social

Here's the text that DOJ's star witness sent to Jim Comey's spouse. The star witness at first believed the 8647 was restaurant lingo (they had also worked in restaurants, as had Comey's spouse). But then they watched Rudy. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

@emptywheel.bsky.social

The chances are quite good that the "number three" at DOJ who ordered Jim Comey to be illegally surveilled was Third Circuit judge Emil Bove. (He was nominated days later.) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

6. The following morning, the Secret Service submitted an emergency request to Verizon in which an agent represented that such surveillance “relate[d] to an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to a person, necessitating disclosure without delay of information relating to that emergency.” Ex. E. [013475-77] The Secret Service agent who completed the form signed an attestation stating: “I certify that the foregoing is true and correct and understand that Verizon may rely upon this form to make an emergency disclosure to my law enforcement agency … pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 2702(b)(8) or 2702(c)(4).” Id. The declarant advised the ATSAIC that he “was asked by the SAIC to ping the cellphone of James Comey via exigency.” Ex. D. [013417] He further added that he did so “with hesitation.” Id. The same document indicates that an Assistant Special Agent in Charge (“ASAIC”) reported that “the # 3 guy at DOJ ‘wanted to ping the cellphone via an exigency request.’”3 Id. 7. Secret Service case records provided in discovery show that Mr. Comey’s cell phone was electronically tracked that day as he and his wife drove north on Interstate 95 (“I-95”) from North Carolina toward his Virginia home. The Comeys were also physically surveilled during the trip, but trailing agents lost contact when the Comeys exited I-95 at one point to drive toward the cemetery where the Comeys’ son is buried. The electronic surveillance captured the trip to the cemetery. (The Government later seized—pursuant to the challenged March 2026
@emptywheel.bsky.social

CBS reports that Ashley Moody did precisely what the entire GOP has accused Tim Walz of doing -- and yet, somehow, that crack fraud task force has not arrested the GOP nominee for Senate. www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/f...

@emptywheel.bsky.social

BFD: DOJ moves to dismiss CA SEIU President David Huerta's case (w/o prejudice for a month, then with). In the process misspells Todd Blanche's last name. 🤣 storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

@emptywheel.bsky.social

I feel like the entire world should have responded to wildfires in the US by developing a global strategy rather than squabbling about rakes. But that's another way Trump has destroyed the window to respond to climate emergency.

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