Last fall, @propublica.org and @documented.net broke the story that Russell Vought, Trump’s current budget chief, said he planned to put career civil servants “in trauma.” Now, we're investigating the full extent of Vought's impact on the federal government. We need your help… 🧵 1/

“It is hard to see how Sinema can credibly argue that luxury hotels, meal expenses, and extensive air travel are connected to her candidacy or officeholder duties, given that she is no longer a candidate or officeholder,” I told @NOTUSreports. A few thoughts: 🧵

Each move, in isolation, might be defensible. But taken together, they reveal a pattern: empower MAGA-aligned groups and donors, and disempower everyone else. This is not principled policymaking, but instead part of an effort to tilt the playing field. (end)

— The Trump administration is refusing to defend a campaign finance law that limits how much parties can spend in coordination with candidates—after GOP committees sued to overturn it, and despite objections from Democratic committees. 6/

The Trump admin’s move to let churches engage in partisan politics is part of a broader strategy to loosen the rules when it benefits MAGA allies, and tighten them when it hurts the opposition. 🧵 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/u...

Bottom line: Trump's latest effort to profit off the presidency creates deep conflicts of interest—and new vulnerabilities to foreign influence. (end)

Alternatively, China could offer Trump’s companies targeted deals to win concessions from the administration, even if granting those concessions may not advance American interests. 4/

If the Trump family is serious about building these phones in the US, then President Trump now has a personal financial stake in tariff and trade negotiations. It also means that China has a potentially new source of leverage over the president. Both raise major conflict of interests. 1/

One implication of Trump’s plan to sell green cards for $5 million is that it would allow foreign billionaires and oligarchs to start legally pouring money into U.S. elections (including into Trump’s political operation).

The Elon Musk-backed, Trump-aligned dark money group Building America’s Future is behind the multi-million dollar “Make America Affordable Again” ad campaign pushing "lawsuit reform," FCC records show.

SLOW BURN: Seven months after @propublica.org + @documented.net exposed Russ Vought's plan to put federal workers "in trauma," he's still getting asked about it. This time on CNN's flagship Sunday show. He doesn't look comfortable responding to it: www.yahoo.com/news/trump-o...

Irony is not dead: Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Jones is asking people to fork over between $500-$2,000 for a June 25th fundraiser titled, "Surviving the Swamp." 🤔 Check out the invite in our Swamp Dollars database: documented.net/swamp-dollar...

The fundraising never stops: From golf outings to happy hours, politicians are schmoozing all around the Washington, DC area. You can see a whole list of political invites from Reps like Jefferson Shreve, Scott Fitzgerald, Blake Moore, John James and more: documented.net/swamp-dollar...

This week’s main story is about the Alliance Defending Freedom, the landmark Supreme Court cases they’ve been behind, and how obsessed they are with the word “winsome.” It’s inexplicable. They could just say “appealing” but no. It’s winsome this, winsome that. Absolutely baffling stuff. You’ll see.

Our Tweet Ended Kathleen Sgamma’s Bid to Lead Trump Public Lands Agency www.theshakedown.documented.net/p/tweet-kath...

"This week, the investigative news outlet Documented published a memo it had obtained showing that Ms. Sgamma had criticized President Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol." -- @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/c...

It comes after the investigative group Documented on Tuesday released a 2021 letter in which Sgamma wrote that she was “disgusted” by Trump “spreading misinformation” about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Breaking news: Kathleen Sgamma, President Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, abruptly withdrew her nomination Thursday morning, just as her confirmation hearing was about to begin.

Maybe not coincidentily, Sgamma's nomination to lead BLM just got yanked. Her email account still responds to messages with an auto reply saying she's in DC for her nomination hearing.

🚨 Kathleen Sgamma just withdrew her nomination to lead BLM—right before her Senate hearing. Did the recently unearthed memo exposing her past criticism of Trump's election denial play a role?

The Republican State Leadership Committee is hosting a Women's Leadership Summit today and tomorrow in Boca Raton, Florida. For just $10,000 *per attendee* guests can take part in the trip as well as a roundtable discussion with politicians. documented.net/swamp-dollar...

🧵1/ Kathleen Sgamma, Trump’s pick to run the Bureau of Land Management, wrote in 2021 she was "disgusted" by Trump's role "spreading misinformation" on Jan. 6, accusing him of "dishonoring the vote of the People," per a memo to oil execs obtained by @documented.net. Her Senate hearing is Thursday.

Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain is taking a trip to Puerto Rico - and you could join for a cool $1,500 - $5,000 contribution to her reelection campaign. From April 4-6 "Team McCLain" will be staying at the Fairmont El San Juan. documented.net/swamp-dollar...

Thanks for the shoutout! "The story drew on private recordings of a series of speeches given in 2023 and 2024 by Russell Vought obtained by our colleagues at Documented, a news site with a remarkable knack for uncovering information powerful interests would prefer remained secret."

Congrats to @nicksurgey.bsky.social, @andykroll.bsky.social, @phoebepetrovic.bsky.social, and Ava Kofman for being a finalists for the 2025 Toner Prize for Excellence in National Political Reporting for their investigation into Ziklag! news.syr.edu/blog/2025/03...

“Throughout the 2024 cycle, we saw crypto money deployed to take out crypto critics and support crypto backers, and this might be an indication of how crypto not only attacks its enemies, but also also rewards its friends.” - @brendanfischer.bsky.social www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

On March 11, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) will be having a 'Merica Mules' fundraiser to support his reelection campaign. Donors can wet their whistle with the congressman for the cost of $500-$5,000. See more of our political fundraising invites here: documented.net/swamp-dollar...

Utah Congressman Blake Moore is asking public action committees to cough up $5,000 per PAC for a "2025 Season Pass Dinner" fundraiser on March 4. This is part of our log of political fundraisers, Swamp Dollars, and you can find the invite here: documented.net/swamp-dollar...

GOP Chair Lisa McClain is hard at work...fundraising. Donors can get special access to McClain at an upcoming Key Biscayne, Miami fundraiser on 3/1 where tickets run up to $5,000 a head. See more of our political fundraisers in our Swamp Dollars archive: documented.net/swamp-dollar...

The April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court race is attracting major spending from groups backed by Elon Musk and other billionaires. Some examples in this thread:

ICYMI: John Oliver kicked off the 12th season of @lastweektonight.com with a recap of the first month of the Trump admin that featured footage of a private speech by Russ Vought which was obtained by Documented and @propublica.org. Watch the full episode here: youtu.be/cw0F8G4-dMw?...

"Musk-Linked Group Offered $5m for Proof of Voter Fraud – and Came up With Nothing" Check out this great new investigative piece by my colleagues @emmasteiner.bsky.social and @brendanfischer.bsky.social for the @us.theguardian.com. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

NEW from @documented.net + @theguardian.com: An Elon Musk-linked nonprofit, Fair Election Fund, offered a $5M reward for proof of voter fraud. It found… nothing. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

New from @documented.net and @us.theguardian.com: An Elon Musk-linked group, the Fair Election Fund, ran ads calling on "whistleblowers" to report evidence of fraud with promise of a monetary award if they brought forward proof. They found nothing. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Heritage Foundation - the lead org behind Project 2025 - is promoting a new state model bill that would criminalize orgs providing legal or financial assistance to people without legal status to be in the US. Under the act, any org found guilty would lose all state and city licenses to operate.

Adam Piper resigned as the head of the Rule of Law Defense Fund in 2021 following reporting by @documented.net that revealed RLDF paid for a robocall urging Trump supporters to attend the protest that preceded the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. documented.net/reporting/re...

In a guest essay for the @nytimes.com, Thomas Edsall writes that according to Russ Vought, the most effective tool for defanging the deep state is "the attack on job protections for the 50,000 federal workers who manage the details and enforce policy." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/o...

"When they wake up in the morning we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains." Russel Vought's words from 2023 are coming to fruition as Musk wages what the @nytimes.com called an "unchecked war on federal bureaucracy." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/u...

Last week @allinwithchris.bsky.social cited @propublica.org and @documented.net's reporting that revealed Russ Vought promised donors in a private speech to put civil servants "in trauma," a plan that's clearly already underway.

One Project 2025 training video obtained by ProPublica and @documented.net speaks of eliminating gender adviser positions in the federal government, equity task forces and "all the equity plans from all the websites." Published Aug. 2024: propub.li/42FhSHC

President Trump's nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing today.

Russ Vought promised donors that a second Trump admin would put career civil servants "in trauma," according to a recording of a private speech obtained by @documented.net and @propublica.org. It's now clear he wasn't bluffing.

Back in August, when @propublica.org and @documented.net obtained these training videos, this is what Leavitt had to say about Trump and Project 2025: “As our campaign leadership and President Trump have repeatedly stated, Agenda 47 is the only official policy agenda from our campaign.”

April's Wisconsin Supreme Court race will be incredibly expensive, with major stakes for abortion rights and democracy. Elon Musk is weighing in, billionaire Dick Uihlein will surely spend big, and the Kochs spent $1.1M on the race in just the first two weeks of 2025. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/u...

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), one of the right-wing Christian groups responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade, has turned their attention to dismantling diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) programs as part of their broader project to help make the US friendlier to Christians.

This week marked the 15-yr anniversary of Citizens United. @brendanfischer.bsky.social joined @democracynow.org to discuss how the $250M Musk spent on the election would have been impossible before the decision, which paved the way for the huge influence he has. www.democracynow.org/2025/1/22/ci...

Wanna leak to us? Here's how: documented.net/leak-to-us

Commentary: "Without meaningful campaign finance reform — and a Supreme Court that will uphold those reforms — the erosion of our democracy will only accelerate."

NEW: @bloomberg.com's Emily Birnbaum, with video obtained by Documented, uncovers Alliance Defending Freedom's (ADF) pivot from toppling Roe v. Wade to their new crusade against "woke" corporations - pushing their lawyers to help end DEI programs. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...