theintercept--2020-12-23--Snowden and Assange Deserve Pardons. So Do the Whistleblowers Trump Imprisoned.

the Bush administration ’ s Justice Department sent me a letter saying it was conducting a criminal investigation into “ the unauthorized disclosure of classified information ” in my 2006 book , “ State of War.
” When my lawyers called the Justice Department about the letter , the prosecutors refused to say I was not a “ subject ” of their leak investigation .
That was ominous .
If I were considered a “ subject , ” rather than simply a witness , it meant the government hadn ’ t ruled out prosecuting me for publishing classified information .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the case — the Justice Department decided to treat me only as a witness and did not try to prosecute me .
But in the future , the outcome of a similar case for a journalist might be very different if Julian Assange is successfully prosecuted on the charges brought against him by President Donald Trump ’ s Justice Department .
The Trump administration has charged Assange under the Espionage Act for conspiring to leak classified documents .
The indictment focuses on his alleged efforts to encourage former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and WikiLeaks .
If the Assange prosecution is successful , it will set a dangerous precedent : that journalists can be prosecuted based on their interactions with sources who provide them with government secrets .
Such a precedent could make it extremely difficult for journalists to cover military , intelligence , and related national security matters , and thus leave the public in the dark about what the government is really doing around the world .
That is why the U.S. indictment of Julian Assange is so dangerous to liberty in America , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be dropped and he should be pardoned .
While Trump has still not publicly accepted his defeat in the 2020 presidential election , he has begun to issue a spate of pardons .
On Tuesday , he issued pardons to a group that included two convicted of crimes in connection with the Trump-Russia investigation , and four former Blackwater contractors convicted of killing Iraqi civilians .
Despite the stench surrounding Trump ’ s latest pardons , supporters of several whistleblowers have launched public campaigns to lobby for pardons ; the supporters of Assange @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vocal .
Like Assange , Snowden clearly deserves a pardon .
Snowden ’ s massive 2013 leak documented the full extent of the National Security Agency ’ s domestic spying on Americans .
But rather than recognize that Snowden has performed a public service , the U.S. government has forced him into exile in Russia .
Meanwhile , Assange now sits in prison in Britain , awaiting extradition to face prosecution in the United States .
Public support for the pardon of whistleblower Reality Winner has also begun to build .
Winner was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaking an NSA document disclosing that Russian intelligence was seeking to hack into U.S. election voting systems .
That document was allegedly leaked to The Intercept , which had no knowledge of the identity of its source .
( The Intercept ’ s parent company supported Winner ’ s legal defense through the First Look Media ’ s Press Freedom Defense Fund , which I direct . )
She pleaded guilty in the case in 2018 and was sentenced to more than five years in prison , the longest sentence ever imposed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ press .
Earlier this month , a federal appeals court denied Winner ’ s request for compassionate early release after she contracted Covid-19 in prison .
She remains in federal prison today .
Former Pentagon official J. William Leonard wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post earlier this week calling for Winner ’ s pardon , arguing in part that her “ prosecution constituted overreach by the government.
” But there are other whistleblowers who deserve pardons as well .
During Trump ’ s four years in office , his administration has arrested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases .
That is almost equal to the record nine ( or 10 , depending on how you count ) leak prosecutions conducted by the Obama administration over eight years .
Four of the leak cases during the Trump administration were connected to disclosures related to Trump , the circle of people around him , and the Trump-Russia inquiry .
The Justice Department was clearly under intense pressure from Trump to go after people who leaked stories that Trump didn ’ t like .
Winner ’ s case was the first of those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the director of security for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence , was charged in 2018 with making false statements to the FBI in connection with a leak investigation into a Washington Post story revealing that the government had obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to monitor Carter Page , a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign .
Wolfe pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with reporters and was sentenced to two months in prison .
Also in 2018 , Natalie Mayflower Sours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Treasury ’ s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network , was charged with disclosing reports about financial transactions related to people under scrutiny in the Trump-Russia inquiry , including former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort .
She allegedly leaked the information to BuzzFeed News .
In 2020 , she pleaded guilty , and her sentencing is now scheduled for January 2021 .
In 2019 , John Fry , an IRS employee , was charged with leaking suspicious activity reports involving the financial transactions of Trump ’ s former lawyer , Michael Cohen , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Cohen received $ 500,000 from a company with ties to a Russian oligarch .
The Trump Justice Department recommended prison time for Fry , but in 2020 , a federal judge instead gave Fry probation and ordered him to pay a $ 5,000 fine .
Other whistleblowers have also been caught up in Trump ’ s crackdown , including FBI agent Terry Albury , who was arrested in 2018 and charged with leaking information about the systemic racial biases at the bureau , which were reported by The Intercept .
And former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2019 , charged with leaking information about the U.S. military ’ s use of drones to conduct targeted assassinations , also allegedly to The Intercept .
While most of the public lobbying for pardons for whistleblowers has focused on Assange and Snowden , and to a lesser extent Winner , the other whistleblowers prosecuted by Trump have largely been forgotten .
For the most part , the small press freedom community has made the case for Assange and Snowden on the grounds of the First Amendment , press freedom , and government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump to pardon Snowden and Assange has also attracted a strange group of extreme Trump supporters .
They argue that pardoning the two men offers Trump the opportunity to stick it to the so-called deep state .
The “ deep state ” is , of course , the mythical beast at the heart of so many of Trump ’ s conspiracy theories .
Trump believes that a secret cabal of intelligence and national security officials has been trying to destroy him personally since at least the 2016 campaign .
It is important for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these deep state conspiracy theories and instead continue to argue for the pardons on the merits of press freedom .
Indulging in Trump ’ s fantasies in order to win the pardons will only taint the cause of press freedom in the future .
As a journalist , I have spent much of my career covering , exposing , and criticizing the American national security establishment .
Let there be no mistake : There is , in fact , a massive U.S. military-industrial complex , and a newer post-9/11 homeland security-industrial complex .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ military , intelligence , and federal law enforcement officials , executives at giant defense companies , and legions of smaller defense and intelligence contractors , as well as career political figures who take top positions in the defense and intelligence agencies when their party is in power , and become consultants or think-tank pundits when their party is out of power .
The military-industrial complex and the newer homeland security-industrial complex tend to support expansionist American national security and foreign policies , and since 9/11 have pushed for a continuation of American military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Iraq and Afghanistan .
They are driven by greed and power , and they believe that endless war is good for business .
As I wrote in “ Pay Any Price , ” my 2014 book , “ America has become accustomed to a permanent state of war .
Only a small slice of society — including many poor and rural teenagers — fight and die , while a permanent national security elite rotates among senior government posts , contracting companies , think tanks and television commentary , opportunities that would disappear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ To most of America , war has become not only tolerable but profitable , and so there is no longer any great incentive to end it.
” What ’ s more , the national security establishment ’ s power stems in part from its ability to suppress the truth about its activities at home and abroad , and thus it seeks to punish whistleblowers and journalists who try to disclose the truth .
The CIA , the NSA , and other elements of the national security apparatus frequently apply pressure on the Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whistleblowers who disclose their abuses .
I have had firsthand experience with this ugly phenomenon .
But acknowledging the gravitational pull of a militaristic national security establishment toward war and imperialism doesn ’ t mean that you believe in the existence of a deep state , as imagined by Trump and his allies .
Demagogues like Trump are dangerously effective at taking bits of truth and weaving conspiracy theories out of them .
Trump has taken the truth about the existence of a military-industrial complex and twisted it into a conspiracy theory that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a deep state out to destroy him personally .
It is conspiracy theory victimology taken to its most extreme .
Among Trump ’ s ardent supporters , talk of a deep state often quickly descends into the madness of vile , rambling QAnon conspiracy theories .
Right-wing pundits and pro-Trump political figures , many of whom were longtime supporters of the government ’ s draconian counterterrorism measures instituted after 9/11 , including the NSA ’ s illegal domestic spying program , suddenly became skeptics of the national security establishment when Trump began to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the FBI and later by special counsel Robert Mueller , into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collaboration by the Trump campaign .
Trump ’ s claims that he has been the victim of a “ witch hunt , ” a “ hoax ” investigation perpetrated against him by the deep state , have been the central theme of his conspiracy theory-laden presidency .
And so ardent Trump supporters who accepted Trump ’ s deep state conspiracy theories now view pardons for Assange and Snowden through the “ Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pro-Trump website , recently published a column calling for pardons for Assange and Snowden .
“ If there is any way to thoroughly get back at the left over the next month , President Trump should make it a priority to pardon those individuals whose clemency would get the attention of the deep state , ” wrote Kenny Cody at Newsmax .
“ For the deep state has worked against this president and his administration unlike any other previously.
” Marjorie Taylor Greene , a newly elected Republican representative from Georgia who has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , also tweeted her support for pardons for Assange and Snowden .
A smattering of Assange supporters are echoing the line of these pro-Trump pundits and right-wing politicians .
For example , Assange ’ s partner , Stella Morris , said on Fox News recently that she wants Trump to pardon Assange to protect him from the deep state .
George Christensen , a member of Australia ’ s parliament , sent a message to Trump on a website devoted to a pardon for Assange , who is also an Australian .
Christensen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are trying to take the election from you are the ones trying to prosecute Julian Assange.
” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard , a Hawaii Democrat and one-time Democratic presidential candidate , tweeted that Trump should pardon Snowden and Assange because they “ exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state.
” What makes any endorsement of the deep state trope by advocates of Assange and Snowden particularly dangerous now is that it comes at the same time that Trump is employing his persecution fantasies to claim that the 2020 election was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state .
The danger of enabling Trump ’ s deep state rhetoric was highlighted by a frightening story on Saturday , when the New York Times reported that Trump met on Friday with conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell and discussed making her some sort of “ special counsel ” to investigate baseless claims of voter fraud that Trump believes cost him the election .
The same story revealed that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has talked about trying to seize voting machines from around the country to try to prove the fiction that they were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supporters pushing for pardons for Assange and Snowden remain silent on so many of the other leak cases brought during the Trump administration , they have also said nothing to counter Trump ’ s dangerous and hateful anti-press rhetoric , which has created a toxic climate for reporters working in the United States .
Trump ’ s constant attacks on the press have convinced his supporters — as well as local , conservative politicians and law enforcement officials — to intensify their rhetorical , legal , and physical attacks on journalists around the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , managed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation , shows that there have been 120 cases of a journalist arrested or detained on the job in the United States in 2020 .
The tracker found that during one week at the height of the racial justice protests in late May and early June , “ more reporters were arrested in the U.S. than in the previous three years combined.
” The tracker also found that more than a third of those journalists arrested were also beaten , hit with rubber bullets , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Advocates of press freedom must remain disciplined as they campaign for the pardons for whistleblowers and make their arguments on the merits of press freedom .
They must be careful not to indulge Trump ’ s conspiracy theories while they lobby for the pardons .
Accepting Trump ’ s insane conspiracy theories in order to get him to do the right thing has been the downfall of many prominent figures during Trump ’ s presidency .
Enabling Trump ’ s worst instincts never works and only shreds the reputations of those who @ @ @ @ @ @

In 2007, the Bush administration’s Justice Department sent me a letter saying it was conducting a criminal investigation into “the unauthorized disclosure of classified information” in my 2006 book, “State of War.”
When my lawyers called the Justice Department about the letter, the prosecutors refused to say I was not a “subject” of their leak investigation. That was ominous. If I were considered a “subject,” rather than simply a witness, it meant the government hadn’t ruled out prosecuting me for publishing classified information.
From left to right: Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Reality Winner. Photo: Getty Images
Eventually — after the Obama administration took over the case — the Justice Department decided to treat me only as a witness and did not try to prosecute me.
But in the future, the outcome of a similar case for a journalist might be very different if Julian Assange is successfully prosecuted on the charges brought against him by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.
The Trump administration has charged Assange under the Espionage Act for conspiring to leak classified documents. The indictment focuses on his alleged efforts to encourage former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak classified documents to him and WikiLeaks. If the Assange prosecution is successful, it will set a dangerous precedent: that journalists can be prosecuted based on their interactions with sources who provide them with government secrets.
Such a precedent could make it extremely difficult for journalists to cover military, intelligence, and related national security matters, and thus leave the public in the dark about what the government is really doing around the world.
That is why the U.S. indictment of Julian Assange is so dangerous to liberty in America, and why the case against Assange should be dropped and he should be pardoned.
While Trump has still not publicly accepted his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, he has begun to issue a spate of pardons. On Tuesday, he issued pardons to a group that included two convicted of crimes in connection with the Trump-Russia investigation, and four former Blackwater contractors convicted of killing Iraqi civilians.
Despite the stench surrounding Trump’s latest pardons, supporters of several whistleblowers have launched public campaigns to lobby for pardons; the supporters of Assange and Edward Snowden have been the most vocal.
Like Assange, Snowden clearly deserves a pardon. Snowden’s massive 2013 leak documented the full extent of the National Security Agency’s domestic spying on Americans. But rather than recognize that Snowden has performed a public service, the U.S. government has forced him into exile in Russia. Meanwhile, Assange now sits in prison in Britain, awaiting extradition to face prosecution in the United States.
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange demonstrate outside the Central Criminal Court after Assange appeared in court for a full extradition hearing on the last day of the trials in London on Oct. 01, 2020. Photo: Hasan Esen/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Public support for the pardon of whistleblower Reality Winner has also begun to build. Winner was arrested in 2017 and accused of anonymously leaking an NSA document disclosing that Russian intelligence was seeking to hack into U.S. election voting systems. That document was allegedly leaked to The Intercept, which had no knowledge of the identity of its source. (The Intercept’s parent company supported Winner’s legal defense through the First Look Media’s Press Freedom Defense Fund, which I direct.) She pleaded guilty in the case in 2018 and was sentenced to more than five years in prison, the longest sentence ever imposed in a case involving a leak to the press.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court denied Winner’s request for compassionate early release after she contracted Covid-19 in prison. She remains in federal prison today.
Former Pentagon official J. William Leonard wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post earlier this week calling for Winner’s pardon, arguing in part that her “prosecution constituted overreach by the government.”
But there are other whistleblowers who deserve pardons as well.
During Trump’s four years in office, his administration has arrested and charged eight government officials in leak cases. That is almost equal to the record nine (or 10, depending on how you count) leak prosecutions conducted by the Obama administration over eight years.
Four of the leak cases during the Trump administration were connected to disclosures related to Trump, the circle of people around him, and the Trump-Russia inquiry. The Justice Department was clearly under intense pressure from Trump to go after people who leaked stories that Trump didn’t like.
Winner’s case was the first of those four. In addition, James Wolfe, the director of security for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, was charged in 2018 with making false statements to the FBI in connection with a leak investigation into a Washington Post story revealing that the government had obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to monitor Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign.
Wolfe pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with reporters and was sentenced to two months in prison.
Also in 2018, Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, who was a senior adviser at the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, was charged with disclosing reports about financial transactions related to people under scrutiny in the Trump-Russia inquiry, including former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort. She allegedly leaked the information to BuzzFeed News. In 2020, she pleaded guilty, and her sentencing is now scheduled for January 2021.
In 2019, John Fry, an IRS employee, was charged with leaking suspicious activity reports involving the financial transactions of Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, including information about how a company owned by Cohen received $500,000 from a company with ties to a Russian oligarch. The Trump Justice Department recommended prison time for Fry, but in 2020, a federal judge instead gave Fry probation and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine.
Other whistleblowers have also been caught up in Trump’s crackdown, including FBI agent Terry Albury, who was arrested in 2018 and charged with leaking information about the systemic racial biases at the bureau, which were reported by The Intercept. And former intelligence analyst Daniel Hale was also arrested in 2019, charged with leaking information about the U.S. military’s use of drones to conduct targeted assassinations, also allegedly to The Intercept.
Former Minneapolis FBI agent Terry Albury, front, followed by his attorney, walks out of the federal courthouse in St. Paul after Albury was sentenced to four years in prison for leaking classified defense documents to a reporter on Oct. 18, 2018. Photo: Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune/AP
While most of the public lobbying for pardons for whistleblowers has focused on Assange and Snowden, and to a lesser extent Winner, the other whistleblowers prosecuted by Trump have largely been forgotten.
For the most part, the small press freedom community has made the case for Assange and Snowden on the grounds of the First Amendment, press freedom, and government transparency. Yet the campaign to convince Trump to pardon Snowden and Assange has also attracted a strange group of extreme Trump supporters. They argue that pardoning the two men offers Trump the opportunity to stick it to the so-called deep state.
The “deep state” is, of course, the mythical beast at the heart of so many of Trump’s conspiracy theories. Trump believes that a secret cabal of intelligence and national security officials has been trying to destroy him personally since at least the 2016 campaign.
It is important for press freedom advocates to steer clear of these deep state conspiracy theories and instead continue to argue for the pardons on the merits of press freedom. Indulging in Trump’s fantasies in order to win the pardons will only taint the cause of press freedom in the future.
It’s important for press freedom advocates to steer clear of deep state conspiracy theories and instead continue to argue for the pardons on the merits of press freedom.
As a journalist, I have spent much of my career covering, exposing, and criticizing the American national security establishment. Let there be no mistake: There is, in fact, a massive U.S. military-industrial complex, and a newer post-9/11 homeland security-industrial complex. Those two complexes overlap, comprising career military, intelligence, and federal law enforcement officials, executives at giant defense companies, and legions of smaller defense and intelligence contractors, as well as career political figures who take top positions in the defense and intelligence agencies when their party is in power, and become consultants or think-tank pundits when their party is out of power.
The military-industrial complex and the newer homeland security-industrial complex tend to support expansionist American national security and foreign policies, and since 9/11 have pushed for a continuation of American military involvement in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They are driven by greed and power, and they believe that endless war is good for business. As I wrote in “Pay Any Price,” my 2014 book, “America has become accustomed to a permanent state of war. Only a small slice of society — including many poor and rural teenagers — fight and die, while a permanent national security elite rotates among senior government posts, contracting companies, think tanks and television commentary, opportunities that would disappear if America was suddenly at peace. To most of America, war has become not only tolerable but profitable, and so there is no longer any great incentive to end it.”
What’s more, the national security establishment’s power stems in part from its ability to suppress the truth about its activities at home and abroad, and thus it seeks to punish whistleblowers and journalists who try to disclose the truth. The CIA, the NSA, and other elements of the national security apparatus frequently apply pressure on the Justice Department and the White House to prosecute whistleblowers who disclose their abuses.
I have had firsthand experience with this ugly phenomenon.
But acknowledging the gravitational pull of a militaristic national security establishment toward war and imperialism doesn’t mean that you believe in the existence of a deep state, as imagined by Trump and his allies.
Demagogues like Trump are dangerously effective at taking bits of truth and weaving conspiracy theories out of them. Trump has taken the truth about the existence of a military-industrial complex and twisted it into a conspiracy theory that claims that the military-industrial complex is actually a deep state out to destroy him personally. It is conspiracy theory victimology taken to its most extreme.
Rudy Giuliani appears before the Michigan House Oversight Committee for suspicion of voter fraud in Lansing, Mich., on Dec. 2, 2020. Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images
Among Trump’s ardent supporters, talk of a deep state often quickly descends into the madness of vile, rambling QAnon conspiracy theories.
Right-wing pundits and pro-Trump political figures, many of whom were longtime supporters of the government’s draconian counterterrorism measures instituted after 9/11, including the NSA’s illegal domestic spying program, suddenly became skeptics of the national security establishment when Trump began to complain about the investigation, conducted first by the FBI and later by special counsel Robert Mueller, into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collaboration by the Trump campaign. Trump’s claims that he has been the victim of a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” investigation perpetrated against him by the deep state, have been the central theme of his conspiracy theory-laden presidency. And so ardent Trump supporters who accepted Trump’s deep state conspiracy theories now view pardons for Assange and Snowden through the “Russia hoax” narrative.
Newsmax, the pro-Trump website, recently published a column calling for pardons for Assange and Snowden. “If there is any way to thoroughly get back at the left over the next month, President Trump should make it a priority to pardon those individuals whose clemency would get the attention of the deep state,” wrote Kenny Cody at Newsmax. “For the deep state has worked against this president and his administration unlike any other previously.” Marjorie Taylor Greene, a newly elected Republican representative from Georgia who has been criticized for being a QAnon supporter, also tweeted her support for pardons for Assange and Snowden.
I agree with @TulsiGabbard, @RepThomasMassie, and @mattgaetz!@realDonaldTrump should issue a full pardon to Julian Assange and Edward @Snowden. Each risked his life to expose the crimes of Barack Obama and the Deep State against the American people. Let them be free! https://t.co/hMyLHCFwIb — Marjorie Taylor Greene ?? (@mtgreenee) November 27, 2020
A smattering of Assange supporters are echoing the line of these pro-Trump pundits and right-wing politicians.
For example, Assange’s partner, Stella Morris, said on Fox News recently that she wants Trump to pardon Assange to protect him from the deep state. George Christensen, a member of Australia’s parliament, sent a message to Trump on a website devoted to a pardon for Assange, who is also an Australian. Christensen wrote, “The same people who are trying to take the election from you are the ones trying to prosecute Julian Assange.”
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat and one-time Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted that Trump should pardon Snowden and Assange because they “exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state.”
What makes any endorsement of the deep state trope by advocates of Assange and Snowden particularly dangerous now is that it comes at the same time that Trump is employing his persecution fantasies to claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him by a pro-Biden deep state.
The danger of enabling Trump’s deep state rhetoric was highlighted by a frightening story on Saturday, when the New York Times reported that Trump met on Friday with conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell and discussed making her some sort of “special counsel” to investigate baseless claims of voter fraud that Trump believes cost him the election. The same story revealed that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has talked about trying to seize voting machines from around the country to try to prove the fiction that they were rigged against Trump.
As the pro-Trump supporters pushing for pardons for Assange and Snowden remain silent on so many of the other leak cases brought during the Trump administration, they have also said nothing to counter Trump’s dangerous and hateful anti-press rhetoric, which has created a toxic climate for reporters working in the United States. Trump’s constant attacks on the press have convinced his supporters — as well as local, conservative politicians and law enforcement officials — to intensify their rhetorical, legal, and physical attacks on journalists around the nation.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, managed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, shows that there have been 120 cases of a journalist arrested or detained on the job in the United States in 2020. The tracker found that during one week at the height of the racial justice protests in late May and early June, “more reporters were arrested in the U.S. than in the previous three years combined.” The tracker also found that more than a third of those journalists arrested were also beaten, hit with rubber bullets, or chemical agents.
The bottom line: Advocates of press freedom must remain disciplined as they campaign for the pardons for whistleblowers and make their arguments on the merits of press freedom. They must be careful not to indulge Trump’s conspiracy theories while they lobby for the pardons.
Accepting Trump’s insane conspiracy theories in order to get him to do the right thing has been the downfall of many prominent figures during Trump’s presidency. Enabling Trump’s worst instincts never works and only shreds the reputations of those who have sought to appease him.


theintercept--2020-12-23--I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Trump Just Pardoned Those Convicted Killers.

9 years old when he was shot in the head by Blackwater guards on September 16 , 2007 in a traffic circle in Baghdad , Iraq .
He was in the back seat of his father ’ s SUV with two of his cousins .
Their mother was in the front seat .
Ali ’ s father , Mohammed Kinani , was driving and saw four armored cars enter the traffic circle from the wrong direction .
The “ soldiers ” held up their hands for traffic to stop .
Mohammed stopped his car .
He initially thought the men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
9 years old when he was shot in the head by Blackwater guards on September 16 , 2007 in a traffic circle in Baghdad , Iraq .
He was in the back seat of his father ’ s SUV with two of his cousins .
Their mother was in the front seat .
Ali ’ s father , Mohammed Kinani , was driving and saw four armored cars enter the traffic circle from the wrong direction .
The “ soldiers ” held up their hands for traffic to stop .
Mohammed stopped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ men were U.S. soldiers .
They were not .
It wasn ’ t unusual for regular U.S. Army convoys to stop traffic .
The traffic circle , Nisour Square , was only a block away from one of the main entrance gates to Baghdad ’ s Green Zone .
When Mohammed looked to his right , the driver of the car next to him shouted that the “ soldiers ” had just shot into another car in front of them .
Suddenly , bullets began to riddle Mohammed ’ s car .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next to him .
The man that just spoken to him was dead .
He had tried to run but was lying in a pool of blood — killed by machine gunfire from the armored cars .
I represented the Kinani family and five other victims of the Blackwater guards who were convicted of killing at least 14 innocent Iraqi citizens that day — and injured dozens more .
Almost everyone who was killed or injured was shot in cars , taxis , or buses .
The ones who were killed on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ali was the youngest of Blackwater ’ s victims that day .
I sued Blackwater , its founder Erik Prince , and the four men who were convicted of murder , manslaughter , or weapons charges in a civil lawsuit filed in North Carolina , the home of Blackwater ’ s headquarters and training facility in Moyock .
To understand the carnage that happened on the streets that day , you need to hear it in Mohammed ’ s words as he explained it to me .
Mohammed was going to visit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was leaving , his youngest son , who was affectionately given the nickname “ Alawi , ” asked to go with his father .
Although Mohammed was going to return quickly with his sister and Ali ’ s cousins for a visit , Mohammed told his son that he could go with him .
Their route home was through Nisour Square .
Mohammed was thrilled when the U.S. entered Baghdad years earlier in 2003 .
Mohammed met member of the U.S. Army on the streets and handed out candy and juice when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ businessman dealing in auto salvage .
He despised Saddam Hussein and his oppressive and vindictive ways .
Mohammed was glad Saddam ’ s reign of terror was finally ending .
When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle , he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members .
Being so close to the Green Zone , he thought someone important might be entering or leaving the area .
That wasn ’ t unusual .
But when the shooting started , his life — and the lives of his entire family — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SUV was attacked , Mohammed , his sister , and their children had time to duck into the car .
Mohammed and his sister screamed for their children to get down .
Bullets were everywhere .
Mohammed would look to see what was happening .
He saw the man next to him run .
Machine gunfire tore through his body .
Shots were fired everywhere .
Mohammed could see other cars being shot .
The Blackwater guards were firing indiscriminately .
Iraqi traffic police initially tried to wave down the Blackwater men that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too had to run for cover .
Mohammed kept seeing the man on the ground next to him being fired upon as he lay dead .
Machine gunfire would cause his lifeless body to shake in his pool of blood .
In the middle of the attack , Mohammed could not understand why this man lying dead was a target .
He could not understand what was happening or why .
But he knew he was surviving as he kept yelling for the children in the back of his SUV to stay down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it started .
The four armored vehicles drove away .
Everything was eerily quiet .
Mohammed had not been shot .
His sister was safe .
He thought they had been given a miracle after he saw so many others killed .
Then one of his sister ’ s children said that Ali was hurt .
Mohammed quickly got out of the car and saw blood inside the rear window .
Ali was slumped over against the glass .
When Mohammed opened the door , his son fell toward him as his skull @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s brain fell onto the pavement between his father ’ s feet .
Video of the aftermath includes an image of a human brain on the road in Nisour Square .
Mohammed turned his bullet-riddled SUV around and drove back to the closest hospital only a few blocks behind him .
He was driving on flat tires and with a shattered windshield .
The headrest next to him where his sister sat had a bullet hole through it .
It was as if someone had targeted the area in his SUV where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been .
Mohammed knew his son ’ s injuries were fatal , but he had to try .
When he arrived at the hospital , it was a war zone .
Victims were everywhere .
More were arriving in the backs of trucks .
The hallways were full .
It was chaotic .
Mohammed forced a doctor to look at Ali .
They could not do anything for him .
He was told that he had to go to a neurologic hospital on the other side of Baghdad .
An ambulance was called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the other side of town .
As Mohammed held his son ’ s hand , he convulsed and died in the back of the ambulance .
received a call from an immigration attorney the next year seeking representation for the Blackwater ’ s victims , and I was eventually retained to represent the Kinani family in a civil lawsuit against Blackwater , Prince , and various other Blackwater companies — and , of course , the men who were charged and eventually convicted of murder , manslaughter , and weapons charges for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filed as a wrongful death and personal injury suit against the men and companies responsible for my clients ’ losses .
In addition to the Kinani family , I represented five other families and victims .
Abraham Al Mafrage was a 70-year-old farmer and father of seven who was also shot in the head and died that day .
He was shot while seated in a public bus .
Mahde Shamke was 25 years old and driving a taxi to support his parents and siblings .
He was shot through the back with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He died in the hospital hallway surrounded by family as he was asking for water .
He never received treatment .
The hospital was too busy .
He lay in the hallway for an hour before he died .
Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer .
He was shot through the roof of his car as the Blackwater convoy drove past firing down into traffic .
He suffered from his wounds for over a year until he died from a brain injury .
Majid Al Kareem was 51 years old when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the car next to Mohammed .
It was his business partner who lay in the pool of blood and was repeatedly shot .
Majid survived because he was on the passenger side of the car and was protected from most of the barrage of bullets .
He was shot in the abdomen .
He was left with shrapnel in his body from the rocket launched grenade that was fired into his vehicle as he escaped .
Nassar Hamza was 67 years old when he was shot and wounded in the arm .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less life threatening , but he was left with a disfigured and useless arm .
It was an honor to represent these victims and their families .
I know that each of them placed great faith in the U.S. legal system .
Each time the criminal charges were seemed lost , the U.S. Department of Justice told them they were not forgotten — that we would continue to pursue the convictions of those who committed the crimes against them .
It was not an easy path in either the civil or criminal legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been given immunity from any criminal or civil exposure in Iraq — that was part of Prince ’ s contract with the State Department .
The only way these men could be brought to justice was in the United States .
When the first indictments were dismissed on New Year ’ s Eve in 2009 , they were told that the prosecutions would continue .
Then-Vice President Joe Biden held a press conference to tell the citizens of Iraq that they would not be abandoned .
Each step of the way , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were given fair and just prosecutions .
When Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten was tried and convicted for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment , the U.S. legal system determined that he needed a new trial .
The result of the long legal battle is that each man was ensured a fair trial , free of partiality and without unjust favor .
Likewise , the civil case ran through North Carolina state court , was removed to federal court , and then sent back to state court .
During the litigation , an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Court of Appeals in Richmond , Virginia .
Again , the result was the civil legal system exhausting every defense afforded to Blackwater and the men .
Our civil case resulted in a resolution that was acceptable to the parties .
The convictions made the victims feel that justice had been obtained .
The U.S. legal system , a pillar of fairness in the world , had worked .
That changed yesterday with President Donald Trump ’ s pardons .
I commented when the convictions were first brought that I was certain my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were pleased to know that justice had been served .
When Slatten ’ s conviction was overturned , I was concerned that the case would be ignored .
It wasn ’ t .
He was ensured a fair trial and convicted for his crimes .
Again , I knew my clients would be pleased to know that justice had been served and their rights had been protected .
That ’ s what lawyers do in the United States : We fight for those who can ’ t fight for themselves .
I felt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knew the prosecutors were doing that .
The Nisour Square massacre was the FBI ’ s most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11 .
Dozens of witnesses were brought to the United States to testify about what happened on September 16 , 2007 .
The efforts of the investigators , the prosecutors , and the men and women who supported them was immeasurable .
The expense was to show the people of Iraq that the U.S. government would hold people accountable for their crimes , no matter when or where they were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that those efforts have now been wasted .
These men will now be free , despite their crimes , and they will not serve the time in prison they deserved .
My clients assuredly feel ignored , mistreated , and used .
Their belief in our legal system was misplaced .
The result is not just that we see an injustice in the United States , but that the world must surely see cracks in the pillars of justice upon which our system is based .
That may be the overriding damage caused @ @ @ @

Photo: Ali Yussef/AFP via Getty Images
Ali Kinani was
9 years old when he was shot in the head by Blackwater guards on September 16, 2007 in a traffic circle in Baghdad, Iraq. He was in the back seat of his father’s SUV with two of his cousins. Their mother was in the front seat. Ali’s father, Mohammed Kinani, was driving and saw four armored cars enter the traffic circle from the wrong direction. The “soldiers” held up their hands for traffic to stop. Mohammed stopped his car. He initially thought the men were U.S. soldiers. They were not.
It wasn’t unusual for regular U.S. Army convoys to stop traffic. The traffic circle, Nisour Square, was only a block away from one of the main entrance gates to Baghdad’s Green Zone. When Mohammed looked to his right, the driver of the car next to him shouted that the “soldiers” had just shot into another car in front of them. Suddenly, bullets began to riddle Mohammed’s car. A rocket grenade was fired into the car next to him. The man that just spoken to him was dead. He had tried to run but was lying in a pool of blood — killed by machine gunfire from the armored cars.
I represented the Kinani family and five other victims of the Blackwater guards who were convicted of killing at least 14 innocent Iraqi citizens that day — and injured dozens more. Almost everyone who was killed or injured was shot in cars, taxis, or buses. The ones who were killed on the street were shot running for their lives. Ali was the youngest of Blackwater’s victims that day. I sued Blackwater, its founder Erik Prince, and the four men who were convicted of murder, manslaughter, or weapons charges in a civil lawsuit filed in North Carolina, the home of Blackwater’s headquarters and training facility in Moyock.
To understand the carnage that happened on the streets that day, you need to hear it in Mohammed’s words as he explained it to me.
Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Mohammed was going to visit his sister and her children. As he was leaving, his youngest son, who was affectionately given the nickname “Alawi,” asked to go with his father. Although Mohammed was going to return quickly with his sister and Ali’s cousins for a visit, Mohammed told his son that he could go with him. Their route home was through Nisour Square.
Mohammed was thrilled when the U.S. entered Baghdad years earlier in 2003. Mohammed met members of the U.S. Army on the streets and handed out candy and juice when he saw them. Mohammed was a businessman dealing in auto salvage. He despised Saddam Hussein and his oppressive and vindictive ways. Mohammed was glad Saddam’s reign of terror was finally ending.
When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle, he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members. Being so close to the Green Zone, he thought someone important might be entering or leaving the area. That wasn’t unusual. But when the shooting started, his life — and the lives of his entire family — changed forever.
Luckily, before his SUV was attacked, Mohammed, his sister, and their children had time to duck into the car. Mohammed and his sister screamed for their children to get down. Bullets were everywhere. Mohammed would look to see what was happening. He saw the man next to him run. Machine gunfire tore through his body. Shots were fired everywhere. Mohammed could see other cars being shot. The Blackwater guards were firing indiscriminately. Iraqi traffic police initially tried to wave down the Blackwater men that there was no threat, but they too had to run for cover. Mohammed kept seeing the man on the ground next to him being fired upon as he lay dead. Machine gunfire would cause his lifeless body to shake in his pool of blood. In the middle of the attack, Mohammed could not understand why this man lying dead was a target. He could not understand what was happening or why. But he knew he was surviving as he kept yelling for the children in the back of his SUV to stay down.
The shooting ended as suddenly as it started. The four armored vehicles drove away. Everything was eerily quiet. Mohammed had not been shot. His sister was safe. He thought they had been given a miracle after he saw so many others killed. Then one of his sister’s children said that Ali was hurt.
Mohammed quickly got out of the car and saw blood inside the rear window. Ali was slumped over against the glass. When Mohammed opened the door, his son fell toward him as his skull opened and a large part of Ali’s brain fell onto the pavement between his father’s feet. Video of the aftermath includes an image of a human brain on the road in Nisour Square.
Mohammed turned his bullet-riddled SUV around and drove back to the closest hospital only a few blocks behind him. He was driving on flat tires and with a shattered windshield. The headrest next to him where his sister sat had a bullet hole through it. It was as if someone had targeted the area in his SUV where a person’s head would have been. Mohammed knew his son’s injuries were fatal, but he had to try. When he arrived at the hospital, it was a war zone. Victims were everywhere. More were arriving in the backs of trucks. The hallways were full. It was chaotic.
Mohammed forced a doctor to look at Ali. They could not do anything for him. He was told that he had to go to a neurologic hospital on the other side of Baghdad. An ambulance was called, and Ali and Mohammad were rushed to the other side of town. As Mohammed held his son’s hand, he convulsed and died in the back of the ambulance.
My law firm received a call from an immigration attorney the next year seeking representation for the Blackwater’s victims, and I was eventually retained to represent the Kinani family in a civil lawsuit against Blackwater, Prince, and various other Blackwater companies — and, of course, the men who were charged and eventually convicted of murder, manslaughter, and weapons charges for their conduct. The civil lawsuit was filed as a wrongful death and personal injury suit against the men and companies responsible for my clients’ losses.
In addition to the Kinani family, I represented five other families and victims. Abraham Al Mafrage was a 70-year-old farmer and father of seven who was also shot in the head and died that day. He was shot while seated in a public bus.
Mahde Shamke was 25 years old and driving a taxi to support his parents and siblings. He was shot through the back with a massive exit wound in his chest. He died in the hospital hallway surrounded by family as he was asking for water. He never received treatment. The hospital was too busy. He lay in the hallway for an hour before he died.
Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer. He was shot through the roof of his car as the Blackwater convoy drove past firing down into traffic. He suffered from his wounds for over a year until he died from a brain injury.
Majid Al Kareem was 51 years old when he was shot. He was in the car next to Mohammed. It was his business partner who lay in the pool of blood and was repeatedly shot. Majid survived because he was on the passenger side of the car and was protected from most of the barrage of bullets. He was shot in the abdomen. He was left with shrapnel in his body from the rocket launched grenade that was fired into his vehicle as he escaped.
Nassar Hamza was 67 years old when he was shot and wounded in the arm. He received poor treatment because his injuries were less life threatening, but he was left with a disfigured and useless arm.
Spring flowers are planted in Nisour Square, the site of a deadly shootout by Blackwater private security contractors in 2007, in Baghdad on April 15, 2015. Photo: Karim Kadim/AP
It was an honor to represent these victims and their families. I know that each of them placed great faith in the U.S. legal system. Each time the criminal charges were seemed lost, the U.S. Department of Justice told them they were not forgotten — that we would continue to pursue the convictions of those who committed the crimes against them.
It was not an easy path in either the civil or criminal legal system. Blackwater and its employees had been given immunity from any criminal or civil exposure in Iraq — that was part of Prince’s contract with the State Department. The only way these men could be brought to justice was in the United States. When the first indictments were dismissed on New Year’s Eve in 2009, they were told that the prosecutions would continue. Then-Vice President Joe Biden held a press conference to tell the citizens of Iraq that they would not be abandoned. Each step of the way, the U.S. legal system ensured that these men were given fair and just prosecutions. When Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten was tried and convicted for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, the U.S. legal system determined that he needed a new trial.
The result of the long legal battle is that each man was ensured a fair trial, free of partiality and without unjust favor. Likewise, the civil case ran through North Carolina state court, was removed to federal court, and then sent back to state court. During the litigation, an appeal was ongoing in the 4h Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Again, the result was the civil legal system exhausting every defense afforded to Blackwater and the men.
Our civil case resulted in a resolution that was acceptable to the parties. The convictions made the victims feel that justice had been obtained. The U.S. legal system, a pillar of fairness in the world, had worked. That changed yesterday with President Donald Trump’s pardons.
I commented when the convictions were first brought that I was certain my clients who were still residents of Iraq were pleased to know that justice had been served. When Slatten’s conviction was overturned, I was concerned that the case would be ignored. It wasn’t. He was ensured a fair trial and convicted for his crimes. Again, I knew my clients would be pleased to know that justice had been served and their rights had been protected. That’s what lawyers do in the United States: We fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. I felt I had done that, and I knew the prosecutors were doing that.
The Nisour Square massacre was the FBI’s most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. Dozens of witnesses were brought to the United States to testify about what happened on September 16, 2007. The efforts of the investigators, the prosecutors, and the men and women who supported them was immeasurable. The expense was to show the people of Iraq that the U.S. government would hold people accountable for their crimes, no matter when or where they were committed.
It is unfortunate and sad that those efforts have now been wasted. These men will now be free, despite their crimes, and they will not serve the time in prison they deserved. My clients assuredly feel ignored, mistreated, and used. Their belief in our legal system was misplaced. The result is not just that we see an injustice in the United States, but that the world must surely see cracks in the pillars of justice upon which our system is based. That may be the overriding damage caused by these pardons.


theintercept--2020-12-23--Investigator: DNC Was “Directly Involved” in Iowa Caucus App Development, Countering DNC Denial

refused to cooperate with investigators and was “ directly involved in the development process ” of the infamous Shadow app ahead of the 2020 Iowa caucuses .
That ’ s the conclusion of the former U.S. attorney leading the investigation into what went wrong during the first-in-the-nation caucuses , as relayed to the Iowa State Democratic Party in a closed-session meeting last week , according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by The Intercept .
“ The DNC was directly involved in the development process , ” Nicholas Klinefeldt , a former federal attorney appointed by President Barack Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ steering committee in the December 12 meeting about the findings of an investigation he led alongside former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell .
Klinefeldt ’ s revelation about the committee ’ s involvement counters the DNC ’ s claim it made immediately after the Iowa caucuses .
Back then , the DNC claimed it had “ absolutely no involvement ” in the development or coding of the Shadow app , which was supposed to record and report caucus results .
When Third District state party member Kim Callahan asked investigators to expand on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failed to elaborate , simply confirming that the DNC wouldn ’ t cooperate with its investigation .
Without the DNC ’ s cooperation in the probe , investigators were hamstrung .
“ There seemed to be a great deal of culpability by the DNC , ” Jim Bunton , a Third District Iowa state party member , said to Klinefeldt in the meeting .
“ There doesn ’ t seem to be a lot of cooperation from the DNC from what you ’ re saying .
… How can we hope to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Because the actor we can ’ t control is the DNC.
” In the closed-session state party meeting , Third District state party member Gabriel De La Cerda asked the attorneys leading the investigation if it was correct that the state party , and Shadow app , had the correct results on caucus night for the delegates won — 26.2 percent for Pete Buttigieg , and 26.1 percent for Bernie Sanders — and could have reported it if not for the DNC ’ s demand not to .
Part of the delay was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to , for the first time , release popular vote totals , which proved more difficult than tabulating delegates .
“ On election night , we knew it was going to be a one-tenth percentage difference ” between pledged delegates won , De La Cerda said .
Klinefeldt conceded : “ They were in fact the same as the results that were finally reported.
” In a statement to Politico , DNC spokesperson David Bergstein said , “ Evaluating the nominating process always happens following the election so that DNC staff can remain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and this cycle that work helped contribute to President-Elect Biden ’ s historic victory.
” The DNC-mandated several-day delay in reporting results led Buttigieg to infamously declare victory without any actual results released , with the Sanders campaign claiming its internal results showed it had won the popular vote .
The mainstream media elevated the former South Bend , Indiana , mayor ’ s victory narrative , boosting him in polls for the New Hampshire primary , set eight days after the Iowa caucuses .
“ The whole thing didn ’ t feel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intrusion into the Iowa process didn ’ t feel right , ” James Zogby , a 28-year DNC member who supported Bernie Sanders ’ s candidacy , told The Intercept .
The DNC ’ s meddling , which included a last-minute demand that developers of the Shadow app create a special software that would allow the DNC real-time access to the raw numbers before they went public , didn ’ t sit well with Zogby .
“ Why would [ the DNC ] need to see that ?
” Zogby said about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the raw caucus results before they went public .
“ Why wouldn ’ t you trust the state party to make the determination ?
” In the transcript from the closed-session meeting held by the state party , members suggested that the DNC ’ s goal was to strip Iowa of its prestigious first-in-the-nation status .
“ I think we ’ re all aware that the DNC wants us to no longer have first-in-nation status specifically with caucuses , ” De La Cerda said , before asking the attorney in charge of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potentially changing the Iowa caucuses to a ranked-choice voting system in the future .
In the meeting , attorneys Klinefeldt and Campbell stressed their review didn ’ t “ use any sort of legal compulsory process ” to obtain documents or other information in this case .
When Second District state party member Wesley Clemens asked if the attorneys had looked into any financial records as part of their inquiry , the attorneys said they looked at contracts between the Shadow app and others .
The Shadow app was developed by veterans of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Buttigieg ’ s campaign used the firm Shadow Inc. as a vendor , paying the developer $ 42,500 for text messaging software .
State party members received the caucus report at the beginning of the closed-session meeting ; soon after , before they could read it , details of it were published by Politico .
“ We ’ re already getting information from the press that the report , as I feared , would be [ leaked ] as soon as it was released to the State Central Committee , ” state party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state party member Lindsey Ellickson later added , “ It ’ s been two minutes since we got the report , so I feel like the report had to have been leaked honestly even before this.
” A state party source told The Intercept that the refusal of high-ranking DNC executives , including Chair Tom Perez , to cooperate undermined the credibility of the caucus investigation .
State members also suspect that DNC members leaked details of the report to Politico before state party members received it .
“ Without knowing exactly who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went , I think the DNC has to work with the state party in Iowa to figure out what didn ’ t work in terms of that app and also what ’ s a good process for 2024 so that small states have representation and not just large states like California , ” Larry Cohen , board chair of progressive group Our Revolution , told The Intercept .
On January 23 , the Iowa State Democratic Party will hold elections for a new chair ; Smith , who took over after Chair Troy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said he will not seek reelection .
Perez also has announced plans to step down as DNC chair .

The Democratic National Committee refused to cooperate with investigators and was “directly involved in the development process” of the infamous Shadow app ahead of the 2020 Iowa caucuses. That’s the conclusion of the former U.S. attorney leading the investigation into what went wrong during the first-in-the-nation caucuses, as relayed to the Iowa State Democratic Party in a closed-session meeting last week, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by The Intercept.
“The DNC was directly involved in the development process,” Nicholas Klinefeldt, a former federal attorney appointed by President Barack Obama, told the Iowa Democratic Party state steering committee in the December 12 meeting about the findings of an investigation he led alongside former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell.
Klinefeldt’s revelation about the committee’s involvement counters the DNC’s claim it made immediately after the Iowa caucuses. Back then, the DNC claimed it had “absolutely no involvement” in the development or coding of the Shadow app, which was supposed to record and report caucus results.
When Third District state party member Kim Callahan asked investigators to expand on the DNC’s involvement, they failed to elaborate, simply confirming that the DNC wouldn’t cooperate with its investigation.
Without the DNC’s cooperation in the probe, investigators were hamstrung. “There seemed to be a great deal of culpability by the DNC,” Jim Bunton, a Third District Iowa state party member, said to Klinefeldt in the meeting. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of cooperation from the DNC from what you’re saying. … How can we hope to have a better outcome next time around? Because the actor we can’t control is the DNC.”
In the closed-session state party meeting, Third District state party member Gabriel De La Cerda asked the attorneys leading the investigation if it was correct that the state party, and Shadow app, had the correct results on caucus night for the delegates won — 26.2 percent for Pete Buttigieg, and 26.1 percent for Bernie Sanders — and could have reported it if not for the DNC’s demand not to. Part of the delay was related to the party’s promise to, for the first time, release popular vote totals, which proved more difficult than tabulating delegates.
“On election night, we knew it was going to be a one-tenth percentage difference” between pledged delegates won, De La Cerda said. Klinefeldt conceded: “They were in fact the same as the results that were finally reported.”
In a statement to Politico, DNC spokesperson David Bergstein said, “Evaluating the nominating process always happens following the election so that DNC staff can remain focused on winning the general election, and this cycle that work helped contribute to President-Elect Biden’s historic victory.”
The DNC-mandated several-day delay in reporting results led Buttigieg to infamously declare victory without any actual results released, with the Sanders campaign claiming its internal results showed it had won the popular vote. The mainstream media elevated the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s victory narrative, boosting him in polls for the New Hampshire primary, set eight days after the Iowa caucuses.
“The whole thing didn’t feel right, the whole [DNC] intrusion into the Iowa process didn’t feel right,” James Zogby, a 28-year DNC member who supported Bernie Sanders’s candidacy, told The Intercept.
The DNC’s meddling, which included a last-minute demand that developers of the Shadow app create a special software that would allow the DNC real-time access to the raw numbers before they went public, didn’t sit well with Zogby.
“Why would [the DNC] need to see that?” Zogby said about the DNC’s insistence on access to the raw caucus results before they went public. “Why wouldn’t you trust the state party to make the determination?”
In the transcript from the closed-session meeting held by the state party, members suggested that the DNC’s goal was to strip Iowa of its prestigious first-in-the-nation status.
“I think we’re all aware that the DNC wants us to no longer have first-in-nation status specifically with caucuses,” De La Cerda said, before asking the attorney in charge of the investigation a question about the legality of potentially changing the Iowa caucuses to a ranked-choice voting system in the future.
In the meeting, attorneys Klinefeldt and Campbell stressed their review didn’t “use any sort of legal compulsory process” to obtain documents or other information in this case. When Second District state party member Wesley Clemens asked if the attorneys had looked into any financial records as part of their inquiry, the attorneys said they looked at contracts between the Shadow app and others. The Shadow app was developed by veterans of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Buttigieg’s campaign used the firm Shadow Inc. as a vendor, paying the developer $42,500 for text messaging software.
State party members received the caucus report at the beginning of the closed-session meeting; soon after, before they could read it, details of it were published by Politico.
“We’re already getting information from the press that the report, as I feared, would be [leaked] as soon as it was released to the State Central Committee,” state party Chair Mark Smith said. First District state party member Lindsey Ellickson later added, “It’s been two minutes since we got the report, so I feel like the report had to have been leaked honestly even before this.”
A state party source told The Intercept that the refusal of high-ranking DNC executives, including Chair Tom Perez, to cooperate undermined the credibility of the caucus investigation. State members also suspect that DNC members leaked details of the report to Politico before state party members received it.
“Without knowing exactly who at the DNC, or how that went, I think the DNC has to work with the state party in Iowa to figure out what didn’t work in terms of that app and also what’s a good process for 2024 so that small states have representation and not just large states like California,” Larry Cohen, board chair of progressive group Our Revolution, told The Intercept.
On January 23, the Iowa State Democratic Party will hold elections for a new chair; Smith, who took over after Chair Troy Price resigned a week after the caucuses, said he will not seek reelection. Perez also has announced plans to step down as DNC chair.


theintercept--2020-12-24--On Christmas, America Celebrates the Birth of Reverse Jesus

beautiful memories of Christmas as a child .
By age 6 , I learned I could get out of church on Christmas Eve just by refusing to get dressed , a crucial lesson in the power of Gandhian passive resistance .
There were always gifts under our tree purportedly from our cat , which taught me how much fun it is to create elaborate myths with only the loosest basis in reality .
I still have a pirate ornament I had received after performing at age 12 in “ The Pirates of Penzance , ” together with a future “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ specializing in quantum information .
But it was difficult then , and is impossible now , to believe that any of it had anything to do with the supposed subject of the holiday : i.e.
, the birth of Jesus .
In fact , Christmas in the United States is the negation of that event .
It ’ s a berserk bacchanal celebrating an Opposite Jesus , like one from the mirror image “ Star Trek ” universe with a muscle shirt and a goatee .
There ’ s a surprisingly small amount @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being born .
But if we were actually to use it as a basis for Christmas , there are some basic things we could do .
In Matthew 1:20 , an angel tells Joseph not to be upset that Mary is with child : “ Joseph , thou son of David , fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
” This suggests that Christmas would be a good day not to hassle women about how they got pregnant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the angel Gabriel tells Mary , “ thy cousin Elisabeth , she hath also conceived a son in her old age.
” Elisabeth was over 60 , so again , Christmas should be a time to remember that this is an area of life where pretty much anything can happen , and we shouldn ’ t get uptight about it .
In Matthew 2:21 , we learn that the three wise men “ presented unto him gifts ; gold , and frankincense , and myrrh.
” Thus , on Christmas , we should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with one-third of the gifts precious metals and two-thirds some kind of resin .
More seriously , a biblically based Christmas could also take as its inspiration the teachings of Jesus when he grew up .
Thomas Jefferson believed that the Bible contained “ a groundwork of vulgar ignorance , of things impossible , of superstitions , fanaticisms and fabrications ” — but that this was mixed with “ aphorisms and precepts of the purest morality and benevolence , sanctioned by a life of humility , innocence and simplicity of manners , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ absence of worldly ambition and honors.
” So Jefferson took a razor to a copy of the Bible and sliced out everything he considered to be nonsense , and then stitched back together what remained .
The core of the Jefferson Bible is the Sermon on the Mount .
In it , Jesus teaches us : “ Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
” In the United States , 64 percent of people with a diagnosed mental illness say the holidays make their condition somewhat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that 22 percent of Americans are somewhat lonely during the holidays , and an additional 19 percent are extremely lonely .
Both surveys were conducted in pre-pandemic years .
These results should be no surprise since U.S. society is more atomized than any that ’ s ever existed in human history , with an economy that rips families and communities into shreds and redistributes their members wherever is most profitable .
“ Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth.
” Certainly this has never been true at any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the meek are being actively disinherited just before the holiday .
They may receive $ 600 apiece from a coronavirus relief bill , or $ 2,000 , or there may be no coronavirus relief bill at all — but what ’ s certain is that the wealth of America ’ s 10 richest billionaires has risen by $ 400 billion during the pandemic .
Meanwhile , the federal moratorium on evictions is set to expire on December 31 , leaving at least 30 million Americans at risk of being thrown out of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and President Donald Trump may veto , extends the moratorium by one munificent month .
“ Blessed are the peacemakers : for they shall be called the children of God.
” “ Resist not evil : but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek , turn to him the other also.
” “ Love your enemies.
” Trump used Christmas Eve last year for a video call with U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan , Kuwait , and the Gulf of Aden , telling them , “ You ’ re tremendous warriors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” On Christmas Eve in 2012 , Barack Obama ’ s administration conducted two drone strikes in Yemen , killing seven .
On Christmas Day of 2013 , a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan obliterated four people , with a Pakistani newspaper reporting that their bodies were so charred they could not be identified .
In 2016 , Obama visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Christmas to tell troops there that being commander in chief of America ’ s military had been “ the privilege of my life.
” “ When thou prayest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hypocrites are : for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets , that they may be seen of men .
… But thou , when thou prayest , enter into thy closet , and when thou hast shut thy door , pray to thy Father which is in secret.
” There could not be a clearer admonition against organized religion of any kind .
Yet half of Americans celebrate Jesus ’ s birth by attending Christmas services .
“ Forgive us our debts , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.
” The National Retail Federation estimates that we ’ ll spend over $ 750 billion on holiday sales this year , with the majority of that going toward gifts .
A 2019 survey found that about half of Americans will take on debt for holiday expenses , with only half of those expecting to be able to pay it back within three months .
Meanwhile , Visa and Mastercard are the 13th and 15th largest corporations in the United States , precisely because they facilitate trillions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forgiven .
Finally , “ whosoever heareth these sayings of mine , and doeth them , I will liken him unto a wise man , which built his house upon a rock .
… Every one that heareth these sayings of mine , and doeth them not , shall be likened unto a foolish man , which built his house upon the sand.
” Perhaps there ’ s a loophole here for Americans , because it ’ s not clear how many of us have ever actually heard these sayings .
Our house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rock and sand , such as low-quality concrete .
So Christmas is America ’ s top Opposite Day , when up is down , day is night , and Donald Trump will be named the lead dancer for the New York City Ballet .
But it ’ s by no means our only Opposite Day .
Indeed , our Reverse Christmas is only possible because it ’ s just a modest extension of our standard modus operandi : To a greater or lesser degree , every day is Opposite Day in America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s novel “ 1984 ” was published in 1949 .
Orwell thought he was making an exaggerated satirical joke by naming Oceania ’ s war ministry the Ministry of Peace .
That same year , the U.S. Department of War renamed itself the Department of Defense .
A good rule of thumb is that a country ’ s soldiers are generally only defending a country if they ’ re inside that country .
Now , every day , the news media informs us how the Defense Department is defending us by doing things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , one of the possible questions on the U.S. naturalization test is “ What is the economic system of the United States ?
” There are two correct answers : “ Capitalism ” or “ Free market economy.
” It should therefore be obvious that whenever Wall Street or powerful corporations face disaster , the federal government leaps to rescue them with trillions of dollars .
Likewise , the five biggest U.S. companies — Apple , Microsoft , Amazon , Google , and Facebook — exist solely because massive government spending developed computers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interventions in the marketplace protect the companies ’ intellectual property .
The list goes on and on .
We love freedom , which is why we incarcerate more people per capita than any other country on Earth .
We believe in the value and dignity of work , which is why the minimum wage is $ 7.25 an hour , or $ 2.13 if you ’ re waitstaff .
We treasure free speech , so sitcoms will yank an episode if they ’ re scared it will make the president mad , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might anger big advertisers , and we claim the authority to prosecute an Australian for committing journalism in Malaysia , Iceland and the Netherlands .
In theory , Christmas should be the perfect time for Americans to sit and think about all of this — all the evidence that we have a propaganda system more enveloping and effective than any country besides North Korea .
But that would require taking the theoretical meaning of Christmas seriously .
So we won ’ t .
We ’ re too busy getting ready for the next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who we say we are .

Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images
I have many beautiful memories of Christmas as a child. By age 6, I learned I could get out of church on Christmas Eve just by refusing to get dressed, a crucial lesson in the power of Gandhian passive resistance. There were always gifts under our tree purportedly from our cat, which taught me how much fun it is to create elaborate myths with only the loosest basis in reality. I still have a pirate ornament I had received after performing at age 12 in “The Pirates of Penzance,” together with a future “Daily Show” correspondent and a physicist specializing in quantum information.
But it was difficult then, and is impossible now, to believe that any of it had anything to do with the supposed subject of the holiday: i.e., the birth of Jesus. In fact, Christmas in the United States is the negation of that event. It’s a berserk bacchanal celebrating an Opposite Jesus, like one from the mirror image “Star Trek” universe with a muscle shirt and a goatee.
There’s a surprisingly small amount of material in the Bible about Jesus being born. But if we were actually to use it as a basis for Christmas, there are some basic things we could do.
In Matthew 1:20, an angel tells Joseph not to be upset that Mary is with child: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” This suggests that Christmas would be a good day not to hassle women about how they got pregnant.
Then, in Luke 1:26, the angel Gabriel tells Mary, “thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age.” Elisabeth was over 60, so again, Christmas should be a time to remember that this is an area of life where pretty much anything can happen, and we shouldn’t get uptight about it.
In Matthew 2:21, we learn that the three wise men “presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” Thus, on Christmas, we should give presents, but only to newborns, with one-third of the gifts precious metals and two-thirds some kind of resin.
More seriously, a biblically based Christmas could also take as its inspiration the teachings of Jesus when he grew up. Thomas Jefferson believed that the Bible contained “a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstitions, fanaticisms and fabrications” — but that this was mixed with “aphorisms and precepts of the purest morality and benevolence, sanctioned by a life of humility, innocence and simplicity of manners, neglect of riches, [and] absence of worldly ambition and honors.” So Jefferson took a razor to a copy of the Bible and sliced out everything he considered to be nonsense, and then stitched back together what remained.
The core of the Jefferson Bible is the Sermon on the Mount. In it, Jesus teaches us: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In the United States, 64 percent of people with a diagnosed mental illness say the holidays make their condition somewhat or a lot worse. Another poll found that 22 percent of Americans are somewhat lonely during the holidays, and an additional 19 percent are extremely lonely. Both surveys were conducted in pre-pandemic years. These results should be no surprise since U.S. society is more atomized than any that’s ever existed in human history, with an economy that rips families and communities into shreds and redistributes their members wherever is most profitable.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Certainly this has never been true at any American Christmas. But in 2020, the meek are being actively disinherited just before the holiday. They may receive $600 apiece from a coronavirus relief bill, or $2,000, or there may be no coronavirus relief bill at all — but what’s certain is that the wealth of America’s 10 richest billionaires has risen by $400 billion during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the federal moratorium on evictions is set to expire on December 31, leaving at least 30 million Americans at risk of being thrown out of their homes. The bill that Congress passed, and President Donald Trump may veto, extends the moratorium by one munificent month.
Related Merry Christmas, America! Let’s Remember the Children Who Live in Fear of Our Killer Drones.
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” “Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” “Love your enemies.” Trump used Christmas Eve last year for a video call with U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and the Gulf of Aden, telling them, “You’re tremendous warriors, and we appreciate it so much.” On Christmas Eve in 2012, Barack Obama’s administration conducted two drone strikes in Yemen, killing seven. On Christmas Day of 2013, a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan obliterated four people, with a Pakistani newspaper reporting that their bodies were so charred they could not be identified. In 2016, Obama visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Christmas to tell troops there that being commander in chief of America’s military had been “the privilege of my life.”
“When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. … But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.” There could not be a clearer admonition against organized religion of any kind. Yet half of Americans celebrate Jesus’s birth by attending Christmas services.
“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.” The National Retail Federation estimates that we’ll spend over $750 billion on holiday sales this year, with the majority of that going toward gifts. A 2019 survey found that about half of Americans will take on debt for holiday expenses, with only half of those expecting to be able to pay it back within three months. Meanwhile, Visa and Mastercard are the 13th and 15th largest corporations in the United States, precisely because they facilitate trillions in loans that won’t be forgiven.
Finally, “whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. … Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” Perhaps there’s a loophole here for Americans, because it’s not clear how many of us have ever actually heard these sayings. Our house may be built on something in between a rock and sand, such as low-quality concrete.
Indeed, our Reverse Christmas is only possible because it’s just a modest extension of our standard modus operandi: To a greater or lesser degree, every day is Opposite Day in America.
So Christmas is America’s top Opposite Day, when up is down, day is night, and Donald Trump will be named the lead dancer for the New York City Ballet. But it’s by no means our only Opposite Day. Indeed, our Reverse Christmas is only possible because it’s just a modest extension of our standard modus operandi: To a greater or lesser degree, every day is Opposite Day in America.
For instance, George Orwell’s novel “1984” was published in 1949. Orwell thought he was making an exaggerated satirical joke by naming Oceania’s war ministry the Ministry of Peace. That same year, the U.S. Department of War renamed itself the Department of Defense. A good rule of thumb is that a country’s soldiers are generally only defending a country if they’re inside that country. Now, every day, the news media informs us how the Defense Department is defending us by doing things 7,000 miles away from America.
Likewise, one of the possible questions on the U.S. naturalization test is “What is the economic system of the United States?” There are two correct answers: “Capitalism” or “Free market economy.” It should therefore be obvious that whenever Wall Street or powerful corporations face disaster, the federal government leaps to rescue them with trillions of dollars. Likewise, the five biggest U.S. companies — Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook — exist solely because massive government spending developed computers and the internet, and massive government interventions in the marketplace protect the companies’ intellectual property.
The list goes on and on. We love freedom, which is why we incarcerate more people per capita than any other country on Earth. We believe in the value and dignity of work, which is why the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, or $2.13 if you’re waitstaff. We treasure free speech, so sitcoms will yank an episode if they’re scared it will make the president mad, “Saturday Night Live” kills segments that might anger big advertisers, and we claim the authority to prosecute an Australian for committing journalism in Malaysia, Iceland and the Netherlands.
In theory, Christmas should be the perfect time for Americans to sit and think about all of this — all the evidence that we have a propaganda system more enveloping and effective than any country besides North Korea. But that would require taking the theoretical meaning of Christmas seriously. So we won’t. We’re too busy getting ready for the next year of being exactly the opposite of who we say we are.