Emptywheel
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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 Motherboard, the New Republic, and 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 serves on the Advisory Committee for the House Fourth Amendment Caucus, is a senior fellow at GWU’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, and was declared an Internet Human Rights hero by AccessNow.
Marcy has been blogging full time since 2007. She’s known for her live-blogging of the Scooter Libby trial, her discovery of the number of times Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded, and for reverse-engineering government surveillance years before it otherwise gets disclosed.
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. Marcy, her spouse, and June Bug the Terrorist FosterEx Dog recently moved to Ireland. Source
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| Scope | National |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
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Recent Articles
Search ArticlesConfirmed: Broadview 6 Transcript Does Not Match the Recording
Q. What are your duties with regard to that, car? A. Well, any time that I need to carry out a — any duties I will — I will be in my — my government-furnished vehicle, and including home to 15:19:51 21 work. You know, trans Q. I’m sorry. Let me stop you for a minute. UNKNOWN SPEAKER: The battery is died. THE WITNESS: Sorry, the — MS. MECKLENBURG: That was just the computer. We’ll get it back up when I want to show pictures. UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Okay. We’re have a battery — 15:20:26 BY MS. MECKLENBURG: Q.
Putin’s Bagman Bought a Party for DOD Drone Contractor Don Jr
When the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan last year to a small North Carolina startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism. [snip] In August 2025, Vulcan announced $65 million in investments, including from 1789 Capital, the venture firm that Trump Jr. joined as a partner after his father was elected to a second term. Neither 1789 nor Vulcan has publicly disclosed how much of a stake the venture firm has taken.
The Salazar Swing
by | Sep 18, 2026 | Immigration | It has been forgotten, amidst the uproar over this ad, that Congresswoman María Salazar has tried to call out Trump’s immigration dragnet before. A similar uproar broke out in June 2025 after Salazar and Latinas for Trump founder Ileana Garcia called out Stephen Miller for specific tactics he was using, specifically snatching people at courthouses while they were legally pursuing due process for immigration claims.
The Unrestrained Power Of The Roberts Majority
by | Sep 18, 2026 | SCOTUS | Posts in this series This series addresses the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by the Roberts Majority of SCOTUS. Reforming the Court must begin with impeachment of these six. They will strike down any law restricting their power. This should be a campaign issue for every Democrat. Historical restraints on SCOTUS power Over the centuries SCOTUS has adopted guardrails that restrict their claimed unlimited reach.
Harmeet Dhillon Dialed Up Threats against Douglas Micko
Among the people who participated in an online mob targeting Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko after he refused arrest warrants for Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in January were Jack Posobiec, whose past incitement led a guy from North Carolina to drive to DC and shoot up a pizza joint filled with children. It included Brandon Straka, who played a role in ginning up confrontation at the Michigan vote count in 2020.
Seeing Iran: “Standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face”
by | Sep 17, 2026 | Iran, War | I have written a series of posts about the things that prevent(ed) us from seeing what was going on in Iran clearly. In recent days, there has been a slew of new visibility. I catalog these not because they reveal anything we didn’t already know. We’ve known Iran destroyed the Navy base in Bahrain. We’ve known that Russia has been helping Iran kill Americans and attack military resources with pinpoint accuracy.
Colin McDonald’s Latest Fraud Fraud
One of my latest Xitter hobbies is to try to counter-flood the flood of propaganda Trump’s fraudulent Fraud Task Force puts out. As I’ve laid out, this is a three-fold effort: Todd Blanche has shifted resources away from fighting white collar crime, including fraud, into investigating far smaller fraud in government programs, effectively defunding bigger white collar prosecutions to fund an effort targeting poorer, browner people.
Tom Massie’s Impeachment Gambit
After launching a discharge petition to add more teeth the Epstein Transparency Act in early September, which led Mike Johnson to cancel all business after Thursday, Thomas Massie against Whiskey Pete Hegseth yesterday, which led Speaker Johnson to cancel business tomorrow. On top of all the other things Republican Members of Congress will have to explain to voters has been added an extended vacation leading up to the election, all to avoid two votes that should be easy but are not.
Footnote 15 and the Incredible Disappearing AUSA Diane MacArthur
by | Sep 16, 2026 | Weaponized DOJ | The exonerees in the Broadview 6 case have filed their reply bid for sanctions on prosecutors.
“Back-and-Forth:” How Ellis Boyle Hid that Jim Comey Self-Snitched
by | Sep 15, 2026 | Jim Comey prosecution, Weaponized DOJ | In DOJ’s response to Jim Comey’s motion to suppress two warrants targeting him, Ellis Boyle responded to one of Comey’s complaints — that FBI Agent April Floyd had insinuated Patrice Comey had omitted information when interviewed by the Secret Service on May 17, 2025 (two days after Comey posed seashells Trump wants to criminalize) — by explaining that Floyd was simply presenting evidence “not entirely consistent” with Patrice’s...