Once again, DOJ has confirmed
@thedailybeast
’s exclusive reporting on
@SenatorMenendez
’ corruption scandal—this time on the COVID lab that employed his wife and secured testing deals across New Jersey.
Once again, we were months ahead of the competition
NEW:
@SollenbergerRC
got the names of George Santos's clients.
We got the receipts showing how thoroughly his campaign was entangled with
@LeeZeldin
's.
And we got details on the cousin of a Russian oligarch who financed them both.
Read it
@thedailybeast
NEW, from me: when
@thedailybeast
found
@RepBowman
had promoted 9/11 conspiracies on his old blog, he insisted it was just a phase he went through in his mid-30s.
Well, we found his *active* *current* YouTube page, updated in April.
And, oh boy.
I read all 750 pages of the SEC's case against George Santos's former employer.
We have clear connections to the post-Soviet sphere—not just $$ from a Russian oligarch's cousin, but payments to a bank account in Uzbekistan and an "investor summit" in Minsk
As Georgia goes to vote, from me: Kelly Loeffler's husband has a secret government contract—renting an airplane hangar in Atlanta to the U.S. Marshals that appears linked to the agency's cell phone surveillance program via
@thedailybeast
NEW, from
@UrsulaPerano
and me:
@DrOz
owns an undisclosed condo a short drive from his New Jersey mansion, home to friends of his linked to Turkish nationalist activities—including Armenian genocide denial via
@thedailybeast
Jared Kushner is personally profiting from the Trump administration's Opportunity Zone and PPP programs, new disclosures show
via
@thedailybeast
, with an assist from the
@CREWcrew
Every successful NYC date begins with a man swerving his rented Dodge Charger into a bike lane to squint through the plexiglass windows of a plywood shed at a woman eating a burrito
Mayor Adams, on one benefit of outdoor dining:
"You’re looking to date. You may drive by. You may see eye candy sitting down somewhere, you may want to park and come and slip them your number. Come have fun, man. Outdoor dining is the way to go."
NEW, from me:
@CorbinTrent
,
@AOC
's former comms head and a co-founder of
@JusticeDems
and
@BrandNew535
, launched
@NoExcuses_PAC
in 2021 to end the filibuster and pressure Manchin and Sinema.
But for more than a year, it's done little but pay Trent himself.
NEW, from me: George Santos got $$ from a confessed immigrant smuggler—an Italian national caught on a yacht packed w/migrants and cash shortly after getting expelled from the U.S. himself in 2019.
He's part of a family entangled w/the Santos campaign
Full two-thirds of NYC voters surveyed told
@NY1
/
@IpsosUS
that they want more NYPD officers on the streets. Among likely voters, the figure is over 72%.
Really captures how for highly political (though not highly intelligent) people, candidates are mostly dream figures on whom they project their own resentments and desires.
I have this wild notion that Trump might conceivably run to Biden's left on Israel-Palestine in the general election, like he did with Hillary and Iraq. He's been noticeably quiet on the issue since Oct. 7.
I know I bring this up a lot, but these are the salaries of the top brass at
@NYPL
, which operates just the libraries in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
Somebody who is good at the economy please help me budget this.
.
@LeeZeldin
sounds like he drank about a gallon of coffee before this debate.
@KathyHochul
on the other hand sounds like she just got back from a smoke break
The funny thing is
@AOC
was by no means the most active and vocal critic of the Amazon deal during this process. She just signaled the charge by becoming one of the first electeds to come out against it—immediately galvanizing her supporters and thus other local officials.
"The noise about
@Amazon
is building particularly on the left, where
@NYCMayor
is being eclipsed locally and nationally by
@AOC
, the firebrand congresswoman-elect who just happens to represent part of Queens."
@VFHive
This is particularly notable given
@NYGovCuomo
’s offer of state assistance to the
@NYDailyNews
earlier this year. He appears to believe that if a news organization receives a subsidy or tax break through his administration, its editorial page owes him loyalty—or at least silence.
.
@NYGovCuomo
goes after
@nytimes
and
@nypost
for criticizing
@amazon
deal after their parent companies also took large tax incentives from state. Says the “New York Times was not about to move to Alabama and become The Alabama Times.”
Taibbi was born in New Brunswick and raised in the Boston suburbs, where he attended the Concord Academy, an elite boarding school. His father was an NBC and CBS News reporter and four-time Murrow Award recipient.
Taibbi isn't just part of the media class—he's media aristocracy.
Matt Taibbi: "The media class has no idea what people in red states think like, or what they care about. What their lives are like. What working three jobs to support kids without health insurance is like. They just don't know."
Russian restaurants in New York City are being hit by cancellations, social media campaigns and bad reviews online after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite most owners being openly antiwar and many coming from Ukraine.
Again,
@MikeBloomberg
is a tactical overspender. It lets him grab up talent other campaigns might hire, and intimidate them and their donors with eye-popping spending figures.
Bloomberg campaign:
- $72K for field organizer ($42K for other campaigns)
- $12K per MONTH for state political directors
- $10K per MONTH for state press secretaries
- $30K per MONTH for national political director
I can't emphasize enough how insane these salaries are.
The big question is what are we going to do about the quantities of Russian and Russian-aligned oligarch money stashed in New York City real estate and other institutions?
NEW, from me: Lt. Gov.
@DanPatrick
—arguably the most powerful pol in Texas—owns a Houston radio station where hosts in prime slots spew conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, COVID-19, and "cyborg supersoldiers" who supposedly walk among us.
via
@thedailybeast
We've updated to include this statement from
@YuhLine
, after her team refused to answer questions on the record when we reached out prior to publishing.
She does not dispute a single fact in our story—because every fact in our story is indisputable.
NEW, from me: an American tech tycoon’s dark money machine powers a planet-spanning network of pro-China content generators—including an American affiliate that has recruited veterans of Russian state-linked media.
Hardly out of nowhere. Spearheading this event are the People’s Forum, an event space w/a multimillion-dollar budget courtesy Beijing-linked software tycoon Neville Singham, and ANSWER—which, like the PF, is run by the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
A huge international crowd came out of nowhere, bringing thousands more to the March on Washington.
“From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine!”
“From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go!”
“From Palestine to Puerto Rico, occupation is illegal!”
George
@Santos4Congress
’ shadiness got reported on by
@WillBredderman
fully 8 months ago:
It even made it into a tiny local newspaper’s endorsement of Santos’ opponent ⬇️
Seems like plenty of blame for Newsday, NY Dems, DCCC, Zimmerman— & NYT for waiting
.
@RepLouieGohmert
's campaign finance filings show he sent $5,500 to a notorious Holocaust-denying pastor. His office swears it's all a horrendous mistake. via
@thedailybeast
Another note:
@AOC
's endorsements got a lot of attention, and while she no doubt has tremendous influence with a particular bloc in her district,
@NydiaVelazquez
mostly cleaned up with her downballot picks this cycle.
Mayor Eric Adams is increasingly critical of President Biden on the migrant crisis.
“It’s a real embarrassment on a national level,” he says on WABC. “The president has an obligation to deal with the immediate concerns… We’ve done our job. There’s no more room in the inn.”
I first reported on George Santos in April, when I discovered he'd worked at an alleged Ponzi scheme.
But if every lie incurs a debt to the truth, does a man at a certain point become kind of a human Ponzi scheme—issuing new falsehoods to cover old ones?
NEW:
@SollenbergerRC
got the names of George Santos's clients.
We got the receipts showing how thoroughly his campaign was entangled with
@LeeZeldin
's.
And we got details on the cousin of a Russian oligarch who financed them both.
Read it
@thedailybeast
Two of
@NYGovCuomo
’s union pillars have apparently flipped on him. The one to watch now is
@1199SEIU
. Less powerful than when
@TheDailyBeast
published this piece, it is nonetheless hugely influential and bound up w/the important private hospitals
The name Cleveland Guardians comes from the Guardians of Traffic statues on Hope Memorial Bridge which crosses the Cuyahoga River near Progressive Field.
I asked Applebee’s about the now-viral ad that aired on CNN today during the live broadcast of Russia's attack on Ukraine and just got the following statement:
The Trump administration has now allocated a whopping $1.09 billion to an affiliate of Barnard Construction, a substantial GOP donor, to build just 37.17 miles of the border wall. The latest disbursement, $569 million, came amid the
#COVID19
pandemic
Bear in mind,
@RepGregoryMeeks
also lost his major county judge race tonight.
@AOC
is the borough's top powerbroker if you're looking for anything more than a little work from the courts.
#QueensDA
Anyway, I believe I was the first journalist to cover the sketchy patches in George Santos’s past, and I invite everybody to read my article from April, about his involvement in an alleged Ponzi scheme:
A third businessman held a role in the halal firm at the center of
@SenatorMenendez
’s scandal—this one with ties to Albania. During the timeline of the alleged bribery scheme, the senator took a new, aggressive interest in Balkan politics.
@thedailybeast
.
@RoboKiller
estimates that as many as 400,000 spam texts may have gone out "Calling All Patriots" to converge on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The mysterious company behind them is tied to Steve Bannon and his penny stock-slinging past.
via
@thedailybeast
NEW, from me: the construction company the feds suspect of funneling Turkish money into Eric Adams’ campaign got millions of dollars in loans from a bank controlled by Ankara.
via
@thedailybeast
Incredible to think that Governor Murphy, in a bid to create the ultimate New Jersey political dynasty by installing his wife in the U.S. Senate, may have blown up the foundation of Democratic Party organizational power in the state.
Almost Shakespearean. Y’know, in a Jersey way.
BREAKING: Judge Quraishi GRANTS Kim's request for a preliminary injunction. The county line has been overturned.
(This is an extremely quick reaction on my part; have not read the decision beyond this yet.)
The scandal here is not that Turkish-Americans "like" Ataturk—but that a close associate of a US Senate candidate was involved in a chapter of an organization dedicated to Armenian genocide denial, and denies the crime herself.
And that candidate himself refuses to acknowledge it
NEW, from me: NY’s New Guv
@KathyHochul
Is Staring at a Massive Conflict of Interest—Her Husband's Plush Job with a Buffalo Casino Giant via
@thedailybeast
This, for sure—but I suspect it’s just one facet of the breakdown of US social/civic life (clubs, unions, churches, marriage) which once provided companionship.
The blind, mindless faith in charismatic individuals seems like an outgrowth of the collapse of trust in institutions
I think the reason so many parasocial relationships keep forming with online personalities (left, right, and center); the reason everyone is looking for some famous savior or some shit is because they don't have anyone in their personal lives that they're close to.
NEW, from me: a tech firm controlled by AZ’s ex-state treasurer and which paid
@KariLake
as a comms advisor developed apps to promote her and three other GOP candidates in the state—apparently for free, in violation of campaign finance laws.
@thedailybeast
Mike Flynn’s bodyguard—and self-described intelligence team—through the post-election chaos are a new paramilitary group led by a conspiracy-obsessed ex-Green Beret and named for the elite unit attached to the Roman emperor.
w/
@WillSommer
NEW, from me: How
@AndrewCuomo
helped an obscure fertilizer billionaire go from cutting deals with Putin cronies to becoming a healthcare magnate—and the people who had to live, and die, by those decisions.
via
@thedailybeast
Dem. Chair Jay Jacobs: "Maybe, in that sense, the ball was dropped, but I will tell you that is not something that came to my attention."
State Democratic Party did not spend money on Props 1, 3, 4 — via
@timesunion
:
A final note: the Assemblywoman asserts her mother is a nurse. And yes, she did train as one. However, her LinkedIn and other public reports identify her most recent job as a Chief Operating Officer at MSH, a multinational health firm. This is all included in the story.
My latest story took me into the swamps of Jersey, where
@BobMenendezNJ
is planting his carefully cultivated son
@RobMenendez4NJ
in his old House seat.
It’s a story not just of nepotism but of scandal, backroom intrigue, and revenge.
via
@thedailybeast
Dude parachuted into Nazi-occupied Norway with five of his bros, infiltrated a Nazi facility by climbing down a 200 foot ravine and entering through a window, blew the whole place to fuck-all, and escaped by out-skiing 3,000 Nazi soldiers for 200 miles.
Interesting considering City Hall has a deputy mayor who was an unindicted co-conspirator in a corruption scandal and probed for having $300K mysteriously materialize in his bank account, and a commissioner who served as attorney to a reputed associate of Russian organized crime.
If only there was some prominent, respected, courageous, and independently wealthy member of the community willing to step up and admit to history.
Like a famous doctor with a TV show, for example.
Not sure one can fault a Turkish American for having friends whose views on the Armenian genocide are solidly within the mainstream of Turkey’s political discourse.
"Among black voters, 70 percent backed the deal while only 25 percent objected.
Among Latinos, 81 percent supported Amazon while only 17 percent were opposed."
There is in fact an entire consultant/fundraiser/PR grift complex built around running futile campaigns against nationally prominent pols in safe districts who have become objects of fanatical love and hate:
.
@TishJames
at
#NewYorkerFest
: "honor&a privilege to be considered+to be urged to run for..governor, but at this point in time: 1, as a woman of faith,I'm still praying on it, 2, I'm still considering the options, +3, I'm considering where best I can make transformational change"
It is quite incredible when an incumbent politician who has held elected office for over a decade and run several citywide and statewide campaigns knocks off a pair of perennial gadflies.
Sanctions produce humanitarian catastrophes in targeted countries, while serving vital functions within the US-led global system. Sanctions maintain racialized hierarchy in the international system and ensure dominance of US corporations across the world.
NEW, from me—a hotel chain connected to the private equity firm founded by
@GovKristiNoem
’s campaign chair reaped millions from her COVID-19 grant program, the latest case of a politically-wired company benefiting from the federally-funded SD initiative.
Again,
@NYGovCuomo
’s PR strategy is to attack an entity he controls so as to convince the public he does not control it, so they won’t blame him for its failures.
It’s truly one of the most astounding political performances in modern memory.
A few Cuomo gems:
- "Navigating NY is becoming unbearable"
- "The MTA is the great transit abyss taking us backward"
- MTA a "Frankenstein" organization
- "The MTA's performance is simply indefensible"
- 100+ reform plans pitched
.
@AOC
’s pro-capitalist rival,
@FCabreraNY
, seems to have some experience mixing business with politics. Last year, he bought an apartment for $55K off the notorious Bronx Public Administrator’s office. Now he’s selling it for $140K.
NEW, from me: the bulletproof Manhattan mansion of an Argentine billionaire houses Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui’s network of media and nonprofits—and has become the “embassy” of their self-proclaimed Chinese shadow government. via
@thedailybeast
BdB has an unparalleled ability to do and say the wrong thing at the wrong time, doubles down when he should back off, equivocates when he ought to be decisive. He’s always seemed less interested in doing a job than holding a station, and more comfortable w/rhetoric than reality.
The crisis of the last two days has highlighted key, long-standing de Blasio problems that make it very unlikely he'd handle the challenging situation well.
I’d argue the Julia Salazar win is proof left-liberal voters are also willing to ignore when a candidate who says things they like is indifferent to facts, and even to write off proof of their mistruths as the work of an insidious conspiracy.
#SD18
.
@RepMaxRose
cites his military service and infrastructure accomplishments in endorsing the articles of impeachment against
@realDonaldTrump
, who won his
#NY11
district by almost 10 points in 2016.
Another interesting finding from the same poll: support for combatting crime via reallocating resources away from police and toward mental health services is weakest among Black voters but strongest among Latinos.
It is, unfortunately, in the nature of desperate politicians, their paid operatives, and their more fanatical followers to make bad faith attacks on the press in order to avoid scrutiny.
.
@MelindaKatz
, up 20 votes after today’s abesentee and affidavit ballot count, thanks the borough and is declaring victory —
“I look forward to having tonight’s results affirmed in the coming days; and I am honored to be ready to serve as Queens’ next District Attorney.”
NEW: Michael Fanone, maybe the most vocal cop attacked in the Capitol riot, is now running a Jan 6-branded security firm—and working for
@EricSwalwell
’s campaign.
@RepSwalwell
says he’s got “major political organizations” as clients too
via
@thedailybeast
Full two-thirds of NYC voters surveyed told
@NY1
/
@IpsosUS
that they want more NYPD officers on the streets. Among likely voters, the figure is over 72%.
May be worth noting
@NYGovCuomo
’s re-election campaign received $25K last from Domino site developer Two Trees. Burrowing into the records for more possible money from L-adjacent developers and their lobbyists.
I've written stories about U.S. political actors' financial connections to Russia, for instance, and never has anybody suggested these constituted an attack on one of our great immigrant communities.
Some of these stories
@YuhLine
has apparently admired.
“The State Department of Health urged the state attorney general’s office to probe Brookdale’s board. But the state attorney general at that time was Cuomo, and he was running for governor with Rovt’s financial backing.”
@stan_okl
Not taking anything away from her, but Hutchinson is from a pretty affluent town in Jersey. Her dad owns what looks like a fairly successful tree trimming business.
What maybe sets her apart from the stereotypical Dem admin hire is that she's not from a professional class family
@erik_engquist
@nypl
You’re almost certainly right. Question to me: why does a public library system need a chief investment officer pulling in a $600K bonus?
Couldn’t the library save itself a lot of money investing in index funds?
Was thinking this decade was a wash for me, then remembered I wasn't a reporter when it started. I moved furniture for $10/hr at a store hyped for its social conscience, tutored kids in NYCHA for a fugazy city-funded service, woke at 5 am to get to a construction job in the Bronx
As I noted in the privacy of The Slack, paying someone like $100,000 to be your campaign’s “foreign policy adviser” is a thing you only see on House of Cards…or in Rep. Marie Newman’s FEC filings.