Marcy Wheeler
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Abundant tweets about civil liberties & national security*** Legendary potty mouth*** Also at @emptywheel@mastodon.social & @emptywheel.bsky.social 🗽🇪🇺
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Articles by Marcy Wheeler
NYT Can't Justify Peltola Hit Job As Journalism
In an attempt to explain why they’re playing a part in Donald Trump’s criminal conspiracy to steal an election — which explanation NYT put on its digital front page while burying the far more scandalous story on remote polls not opening in Alaska — Terence McGinley described that the stacked ballot story arose in the wake of a story he did in September.
Tidbits-Nov.13 -Reader Comments: Nov 4: The Winner-the People, the Loser-Donald Trump; Socialist Takes Power, Not First Time in a U.S. City; World Economy’s Center of Gravity Shifts; Peace Is/Peace Is Not Campaign; How Can Unions Defend Worker Power? | Po
Tidbits-Nov.13 -Reader Comments: Nov 4: The Winner–the People, the Loser-Donald Trump; Socialist Takes Power, Not First Time in a U.S. City; World Economy’s Center of Gravity Shifts; Peace Is/Peace Is Not Campaign; How Can Unions Defend Worker Power? Published November 13, 2025 A Flood Is Coming -- Cartoon by Benjamin Slyngstad The Winner -- Cartoon and Commentary by Nick Anderson Re: Democrats Caved in the Shutdown Fight. Unions Let Them.
Without Online Trolls, There Would Be No Donald Trump
Generate Key Takeaways On July 8, something happened to Donald Trump that I’ve not seen happen in the entire decade he has dominated presidential politics. As his base clamored for more disclosures about sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, his superpower — his ability to grab and redirect attention — briefly failed him.
I Need a Better Name for These
A bit of meta blogging up front (everyone’s favorite!): I’ve called these posts “Roundup” before, whether they were weekly, monthly, or some longer period of time. I think I am fine with the inconsistent timing of them, but I would like to use some name for them that is consistent so I don’t get bogged down thinking about it. Maybe it could be “A Roundup for [date]” or maybe I should just be more chill about it like Joe: “Misc Notes And Recent Updates.” Anyway, on with the actual post.
Here we go… it’s the last Emptywheel Friday episode before this election finally comes to a close. I’ve been struggling with awful anxiety for the last couple of weeks and have been off the air much of this week due to that. Another reason to be grateful for Marcy Wheeler’s friendship and brilliance… Find and support Marcy’s work at emptywheel.net. And you can always find me at nicolesandler.com By Nicole Sandler|November 2nd, 2024|Tags: emptywheel, Marcy Wheeler|
Emptywheel Fridays on the Nicole Sandler Show – 10-4-24 - The Nicole Sandler Show
It’s Emptywheel Fridays. I’m in moving hell, so just listen and let the episode speak for itself! VIDEO
J.D. Vance’s Admission Shouldn’t Shock You-They’ve Done This for Years Original
There was some surprise on Sunday when vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance argued that the “American media totally ignored” the plight of Springfield and Vance’s own claims about immigration “until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes.” He seemed to suggest that it was okay to use a false story if it made people pay attention.
Emptywheel Fridays – The ‘Joe Biden’s Old’ Pearl Clutching Edition – Nicole Sandler Show 7-12-24 - The Nicole Sandler Show
It’s Friday, time for our weekly get-together with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net for a discussion of the week’s news and ongoing media malpractice. Today, we discuss President Biden’s solo press conference last night at the end of the NATO 75th anniversary summit, and the mainstream media’s apparent missive to hand the election over to the fascists unless we can stop the circular firing squad and doomsayers. VIDEO
Emptywheel Friday (with a sick day assist from LOLGOP & Spocko – 6-14-24 - The Nicole Sandler Show
I’m still out sick with Covid, but we couldn’t let today go by without hearing from Marcy Wheeler! So with an assist from Spocko and LOLGOP aka Jason Statler, the show goes on. Hunter Biden was found guilty on all three of the gun charges this week, an FBI agent and others involved have gotten death threats and much more happened this week. Marcy will fill us in on all of it. I hope to be back Monday.. Fingers crossed. Thanks for bearing with me!
Emptywheel Fridays on the Nicole Sandler Show – 6-7-24 - The Nicole Sandler Show
The amazing Marcy Wheeler, who keeps us informed about the news we need to know at emptywheel.net, joins us every Friday to talk about what happened that week. As she does today. I must apologize to Marcy and everyone watching this. I started a new medication last night to deal with my RLS, and it completely knocked me out. I awoke in a fog this morning, somehow walked and fed Jaxson and made it in to the studio to record with Marcy.
Emptywheel Fridays (The Trump is Guilty Edition) on the Nicole Sandler Show – 5-31-24 - The Nicole Sandler Show
The verdicts are in! Donald J Trump found guilty on all 34 counts, but you already knew that. However, today is Friday, so Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net is here. We discuss the verdicts, the hypocrisy and worse from the right, the fact that they’re out for revenge, and that Hunter Biden’s gun charges trial gets underway on Monday.
Emptywheel Fridays on the Nicole Sandler Show 5-24-24
We made it through another eventful week in the most insane decade of my life, and I’m old. We celebrate Fridays because the weekend is here, but not before we recap some of the news made during the week that’s ending. It seems that each week these days is more outlandish than the one before, and this one is no different. Among the news and stories that Emptywheel.net’s Marcy Wheeler and I discussed today are the complete mess that is the Supreme Court.
Opinion | Merrick Garland isn’t to blame for delays in Trump’s election interference case
After the Supreme Court delayed consideration of Donald Trump’s immunity claim until April, some liberals directed considerable outrage not just at the court, but also at a member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet. Such attacks act as if the delay were Attorney General Merrick Garland’s fault instead of justices like Clarence Thomas. These criticisms are misplaced.
John Durham’s Investigation Has Disclosed Corruption: His Own
In the wake of special counsel John Durham’s embarrassing second acquittal earlier this month, Durham’s fans—from theWall Street Journal editorial page to former Attorney General Bill Barr to Donald Trump himself—have tried to justify Durham’s work by claiming he disclosed corruption. Perhaps he did. But whose?
9-20-22 Nicole Sandler Show - Just the Facts with Marcy Wheeler aka emptywheel
Download here or click below to play, (or watch the video at the bottom of the page!) I’m always happy when it’s a Marcy Wheeler day here at the Nicole Sandler Show because she brings the facts. And it seems to be an endless stream of facts that she somehow manages to keep straight. So, pull up emptywheel.net on your computer, strap in and get ready to take notes…
18 USC 793(g): Aileen Cannon's Order Would Not Forestall Flipping Trump's Custodian of Records
Donald Trump’s lawyers (including the one who failed to understand Trump was exposed to 18 USC 793 and who subsequently made himself a witness in the investigation) are cultivating the belief that they’ve succeeded in stalling the investigation into their client’s efforts to keep highly classified documents in his office and storage closet. Perhaps they have. I don’t know what will happen. Though I know their track record of predicting what DOJ will do, thus far, has been piss-poor.
DOJ Has at Least One Card Left to Play: Congress' Instinct for Self-Preservation
Last night, Trump and DOJ submitted their competing plans for a Special Master to Judge Aileen Cannon. As I laid out, Trump’s plan is a transparent effort to stall the entire investigation for at least three months, and after that to bottle up documents he stole — those with classified markings and those without — at NARA, where he’ll launch new legal fights in DC to prevent further access.
Trump Proposes a New Plan to Steal Classified Documents
In the Trump stolen document case, the two sides have presented their plans for what they call a Special Master. Common plan and proposed names Trump plan Government plan The government’s plan is a Special Master plan, one that would be finished by mid-October. Trump’s plan is a plan to steal documents from intelligence agencies and to stall until close to the time — it seems to hope — Jim Jordan gets a gavel in Congress and so can muck up the criminal investigation into Trump’s theft and retheft.
A Likely Looming Battle in the Stolen Document Case: Classified White House Counsel Documents
In this post, I argued that DOJ hopes to use a motion to stay Judge Aileen Cannon’s injunction against using materials seized from Donald Trump in any criminal investigation tactically — basically, to highlight she’s just stalling the investigation. But I want to flag something that I think will be contentious going forward: Classified documents involving White House Counsel.
The Tactics of DOJ's Request for a Partial Stay of Judge Cannon's Order
I was out when DOJ submitted a series of documents in Trump’s demand for a Special Master. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the government has informed Judge Cannon they will appeal at least some of her decision, but at this point are asking only for a partial stay of her injunction against using the seized classified records for further criminal investigation.
Team Trump Knows Details of the Investigation that Jay Bratt Does Not
The WaPo report that one of the documents seized from Trump’s resort pertained to “a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities” is currently 27-paragraphs long. Of those 27 paragraphs, three quote Trump’s attorney, Christopher Kise, using the story to claim that the harm Aileen Cannon imagined in her opinion enjoining the government had come to pass.
NARA May Have Pre-Existing Legal Obligations with Respect to Documents Covered by Aileen Cannon's Order
On Monday, Aileen Cannon told the government that it can only access 11,000 documents legally owned by the National Archives and currently possessed by DOJ to do an assessment of the damage Trump did by storing those records in a poorly-secured storage closet and desk drawer. We’ll learn more in coming days about how the government will respond to Cannon’s usurpation of the President’s authority over these documents.
Aileen Cannon Prioritized Donald Trump's Reputation over CIA Assets' Lives
I mentioned the Richey factors yesterday: the now-11th Circuit precedent laying out factors a judge should consider before nosing into the government’s warranted seizure of a subject’s property. Here’s how Judge Cannon laid them out before deciding she should nose into the government’s business. As I laid out, Cannon did some crazy-ass stuff to get past the second factor, property ownership.
Aileen Cannon Calls an Investigation into "What's Literally a Stolen Diary" ... "Politicized"
This is a minor point, but one that deserves more attention. Plus, I plan to use it in future posts about the unlawful assault on property rights that Judge Aileen Cannon has mounted in her opinion appointing a Special Master to stall the investigation into Donald Trump’s suspected theft of classified documents.
Judge Aileen Cannon Thinks 64 Tax and Medical Records No Investigator Has Read are More Important than 11,282 Stolen Government Documents
I’ll have a lot to say about Judge Aileen Cannon’s outrageous order enjoining the government from conducting a criminal investigation into violations of the Espionage Act. I want to start with the way that she has chosen to risk Donald Trump’s attorney-client privilege in order to vindicate it.
Evan Corcoran Keeps Arguing that Evan Corcoran Didn't Do a Diligent Search
There’s something weird about the argument that Trump’s lawyers — each time with the participation of Evan Corcoran — are making about the search of Mar-a-Lago. What they claim they’re up to is all over the map, and has evolved (for example, their first filing focused on Executive Privilege, but in last week’s hearing, Judge Aileen Cannon had to remind Trump lawyer Jim Trusty that’s what he was supposed to be arguing).
Beryl Howell Says the Surveillance Video Subpoena Was June 24, Not June 22
In the government’s response to Trump’s motion for a Special Master, it revealed that it had gotten Beryl Howell to unseal two subpoenas served on representatives of Trump. (Zoe Tillman first noted the unsealing.) Howell has now unsealed both the government’s emergency request for unsealing and her order granting it. The government basically explained that they wanted to unseal the subpoenas because Trump lied about the circumstances of, at least, the May 11 subpoena.
Return to Sender: DOJ Seized Evidence that Up to 88 Highly Sensitive Documents May Have Disappeared
As you read the more detailed inventory unsealed by Judge Aileen Cannon, keep in mind that Trump is under investigation not just for unlawful retention of classified documents, but also under both 18 USC 2071 and 18 USC 1519, for concealing documents and (under just 2071) for removing them.
Kellye SoRelle: Oath Keeper Capper or Potential Pivot?
The government arrested Kellye SoRelle yesterday via an indictment charging three counts of obstruction and one count of trespassing. She’s best known as the lawyer for the Oath Keepers, though for a period she was acting as the President of the militia. That she was arrested was not surprising. It has been known for some time that she’s the person who advised Rhodes to start deleting evidence of his activities on January 6, which he and others did. She even admitted it to MoJo’s Dan Friedman.
No One Puts Roger Stone in a Box
As I noted in my first post on Wednesday’s DOJ response to Trump’s bid to get a Special Master, the filing provides more details about what the FBI found where. I’ve updated my nifty graphic accordingly. As a reminder, this graphic attempts to show with horizontal boxes where things were seized, and with vertical boxes, to show where they were cataloged.
How DOJ Continues to Build Its Case that Trump Improperly Retained National Defense Information
DOJ’s response to Trump’s request for a Special Master last night did a bunch of things — most notably, debunking lies Trump’s camp had been telling. But I want to point to several details presumably designed not just to impress Judge Cannon that this is more serious than Trump has made out, but to give Trump and his attorneys notice that they’re dealing with National Defense Information.
Christina Bobb Claimed No Copies of the Stolen Classified Documents Had Been Made
I want to look more closely at the actions of Evan Corcoran (described as “counsel” in last night’s filing before Aileen Cannon) and Christina Bobb (described as “Custodian of Records”) surrounding the June 3 meeting a Mar-a-Lago. DOJ’s filing describes how DOJ served a subpoena on Trump on May 11, with a return date of May 24.
Trump Stored Some of the Nation's Most Sensitive Secrets with His Framed Time Magazine Cover
I wrote an initial thread of my read of the filing in the Trump document theft here. It details how the investigation evolved, from 18 USC 2071 for the torn documents and 18 USC 793 for the stolen classified documents to add 18 USC 1519 after it was clear Trump and his team were willfully withholding stuff. It describes the three sets of inventories of documents seized (which I’ll add in after I get some sleep). I’m interested in where the FBI found certain things on August 8.
"The President Was ... Working in a Filing Room"
The unredacted part of affidavit for Trump’s search shows that it incorporated a “statement” Trump put out on February 18, in an attempt to rebut the report that the Archives provided Carolyn Maloney about what was discovered in the 15 boxes Trump finally returned. In a redacted part of the affidavit, there’s something that looks like a second post of some kind, which appears at the end of a nine-paragraph section describing the Archives’ fight to get the boxes back.
One Big Potentially Pending Question: What Happens to Trump's Impeachment 1.0 Papers?
There’s a comment in DOJ’s response to Judge Aileen Cannon’s order to file an update by tomorrow that caught my attention. DOJ suggests there may be no dispute about whether the stuff it has been pursuing a review of is really privileged. As I laid out here (and as virtually all journalists are still getting wrong), DOJ used a privilege team for the search on August 8.
Key Details about Evan Corcoran that Evan Corcoran Did Not Disclose to Judge Aileen Cannon
Over the weekend, Judge Aileen Cannon ordered DOJ — which had not yet been formally served in Donald Trump’s civil suit to get a Special Master appointed to conduct a review of the materials seized from his home — to take initial steps towards appointing a Special Master. There are a lot of procedural reasons why that order is crazy. But Judge Cannon might be excused for believing some grave wrong has been done against the former President.
Six Days: Trump's Second Whack Filing Is Too Late
According to the Trump affidavit, between May 16 and May 18, the FBI conducted a preliminary review of the 15 boxes of materials he returned to NARA in January. We know from the letter from Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall that the FBI first got access to those records no earlier than May 12. One … two … three … four … five … six. That’s how many days it took the FBI to process 15 boxes of material and then find 184 unique pieces of evidence that the former President violated the Espionage Act.
Trump Had Human, Signals, and FISA Intelligence in an Insecure Room at Mar-a-Lago for a Year
Here’s the affidavit used to search the home and resort of the 45th President of the United States for classified documents he refused to return. My live tweet is here. I’ll do running updates in this thread. Here’s my earlier post on what the affidavit would include which accurately predicated a great deal of what was in here.
How To Be a Handmaiden to Corruption, Barr Memo Press Coverage Edition
Much of the coverage of the Barr Memo — written over a weekend after a 7-hour review of the Mueller Report to justify a public statement to Congress exonerating the former President — continues to magnify the corruption of Barr’s act, rather than expose it. The memo makes numerous factual errors (errors that can be easily documented thanks to a public record liberated by Jason Leopold).
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart Accepts DOJ's Proposed Redactions
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart just accepted DOJ’s proposed redactions in the Donald Trump affidavit and ordered them to post it by noon ET tomorrow. According to his order, DOJ will redact: (1) the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties, (2) the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods, (3) grand jury information protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e). This likely means even Trump’s name will be redacted.
Bill Barr Performed the Corruption He Was Trying To Deny
Perhaps I have a perverse sense of humor. But between bouts of yelling about the Barr Memo, I’ve been laughing my ass off. There are a number of reasons I’m laughing, some that I won’t share because I don’t want to spoil what I expect to be the punchline. But one reason I can’t stop laughing is that Robert Mueller managed to get Barr to perform — and put down in writing!! — precisely the corruption Mueller was trying to document: corrupt interference in a criminal prosecution.
The Barr Memo Relied on Covering Up the Ongoing Roger Stone Conspiracy Investigation
DOJ has released the memo that Ed O’Callaghan and Steven Engel used to claim there wasn’t evidence to charge Trump with obstruction. A key part of it is a claim that the evidence in Volume I was “conclusive” that there wasn’t evidence to charge any of Trump’s flunkies with conspiring with Russia. Only at least O’Callaghan knew that the evidence wasn’t conclusive.
The Day After Paul Sperry Claimed Trump Had Been Hiding January 6 Documents, DOJ Subpoenaed the Archives Again
CNN reported today that Thomas Windom, the lead AUSA on January 6 investigations targeting Trump and his cronies, sent a second subpoena to NARA. As a reminder, NYT reported that Windom subpoeaned all the stuff that the Archives had turned over to the January 6 Committee, for which the J6C had gone through the tedious process of getting an Executive Privilege waiver.
Archives Letter Demonstrates Import of Past Kash Patel Claim of Declassification
Yesterday, propagandist John Solomon posted a letter that the Acting Archivist, Debra Steidel Wall, sent Evan Corcoran on May 10. It described a series of communications in which Corcoran asked the Archives to delay giving the FBI access to the documents returned by the former President in January and to treat the files with, “a protective assertion of executive privilege made by counsel for the former President.
Next Steps in the Trump Stolen Documents Investigation
A number of people have gotten impatient that the search of the former President’s golf resort has not yet yield an indictment. “If you or I did what he did,” a common refrain goes, “we’d already be in prison.” I often point to the example of Joshua Schulte, the former CIA coder convicted last month of the Vault 7 and 8 leaks.
Demands for Sua Sponte Do-Overs and Billy Barr's Thought Experiment about Trump's Criminality
In a post last year about what was then a still heavily-redacted Amy Berman Jackson opinion ordering DOJ to release a Barr memo covering up the Mueller investigation, I wrote that this might finally be the case where DOJ would be held accountable for bullshit claims made in service of protecting secrets in FOIA cases. Yesterday, the DC Circuit decided that (unless DOJ appeals again) yes, this will be that case.
The Known and Likely Content of Trump's Search Warrant
Yesterday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart found that, “the Government has not met its burden of showing that the entire [Trump search warrant] affidavit should remain sealed.” He ordered DOJ to provide a sealed version of proposed redactions for the warrant affidavit for Trump’s search by August 25 at noon. Two days after the search of Mar-a-Lago I did a post laying out the likely content of what’s in that search warrant (which pretty accurately predicted what we’ve seen since).
Which of the Many Investigations Trump Has Obstructed Is DOJ Investigating?
As I’ve written in the past, there are several different theories about how DOJ is applying the obstruction statute, 18 USC 1519, in its investigation into Trump’s stolen documents.
The French President May Be Contained Inside the Roger Stone Clemency
These are pictures the FBI took during their March 2017 search of Josh Schulte’s apartment for evidence that he violated 18 USC 793, one of the same crimes for which Trump is being investigated. (I’ve not included links and included just fragments of the images to minimize privacy impact.) I thought they’d be useful background to the search of Trump’s golf resort and the receipts included on the publicly released warrant.
Rule of Law: DOJ Obtained Trump's Privilege-Waived Documents in May
Last December, when the DC Circuit ruled that the Archives should share Donald Trump’s materials relating to January 6 with the January 6 Committee, it emphasized the “rare and formidable alignment of factors supports the disclosure of the documents at issue.” It likewise pointed to the careful attention (and month-long reviews) the Biden White House gave to each tranche of materials at issue.
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