Jesse Coburn

Reporter @propublica | Get in touch: [email protected] +

[Jake Pearson @JakePearsonProP]

NEW: I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company’s “responsible gaming” safeguards.

Spoiler Alert: They invited me into the VIP program after just one week. Here’s how I yeeted $20K+ ripping riskier and risker bets 🧵

[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.

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

ProPublica is undertaking a project examining U.S. military spending, budgeting and contracting. Help us report this story: https://t.co/Q5XNXaOfVD

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

“There’s no way that you can follow the money, because it keeps getting twisted like a Rubik’s Cube. ... None of it is set up to be transparent." https://t.co/baX77cRIy2

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

To tell this story, I spoke with 36 current and former employees of General Dynamics, the Army, the Pentagon and the White House.

You can read my full investigation here: https://t.co/YOCGl0Ww0D

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

You and I — all of us taxpayers — funded this $533 million artillery plant outside of Dallas.

It hasn’t produced a single usable shell.

Yet the defense contractor, General Dynamics, has never been held publicly accountable. Nor has it had to pay a penny back… 1/

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

Such critics fear that extreme cases like this one could become more common if the Trump administration succeeds in boosting the defense budget from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion.

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

NEW: Flaming robots. Haywire Turkish machines. An actual dumpster fire.

General Dynamics received $533 million from the Army to produce artillery but hasn’t made a single usable shell.

ProPublica got the inside story of what went wrong. It’s a wild ride: https://t.co/Nmed6bV7cq

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

.@StreetsblogNYC published the original investigation, which you can read here: https://t.co/nMgrEiERoU

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

In 2023, I reported on a network of people exploiting weak rules in New Jersey+Georgia to illegally sell temporary license plates through sham car dealerships. Now, @SDNYnews announced federal charges against 11 people involved in some of those dealerships:https://t.co/jgR97F9nI4

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

Two defendants operated dealerships that I wrote about. Neither had much ostensible operations beyond printing tens of thousands of temp tags -- worth millions on the black market. I spoke to both of them at the time, and they denied selling tags. The feds now say they were:

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

You can read the full story here: https://t.co/K15PMC8Ecv

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

NEW: The Trump administration is planning to use AI to write federal regulations despite the risk of hallucinations.

“We don't even need a very good rule,” @USDOT’s top lawyer said of the plan, per meeting notes reviewed by ProPublica. “We want good enough.” 🧵

[Jesse Coburn @Jesse_Coburn]

I’m still reporting this story. If you work for the federal government and would like to talk confidentially, you can reach me on Signal at jesse_coburn.56 or at jesse.coburn[at]propublica[dot]org.