IRJunky

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

Report: Pentagon suspects Israel tried to spy on officials tied to Iran talks https://t.co/9vsoFW2aeG

[Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein]

Bizarre. What rule forbids distribution of copies of a scientific journal article at a medical conference?
https://t.co/ZH8rKAm4Gn

[John Hudson @John_Hudson]

A U.S. intelligence service recently raised the counterintelligence threat level from Israel to the highest level, NBC reports: “The designation stems from concerns within the Pentagon that Israel is making a particular effort to surveil top U.S. officials to get information on internal deliberations” re: Mideast policy https://t.co/WVIgNB8gb8

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

“This is an insane way to run a country. And it’s why Europe and Asia are decoupling from America as fast as possible. I cannot think of another global power that downshifted so quickly from world leader to regional bully without losing a war.

Oh, wait.”

https://t.co/yE6WBRN9fo

[Matthew Levitt @Levitt_Matt]

On Tuesday morning, about 100 State Department officials gathered in the building once known as the U.S. Institute of Peace—now renamed the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace—for an event billed as a “Symposium on the Rise of Far-Left Political Terrorism.” It didn't go so well https://t.co/hI1wU7Masl

[Thomas Bordeaux @ThomasBordeaux7]

@ByChrisGordon It was two direct hits - satellite images and some details on the strikes here at 2:30 https://t.co/em4LpsSI7k

[Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky_en]

Imagine a foreign government doesn't like what your country is doing, and decides to change it. Without asking you.

That's what Putin is doing in the Baltic states. He just got his first big win in Latvia. 🧵 [1/13]

[Robert A. Pape @ProfessorPape]

Everyone watch senior military advisor to Iran supreme leader’s chilling interview to CNN. He makes clear:

Iran wants $24 billion up front and in return… keeps Hormuz & charges “fees”

Iran is Trump’s Vietnam, the choice: capitulation or escalation

[Ken Dilanian @KDilanianMSNOW]

Scoop from me and @CarolLeonnig:

Kash Patel fired a group of FBI intelligence analysts Friday over a rescinded 2023 memo citing “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology” that has long been a focus of MAGA activists despite an investigation that found no anti-Catholic bias, three people familiar with the matter told MS Now.

At least five analysts were let go, the sources said. The analysts worked in the FBI’s Richmond office, where the memo originated.

It was titled, “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

The memo argued that some white supremacists and racially motivated violent extremists were attempting to recruit a small subset of "radical traditionalist Catholics" and suggested that Catholic congregations could present opportunities for intelligence gathering.

After it became public, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered it withdrawn.  He apologized for it in several Congressional hearings, saying it didn’t meet the the FBI’s standards.  Then Attorney General Merrick Garland called it “appalling.”

A review in 2024 by the Justice Department’s Inspector General found no evidence of anti-Catholic bias or bad intent on the part of the FBI personnel who prepared the memo.  But the IG concluded it suffered from significant analytical problems and poor tradecraft.

Some if the information in the memo came from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-extremist organization that which is now the subject of a deeply controversial fraud indictment.
Republicans and MAGA activists have seized on the memo for years as evidence that the FBI was targeting Catholics, despite the inspector general’s findings.

The FBI declined to comment.

[Scott Stedman @ScottMStedman]

This story gets more insane by the day. The CIA officer who stole the gold bars created a fake Special Access Program and coerced a colleague to siphon millions of dollars from a fraudulent government contract into it. https://t.co/0297dkO1bo

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Todd Blanche says he's putting "roadblocks" in place so that it's harder for Democrats to hold Trump accountable in the future.
https://t.co/BchZE1fpVN

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

FLAG: Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli says he's pursuing several election fraud investigations with the FBI over California's vote count.

There is zero evidence of fraud.

This announcement comes after Trump claimed fraud was taking place — despite providing zero evidence to support that claim.

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

https://t.co/WvkkmKCKIo

[Shane Harris @shaneharris]

My earlier reporting on the matter.

https://t.co/e686wNWpOE

[Shane Harris @shaneharris]

Trump essentially confirms that Pulte’s job as DNI is a political executioner who will start the process of dismantling the office.

https://t.co/xyIZd5i9gV

[IRJunky @JunkyIr]

The DOGE Boys Get VC Funding to Support Their Latest Enterprise - WIRED https://t.co/UDdMEAEYRd

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

The Trump administration plans to plow more than $800 million into a nationwide revival of coal power as the highly polluting fuel struggles to stand on its own in the marketplace. https://t.co/AeLMRcd37L

[Wendy Siegelman @WendySiegelman]

NEW: Blackwater founder Erik Prince is Chairman of drone company Swarmer which operates in Ukraine - Swarmer has just signed an MOU with drone company Powerus that plans to merge with a firm where Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are investors. My latest:
https://t.co/hJ4HSmlw0m

[IRJunky @JunkyIr]

@Reuters Do these guys huff paint before coming up with these stupid ideas?

[IRJunky @JunkyIr]

@Heritage_Action Your organization is an absolute shambles. Political theater is pretending there are actual negotiations. Trump is demented and his negotiators are criminals.