Jesse Eisinger

ProPublica AME. New book: Make Them Pay: Pulitzer-winner. GB Packers.

[Jesse Eisinger @eisingerj]

New title! Cover art!

Book coming early next year (we hope)

[Avi Asher-Schapiro @AASchapiro]

Susan Collins & her staff have tried to debunk our reporting.

They've said we took the word of a convicted felon, that the Biden FBI cleared her, & that we're regurgitating 7 year old allegations.

None of that is true.

Read our rebuttal:

https://t.co/FeryLHB4D8

[William Turton @WilliamTurton]

https://t.co/UkkT6HaWav

[William Turton @WilliamTurton]

NEW STORY: Susan Collins Dismissed Our Reporting as Old News. Some of Her Claims Aren’t True. https://t.co/UtMpa4iJ6B

[William Turton @WilliamTurton]

Thanks to @hasanthehun for the in-depth interview.

[Collins Watch @CollinsWatch]

.@propublica reporter @mtredden.bsky.social
pushes back on Susan Collins claim that there's nothing to see here because she was exonerated on all this years ago. #MEpolitics

[ProPublica @propublica]

Senator Collins’ office says we “took the word of someone who pled guilty,” but ProPublica conducted its own investigation of the former CEO’s assertions. We have the receipts.

Our reporters independently corroborated much of the account by former Navatek CEO Martin Kao by reviewing a trove of evidence, legal records and interviewing dozens of people. And we reported that anti-corruption agents at the FBI were asking questions about Susan Collins as recently as late 2024. But after the reelection of President Trump, the FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption probes were dismantled.

Here is the full story:
https://t.co/8Rx3utdHBJ

[Avi Asher-Schapiro @AASchapiro]

Agreed - @nickgrube did fantastic work — and we link to his story in the piece: https://t.co/PUP2nEH34T

[Fenit Nirappil @FenitN]

ProPublica has the emails to reinforce this story, including this stunning one between the head of Collins’s super PAC and a contractor

[Chuck Todd @chucktodd]

The sad fact about this story is that there are a lot of people in DC who will read this and simply shrug and say, “it’s just the way Washington has worked for decades.” And I’m sure senators (who should be quaking about a story like this) have instead convinced themselves that this isn’t even illegal and if it is, it will take years (or never) for law enforcement to build a case. The swamp is a real thing, this admin didn’t drain it, they monetized it. There’s an extra layer of rot in this town at the moment and everyone who has lived and worked here for a while knows it.

[Avi Asher-Schapiro @AASchapiro]

Before Trump returned to office, the FBI obtained an extraordinary document: a 50 page confession from a defense contractor named Martin Kao.

What he told them was shocking: he had bribed members of Congress.

His most important patron, he said, was Senator Susan Collins.

[Senator John Curtis @SenJohnCurtis]

A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else. Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now. ‘Trust us’ was not enough then, and it is not enough now.

[Tim Miller @Timodc]

@propublica Holy shit Cleta Mitchell - Trump lawyer who was on the Raffensperger call - hatches a plan to cover-up Collins' bribery by having a sham nonprofit called "Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers" make a few other donations. Zoolander meets ABSCAM.
https://t.co/ST0ZHVH9te

[Molly Redden @mtredden]

Exclusive: In late 2024, FBI agents were looking at Sen. Susan Collins’ role in a massive illegal bribery scheme alleged by a former federal contractor. Then Trump gutted the FBI and DOJ, leaving no one to carry on the investigation – it’s dead. 🧵

[Jesse Eisinger @eisingerj]

Story here from @WilliamTurton, @AASchapiro, @mtredden & @kirstenberg:

https://t.co/c3XnBxhELO

[Jesse Eisinger @eisingerj]

NEW: In ‘24, the FBI sought to launch a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins.

Then Trump eviscerated the FBI & DOJ public corruption teams.

ProPublica unearthed the investigation and you can read it 👇

[Chris Cillizza @ChrisCillizza]

An absolutely *stunning* chart via @axios on how search has collapsed as a traffic driver for legacy media

[Joe Colangelo @Itsjoeco]

Life comes at you fast.

[Jesse Eisinger @eisingerj]

Note to the media that runs with this claim:

-How much did he pay back?
-When?
-Why?
-What prompted it?
-N.B.: Probably shouldn't agree to a background source.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Q: Was it appropriate for your son to accept the gift for the payment of some of his wedding festivities. 

Trump: Well, it's totally allowed, as I understand it, he paid him back. I guess a friend of his, gave him a wedding party. That's very common. I've heard of many people giving wedding parties. I’ve given many parties.

[David Weigel @daveweigel]

“Trump Derangement Syndrome” is a fun little concept.

There absolutely are normal Trump decisions that make people madder bc they dislike him so much. But if you’d said two years ago, “Trump will threaten to bulldoze the Kennedy Center unless his name is on it,” you’d have been hospitalized for late stage TDS.

[Matt Stoller @matthewstoller]

OpenAI's President Greg Brockman, when told his company had hacked the NYT paywall to scrape the site, responded with "ah nice."

That's a straightforward criminal violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. OpenAI executives in jail.