It takes a lot for a politician to stand out as especially sleazy in this era, but Rep. Cory Mills makes the cut. His district (Florida's 7th, suburbs between Orlando and Daytona Beach) is only rated R+5 and there's a competitive Democratic primary, so hopefully he'll be booted this year.

My profile of Congressman Cory Mills is based on interviews with 18 people who have known the Florida Republican from his youth to the present day. There's stolen valor, a restraining order, a failed grenade company, sex workers, a Trump endorsement, and much much more. Here's what I found.

Here's a three-minute video that goes through my reporting in the profile below. The My Cousin Vinny-esque cross examination at the start alone is worth the watch.

Watch this if you want to see a sitting member of Congress say something obviously false under oath before getting hit with a restraining order. Pro tip: Don't tell a lawyer cross-examining you that your divorce hasn't filed if she is holding your divorce papers in her hand.

You’ve got to click through to really be able to read this, but note that the box on the top right says this will actually be a two-level facility, with around 5,200 beds on the ground floor (if I’m reading the blurry text right) and around 3,100 on the “mezzanine.”

Now that's a lede From @nlanard.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This is just a brutal profile. It's worth noting that FL-7 is only an R+5 district ... www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

We watched more than 50 hours of dashcam and bodycam footage taken from the first night of the ICE sweeps in Nashville in May. During one arrest, an agent finds an immigrant's ID and notes he's a manager at a Mexican restaurant. “The guacamole is never going to taste the same,” the agent laughs.

Incredible read from @nlanard.bsky.social

I spoke with 18 people who've known Florida Republican Congressman Cory Mills. Nearly everyone, I found, dislikes him. As one Army veteran who served with Mills put it, “I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Veterans accuse him of stolen valor. His international arms company is deep in debt. He had a restraining order placed on him last year. And he's widely disliked. Read my profile of Florida Republican Congressman Cory Mills here: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Excellent profile of JB Pritzker by @timothypmurphy.bsky.social that shows the family history behind his efforts to stand up to another very different billionaire www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

spent some time in Chicago, and also at a very nice library at Yale, trying to understand JB Pritzker www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken. Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

Kudos to Mayor Mamdani. This is what economic justice looks like. And it's a reminder of how we can fight corporate greed at the state and local level. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/mamdani-ice-delivery-workers-settlement-backpay-uber-gig-workers-million/

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

I grew up in Minneapolis, and returned last week to find a city that felt like it was under siege—and a city coming together in a way that was unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. Here’s my story: part scene piece, part love letter to my hometown www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Amateur hour in Minneapolis continues, even with Bovino out of the picture. This is indicative of a broader issue with Trump’s mass deportation push; officers aren’t doing even basic investigations (to figure out things like “is this address a consulate”) as pressure to keep up arrests is so high.

Before being pushed out, Greg Bovino was rewarded by the administration for terrorizing residents of cities across the country. It only proved too much when he was too obviously caught lying about the defenseless man his agents killed on camera. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

@nlanard.bsky.social on what the demotion of Bovino does and doesn't mean: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This was the instant response of a doctor who had literally just watched them shoot Pretti.

You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

NEW: Another declaration you have to read! Alex Pretti was shot near the apartment of a doctor, who saw the shooting occur and rushed to provide emergency aid as he lay dying on the street. They describe what they saw: "The victim had at least three bullet holes in his back."

A pediatrician who had to insist on providing assistance to Alex Pretti says immigration agents "appeared to be counting his bullet wounds" instead of checking for a pulse or administering CPR.

A new video contradicts the Trump administration's account of the Minneapolis shooting

NEW REPORTING: “This is fucking crazy, I don’t recognize our country.” We’re on the ground in Minneapolis speaking with enraged and grief-stricken residents after federal agents killed another local in the streets.

Spent a couple minutes with Mayor Mamdani, his team, and taxi drivers this week as he announced his nominee to run the TLC at LaGuardia. Video below on his 15-day hunger strike in 2021 coming full circle

Read @jamespwest.bsky.social reporting from Sydney on this weekend's horrific massacre www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Read this story. @dfriedman.bsky.social asked the Pentagon about Pete Hegseth’s mentor. Then the threats started. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Some details from this investigation: -Friends with a guy convicted of incest -Accused by first of 4 wives of holding a gun to her head -Accused by second wife of owing more than $100,000 in child support -Assaulted an unarmed Black man then lied about it while working as a cop, per police records

MoJo reported on Higgins last year: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

In 2019, a Higgins staffer resigned after police alleged that the staffer was part of a sex-trafficking ring involving Chinese women who were reportedly forced to live and perform sex acts at local massage parlors. (The staffer resigned and charges were not pursued.)

This story also has one of the most memorable quotes I've ever been told. "[Robinson] said she’d recently told a friend concerned for her safety for speaking out that she has “three big dogs and a revolver” and that her address is '123 I Wish A Motherfucker Would.'"

From my investigation last year into Higgins' friendship with Leon Boudreaux, a former cop who was convicted of incest after a teenage relative accused Boudreaux of sexually assaulting her between the ages of 14 and 18. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

with @nlanard.bsky.social we ran the numbers on where Mamdani-mentum peaked—and checked back on the neighborhoods where Democratic support cratered in 2024 www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Wrote about Mamdani’s successful 15-day hunger strike in solidarity with taxi drivers in 2021, what it was like to be there, and how it foreshadowed his campaign www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

DHS often say assaults against ICE officers have skyrocketed, but fails to provide real data to back that up. I reviewed ICE's own Fallen Officers page. It tells a much different story, and shows that none of its officer have been killed by an immigrant since the agency was created.

DHS has said over and over that immigration enforcement is so dangerous that ICE agents needs masks and the military to protect them. ICE's own records show that no ICE agent has ever been killed by an immigrant. Covid-19 is by far the leading cause of death. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

So dangerous that they must be blown into small pieces rather than arrested … unless they are actually captured in which case they may go home with a warning. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...

A solid turnout in Brooklyn for No Kings running along much of Prospect Park

Daniel Levy, the head of the US/Middle East Project, has been one of the sharpest people I've talked to over the past two years about the war in Gaza. Read his take on the ceasefire in the Q&A below. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Read @nlanard.bsky.social on the latest black hole ICE is reporting to with no due process or national connection www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Some background on the absolute monarchy where the Trump administration is now paying to imprison people deported by ICE Story here: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

New: Inside the Kafkaesque legal battle that's resulted from ICE sending people without due process to a maximum security prison in Africa's last remaining absolute monarchy www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

How Robert Malley—a veteran US peace negotiator and the co-author of a new book on the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process— is looking at the recent moves to recognize Palestine. Link to Q&A here: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Really enjoyed doing this Q&A with Robert Malley, the former Clinton, Obama, and Biden foreign policy official whose new book with Hussein Agha pushes readers to think beyond the two-state solution. We also covered Biden's response to October 7 and recent moves to recognize Palestine.