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Trump Wants to Put You in a Massive, Secret Government Database [US President Donald Trump signs an executive order during a US ambassadors meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Trump directed the Treasury Department to modernize and centralize its payment system in an effort to root out fraud as money is transferred throughout the federal government. Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images] Donald Trump signs an executive order on March 25, 2025, directing the Treasury Department to modernize and centralize its payment system. Photo: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Trump administration is on its way to creating every authoritarian’s dream: a centralized database containing intimate details about every resident of this country, fully searchable by artificial intelligence. This powerful tool would empower the government to conduct previously unimagined levels of surveillance and harassment against its own people. Freedom of the Press Foundation is suing the administration for documents behind the database. We know that this isn’t just something that the Trump administration would exploit; once built, it’s unlikely any administration could resist the urge to weaponize our personal information. This nightmare privacy scenario began one year ago, when President Donald Trump issued an [executive order][1] that expanded data sharing across the federal government. The administration touted the order, “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos,” as a way to target fraud within a supposedly bloated government. The order was no such thing. Instead, it took a machete to long-standing [privacy protections][2] that mandate agencies can only share our data when absolutely necessary, to install a massive [data-mining operation][3] in their place. To do so, Trump’s executive order required agency heads to submit reports to the Office of Management and Budget on the following: 1. Which agency regulations governing unclassified data access should be eliminated or modified. 2. Which policies governing the sharing of classified information need to be scrapped to meet the administration’s goals. The public has never seen the reports agencies submitted by OMB, despite their impact on our privacy. However, thanks to intrepid reporting and litigation, we do have glimpses of how this is starting to play out: * The **Central Intelligence Agency** has been granted [increased access][4] to domestic law enforcement databases, further blurring the line between foreign intelligence and domestic policing. * The so-called **Department of Government Efficiency** got direct access to Treasury Department payment systems, [including Social Security numbers][5], names, and birthdays, according to a whistleblower. * **Immigration and Customs Enforcement** got access to [Medicaid recipients’ data][6] and [banking information][7]. * The **Transportation Security Administration** is now sharing biometric passenger info with immigration enforcement, turning every airport check-in into a potential trap. But these incursions are only the [tip of the iceberg][8]. Reports indicate the [administration’s goal][9] for dismantling privacy protections is to build a [centralized national database][10], which would allow the administration to create [detailed reports][11] on every American, potentially for political purposes, including retaliation, harassment, and imprisonment. At the same time this database is becoming a reality, the Department of Homeland Security is rapidly expanding its [surveillance capabilities][12], and the administration is unleashing AI [across federal systems][13] to analyze the data points they are harvesting from our private lives. Perhaps worst of all, by “eliminating information silos,” the administration is creating a single point of failure for the privacy of every American. A centralized database that compiles our most intimate information, from our health to our finances, doesn’t just make us vulnerable to government abuse; it creates a massive, singular target for hackers and foreign adversaries. “‘Information silos’ aren’t an inefficiency. They are a bulwark against the exact kind of abuses and negligence the Trump administration has engaged in,” said Ginger Quintero-McCall, a public records attorney with the Free Information Group. “Preventing easy, frictionless, unaccountable access to troves of sensitive data isn’t a bug — it’s a feature.” And while the Trump administration recklessly seeks and compiles *our* data, it has simultaneously stopped sharing *its* data with the public. Vital information about the [climate][14], [immigration][15], [federal spending][16], and the [economy][17] has been pulled from public view. The government is turning into a one-way mirror: They see everything, while we see nothing. This is an untenable and anti-democratic information imbalance. To fight back, we need to fully understand just how badly our data and our privacy has been compromised. The agency reports submitted to the OMB are essential for this investigation — which is why Freedom of the Press Foundation is filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against OMB for these records. This suit will not only force the disclosure of these important documents, but it will also serve to remind the administration that the federal government is required to safeguard the personal data we entrust to it. It is not allowed to become a data-mining firm that leverages our information for political gain while hiding its work from the public. [ ## Related ### Federal Agents Are Intimidating Legal Observers at Their Homes: “They Know Where You Live” ][18] As Kevin Bell, one of our counselors at Free Information Group, said, “This threat to Americans’ very right to an individual identity has never been so dire. The Trump administration is correlating each of its citizens’ with their transactions, emails, location tracking, missed car payments, online views or posts, and entire personal histories; the President has ordered the collection and free dissemination of every bit of data about every one of us held anywhere for any reason.” The public deserves to see these documents. We intend to compel them to show us — and all Americans. The post [Trump Wants to Put You in a Massive, Secret Government Database][19] appeared first on [The Intercept][20]. [1]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/s… [2]: https://www.justice.gov/opcl/privacy-act-1974 [3]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/us/politics/trump-musk… [4]: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-cia-law-enforcem… [5]: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/26/nx-s1-5517977/social-secur… [6]: https://www.404media.co/here-is-the-agreement-giving-ice-… [7]: https://fedscoop.com/irs-broke-law-ice-data-sharing-taxpa… [8]: https://epic.org/issues/democracy-free-speech/fighting-fe… [9]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/07/doge-g… [10]: https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-dat… [11]: https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-trump-executive-ord… [12]: https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/border… [13]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palan… [14]: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/project/climat-change-transparency [15]: https://www.notus.org/immigration/trump-administration-im… [16]: https://www.404media.co/the-government-just-made-it-harde… [17]: https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/07/28/federal-data… [18]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/05/ice-cbp-minnesota-sur… [19]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/government-surveillan… [20]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/government-surveillan…

Trump’s War on Iran Could Cost Trillions The Trump administration is drastically undercounting the price tag of the U.S. war with Iran, peddling fragmentary estimates that offer Americans a skewed understanding of the costs. The Pentagon on Thursday said the U.S. spent about $11.3 billion in just one week of its war on Iran; Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett similarly put the figure at [$12 billion][1] on Sunday. But these sums are dwarfed by estimates offered by experts in the costs of war, lawmakers experienced with the Pentagon budget, and two government officials briefed on Operation Epic Fury who spoke on the condition of anonymity. At the very least, they say the war is burning through between $1 billion and [$2 billion per day][2] — or roughly [$11,500][3] to $23,000 per second. The cost, the officials told The Intercept, could rise to a quarter trillion dollars or more over the coming months. Even that is a drop in the bucket compared to the long-term expenses, which could cost the U.S. trillions of dollars in the decades to come. One of the officials lamented that Americans would be paying off the war for generations. “If this war takes months rather than weeks, the costs will become astronomical,” said Gabe Murphy, a policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog advocating for an end to wasteful spending, Jules Hurst III, the War Department’s acting comptroller and chief financial officer, called the Pentagon’s initial $11.3 billion estimate a “ballpark number,” speaking at the Reagan Institute’s National Security Innovation Base Summit. Hurst said a more comprehensive figure would be provided with a supplemental budget request, which he said the Pentagon plans to soon submit to the White House and Congress. Democratic lawmakers believe the true number is far higher because the Pentagon estimate did not include many expenses, including the [massive buildup][4] of military assets, weapons, and personnel in the Middle East ahead of the conflict. Lawmakers have said they expect the Iran War supplemental request to reach [at least $50 billion][5] — on top of a $1.5 trillion War Department budget request for 2027. When he appeared before the House Armed Services Committee recently, Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of war for policy, said that the military campaign against Iran had been “scoped out” for up to five weeks, but that the president could extend it. He was, however, unable to tell Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., the cost. “I can’t give you an answer at this point,” he said. The Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as Pentagon press secretary [Kingsley Wilson][6] were no more forthcoming with The Intercept. Jacobs told The Intercept that Americans had been conned into an open-ended conflict, with unclear goals and no exit plan. “We haven’t gotten sufficient details in public or behind closed doors about the strategy, the objectives, the length of the operation, or how much this will cost taxpayers,” she told The Intercept. “The American people are demanding an end to this illegal war to prevent more killings of children, retaliation against U.S. service members, skyrocketing costs to U.S. taxpayers, and yet another endless war.” Hassett, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, said the war was still expected to take four to six weeks. But without accurate information from the Pentagon on the cost of the war, experts, lawmakers, and government officials have stepped into the breach with estimates of the financial burden of Trump’s war with Iran — his [second][7] war on the [country][8] within the span of a year. The numbers are immense. A three-week conflict could cost taxpayers between $60 billion and $130 billion, according to the two government officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, with both stressing that the estimates were speculative. “It’s a back of the napkin estimate,” said one official. > “They really have no idea of the real cost.” A five-week war could top out at $175 billion. Eight weeks could put the total at $250 billion. “They really have no idea of the real cost,” said one of the officials, noting that bookkeeping is not a Pentagon strong suit. The self-styled War Department has [never passed an audit][9], despite almost a [decade of attempts][10]. The Pentagon’s pre-war military buildup — which is missing from the $11.3 billion estimate — had already cost taxpayers an estimated $630 million, [according to Elaine McCusker][11], a former senior Pentagon budget official now at the American Enterprise Institute. (McCusker said those costs are likely to be absorbed within the Pentagon’s existing $839 billion 2026 budget.) Initial estimates of the first 100 hours of the war tacked on around $3.7 billion in operational costs, munitions, and damaged or destroyed equipment, according to a [cost breakdown][12] by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS. This and other estimates turned out to be drastic undercounts as Pentagon officials, in classified briefings, disclosed that the military burned through $5.6 billion worth of munitions in just the first two days of the war. An updated analysis by CSIS now estimates that Epic Fury [cost $16.5 billion][13] by its 12th day. Estimates by Linda Bilmes, the co-author of “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” are in line with the government officials’ projections. Bilmes, a former assistant secretary and chief financial officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce under Bill Clinton and currently a public policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, says that the price tag of the war will exceed $50 billion if the conflict stretches into its third or fourth week. “Probably higher,” she added. Bilmes cautioned that enormous short-term expenses — like spent munitions, the deployments of aircraft carrier strike groups, and aircraft shot down — will be eclipsed by even more significant expenditures like the [long-term costs of veterans’ benefits][14] and interest on the debt to pay for the war. The ultimate cost, Bilmes says, may reach into the trillions of dollars. [ ## Related ### Over Two Decades, U.S. Global War on Terror Has Taken Nearly 1 Million Lives and Cost $8 Trillion ][15] Bilmes first called attention to the immense hidden costs of America’s wars in her groundbreaking analyses of the Iraq War. The George W. Bush administration initially put the likely cost of the Iraq War at [$40 billion][16]. In 2015, Bilmes and economist [Joseph Stiglitz][17] discovered that the real cost would be at least [$3 trillion.][18] Just six years later, that figure had ballooned to around $8 trillion. Asked about the analogous long-term costs of the Iran war by The Intercept, the Office of the Secretary of War clammed up. “We have nothing to provide,” a spokesperson told The Intercept. > “The majority are being exposed to toxins, contamination, acid rain, dust from infrastructure destruction, and burning oil fumes.” Bilmes notes that around 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed around the Middle East as the United States and Israel, as well as Iran and its proxies, strike fuel depots, oil facilities, and military sites — all of which release noxious substances shown to negatively affect human health. “The majority are being exposed to toxins, contamination, acid rain, dust from infrastructure destruction, and burning oil fumes, so we can estimate that at least one-third will be claiming disability benefits under the PACT Act,” she said, referring to a landmark 2022 law expanding health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. “That is a major long-term cost that almost nobody looks at.” Bilmes said that if veterans claim benefits at the rate of the extremely short [1990 Gulf War][19] — 37 percent of whom receive compensation today — this alone would add around $600 billion in costs over their lifetimes. The Iran war also increases the likelihood that Congress will approve a larger Pentagon budget than Trump would have secured without it, Bilmes said. “If the budget would have increased by $100 billion, this war might bump it to $200 billion,” she told The Intercept. “That becomes the base budget and, over a decade, it’s another trillion dollars added to the defense budget.” > “ Now the gross debt is $38 trillion — and about 30 percent of that is due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Bilmes explained that these long-term costs are exacerbated by the fact that all the money is borrowed. “Back in 2004, the public debt was below $4 trillion. Now the gross debt is $38 trillion — and about 30 percent of that is due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,” she said. A key contributor to that spike is the fact that the United States went to war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 while simultaneously cutting taxes — increasing spending while reducing revenues. “This combination had never happened before in the history of U.S. wars,” she said. With interest rates almost double what they were in the 2010s, Bilmes notes that 14 percent of the federal budget already goes to interest payments, which are destined to rise further with the Iran war. Hurst, the War Department comptroller, declined to specify exactly how much money the War Department would ask for in the supplemental request. Most sources say it will top $50 billion. Asked about the likelihood the Iran war supplemental request would pass, given Democrats’ opposition to the conflict, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., was optimistic due to bipartisan concerns about weapons stockpiles. “There is a need that was there before the Iran conflict,” said Wittman, the vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, at the Reagan Institute summit last week. “There’s a need there to build our weapons magazine depth. There’s a need there to make sure we’re building more expendable and attritable platforms. So those things extend even beyond the Iran conflict. This just makes it more immediate.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pushed back on talk of additional funding. “The administration has not even made the case to the American people as to why we are spending billions of dollars and dropping bombs every day in Iran,” he said during a [Monday press conference][20]. “So the notion that they would come up here and ask for additional money is beyond the pale at this moment.” Murphy, the policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, noted that the reconciliation bill enacted last summer included over $60 billion for munitions, missile defense, and low-cost weapons. The lack of specificity in the bill would allow the Pentagon to easily utilize around $90 million for Trump’s war of choice with Iran, he said. “Billions of taxpayer dollars have already been spent on this unauthorized war. We’re facing a spiraling debt crisis, skyrocketing health care premiums, dire food insecurity, and natural disasters that are growing more frequent, extreme, and costly. These are national security issues,” Murphy told The Intercept. “If Congress believes this war is a good use of taxpayer dollars, it should vote on an authorization for the use of military force. Congress has a duty to consider any supplemental funding requests, but absent an AUMF, Congress shouldn’t approve additional funding.” The Pentagon, Murphy said, “got a boatload of extra cash, more than $150 billion, in last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” With the goals of the war undefined, there is no way to project how long the war on Iran will rage on. “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump [wrote][21] on Truth Social on March 6, following a statement that the war could go on “[forever][22].” Murphy told The Intercept that the White House needed to provide far more clarity. “Taxpayers deserve answers on the precise costs and timeline for this war,” he said. “‘Indefinitely’ isn’t an answer.” [ ## Related ### Pentagon Report: U.S. Military Fired Missile at Elementary School in Iran ][23] More recently, the president seemed to indicate that there has been no reason to fight since the first day of the war. “Let me say, we’ve won,” Trump said last week. “You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won, in the first hour it was over, but we won,” [Trump said][24]. Jacobs highlighted this uncertainty underlying the conflict, noting that Americans have been “misled into another regime-change war in the Middle East under false pretenses and with fairy tale ideas about what will happen next.” The Intercept presented Bilmes’s long-term cost estimates to one of the government officials who offered the more immediate quarter-trillion-dollar estimate. That official agreed that Americans would be paying massive sums of money for generations to finance Trump’s second war with Iran. “These costs aren’t known to the American people. You’re never going to hear about them from the White House or the DoD,” said the official of the long-term expenses highlighted by Bilmes. “My kids’ kids, and probably their kids, are going to be paying for this.” The post [Trump’s War on Iran Could Cost Trillions][25] appeared first on [The Intercept][26]. [1]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kevin-hassett-national-econo… [2]: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/03/06/ira… [3]: https://iran-cost-ticker.com/ [4]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/19/trump-iran-military-n… [5]: https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icy… [6]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/04/boat-strikes-evidence… [7]: https://theintercept.com/2025/06/14/israel-iran-attack-ne… [8]: https://theintercept.com/2025/06/23/trump-iran-nuclear-st… [9]: https://files.gao.gov/reports/GAO-25-108052/index.html?_g… [10]: https://theintercept.com/2023/11/17/pentagon-audit-failed/ [11]: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-strikes-2026/card/c… [12]: https://www.csis.org/analysis/37-billion-estimated-cost-e… [13]: https://www.csis.org/analysis/iran-war-cost-estimate-upda… [14]: https://theintercept.com/2023/03/16/iraq-war-veterans/ [15]: https://theintercept.com/2021/09/01/war-on-terror-deaths-… [16]: https://archive.is/o/dZ4GA/https:/www.npr.org/2003/04/17/… [17]: https://theintercept.com/2022/12/12/inflation-covid-war-j… [18]: https://archive.is/o/dZ4GA/https:/via.library.depaul.edu/… [19]: https://www.hillandponton.com/resources/gulf-war-veterans… [20]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PohC_I9_0jU [21]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/1161825513… [22]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/05/trump-iran-war-plan-cia/ [23]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/11/iran-school-missile-i… [24]: https://x.com/cspan/status/2031844120839283157 [25]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/trump-iran-war-cost/ [26]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/trump-iran-war-cost/

Why We Have to Fight Back Against ICE Protesters’ Terror Convictions [US President Donald Trump speaks as Attorney General Pam Bondi smiles during a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 15, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)] Donald Trump speaks as Pam Bondi smiles during a press conference at the White House in Washington on Oct. 15, 2025. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images It started on President Donald Trump’s very first day in office in 2017. Over 200 Inauguration Day protesters were mass arrested and [charged][1] with hefty riot and conspiracy felonies for simply being present and wearing black at a rowdy demonstration. Since then, the government has sought and failed to convict left-wing activists on thin, unconstitutional claims of collective guilt. Just as the J20 prosecutions, as the inauguration cases were known, [fell apart][2], so too did [cases][3] accusing dozens of participants in the Atlanta-based [Stop Cop City][4] movement of domestic terrorism, [racketeering][5],and conspiracy. It became a pattern of sorts. Prosecutors on both the federal and [state level][6] throwing extreme and [overreaching][7] charges at leftists, based on infirm theories of collective liability, aiming to paint antifascist, anti-racist movements as criminal terrorist networks. The evidence marshaled in these cases was consistently no more than typical First Amendment-protected activity, like making protest signs, raising [bail funds][8], or being [present][9] at a demonstration. The cases drained movement energies and resources. Again and again, though, they failed. This was the pattern repeated in the malign, overreaching cases against protesters in Fort Worth, Texas. The anti-ICE activists had mounted a demonstration at a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement jail in nearby Alvarado. There were consistencies with other anti-protest cases. There had been some illegal activity outside the Prairieland Detention Facility last July, and a police officer was shot. The government latched onto these circumstances to build its strategy of criminalizing dissent through guilt by association. Even in conservative Texas, I didn’t think a jury would buy the government’s case that these defendants were “North Texas Antifa Cell operatives” — an organization fabricated whole cloth by the Trump administration — who had orchestrated an elaborate ambush of the ICE facility. [ ## Related ### Anti-ICE Protesters Convicted on Terrorism Charges for Wearing All Black ][10] Last week, a jury found eight of the defendants [guilty of terrorism charges][11] for simply being present and [wearing black][12] at the protest. The government scored a resounding victory: A few of the protesters, none of whom had fired any weapons, were acquitted of attempted murder charges, but the Justice Department won on almost all the other charges. “Most people looking at this case are still stuck on the shooting aspect, but the jury decided the shooting was beside the point,” a member of a support [group][13] for the defendants told me. “The verdict is that a normal noise demo deserves to be called terrorism and people should spend potentially the rest of their lives in prison. The implications of this are obvious, and people should know that the DOJ is going to try this again.” ## Grim Precedents The convictions mark a number of grim precedents. It was the first successful effort in court to paint anti-ICE, antifascist protest activity as not only criminal but also terroristic; the first time federal terrorism charges have been deployed in association with the “[antifa][14]” label; and the first time the Trump government’s collective guilt strategy won in court. The terrorism-related charges in the case were filed just [a month][15] after Trump announced that he was designating antifa, which is not an organization, a “major terrorist organization” — a designation that [does not exist under law for domestic groups][16]. It’s little wonder that the Justice Department is [celebrating][17] the convictions. Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that the “verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets.” The prosecution’s case was extraordinarily weak — all they really proved was that the activists, some of whom knew each other, planned and attended a late-night demonstration during which certain illegal acts took place. [ ## Related ### Trump Calls His Enemies Terrorists. Does That Mean He Can Just Kill Them? ][18] If that can be sold to juries as the work of an organized terrorist cell, deserving of up to 15 years in prison, then Trump’s fantasy of rounding up and imprisoning leftists en masse becomes a reality. This was entirely the idea behind Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, or NSPM-7, released last September, which [directs][19] federal law enforcement agencies to [target left-leaning groups and activities][20]. One of the defense attorneys involved in the Prairieland cases [told][21] news outlet NOTUS that it “wouldn’t be a terrorism case if it weren’t for that memo.” > The prosecution treated it as a given that antifascist, anti-government, left-wing sentiment was itself evidence of criminal conspiracy. Throughout the trial, the prosecution treated it as a given that antifascist, anti-government, left-wing sentiment was itself evidence of criminal conspiracy. As The Intercept’s Matt Sledge [reported][22], “prosecutors bombarded jurors with images of [radical zines][23]” and “anti-government internet memes, drawings of burning cop cars, and a video of an unidentified street brawl between far-left and far-right protesters.” The fact that demonstrators wore black and covered their faces — a reasonable tactic in an era when [federal forces][24] are [filming][25] and [openly harassing][26] legal observers and anti-ICE protesters — was presented as material support for terrorism, for which the jury convicted eight defendants. Another [defendant][27] was convicted for the crime of [moving a box of zines ][28]and pamphlets. What should have at most been individualized cases relating to a shooting and minor property damage were instead [spun by the government][29] into a delusional story of a planned ambush involving “explosives” — protesters set off retail fireworks — and “terroristic acts,” according to a Justice Department [statement][30]. Whether certain illegal activity took place outside the Prairieland Detention Facility last July 4 was never up for debate in this case. Protesters spray-painted vehicles in the parking lot, and a police officer was shot in the neck by one protester, Benjamin Song. (Song was convicted of one count of attempted murder and could face up to life in prison.) ## Keep Up the Fight The material support for terrorism and related convictions must be challenged in appeal. They are unconstitutional and were obtained in a trial riddled with irregularities. For one, the Trump-appointed judge, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman, abruptly [declared a mistrial][31] during jury selection based on the initial jury pool reportedly showing too little sympathy for ICE. When the trial restarted, the judge himself took charge of jury selection — a highly unusual move. Pittman also barred Song from presenting a self-defense argument. Access to the court for supporters, observers, and the media was also extremely limited. “All the odds were stacked against the defendants from the start,” Xavier T. de Janon, a defense attorney representing one of the defendants, [told][32] Unicorn Riot. “The rulings of the judge, the way the courtroom was closed, the fact that the first jury was declared a mistrial, where this was happening, the very strict rules on who can even take these cases in north Texas, the sanctions that the judge imposed on defense attorneys for filing very normal motions — all of this piled up to end in this result.” It’s notable, too, that the defense attorneys did not mount a defense in court. Once the prosecution rested its ideology-drenched and inconsistency-filled case, the defense rested too, and closing arguments proceeded. “We do not know how things would have gone otherwise, but the assumption that the state’s glaringly weak case was enough to convince a North Texas jury pool to vote not guilty was delusional,” a close friend of a number of the defendants who helped with court support efforts told me. “This is not merely 20/20 hindsight, many of the supporters and loved ones of the defendants disagreed with the decision when it happened.” With the Prairieland defendants also facing state charges, and with appeals processes ahead, there is a clear need to present a robust case against the government’s pernicious and dangerous lawfare. Outside of future trials and court challenges, it is crucial that anyone invested in challenging Trump’s fascist deportation machine understand the stakes of these cases and show solidarity with defendants accordingly. The Prairieland case, as I’ve previously [noted][33], provided a convenient testing ground for state repression, in part because it has not been lifted up as a national cause célèbre against Trumpian overreach. The reasons why should be obvious: not only were there acts of minor vandalism, but also a police officer was shot — a highly unusual event at these sorts of demonstrations. [ Read our complete coverage ## Chilling Dissent ][34] No matter how unique, however, the Texas case reveals precisely the strategies the Trump administration will use, with the assistance of state forces, to target whole movements and communities with prosecutorial overreach and a logic of guilt by association. In the face of Trump’s escalations, this is no time for anti-ICE activists to distance themselves from protests where militant activity might occur; this is the chilling effect the government seeks. It is the nature of contemporary far-right governance to throw everything against the wall, repeatedly, until something sticks to achieve its goals. Anti-trans laws that once roundly failed are [now][35] on the books in multiple states; once-constitutionally protected reproductive rights [have][36] been [decimated][37]. With brute force, repetition, and relentlessness, Trump and his acolytes hack away at established protections. First Amendment-protected protest activity is no different. The Trump regime has been seeking to criminalize leftist dissent since the president’s first inauguration. For years, nothing stuck. We cannot let Prairieland be the turning point. The post [Why We Have to Fight Back Against ICE Protesters’ Terror Convictions][38] appeared first on [The Intercept][39]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2018/07/14/inauguration-protest-… [2]: https://theintercept.com/2018/07/13/j20-charges-dropped-p… [3]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/13/cop-city-… [4]: https://theintercept.com/series/cop-city/ [5]: https://theintercept.com/2023/09/07/cop-city-rico-indictm… [6]: https://theintercept.com/2023/05/18/abortion-conspiracy-l… [7]: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/19/brooklyn-lawyers-molo… [8]: https://theintercept.com/2023/05/31/cop-city-bail-fund-pr… [9]: https://theintercept.com/2023/03/08/atlanta-cop-city-prot… [10]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/ice-protesters-terror… [11]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/ice-protesters-terror… [12]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te… [13]: https://www.instagram.com/dfwsupportcommittee/ [14]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/19/trump-charlie-kirk-ge… [15]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/19/trump-charlie-kirk-ge… [16]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic… [17]: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/antifa-cell-members-convic… [18]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/02/trump-nspm-7-domestic… [19]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/12/trump-nspm-7-domestic… [20]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-… [21]: https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/texas-antifa-tria… [22]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te… [23]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/movie-review-antifa-p… [24]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/05/ice-cbp-minnesota-sur… [25]: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/16/trump-abolish-ice-ren… [26]: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/31/minneapolis-protester… [27]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/04/antifa-zines-accident… [28]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antif… [29]: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/antifa-cell-members-convic… [30]: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/antifa-cell-members-convic… [31]: https://unicornriot.ninja/2026/judge-declares-mistrial-on… [32]: https://unicornriot.ninja/2026/nine-prairieland-defendant… [33]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/17/antifa-ice-protesters… [34]: https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/ [35]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/31/trump-democrats-anti-… [36]: https://theintercept.com/2023/04/26/abortion-wrongful-dea… [37]: https://theintercept.com/2022/06/24/roe-anti-abortion-enf… [38]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/ice-protester-terrori… [39]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/ice-protester-terrori…

Senate Dem Leaders Are Trying to Sink Graham Platner. Voters Aren’t Convinced. [OGUNQUIT, MAINE - OCTOBER 22: U.S. senatorial candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025 in Ogunquit, Maine. Platner, a veteran of the U.S. Marines and an oyster farmer, is running for the seat held by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). (Photo by Sophie Park/Getty Images)] Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on Oct. 22, 2025, in Ogunquit, Maine. Photo: Sophie Park/Getty Images Maine oysterman-turned-politician Graham Platner has been drawing consistently packed crowds across the rural state for months as he aims to take on longtime incumbent Republican Susan Collins in this year’s Senate race. He’s regularly [outpolling][1] his only other viable competitor for the Democratic nomination, Gov. Janet Mills. At 41, he could hold a seat for decades that Democrats have long had their eyes on. Since Mills joined the race [last fall][2] (Platner announced he was running [that August][3]), her support has stagnated and even [slipped][4] in some polls as Platner’s numbers continue to rise. Collins and Mills are in a statistical [dead heat][5], with Collins having the edge, while Platner has a few points difference ahead of the incumbent. For Maine voters concerned with electability, those polls lend credibility to Platner’s campaign. He’s in position to take on an entrenched Republican whose feigned objections to Donald Trump’s excesses — usually expressed as “[concern][6]” — have long driven liberal Mainers insane. So why is he still facing resistance from Senate Democratic leadership? Platner’s town hall tour of Maine is further raising his profile, even after a number of controversies, most notably a Nazi [tattoo][7], threatened his campaign. The more voters get to know him, the more they like him; he’s gone from underdog to favorite in the race. And despite establishment antipathy, he’s finding some friends in other corners of the party. Three Democratic senators — Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, Arizona’s Ruben Gallego, and New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich — have [endorsed Platner][8]. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is [backing him][9], as are individual members of the progressive wing, like Robert Reich and David Hogg, and groups like Our Revolution and the Maine People’s Alliance. Platner also has the ear of the [Pod Save America crew][10], a group of influential Democrats aligned with the Obama wing of the party. [ ## Related ### Dem in Maine House Primary Funneled PAC Money to Republicans ][11] But the Democratic establishment is trying to draw a line in the sand on the future of the party. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats from New York, are [actively working][12] to [elect Mills][13]. There is speculation that the governor, who has pledged to [only serve one term][14] in Washington, is Senate leadership’s preferred candidate because she would be a more pliable member of the delegation, while Platner is seen as more independent and willing to take populist, further left stands. The race bears similarities to the 2016 Democratic primary for president, when Sanders went up against Hillary Clinton and [offered a progressive alternative][15]. As in this contest, the machine politician was pitched by the party’s establishment as the more deserving candidate, while the populist candidate to her left ran an insurgent campaign. [OGUNQUIT, MAINE - OCTOBER 22: Leslie Harlow, the mother of U.S. senatorial candidate from Maine Graham Platner, applauds her son during a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025 in Ogunquit, Maine. Platner, a veteran of the U.S. Marines and an oyster farmer, is running for the seat held by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). (Photo by Sophie Park/Getty Images)] Leslie Harlow, Graham Platner’s mother, applauds her son during a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on Oct. 22, 2025, in Ogunquit, Maine. Photo: Sophie Park/Getty Images It’s another chapter in the intraparty civil war that has been simmering and often boiling over for decades. The Clinton wing, the Obama wing, the Sanders wing, and every other part of the sprawling political coalition that is the Democratic Party are all still vying for dominance. In 2008, the main dividing line was Iraq; in 2016, the failure of the Obama presidency; in 2020, Trump and Covid. In 2026, the party is still reeling from defeat at the ballot box just two years ago, one that was driven by a perception that the party was out of touch with voters on economic issues as well as, [reportedly][16], its complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The latter issue has become a flashpoint for conflict between the base and the establishment, especially with Schumer — who has [described one of his roles][17] in leadership as ensuring Israel gets “all the aid” it needs from the U.S. For centrist Democrats, Mills is their pick for Maine. Seniority means a lot to a certain kind of centrist Democrat. According to Platner, he was told in no uncertain terms that he was expected to stand down — “I was skipping the line,” he [told Slate][18] earlier this month — when he notified Democratic Senate leadership that he was considering running for the seat; the response he received came with a threat to turn his life inside out. “They essentially said, if we do this, they’re going to come after me,” Platner said. “They’re going to rip my life apart.” It’s not hard to see what’s off-putting about Platner to the moderate wing of the party. He’s running an anti-war, economically populist campaign with rhetoric aimed at the elites who fund the [DSCC][19] and the party’s corporatist wing. He’s come out [forcefully for trans rights][20] at a time when [Democrati][21]c centrist [think tanks][22], friendly to the party’s donor class, [are all but arguing][23] the party should throw marginalized groups under the bus. He’s also been forthright in calling Israel’s genocide in Gaza [what it is][24]. Unfortunately for the party establishment, the issues Platner is running on are popular with voters — especially the [Democratic base][25]. The party has been shifting left since Trump’s first term and Platner, like Sanders and members of the Squad, among others, is taking advantage of those rising tides of progressivism. [ ## Related ### The Left Put Its Faith in Graham Platner. Will He Break Its Heart? ][26] This isn’t to say that Platner doesn’t have his own significant challenges. His [posts on Reddit][27], which span a decade, included some language seen as misogynistic, prejudicial, and insulting to Mainers, though clearly [antifascist in general and anti-Nazi in particular][28]. Most notably, a scandal last fall became a national news story over his tattoo of a Totenkopf — a skull-and-bones symbol commonly associated with the Nazis — which led him to [publicly apologize][29] and have it [inked over][30]. Platner has claimed he got the tattoo in a drunken haze while on leave in 2007 when he was a Marine and that he didn’t know its ties to the Nazis until last October. The tattoo has dogged him ever since, with media outlets bringing it up whenever Platner makes the news, and the controversy hasn’t stopped there. Recently, Platner was criticized for appearing on a right-wing [podcast][31] hosted by a fellow veteran, Nate Cornacchia, who has endorsed conspiracy theories like far-right streamer [Nick Shirley’s attacks on Somalis][32] in Minnesota and tying Israel to the murder of Charlie Kirk. But the governor has her own baggage. Mills is already 78, and if elected, she would be 85 at the end of her six years in office. It’s a hard sell to Democrats in Maine, who, like their counterparts around the country, are still smarting from the humiliation of watching a [visibly declining][33] Joe Biden spend his presidency hidden from the public and the media and, when he did appear, fumbling answers onstage or staring off into space. Plus, after more than 30 years in Maine politics, which also includes serving in the statehouse and as attorney general, Mills is compromised in this race in specific ways that Platner is not. As governor, Mills has had to work with Collins to get things done for the state. There’s nothing unique about that, but it has provided soundbites of Mills praising Collins — one of which, “I appreciate all that she is doing,” the incumbent [already used in an ad][34] last fall. Maine voters will make the final decision on who the Democratic nominee will be. Right now, that looks like Platner — so much so that local labor leaders are [urging Schumer][35] to withdraw his support for Mills. If he wins the primary, Democrats in leadership will have a simple decision to make: Do they want to flip the Senate with a left-leaning veteran whose message resonates, even if it’s not how they wanted to do it? Or do they want to ride out another six years of even more razor-thin margins in either direction in the chamber and bet on 2032? Let’s hope they don’t think another six years of Susan Collins is better than winning with a candidate that outran their candidate from the left. The post [Senate Dem Leaders Are Trying to Sink Graham Platner. Voters Aren’t Convinced.][36] appeared first on [The Intercept][37]. [1]: https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/maine-… [2]: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/14/nx-s1-5570893/janet-mills-… [3]: https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2025-08-21/who-is-gr… [4]: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/me/maine/politics/2026/03/0… [5]: https://www.newsweek.com/susan-collins-dealt-double-polli… [6]: https://www.mainedems.org/media/mainers-collins-blame-her… [7]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/25/graham-platner-tattoo… [8]: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5777212-sen-heinric… [9]: https://x.com/RoKhanna/status/1981103887793999946 [10]: https://x.com/jonlovett/status/1981063743837774109 [11]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/16/maine-primary-democra… [12]: https://wgme.com/news/local/schumer-stands-by-mills-endor… [13]: https://www.dscc.org/article/quick-clip-dscc-chair-kirste… [14]: https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/mai… [15]: https://theintercept.com/2023/12/05/deconstructed-squad-a… [16]: https://www.axios.com/2026/02/22/dnc-2024-autopsy-harris-… [17]: https://truthout.org/articles/as-trumps-dhs-ravages-us-sc… [18]: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/03/graham-platne… [19]: https://theintercept.com/2025/08/18/jd-scholten-iowa-sena… [20]: https://www.them.us/story/graham-platner-anti-trans-attac… [21]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/07/jonathan-chait-centri… [22]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/us/politics/democrats-… [23]: https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/the-trans-rights-backlas… [24]: https://www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-sanders-maine [25]: https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-democrats-real-… [26]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/25/graham-platner-tattoo… [27]: https://mainemorningstar.com/2025/10/17/unearthed-reddit-… [28]: https://jacobin.com/2025/10/platner-maine-senate-reddit-m… [29]: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/21/graham-platner-t… [30]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/us/politics/graham-pla… [31]: https://jewishinsider.com/2026/02/graham-platner-maine-se… [32]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/31/nick-shirley-videos-m… [33]: https://theintercept.com/2024/07/02/biden-polls-democrats… [34]: https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1978835832501838275 [35]: https://www.pressherald.com/2026/02/27/union-leaders-tell… [36]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/16/graham-platner-janet-… [37]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/16/graham-platner-janet-…

Dem in Maine House Primary Funneled PAC Money to Republicans A Democratic candidate for a key House race in Maine oversaw a political action committee that donated thousands of dollars to Republican candidates across the country, Federal Election Commission records show. Jordan Wood, who is running for the Democratic nomination in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, is the former executive director of democracyFirst PAC, a group that — despite its left-of-center orientation — donated to at least one Republican PAC, in addition to giving thousands of dollars to at least six GOP campaigns for House and Senate seats during the 2024 election cycle, according to the records. In total, the group donated $75,000 to various House and Senate races, including Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah; Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.; and Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., with contributions ranging from $1,000 to $3,000. Wood’s PAC also gave $5,000 to Republican Governance Group/Tuesday Group PAC, a group of moderate Republicans that has gradually moved to the right as it aligned with the policy priorities of the Trump administration. > “This is pretty troubling.” “I don’t necessarily condemn anyone for contributing to left or right candidates as long as they’re actively protecting our civil rights, but this is pretty troubling,” said Maine state Rep. Amy Roeder, a Democrat. While some of the candidates democracyFirst donated to were running for safe seats in deep-red districts, others, such as Valadao, an incumbent, were considered to be [more competitive][1]. Valadao, first elected to the House in 2012, [lost his seat][2] to Democrat TJ Cox in 2016 before regaining it four years later. Though some of the GOP lawmakers supported by democracyFirst have at times voted for President Donald Trump’s agenda items, most are considered a moderate Republicans. Valadao, for instance, was one of just 10 House representatives to vote to impeach President Trump. But at least six GOP lawmakers who received money from democracyFirst, including Valadao, voted along party lines to support Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a sprawling funding bill that realized a wide array of long-standing conservative aims, including [cuts to Medicaid][3], tax cuts for billionaires, and a [$75 billion][4] infusion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At the state level, democracyFirst pitched in to help several campaigns for state legislature seats and county commissioner positions in Pennsylvania, including that of County Commissioner Mike Pries, of Dauphin County, who went on in 2025 to vote to reject a resolution that would have [restricted local cooperation with ICE][5]. “democracyFIRST was built to do one thing: defeat Trump-aligned candidates who were trying to seize control of America’s election infrastructure,” Wood said in a statement. “Every Republican candidate democracyFIRST ever supported held an office with direct authority over election administration or certification, and every single one of them was in a primary against an election denier who supported Trump’s false claims of a rigged election. We were trying to take their power away. It was a carefully designed firewall to safeguard future elections.” Wood is one of several candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in the race to replace Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine. Golden was already facing a primary challenge from State Auditor Matt Dunlap. Golden, a centrist who has [caught heat][6] from progressives for [voting against][7] party lines in [several key][8] instances, announced in [November][9] that he would not seek reelection. In the wake of the announcement, Wood was months into a campaign to unseat the longtime Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, but swiftly pivoted to throw his hat in the ring for Golden’s seat. In addition to the democracyFirst spending, Wood has been scrutinized for his ties to Mothership Strategies, a liberal-leaning fundraising outfit run by his husband, Jake Lipsett. The firm has gained a controversial reputation in Democratic circles for aggressive tactics, inflammatory and alarming rhetoric, and accusations of self-dealing and other unethical billing practices. > Wood has been scrutinized for his ties to Mothership Strategies, a fundraising outfit run by his husband. Wood has said he and his husband keep their professional lives separate, but FEC records show that in the months after Wood stepped down from democracyFirst to run against Collins, the new candidate’s old PAC began funneling money to Mothership to the eventual tune of more than [half a million dollars][10]. Dunlap, meanwhile, has earned a [chilly reception][11] from national Democratic leadership over his decision to primary Golden, whose district elected Trump in the 2024 election by 9 percentage points, and [faced criticism from the right][12] for his role in overseeing the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. Trump and his allies have said the agency exercised lax oversight in the disbursement of federal money to other state health care programs. The other main contender, Joe Baldacci, a state senator and the brother of former two-term Maine Gov. John Baldacci, [joined the race in January][13]. (Dunlap and Baldacci’s campaigns declined to comment.) Whoever wins the Democratic primary will likely face up in the general against former Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a proto-MAGA populist. LePage, who occupied the governor’s mansion from 2011 until 2019, is known for his long record of foot-in-mouth gaffes and [racially charged statements][14]. Baldacci and Dunlap are longtime residents of Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. Wood, on the other hand, only announced after pivoting to the House race that he would to [move with his family to the city of Lewiston][15] in order to qualify. LePage has spent his years of political exile in the sunny wilderness of Florida. “I am friends with both Sen. Baldacci and State Auditor Dunlap and have known them to be people of integrity and people who really give a damn,” said Roeder, the statehouse representative. “Jordan Wood was not a CD2 resident until very recently, and I personally look sideways at someone who moves into a district in order to run in that district. And I count Paul LePage as well.” LePage, who announced his candidacy for the House seat in May, is making his second attempt at a political comeback after badly losing his 2024 bid to retake his old job as governor from incumbent Democrat Janet Mills. The post [Dem in Maine House Primary Funneled PAC Money to Republicans][16] appeared first on [The Intercept][17]. [1]: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-05/valad… [2]: https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-me-pol-valadao-cox-vi… [3]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/07/medicaid-cuts-trump-b… [4]: https://www.npr.org/2026/01/21/nx-s1-5674887/ice-budget-f… [5]: https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/dauphin-county/d… [6]: https://theintercept.com/2021/10/25/josh-gottheimer-donor… [7]: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/26/alex-pretti-democrats… [8]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/iran-war-democrats-sc… [9]: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/jared-golden-ret… [10]: https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=process… [11]: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/jared-golden-ret… [12]: https://themainemonitor.org/republican-messaging-fraud-de… [13]: https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2026-01-12/joe-balda… [14]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/maine-gov-… [15]: https://mainemorningstar.com/2025/11/12/pivoting-from-sen… [16]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/16/maine-primary-democra… [17]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/16/maine-primary-democra…

Crypto Spends Big in Illinois House Races to Say Consumer Rights Supporters Are Corrupt The cryptocurrency industry has a new line of attack against candidates who have voted for consumer protections on digital coins: calling them corrupt. In at least two Illinois congressional primaries, candidates vying for the progressive vote are being accused by a crypto political action committee of corruption. Fairshake PAC is trying to smear one candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as a corporate tool and another candidate who successfully fought a federal indictment as a tax cheat. > “One of the most corrupt actors in the country is trying to appropriate an anti-corruption argument.” The industry has thrown at least $3.3 million into negative attacks on the campaigns in the 2nd and 7th Congressional Districts thus far, according to an [analysis from a Chicago political consultant][1]. That spending represents only a fraction of the PAC’s war chest for the remainder of the primary season. “Ironically, we’re in a very anti-corruption moment, and you know that is true because one of the most corrupt actors in the country is trying to appropriate an anti-corruption argument,” said Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project, a crypto industry critic. “The threat is that the cynical deployment of an anti-corruption politics undermines the potential for success of a genuine anti-corruption politics.” Fairshake declined to comment. In both races, crypto industry interests are attacking Democratic candidates — state Sen. Robert Peters and state Rep. La Shawn K. Ford — who voted for consumer protection regulations on cryptocurrency in the Illinois statehouse last year. That legislation, supported by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, [forces crypto companies][2] to register with the state and comply with local rules if they want to serve Illinois residents. Crypto companies have long opposed state-level regulations, preferring a single set of looser regulations at the federal level. As the congressional elections heated up this year, the crypto industry began delivering payback. [Mailers targeting Peters][3], for instance, accuse him of being a “corporate pawn” and “bankrolled by special interests,” based on campaign contributions he has received. Peters has responded by noting that he is endorsed by national progressives including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., who are fierce foes of corporate interests. Commenting on the Fairshake mailer, Peters said that it was “paid for by Trump’s top donors, to make sure they buy a lapdog in this congressional seat who will let them avoid all regulation. Nasty work.” Two of Peters’s top opponents, [Jesse Jackson Jr.][4] and [Donna Miller][5], have received A ratings from Stand With Crypto, an industry group, based on their promises to pass industry-friendly legislation. (Their campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.) Ford, the state representative, has been the target of $2.5 million in attack ads from Fairshake, according to a tally by Chicago political consultant Frank Calabrese. One TV attack ad highlighted the 17-count bank fraud indictment that federal prosecutors [brought against Ford in 2012][6] — without noting that the case fizzled away and Ford ultimately pleaded guilty to only a [misdemeanor][7] tax charge. Local media have called the ad [misleading][8], a claim that Ford echoed in an interview with The Intercept. [ ## Related ### AIPAC Donors Back Real Estate Tycoon Who Opposed Gaza Ceasefire for Deep-Blue Chicago Seat ][9] “I think that it’s slander. It’s the reason why we have to have campaign finance reform to get dark money out of races,” he said. “They are misleading voters. Even though they know that, they are advertising that I was convicted of 17 counts of bank fraud and tax fraud, they know that the Department of Justice dropped those charges, and yet they mislead voters.” Ford’s campaign has sent Fairshake, the crypto PAC, a [cease-and-desist letter][10]. One of Ford’s top opponents in the race to replace outgoing Rep. Danny Davis, City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, received an A rating from Stand With Crypto. (Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment.) Ford noted that industry figures including Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, a crypto exchange that is one of Fairshake’s major funders, have worked closely with President Donald Trump to win favorable regulations. Coinbase [donated $1 million][11] to Trump’s [inaugural fund][12] in December 2024 and has given further donations to Trump’s White House [ballroom project.][13] “It’s funny, because they are cronies with Donald Trump and they want to say that I’m not fit to go to Congress,” Ford said. “Yet Donald Trump was actually [convicted on 34 counts][14], and they support him for president.” The post [Crypto Spends Big in Illinois House Races to Say Consumer Rights Supporters Are Corrupt][15] appeared first on [The Intercept][16]. [1]: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WTxsv-jTV_FIhkqyQ… [2]: https://www.innreg.com/blog/illinois-digital-assets-and-c… [3]: https://x.com/RobertJPeters/status/2024922383002267982/ph… [4]: https://www.standwithcrypto.org/politicians/person/jesse-… [5]: https://www.standwithcrypto.org/politicians/person/donna-… [6]: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/state-rep-la-shawn-f… [7]: https://abc7chicago.com/post/lashawn-ford-sentenced-to-pr… [8]: https://abc7chicago.com/post/super-pacs-funding-many-poli… [9]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/22/chicago-congress-aipa… [10]: https://www.oakpark.com/2026/03/12/ford-campaign-defamato… [11]: https://readsludge.com/2025/02/21/sec-drops-coinbase-laws… [12]: https://theintercept.com/2025/03/07/white-house-crypto-su… [13]: https://fortune.com/2025/10/26/37-white-house-ballroom-do… [14]: https://theintercept.com/series/all-presidents-crimes/ [15]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/15/crypto-spending-illin… [16]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/15/crypto-spending-illin…

In the Room Where Death Row Prisoners Say Final Goodbyes, He Learned He Would Live On the day after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey commuted his death sentence, halting his execution two days before he was supposed to die, Charles “Sonny” Burton sat in his wheelchair in a visiting room at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., drinking a Coke and eating a Reese’s peanut butter cup. He could not stop smiling. “I’m feeling wonderful,” Burton told me. Burton, 75, wore white sneakers and a brace on his right hand, his tan quilted jacket and slacks fitting loosely over his thin frame. A tan helmet, given to him by the prison to protect from his occasional falls, sat on the table next to an array of photos taken with family earlier that day, along with a bag of quarters for the vending machines. Burton identified the people in one of the photos for me. Several were still in the visiting room: his sister Eddie Mae Ellison, his son Charles Burton III, and his grandson Charles Burton IV. No sooner had one group of relatives left the visiting room than another showed up — a rolling family reunion. Burton had been sitting in that same visiting room with his lawyers 24 hours earlier, on Tuesday, March 10, when his longtime paralegal Nancy Palombi got a phone call in Montgomery, 120 miles away. While the rest of the legal team was at the prison without access to their cellphones, Palombi had stayed behind to field any communications from the U.S. Supreme Court, which had just received their final filings aimed at stopping Burton’s execution. Instead, she got a call from a reporter she knew. The reporter was screaming, “Have you heard?” The governor’s office had just sent out a press release with the subject line, “Update from Governor Kay Ivey: Charles L. Burton.” And that’s how Palombi learned that her client of 20 years would not be executed. “I was the first member of the team to find out,” Palombi told me that morning, her voice still trembling with a mix of shock, joy, and relief. Palombi called the prison and spoke to the warden’s secretary, who entered the visitation room with a smile on her face. She told Burton’s lead attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Matt Schulz, that he should call his paralegal right away. “And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, it happened,’” Schulz said. “But I still didn’t want to let myself believe it, because I didn’t know yet.” Schulz rushed to his car, drove out of range from Holman’s cellphone blockers, and called Palombi. He then sped back. Describing the scene the next day, Burton turned and pointed toward the hallway that runs along the perimeter of the visiting room. That’s where prison staff celebrated as the news spread on death row. Nurses and officers waved and gave him thumbs ups through the horizontal window slats. “Guards were saying, ‘Sonny got clemency! Sonny got clemency!’” Burton said. A day later, everyone was still a bit shellshocked. Burton’s son, who had flown in from New York, got the news while loading up his rental car for the drive to Atmore. Burton’s sister was at the doctor’s office in Montgomery, where she saw a local news alert. She ran outside and dropped to her knees. “And then the tears just flowed,” she said. For decades, the visiting room had been the site of agonizing goodbyes between the condemned and their loved ones in the hours before an execution. Now it was home to warm hugs and tranquil smiles, no one’s bigger than Burton’s. He invoked the famed blues harmonica player Snooky Pryor: “I’m too cool to move.” A sign made by a daughter of Charles "Sonny" Burton, outside the governor's mansion in Montgomery, Ala. on March 9, 2026. Liliana Segura/The Intercept Burton’s commutation was historic: the third time in the modern history of Alabama’s death penalty that a person facing execution had received clemency by the governor. Ivey, a staunch Republican, has presided over 25 executions since she took office in 2017. Although she commuted the sentence of Burton’s neighbor, [Rocky Myers][1], last year due to serious doubts over his guilt, few had been optimistic that she would exercise such mercy again. Burton would have been the ninth person executed using [nitrogen gas][2] in Alabama in just over two years. The method was adopted following complications carrying out lethal injection, a wider trend that has [reshaped the landscape of executions][3] across the country. The state’s last execution had prompted a forceful dissent from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who described the psychological torture in visceral detail. “You want to breathe; you have to breathe,” she wrote. “But you are strapped to a gurney with a mask on your face pumping your lungs with nitrogen gas. Your mind knows that the gas will kill you. But your body keeps telling you to breathe.” Burton’s commutation also came as a searing documentary about the state prison system, “The Alabama Solution,” was in the race to win an Oscar. The film, which was produced using footage from [contraband cellphones][4], had forced politicians to acknowledge the deadly conditions and inhumane punishments inflicted on people incarcerated in their state. On the day I visited Burton, [lawmakers met in Montgomery][5] to discuss legislation to impose oversight on Alabama’s prisons. [ ## Related ### Lethal Illusion: Understanding the Death Penalty Apparatus ][6] It was this kind of public pressure that undoubtedly saved Burton’s life. “I would have 100 percent died without it,” Burton told me. In Montgomery, activists held vigils every Monday for weeks in front of the governor’s mansion, while downtown businesses posted flyers about Burton’s case in their front windows. On the eve of Ivey’s decision, two of Burton’s sisters joined a march to the state Capitol to deliver petitions to her office. The [campaign for clemency][7] was launched by Burton’s legal team, who believed they had nothing to lose. They highlighted Burton’s remorse, his advanced age and poor health, and, above all, his lack of culpability for the murder that sent him to death row. “This is one of those cases that shocks people,” Schulz said in a [clemency film][8] produced last year. “And it shocks people in a totally different way than most death penalty cases.” Burton was 40 years old when he led a group of younger men in an armed robbery at an AutoZone in Talladega, Alabama. A 34-year-old father and military veteran named Doug Battle walked in as the crime was underway — and one of the young men fatally shot him in the back. At first, Burton denied any role in either the robbery or the shooting. His apparent lack of remorse helped convince jurors at his 1992 trial that he should be punished as severely as the man who actually shot Battle, a 20-year-old named Derrick DeBruce, who had already been sent to death row. After a four-day trial, Burton, too, was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to die. But a federal court eventually [threw out][9] DeBruce’s death sentence, finding that his lawyer had failed to effectively represent him during the punishment phase of his trial. The Alabama attorney general’s office initially appealed the decision, contending that it would be “arguably unjust” to allow Burton to be executed for his co-defendant’s actions. But in 2015, the state agreed to reduce DeBruce’s punishment to life without parole. DeBruce reportedly died in custody five years later. > “What is the execution of Mr. Burton supposed to accomplish or solve?” The notion that Burton should now pay with his life for another man’s crime spurred outrage among people in Alabama and beyond. The campaign to save Burton was bolstered by six of the eight living jurors who voted to send him to death row, as well as by Battle’s daughter, Tori Battle, who was [outspoken][10] in her opposition to the execution. “What is the execution of Mr. Burton supposed to accomplish or solve?” she asked Ivey in a letter that was submitted as part of Burton’s 88-page [clemency petition][11]. “Is it for my father? For me? To deter crime? I honestly do not understand.” The petition argued, first and foremost, that Burton never killed anyone. “He did not pull the trigger that killed Douglas Battle,” his lawyers wrote. In fact, he didn’t even witness the murder. “Mr. Burton was already outside of the AutoZone building where the shooting took place.” Although Alabama’s felony murder statute allows defendants to be held responsible for the actions of others, Burton was only supposed to be eligible for capital murder if he had intended to take somebody’s life — and there was nothing to prove that this was the case. The state’s star witness against Burton was a teenager named LuJuan McCants who had agreed to testify in order to avoid the death penalty. He said that Burton had gathered the group with the intention of committing a robbery — and if something went wrong, “he said let him take care of it.” According to prosecutors, this directive proved that Burton intended to kill anyone who might stand in the way of the robbery. But even this weak evidence was undermined by McCants’s own testimony, as well as by an interrogation video discovered by Burton’s lawyers years after the trial. It showed McCants repeatedly telling investigators that Burton had not wanted anyone to get hurt — and that he’d been upset upon learning that DeBruce shot Battle. Some of the jurors who spoke out against the execution said they were haunted by their decision. “I have questioned whether death is an appropriate punishment,” one woman wrote in a letter submitted with the clemency petition. “I have often thought about Mr. Burton’s mother, who was no doubt devastated by the sentence.” But for most, it came down to the obvious unfairness of executing Burton for DeBruce’s crime. “Had I known the shooter would later be taken off death row,” one juror wrote, “I would not have voted for the death sentence.” Another juror wrote that Burton may have been the ringleader, “but if Charles Manson can get a life sentence for leading his group to kill many people, it is fair for Mr. Burton to serve life without parole.” Supporters of Charles “Sonny” Burton marched from the governor's mansion in Montgomery, Ala. to the state capitol on March 9, 2026, to deliver petitions urging Governor Kay Ivey to grant clemency. Photo: Liliana Segura/The Intercept Like most people living on death row, Burton bears no resemblance to Charles Manson — or to the people Americans picture when they hear the term “worst of the worst.” His early life had the familiar hallmarks of many of those who are [put to death][12] in the United States: poverty, [racism][13], childhood abuse, and [trauma][14]. By the time Alabama came close to executing him, he had long since apologized for his actions and was in frequent pain from rheumatoid arthritis, unable to walk on his own. But he was also lucky, he told me. If there was anything that sustained him during his years at Holman, it was a strong family structure, which many of his neighbors lack. Indeed, Burton’s clemency petition was filled with letters from relatives, pen pals, and advocates who described Burton as a positive and nurturing presence in their lives. I was supposed to attend Burton’s execution — not as a media witness, but as one of the people placed on his personal list. Burton did not wish for his family to be subjected to his death, and his legal team decided that, should the killing move forward, they wanted the world to know what Alabama had done. They invited me and two other journalists to join them in the witness room. [ ## Related ### “Agony” and “Suffering” as Alabama Experiments With Nitrogen Executions ][15] One of them, Lee Hedgepeth, had already witnessed seven executions in Alabama, including three by nitrogen gas. The last one had been the longest to date, [lasting 40 minutes][16]. Schulz had seen two of his clients killed with nitrogen. Their accounts were harrowing: Terror and panic was visible on the faces of the condemned, who gasped and thrashed on the gurney. As Burton’s execution date neared, Schulz wondered how it would compare. Would his elderly client suffer more or less due to his age and poor health? Could his more shallow breathing cause the execution to last longer? Or would the fact that he does not have as much oxygen in his lungs to begin with mean it would be shorter? What was certain was that executing Burton would have been a horrifying spectacle. Guards would have had to lift him onto the gurney, adjusting the thick black straps to fit more tightly over his withered body, and putting a mask over his face. Witnesses would then have watched as Alabama suffocated an elderly man, who killed no one, in the name of justice. Instead, Burton is now poised to live out the rest of his days behind bars. On the day after our visit, he was moved out of the prison where he spent more than three decades and driven up to Kilby Correctional Facility outside Montgomery, where newly incarcerated people are housed before being transferred to their designated prisons. The move is sure to be a shock to the system for a man who has hardly begun to process the trauma of his near-execution and who has spent much of the past 10 years between his cell and the prison infirmary. After age 65, Burton told me, he slowed down. “I haven’t been outside in eight years,” he said. In a less punitive system, it would be obvious that Burton should go home to spend the rest of his life with his family. As he said, “I ain’t got much longer to live.” His relatives harbor [some hope][17] that he may some day be eligible for medical release. But for now, according to Schulz, Burton was in good spirits when they spoke on the phone from his new location. “He said he knew many of the nurses there, and that they all were greeting, and treating, him warmly,” he said. “And he’s alive,” Schulz added. On Thursday at 6 p.m., the hour he had been scheduled to die, Burton planned to eat ice cream at the same time as his attorneys and savor the feeling of gratitude. “God has given me a second chance,” Burton told me. This, he believed, was God’s work. “He put the right people in my path.” The post [In the Room Where Death Row Prisoners Say Final Goodbyes, He Learned He Would Live][18] appeared first on [The Intercept][19]. [1]: https://www.treadbylee.com/p/klonsel [2]: https://theintercept.com/2024/01/23/alabama-nitrogen-gas-… [3]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/05/malcolm-gladwell-lili… [4]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/03/fcc-brendan-carr-cell… [5]: https://www.al.com/news/2026/03/oscar-nominated-alabama-s… [6]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/05/malcolm-gladwell-lili… [7]: https://www.charlessonnyburton.com/ [8]: https://www.charlessonnyburton.com/film [9]: https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201111… [10]: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/don-t-execute-wrong-man [11]: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/66f6dc43a2c59b2f4f… [12]: https://theintercept.com/2018/06/17/lynching-museum-alaba… [13]: https://theintercept.com/2021/02/09/death-penalty-texas-m… [14]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/20/malik-abdul-sajjad-ri… [15]: https://theintercept.com/2024/10/08/alabama-nitrogen-gas-… [16]: https://www.treadbylee.com/p/after-justices-warned-of-pro… [17]: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2026/03/13/charles-son… [18]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/14/alabama-sonny-burton-… [19]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/14/alabama-sonny-burton-…

Anti-ICE Protesters Convicted on Terrorism Charges for Wearing All Black A federal jury handed prosecutors a mixed victory in the trial of nine protesters for their roles in a chaotic demonstration outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility last July, convicting eight defendants of terrorism charges but sparing some of them on attempted murder counts. The widely watched trial could serve as a bellwether as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to [crack down on left-wing groups][1] — and the convictions could encourage prosecutors to bring more such charges. A top FBI official said in December that the agency is now treating “antifa” as a [major domestic terror threat.][2] > The widely watched trial could serve as a bellwether as Trump seeks to crack down on left-wing groups. The court case centered on a nighttime July 4, 2025, protest outside ICE’s Prairieland Detention Facility that started with demonstrators shooting fireworks and spray-painting cars in the parking lot. Signal messages obtained by the government showed that the demonstrators believed that less confrontational protests against ICE — such as one that had occurred earlier in the day at the same facility — were ineffective. [Some of the protesters had brought guns][3], which is legal in Texas. A police officer responding to the scene was shot in the neck by one of the protesters, Benjamin Song, who had brought an AR-15 with a trigger modified for a higher rate of fire. The defendants said the protest was a peaceful demonstration meant to show solidarity, pointing to the megaphone that one member of the group brought to shout slogans to detainees. Prosecutors pointed to the guns, ballistic vests, and trauma first-aid kits they brought as evidence of malicious intent. Song was convicted of one count of attempted murder for shooting the officer, but acquitted on two other counts of attempting to shoot at two correctional officers. Song was also found guilty of discharging a firearm during a violent crime. Four other people accused of attempted murder counts were acquitted on those charges. Song faces up to life in prison. [ ## Related ### Wearing All Black at Protests Makes You Guilty of Terrorism, Prosecutors Tell Jury ][4] In a significant victory for the government, jurors convicted eight defendants on material support for terrorism charges for wearing black clothes to the late-night demonstration. That [use of “black bloc” clothing was an antifa tactic][5] that assisted in the shooting of the officer, prosecutors said during their closing arguments. The defendants convicted of providing material support to terrorists were Song, Autumn Hill, Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Megan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto. They face up to 15 years in prison on that count. The same defendants were also convicted of riot and two explosives charges related to the fireworks. Hill, Evetts, Morris, and Rueda were acquitted on attempted murder charges that would have carried sentences up to life imprisonment. Rueda and her husband, [Daniel Sanchez Estrada][6], were convicted of conspiracy to conceal documents. That charge centered on Sanchez’s [movement of boxes containing radical pamphlets][7] after her arrest. Sanchez was also convicted of corruptly concealing a document. The prosecution of the Prairieland defendants represented the federal government’s first use of the material support charge against alleged antifa members accused of domestic terrorism. > The prosecution was the government’s first material support for terror charges against alleged antifa members. The verdict came after 10 days of testimony inside a Fort Worth courtroom packed with family members of the defendants, law enforcement officials, and journalists. Prosecutors called the wounded police officer and detention center guards to describe what it was like on the receiving end of a barrage of bullets, as well as four cooperating defendants who pleaded guilty before trial. Another significant witness was a [researcher at a right-wing think tank][8] who said the tactics used by the demonstrators that night, including “black bloc” clothing and the encrypted messaging app Signal — which the witness said he also used — were typical of antifa. The post [Anti-ICE Protesters Convicted on Terrorism Charges for Wearing All Black][9] appeared first on [The Intercept][10]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic… [2]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/11/fbi-antifa-terrorist-… [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/prairieland-antifa-tr… [4]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te… [5]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te… [6]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/04/antifa-zines-accident… [7]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antif… [8]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/09/prairieland-antifa-ic… [9]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/ice-protesters-terror… [10]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/ice-protesters-terror…

Why Dems Keep Saying Trump Has “No Plan” Instead of Calling to End the War With Iran [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, speaks to members of the media outside a Gang of Eight briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 2, 2026. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US military would step up its military attacks against Iran, a stark warning after two days of strikes across the country that the Trump administration says took out its leadership targeted its ballistic-missile program. Photographer: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images] Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to members of the media outside a Gang of Eight briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 2, 2026. Photo: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Key Democrats in Congress are, once again, vaguely opposing a war instead of forcefully opposing it on moral or ideological grounds. Just as Democratic leadership [slow-rolled][1] a war powers vote for [two weeks after][2] President Donald Trump began amassing his [armada][3] to attack Iran, and four days after the bombing was underway, Democrats are refusing to speak out clearly against the war, instead resigning themselves to process-based criticism and demands for “more information” and “plans.” With strong [indications][4] that Trump may soon send ground troops, we are long past the time for begging to see the “plans.” Democrats need to forcefully call for an end to this war now. Still, this “We need to see Trump’s plans for Iran” talking point has taken hold, either through top-down messaging discipline or a very unfortunate series of coincidences. Democrats in the House and Senate have been echoing some version of this line for the past week: > He has NO PLAN—and the result of Trump’s recklessness will be catastrophic for our country. [https://t.co/vHEwwE3CPT][5] > > — Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) [March 10, 2026][6] > Iran is exporting MORE oil than before the war, while Americans are paying more at the pump. > > This is what happens when you start a war with no plan or strategy. Utter incompetence. [https://t.co/XYSesd5kSU][7] > > — Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) [March 11, 2026][8] > This is also what we heard in the classified briefing for Members of Congress last week. > > I raised concerns about reports of the US funding militant groups and asked directly what the plan is for a democratic transition in Iran. > > The response: “That is not part of the mission.” [https://t.co/XVLwArwRY4][9] > > — Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) [March 11, 2026][10] This messaging often comes after [closed-door briefings][11] with Congress, followed by a consternating Democrat in front of a camera lamenting a lack of a “plan” or “exit strategy.” Let us examine this clip, for example, of Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., as he “demands answers” and does a lot of posturing and Plan-Mongering but, strangely, never actually says the war is wrong and should end immediately. > The American people deserve answers about the war with Iran. I’m not stopping until we get them. [pic.twitter.com/Ey3WJKiJdh][12] > > — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) [March 10, 2026][13] On Thursday, Democratic Reps. Yassamin Ansari, Sara Jacobs, and Jason Crow released a 1,100-word [letter][14] to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding accountability for war crimes committed in Iran that makes no demand to end the war causing the war crimes. Similar to the Biden White House’s [strategy][15] of demanding Israel “allow in more aid” in Gaza while [continuing to arm][16] and fund the destruction of Gaza, there’s a surplus of performative outrage and handwringing over the logical outcome of the war without opposing the war causing the war crimes in question. Countless other Democrats are repeating this script with varying degrees of normative content, but typically without much at all, instead keeping the conversation purely in the realm of process and strategy. “[President Trump has] not shown us any plans for what he wants to do for the day after,” Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-N.V., [told reporters][17] earlier in the week. “We have to have a plan,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., [said to NOTUS][18] on Tuesday. “I’m still not convinced that the administration has a plan to execute the rest of the war and have an exit strategy.” Some of those pushing this line may argue that we can make process criticisms and demand an end to the war. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach –– and [some][19] have done it –– for the vast majority, this is simply not the case. The only message that’s pushed out to the public is the how and when of the war, not the fact of it. > Dear [@SecRubio][20]: You need to resign. You put many Americans in danger with no plan. > > You knew Iran had missiles that could hit multiple soft targets. > > Other countries are getting their citizens out. You’re telling Americans they are on their own. Shameful dereliction of duty. [https://t.co/FewIrPx9tk][21] > > — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) [March 3, 2026][22] > Every hour, the Trump administration changes its justification for war with Iran. And they have no plan for how to end it. > > Trump started a new illegal war with no end in sight. > > — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) [March 8, 2026][23] An extension of this messaging is a call for “hearings” or “investigations” on the war. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is aggressively pushing this line, telling [reporters earlier this week][24] that “the story from the administration changes by the hour.” “When it comes to sending our service members into harm’s way, the American people need to understand why,” he said. “But right now, they don’t even have a ‘why.’ … That needs to change. We need testimony. We need accountability.” > This war is not an abstract policy proposal up for debate at the Oxford Union Society that requires further deliberation. It’s unclear why anyone needs “testimony.” The war is illegal, immoral, killing countless Iranians, and needs to end immediately. The implication in this constant Plan-Mongering is that some brilliant Aaron Sorkin speech from Hegseth or Marco Rubio in front of Congress would somehow change these underlying basic facts. This is a [criminal war][25] being carried about by [openly violent racists][26] and needs to stop at once. It is not an abstract policy proposal up for debate at the Oxford Union Society that requires further deliberation. “Senate Democrats vow to force Iran war votes if Republicans don’t hold hearings,” an [exclusive][27] from Semafor informed us on Tuesday. “Senate Democrats are threatening to force repeated votes on President Donald Trump’s war with Iran unless Republicans agree to hold committee hearings about the ongoing war,” the report continued. > Bombs don't bring democracy. > > Trump is risking American lives with no plan for what comes next in Iran–risking another “forever” war where the American people pay the price. [pic.twitter.com/qjx2pQteht][28] > > — Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) [March 7, 2026][29] > I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public. > > I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are. > > 1/ Here's what I can share: > > — Chris Murphy ? (@ChrisMurphyCT) [March 11, 2026][30] Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., did make a clear statement in the Semafor article against the war, saying, “Now is the time for Democrats to use all the leverage we have to try to stop this unnecessary war.” But this is an outlier in these Plan-Mongering PR roll outs. Indeed, the entire premise that Democrats would force more war powers votes unless “Republicans hold hearings” is nonsensical. If the war powers votes are meaningful leverage, why not use them to make a clear, consistent moral case to the public, rather than indulge the idea this is an unsettled debate to be hashed out in drawn-out hearings? What more is there to learn? The war is illegal, unjust, and immoral. What functional purpose would hearings serve, other than to mine for viral content of Dems Owning Trump Administration Officials? It’s true that every Democrat in the Senate — [save for Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman][31] — supported a war powers resolution on March 4. And while this would have triggered congressional authority to vote for or against war with Iran, it is not, itself, a vote against war — it is an assertion of Congress’s authority to decide the matter. This conditional element, combined with the fact that its failure in both the Senate and House was likely a fait accompli, permitted Democrats to be on the record as appearing to oppose the war without running afoul of the pro-war, pro-Israel lobby. > The Plan-Mongering strategy is being promoted by centrist, corporate, and billionaire-funded groups like Third Way. It’s telling that the Plan-Mongering strategy is being promoted by [centrist, corporate, and billionaire-funded][32] groups like Third Way, who [released talking points][33] detailing how Democrats should talk about the war on the first day of the bombing, the substance of which is an almost carbon copy of how top Democrats have subsequently spoken about it. “President Trump is refusing to answer a number of grave and urgent questions,” leads off the memo, which proceeds to lay out the familiar talking points: Is Iran truly an imminent threat? (The answer, one assumes, is TBD.) *Why did Trump tell us in an address to the nation in June that Iran’s nuclear assets had been “completely and totally obliterated”? Is this a “Wag the Dog” war*?* Is this a war for regime change?* (Again, the normative substance remains elusive.) **Why has Congress been bypassed?** The memo ends with this muddled statement of support but skepticism about process: “We strongly support our troops and hope this mission succeeds. But these unanswered questions mean we don’t know what success looks like, and that should deeply worry every American.” What’s missing is a clearly articulated message against the war, or any demand to end it now. Instead, a “hope the mission succeeds,” and a lot of hand-wringing, deflections, and concerns that Congress is being left out of the war. The influential liberal group National Security Action released similar, if marginally better, [process-focused talking points][34] last week in their “messaging guide.” While the guide conditionally opposes new funding, it still makes no demand to end the war immediately, instead suggesting Democrats should refuse to fund it until “Donald Trump makes clear how and when we are getting out of this reckless war.” > What’s missing is a clearly articulated message against the war, or any demand to end it now. Rather than a clear objection to funding this illegal and immoral war in any form, these talking points continue to leave open the possibility Democrats could support it, if only there was an acceptable “plan.” Central to this incoherent messaging is the implication that there exists a “plan” Trump could proffer that would satisfy Democrats. And if that’s the case, after the 900th demand by Democrats that he produce one, one is left wondering: Why don’t the Democrats provide one, or at least a rough outline? What would a good “plan” for a surprise and unprovoked attack on Iran look like, exactly? What’s to stop Schumer’s office from offering one? What’s left unsaid is that there’s no plan in the universe that would justify this war of aggression that’s already killed over 1,300 civilians, including [200 children][35]. Those pushing this argument would likely make a pragmatism defense: *These types of process critiques play better with the public*, they might insist. But it’s unclear on what basis this could be said, as the war is already [historically unpopular][36]. Polls show the public overwhelmingly wants the war to end; they are not asking for more refined “plans” or “explanations” or “hearings.” [ ## Related ### It’s a War With Iran, Not an “Intervention” ][37] The real reason why this line is popular is almost certainly because it creates the appearance of unified party opposition while permitting those who soft-support the war to find something to criticize, namely the lack of a sufficiently good “plan.” This focus on process criticism — which [defined][38] Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’s superficial response to the war in the immediate lead-up and first days of the war — does not build any moral narratives, or undermine the [logic of regime change][39], which remains the bipartisan consensus, or run afoul of [AIPAC][40] and other major pro-Israel Democratic donors. But it may help placate Democratic voters who are overwhelmingly opposed to the war to the [tune of 89 percent][41]. When Democratic message-shapers are tasked with opposing a war without opposing *the moral logic of the war*, confusing and often contradictory process criticism is all they have left. Democrats, as a minority party, could not unilaterally end the war if they wanted to, but this appeal to their powerlessness doesn’t tell the whole story. When the House voted on a separate war powers resolution the day after the Senate’s failed, four Democrats — Reps. [Henry Cuellar][42], Jared Golden, [Greg Landsman][43], and Juan Vargas — [broke ranks and opposed it][44]. Had they voted the party line, it would have passed due to two Republicans joining the effort, and the war would have likely ended — at least until a subsequent authorization vote took place. When is Jeffries, the supposedly anti-war House minority leader, going to discipline these four pro-war Democrats who ruined the party’s nominal opposition to this war? So far, there have been no reports of any such measures, so we’re left to understand that opposing the war is important, but it’s not important-important. A potential [upcoming vote on supplemental war funding][45] should be more clarifying, with the potential to differentiate between real opposition and senators Who Just Want to Look Outraged. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.,[ indicated][46] he will oppose any more funding, while others, such as Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., have [not ruled out more funding][47], ostensibly to “support the troops.” Jeffries, true to form as a party leader, [refuses to say what he’ll support][48]. What generic Plan-Monger language does is permit seemingly genuine antiwar voices like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to run the same basic script of AIPAC stalwarts like Cory Booker and Schumer. The “No Plan” sandbox provides cover for Democrats with a record of supporting Israel and being “tough on Iran” to appear anti-war without all the mess of saying anything substantive against the war. A party that built its message around a strong, firm, and unequivocal case to end this war now would very suddenly draw attention to the undoubtedly dozens of congressional Democrats who would not echo this line. So what we get instead is limp process critiques, demanding pointless hearings, and [bizarre attacks][49] that Trump is not doing regime change fast enough. Polls [repeatedly][50] show the most common criticism of Democrats is not that they are too far left or too anti-war, but that [they are too weak][51], that they *don’t stand for anything*. Centering criticism of a deeply unpopular war on those carrying it out for not filling out the right paperwork or producing a satisfactory slideshow — rather than making clear, normative objections to a war of aggression — feeds directly into this perception. But perhaps it’s a perception Democratic leaders, and the pro-war, pro-Israel donors who fund their political careers, would prefer over the alternative. The post [Why Dems Keep Saying Trump Has “No Plan” Instead of Calling to End the War With Iran][52] appeared first on [The Intercept][53]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/26/iran-war-powers-vote-… [2]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yjj28jjd0o [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/19/trump-iran-military-n… [4]: https://x.com/dave_brown24/status/2032471536536330336?s=46 [5]: https://t.co/vHEwwE3CPT [6]: https://twitter.com/RepMcGovern/status/203148693446429944… [7]: https://t.co/XYSesd5kSU [8]: https://twitter.com/RubenGallego/status/20317840455839460… [9]: https://t.co/XVLwArwRY4 [10]: https://twitter.com/RepYassAnsari/status/2031566162002313… [11]: https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/-it-is-so-much-worse-… [12]: https://t.co/Ey3WJKiJdh [13]: https://twitter.com/CoryBooker/status/2031350847724998703… [14]: https://ansari.house.gov/media/press-releases/03/12/2026/… [15]: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/us-media-gaza-b… [16]: https://theintercept.com/2024/11/12/israel-aid-block-gaza… [17]: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/10/g-s1-113167/democrats-iran… [18]: https://www.notus.org/senate/senate-democrats-supplementa… [19]: https://x.com/repsarajacobs/status/2032469860882452826?s=46 [20]: https://twitter.com/SecRubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw [21]: https://t.co/FewIrPx9tk [22]: https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/2028884451372286343?re… [23]: https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/2030621515146736042?re… [24]: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/10/g-s1-113167/democrats-iran… [25]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/01/trump-iran-attack-war… [26]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/12/pete-hegs… [27]: https://www.semafor.com/article/03/09/2026/senate-democra… [28]: https://t.co/qjx2pQteht [29]: https://twitter.com/PattyMurray/status/203032809517818708… [30]: https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2031531835453309… [31]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/04/iran-war-powers-gotth… [32]: https://readsludge.com/2025/03/04/think-tank-funded-by-el… [33]: https://www.thirdway.org/press/statement-of-third-way-pre… [34]: https://nationalsecurityaction.org/funding-fights-on-capi… [35]: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/child-casualties-ri… [36]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/us/politics/polls-wars… [37]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/10/iran-trump-forever-war/ [38]: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/iran-war-democ… [39]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/02/trump-regime-change-i… [40]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/30/aipac-campaigns-elect… [41]: https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3952 [42]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/01/texas-cuellar-progres… [43]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/10/iran-trump-forever-war/ [44]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-led-… [45]: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5777329-johnson-iran-s… [46]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Uq9vG5NjA [47]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/04/democrats-iran-s… [48]: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5774052-jeffries-democ… [49]: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HDLPKRzWYAA-rWZ?format=jpg&na… [50]: https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5610981-courage-not-… [51]: https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-democrats-real-… [52]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/iran-war-democrats-sc… [53]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/iran-war-democrats-sc…

Israel’s Deadly Blockade Traps 7 U.S. Doctors in Gaza The Israeli government is blocking medical workers from entering or leaving Gaza, twice canceling the departure of seven U.S.-based physicians on a medical mission there, according to a group of doctors in Gaza who spoke to The Intercept. The temporary suspension of travel is the latest in a crushing set of restrictions that Israel has used to sever Gaza’s contact with the outside world, compounding food, fuel, and medical care shortages for a population subjected to more than two years of genocide. Large backlogs of patients in Gaza need specialized treatments and surgeries, so volunteer medical specialists come with much-needed supplies to relieve some of the demand. “When you do something like this, it throws all of that to the wayside and we struggle with our ability to treat those patients,” said Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Chicago-based physician who has previously volunteered in Gaza. “This continues to have really profound implications on Gaza’s most vulnerable people.” [ ## Related ### With World’s Eyes on Iran, Israel Locks Down the West Bank ][1] Ahmad, who volunteered in early 2024 at Nasser and Al-Aqsa hospitals**, **has witnessed similar restrictions at other moments of high tension — past Israeli offensives against Iran, the collapse of past ceasefire deals, or the Israeli military’s siege of Gaza City last September. He has been denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government four times since his medical mission, including in May 2024, when he and other doctors were turned away in Egypt as the Israeli military took over the Rafah border. The restrictions in Gaza are set to be lifted next Tuesday, according to messages United Nations aid coordinators sent Wednesday announcing the blockades to dozens of NGOs, two of which confirmed to The Intercept the border closures were affecting their medical teams. Physicians who remain trapped inside the territory have cast doubt on whether the dates will be honored given the multiple postponements. “There’s uncertainty around when we’re going to leave, are we going to leave? Are they going to try to push the dates even further?” said Dr. Salman Khan, an infectious diseases physician at Columbia University, who is among the trapped doctors. Khan and six other American doctors were scheduled to return to the U.S. on March 10 following a two-week medical mission at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The group has been blocked twice from leaving the territory, with Israel’s border security officials citing a “security assessment” without further explanation. The physicians also expressed frustration with the World Health Organization, noting that the international body was partly responsible for coordinating the doctors’ safe passage. Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli military unit that controls the borders between Palestine and Israel, confirmed it had closed crossings into Gaza “due to the ongoing missile threat” and said the restrictions are temporary and meant to protect people’s safety. It refuted claims that it was blocking doctors from leaving Gaza to harm its civilian population. The World Health Organization did not immediately respond to The Intercept’s request for comment. [ ## Related ### “A Purely Manmade Famine”: How Israel Is Starving Gaza ][2] Since the start of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, the military has weaponized blockades, preventing aid from entering the Strip, including food and medical supplies. In addition to systematically [killing][3] and [imprisoning][4] aid and [medical workers][5] throughout the [war][6], the Israeli government has also [blocked the movement of international medical missions][7], further straining an already decimated economy and [health care system][8]. Palestinians [in the West Bank][9] have also seen similar wartime blockades, including the lockdown of entire cities. Despite the October deal between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli government has continued to impose limits on food and medical supplies from entering the Strip. In February, the government reopened its Rafah border crossing into Egypt, allowing some Palestinians to seek medical care outside of Gaza. Once the U.S. and Israel began their [war on Iran][10], the Israeli government once again shut all aid crossings into Gaza. Food has been allowed through a single border entry point — the Kerem Shalom crossing — but the amount of aid allowed in is well below what is needed, according to the [United Nations][11]. The Israeli government had already [barred some NGOs][12] earlier this year, such as Doctors Without Borders, from accessing Gaza after the organization refused the government’s new requirements of handing over lists of Palestinian employees due to concerns the government would target the workers. Dr. Mimi Syed, an emergency room physician based in Olympia, Washington, also knows these restrictions firsthand. In August 2025, she was prevented from entering Gaza while waiting for approval in Jordan for her third medical aid trip. During her previous medical trips to the Strip, she witnessed entire convoys of international doctors who were barred from leaving Gaza. The unpredictable and indefinite nature of the Israeli government’s restrictions hamper future medical missions, Syed said. [ [DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)] Read our complete coverage ## Israel’s War on Gaza ][13] “Healthcare workers like myself have jobs in the US that are full-time and we have to get back to our jobs/families,” Syed told The Intercept. “It creates another form of logistical difficulties and prevents and discourages many of us from returning or even attempting to go in.” The Palestinian American Medical Association, which is facilitating Khan’s trip to Gaza, and Humanity Auxilium, a Texas-based NGO that also organizes medical missions, told The Intercept the recent border closures have hurt their ability to move medical supplies and teams in and out of the territory. “It really puts us in a limbo in figuring out when to deploy surgeons who cannot take off for weeks,” said Faiza Hussain, executive director of Humanity Auxilium. Khan, who remains inside Gaza, said he’s had to cancel his patients’ appointments at Columbia’s Irving Medical Center in New York due to the delays. “I was supposed to be back at work at my hospital today,” Khan said. “This is impacting people on the other side of the world.” Khan added that some of his colleagues were anxious to return to their children. One of them was running low on their personal medications, having only packed enough for two weeks. The group of doctors — who hail from states including Texas, Indiana, Arizona, Maryland, and New Jersey — are continuing their volunteer work at Nasser Hospital as they wait out the blockade. After urging from Khan and advocates, the U.S. State Department had arranged flights for the doctors from Tel Aviv’s airport on Friday, Khan said, but has yet to clear a way for them to leave Gaza to make the flight. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment. The post [Israel’s Deadly Blockade Traps 7 U.S. Doctors in Gaza][14] appeared first on [The Intercept][15]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/10/israel-iran-war-west-… [2]: https://theintercept.com/2025/08/08/intercept-briefing-po… [3]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/14/gaza-israelis-attacki… [4]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/10/gaza-doctors-disappea… [5]: https://theintercept.com/2024/12/31/israel-gaza-hospital-… [6]: https://theintercept.com/2024/05/24/gaza-palestinian-doct… [7]: https://theintercept.com/2024/05/13/rafah-doctors-europea… [8]: https://theintercept.com/2024/04/17/intercepted-gaza-doct… [9]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/10/israel-iran-war-west-… [10]: https://theintercept.com/collections/targeting-iran/ [11]: https://press.un.org/en/2026/db260312.doc.htm [12]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1ymmkpkro [13]: https://theintercept.com/collections/israel-palestine/ [14]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/israel-blockade-gaza-… [15]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/israel-blockade-gaza-…

I Wrote a Movie Review. Cops Took It From A Protester’s Home to Make the Case That He’s a Terrorist. [FBI agents remove evidence from a private home at 9638 Naomi in Arcadia on March 8, 2012. Federal officials on Thursday announced fraud charges against a man accused of selling $1.3 million in counterfeit wines. The U.S. attorney's office in New York alleges that wine dealer Rudy Kurniawan claimed he was selling rare vintage French wine at various audctions. He was arrested in Los Angeles by the FBI. (Photo by Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)] FBI agents remove evidence from a private home in Arcadia, Calif., on March 8, 2012. Photo: Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images It was a Saturday in February, and I was checking my email inbox on my phone for no particular reason, during a conference. A Mother Jones reporter had written a note, so I opened it. It’s not so unusual for me to receive press inquiries ­— I am a feminist writer who touches on hot-button issues — but this particular email I never could have predicted. It was about an infamous federal case against people arrested in connection to a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last July 4, a group of people had gathered for a demonstration against ICE’s [Prairieland][1] Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas. It was a noise demo during which a police officer [was shot][2]. Some 18 people were arrested and charged for the protest. > Prosecutors had introduced my analysis of feminism’s relationship to horror cinema as “evidence of ideologically driven intent.” The government’s indictment against the Prairieland protesters stood as a chilling development in President Donald Trump’s [war on dissent][3]: It was the first time that terrorism-related charges had been brought against people for allegedly being part of an “[antifa cell][4].” Did I have any thoughts, the Mother Jones reporter wanted to know, on the prosecution using an essay by me in a terrorism trial? Excuse me? The essay in question: a [film review][5] I wrote in 2019 about the horror movies “Hereditary” and “Midsommar.” I blinked twice, rubbed my eyes, and then began digging around on the internet to understand. To my astonishment, prosecutors had introduced my seven-year-old analysis of feminism’s relationship to horror cinema as “evidence of ideologically driven intent” the previous day. Although I published the piece in “Commune” magazine, the review had been printed in [zine format][6] — and that was what authorities seized from the Dallas home of one of the defendants, [Daniel Sanchez Estrada][7], last summer. ## **“Guilt by Literature”** The appearance of my review in the trial is a brazen attempt at conjuring “[guilt by literature][8]” — just one of the tactics prosecutors have used to criminalize speech and use First Amendment-protected speech as a legal weapon against the Trump administration’s political enemies. Nobody, by the way, is suggesting that Estrada shot or conspired to shoot the officer. He stands accused of two crimes: attempting to conceal documents “by transporting a box containing numerous Antifa materials” and conspiracy to conceal those zines. He faces up to 20 years in prison. [ ## Related ### The Feds Want to Make It Illegal to Even Possess an Anarchist Zine ][9] Estrada isn’t himself facing terror charges, but he being tarred with the label by his association with this so-called “antifa cell.” What Estrada’s case most acutely represents is the way the President Donald Trump [conflates antifa and terrorism][10] to do things like criminalize the transportation of zines — in other words, simple First Amendment protected activity. Trump pulled this off by deeming antifa a “major terrorist organization” — [a legal designation that doesn’t even exist for domestic groups][11] — ignoring the fact that antifa is an orientation, not a group. The feds, as Natasha Lennard [notes][12], tend to try to evidence such charges by collecting circumstantial evidence of individual crimes alleged to have taken place “in the context of” legal protest activity — even when there is no direct link between those charged and the alleged crimes. The charge may or may not stick — [often they don’t][13] — but the lawfare from above serves a [terrorizing end in itself][14], she explains, since “the lengthy prosecutions hamper protest movements and chill dissent.” ## **Why My Review?** I need to ask: Why my review? And the truth is I don’t really have a great answer. There is a rich irony here: My little horror movie review was introduced to prove a conception of antifa that — like many of the monsters we scream at in horror flicks — isn’t quite real. The title of my essay — which is to say, of the zine seized from the accused’s house in Dallas — is “[The Satanic Death-Cult Is Real][15].” It refers to the fictional demon-worshipping ceremony in the final scene of “Hereditary” as well as, at the same time, to the all-too-real, madness-inducing logic of the private nuclear household. From my ego’s standpoint, it’s painful to assume that anyone is refusing to read beyond my titles before reacting. (It’s a tragically common occurrence: I’m the author, after all, of books about the communization of care with titles like “Full Surrogacy Now” and “Abolish the Family.”) > It seems that the FBI didn’t read beyond the cover of what it calls my “booklet.” It seems, though, that the FBI didn’t read beyond the cover of what it calls my “[booklet][16].” That was the description of my review-in-zine-form when it appeared in an itemized receipt for seized property, alongside cellphones, computers, weapons, and other bits of technology — for the sole reason that it is willing to throw anything, no matter how absurd, at anti-ICE activists to paint them as vile terrorists. When the Mother Jones reporter messaged, I replied immediately, from my phone, in a state of agitation. It ought to be surprising, I pointed out, that possession of a printout of some film criticism could be brandished as evidence of a treasonous conspiracy against the United States government, yet — in 2026 — it is not. “Perhaps,” indeed, I wrote, “there is an element of truth in the state’s preposterous linking of the mere implication of having read antifascist culture writing about the private nuclear family in [director] Ari Aster’s oeuvre with the alleged crime of belonging to a cell of an organization — antifa — that, as we all know, doesn’t even exist.” [ ## Related ### Wearing All Black at Protests Makes You Guilty of Terrorism, Prosecutors Tell Jury ][17] Thankfully, however, organized antifascism does exist. I proudly accept the notion that any of my writings have helped in any small way to stoke the desire to practice antifascism, courageously and practically, as those [blocking][18] and [protesting][19] the [brutality][20] of American stormtroopers are doing all over the world. If nothing else, I’m grateful that the FBI seized my book review and that [prosecutors hauled it out in this ridiculous trial][21], because it gave me the opportunity to express my full solidarity with the Prairieland defendants. The post [I Wrote a Movie Review. Cops Took It From A Protester’s Home to Make the Case That He’s a Terrorist.][22] appeared first on [The Intercept][23]. [1]: http://prairielanddefendants.com/ [2]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/17/antifa-ice-protesters… [3]: https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/ [4]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/prairieland-antifa-tr… [5]: https://communemag.com/the-satanic-death-cult-is-real/ [6]: https://haters.noblogs.org/zines/ [7]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/04/antifa-zines-accident… [8]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antif… [9]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antif… [10]: https://theintercept.com/2020/10/03/trump-immigration-ant… [11]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic… [12]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/17/antifa-ice-protesters… [13]: https://theintercept.com/2018/07/13/j20-charges-dropped-p… [14]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/19/trump-charlie-kirk-ge… [15]: https://haters.noblogs.org/files/2023/08/Satanic-Death-Cu… [16]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ia8VKZHz_6DZghdTJsUbuna… [17]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te… [18]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-… [19]: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/31/minneapolis-protester… [20]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/05/ice-cbp-minnesota-sur… [21]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te… [22]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/movie-review-antifa-p… [23]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/13/movie-review-antifa-p…

AIPAC Is Staying Out of Illinois Senate Race — But Its Donors Back Juliana Stratton The leading pro-Israel lobbying group has kept quiet on the race for an open Senate seat in Illinois while pouring its largest investments this cycle into the state’s high-profile House primaries, leaving observers to wonder whether it would really sit out the Senate contest. But for the top of the ticket in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, more than two dozen donors to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are quietly backing Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, The Intercept has found. At least 27 AIPAC donors have given to Stratton’s campaign to replace retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., according to an analysis of federal campaign data. A former AIPAC president, Lee Rosenberg, is on her finance committee. While public opinion [sours][1] on AIPAC’s brand, the group is [backing][2] a multimillion-dollar ad campaign run through other committees with palatable names like “Elect Chicago Women” in at least four Democratic [House primaries][3]. Its [donors][4], meanwhile, have been [funneling][5] money to its preferred Illinois House [candidates][6]. The group has kept an even lower profile in the Senate race, where it’s been less clear how, if at all, the pro-Israel lobby is engaging. [ ## Related ### AIPAC Head Hosts Fundraiser for House Candidate Who Swears AIPAC Isn’t Backing Her ][7] Neither of the top contenders for the safe Democratic seat have suggested they would champion the Palestinian cause if elected to the Senate. Both [Stratton and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi][8], her leading opponent, have declined to call Israel’s destruction in Gaza a genocide or commit to stopping U.S. weapons transfers to Israel, and at least one of Stratton’s pro-Israel donors also gave to Krishnamoorthi’s campaign. AIPAC [endorsed][9] Krishnamoorthi, who has [received][10] more than $250,000 from the pro-Israel lobby during his decade in Congress, for his 2024 reelection. Both are running to the [right][11] of Rep. Robin Kelly, a relatively progressive Illinois congresswoman currently in a distant third, but even she staked out a more critical position on Israel upon entering the race and has taken some pro-Israel [money][12] while in office, much of it from the centrist group J Street. AIPAC donors have given more than $70,000 to Stratton’s campaign since August, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission — out of just over $4 million she’s raised in total. The 27 donors have collectively given just under $5 million to AIPAC, its super PAC United Democracy Project, and the group [Democratic Majority for Israel][13], which has [close ties][14] to AIPAC. Only two of them live in Illinois. Rosenberg, the former AIPAC president on Stratton’s finance committee, is a leading Democratic strategist in Illinois, longtime adviser to Gov. JB Pritzker, and former [adviser][15] to Barack Obama. In response to questions from The Intercept, a Stratton campaign spokesperson said that AIPAC had not endorsed the lieutenant governor and was not spending in the Senate race. The spokesperson said Stratton has more than 28,000 individual donors and supports a two-state solution for peace between Israel and Palestine. In the final days ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Stratton has begun to catch up in the polls to Krishnamoorthi, who has largely outperformed his Democratic opponents in fundraising and public opinion surveys. The two candidates’ allies and critics have pointed fingers over fundraising, accusing the other of drawing support from [corporate donors][16]. Krishnamoorthi’s $30 million fundraising haul is supplied in part by a crypto PAC, [donors][17] to President Donald Trump, and Palantir’s chief technology officer, among [others][18], the [Chicago Tribune reported][19] on Tuesday. Stratton, meanwhile, has said she’s not taking corporate PAC money and [hit Krishnamoorthi’s campaign][20] for accepting support from a “MAGA-backed crypto PAC,” but her opponents have also criticized her Senate campaign for still benefiting from [corporate donors that fund PACs][21] backing her. Democrats in Illinois have criticized AIPAC’s efforts to elect pro-Israel Democrats in deep-blue seats in and around Chicago. Pritzker, one of Stratton’s top surrogates and [funders][22] (and her boss), is a former AIPAC donor who cut ties with the group and has since denounced it as a “[pro-Trump organization][23]” and “[significantly MAGA-influenced][24].” [ ## Related ### AIPAC Is Flooding Illinois With Cash. Pro-Palestine Groups Are Backing Kat Abughazaleh. ][25] Pro-Israel spending “is a moral issue,” said former Rep. Marie Newman, an Illinois Democrat who was ousted from Congress in 2022 after [pro-Israel groups][26] spent [against her][27]. “AIPAC must be stopped if you believe in democracy.” Stratton, who took a trip to Israel in 2019 to meet with an opposition leader, as Politico [reported][28], has been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s destruction in Gaza. She has not said whether she would support [legislation blocking U.S. weapons to Israel][29]. Criticizing Netanyahu is at odds with taking support from AIPAC and its donors, Newman said. “AIPAC vigorously supports Netanyahu, a right-wing dictator, best friend to Trump and his authoritarian inhumane government,” Newman told The Intercept. “Israel’s right-wing government has dragged us into multiple unnecessary wars, helped ruin the US’ reputation in the world and is committing genocide.” While Krishnamoorthi holds the advantage in polling and fundraising, it’s not clear who will win on Tuesday as dueling PACs fight it out in the final days of the race. Another group that has run ads in support of Krishnamoorthi recently launched ads backing Kelly in an apparent effort to [peel votes away from Stratton][30]. Kelly, who has raised $3 million, has struggled to keep pace in the polls with Krishnamoorthi and Stratton, and their backers have labeled her a spoiler. Kelly’s campaign argues that she’s the most principled of the three candidates, particularly on Israel and Gaza. “Robin pledged not to accept contributions from AIPAC after deciding to sign onto the Block the Bombs bill and meeting with doctors who volunteered on the front lines in Gaza,” her campaign spokesperson Joe Bowen told The Intercept. “She is the only candidate who has pledged not to take their money, the only candidate to support Block the Bombs and the only candidate to call the genocide in Gaza what it is.” Kelly, who has hit both Krishnamoorthi and Stratton for [stopping short][31] of calling Israel’s destruction in Gaza a genocide, adopted that stance shortly before she launched her Senate campaign. Previously endorsed by J Street, she received $14,000 from AIPAC in 2025 and took an AIPAC trip to Israel in 2016. Kelly, now the only major candidate in the race to [reject AIPAC support][32], has said the contributions were from individual donors who gave through AIPAC’s portal. The post [AIPAC Is Staying Out of Illinois Senate Race — But Its Donors Back Juliana Stratton][33] appeared first on [The Intercept][34]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/30/aipac-campaigns-elect… [2]: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/20… [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/aipac-illinois-kat-ab… [4]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/22/chicago-congress-aipa… [5]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/16/laura-fine-illinois-p… [6]: https://prospect.org/2026/02/10/aipac-super-pac-illinois-… [7]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/16/laura-fine-illinois-p… [8]: https://jewishinsider.com/2026/02/raja-krishnamoorthi-ill… [9]: https://jewishinsider.com/2025/07/raja-krishnamoorthi-ill… [10]: https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?code=Q05&c… [11]: https://jewishinsider.com/2026/02/raja-krishnamoorthi-ill… [12]: https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?code=Q05&c… [13]: https://theintercept.com/2020/02/01/iowa-bernie-sanders-d… [14]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/30/aipac-campaigns-elect… [15]: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25669617 [16]: https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2026/03/10/us-sena… [17]: https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/12/08/raj… [18]: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/illinois-senat… [19]: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/10/raja-krishnamoo… [20]: https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2026/03/10/us-sena… [21]: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/illinois-senate… [22]: https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/pritzker-drops-5m-to… [23]: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/jb-pritzker-… [24]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/us/politics/aipac-illi… [25]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/aipac-illinois-kat-ab… [26]: https://theintercept.com/2022/06/02/dmfi-pro-israel-marie… [27]: https://theintercept.com/2023/11/27/israel-democrats-aipa… [28]: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/20… [29]: https://theintercept.com/2025/08/27/block-bombs-israel-ar… [30]: https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2026/03/10/us-sena… [31]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/democratic-candidate-runnin… [32]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/democratic-candidate-runnin… [33]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/aipac-illinois-senate… [34]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/aipac-illinois-senate…

Wearing All Black at Protests Makes You Guilty of Terrorism, Prosecutors Tell Jury Federal agents raiding the home of two alleged antifa “operatives” seized a telling piece of evidence, a defense attorney said during closing arguments in a landmark trial Wednesday. A printing press. That printing press was never presented to jurors. Still, the government has kept it locked away because it hated the pamphlets and zines it published, lawyer Blake Burns said. Burns represents Elizabeth Soto, one of nine defendants whose fates were in the hands of jurors as deliberations began Thursday. All are accused of roles during or after a late-night noise demonstration outside Prairieland Detention Center, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Dallas that ended with a local police officer [wounded by gunfire.][1] The case has become a bellwether for the [Trump][2] administration’s [crackdown][3] on [dissent][4] from the [left][5]. The government [charged][6] people involved with the anti-ICE protest with a slew of charges, including attempted murder and terrorism counts that defense attorneys said are being used to criminalize protest. > “They’re here asking you guys to put protesters in prison as terrorists.” “They’re here asking you guys to put protesters in prison as terrorists,” Burns, the defense lawyer, told jurors. “That’s not happened before. And you are literally the only people in the world who can stop it.” During 10 days of testimony in a packed Fort Worth, Texas, courtroom, prosecutors bombarded jurors with images of radical zines printed on the press, anti-government internet memes, drawings of burning cop cars, and a video of an unidentified street brawl between far-left and far-right protesters. Prosecutors acknowledged those materials were protected by the First Amendment but said they showed the roughly dozen people who assembled outside the ICE facility were steeped in antifa tactics. Eight of nine defendants on trial this month face material support for terrorism charges for wearing “black bloc” clothes at the protest. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have hailed the first-ever use of terrorism charges against alleged antifa members. Defense attorneys argued Wednesday that prosecutors had wildly overcharged a case that should have centered on the alleged shooter, Benjamin Song, instead of the larger group. ## **Guilt by Zine** Prosecutors presented much of the evidence that might be expected at an attempted murder trial: ballistics and fingerprint experts, eyewitness police officers, and cooperating witnesses. They also presented lengthy testimony about radical pamphlets and artwork collected from the defendants arrested that night or in raids during the following days. Despite labeling the defendants “a North Texas antifa cell” in their indictment, prosecutors have acknowledged that they were at most a loose-knit collection of people from the Dallas–Fort Worth’s small leftist scene of anarchists and socialists. Two of the scene’s fixtures were Elizabeth and Ines Soto, a married couple who operated the printing press and helped run a local reading group called the Emma Goldman Book Club, named for the early 20th-century anarchist revolutionary. At one point during testimony Tuesday, a prosecutor spent more than half an hour scrolling through a Twitter account allegedly operated by the Sotos. The Twitter feed included a retweet of a December 2016 post with the words “How to handle fash in your hood” that included a shaky video of a street fight between protesters accompanied by the Flatbush Zombies song “Death 2.” “I crack your fucking skull and use that as a bowl for cereal. I’m so serial. Ted Bundy, give me money, Son of Sam, gun in hand. Jeffrey Dahmer, with two llamas,” the jury heard in the song’s lyrics. Defense attorneys objected to the introduction of the video as evidence. “Yes, it is prejudicial,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith told the judge in defense of using the video. “The whole reason we’re putting it into evidence is because it’s prejudicial.” Though U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, a Donald Trump appointee, allowed the Twitter feed to be presented in court, prosecutors could not definitively establish whether the Sotos had posted the video or what incident it depicted. The Sotos, however, have not disputed that they were key members of the reading group. In his closing argument, Smith said the group was a front to recruit new antifa members. “Emma Goldman Book Club,” Smith said. “It sounds very innocuous. It’s camouflage for what it is.” [ Read our complete coverage ## Chilling Dissent ][7] ## **“Your Body as Camouflage”** To help jurors interpret the book club’s readings and other materials, prosecutors presented a researcher at a far-right think tank as an expert. Kyle Shideler of the Center for Security Policy once focused his research on the Muslim Brotherhood. After the 2020 George Floyd protests raged, he wrote a book about “[black identity extremists][8].” In recent years he has focused on another right-wing boogeyman: antifa. Shideler said Monday that he [helped write the definition of “antifa”][9] included in the government’s indictment. He walked that testimony back Tuesday, saying that he only conferred on a draft. [ ## Related ### Islamophobic Think Tank Helped Write Indictment Against ICE Protesters ][10] Prosecutors also had Shideler read Trump’s September 22 executive order purporting to [designate antifa as a domestic terrorist organization][11], in an apparent attempt to suggest that the language was borrowed from the order. Shideler described what he said were common tactics of antifa, including using the messaging app Signal — which Shideler said he also used — and wearing “black bloc” clothes to obscure identities. The phrase refers to instances where groups of left-wing demonstrators [dress in all black][12] to make them less individually identifiable. The point of that testimony came into focus during the prosecution’s closing arguments. Using Signal and wearing black-bloc clothing were “tactics that assisted in the ambush of a cop,” said Smith. “Material support. It sounds — I don’t know — nefarious. Complicated. It’s actually very simple,” Smith said. He said that wearing black clothes at the noise demonstration would be enough to convict the eight defendants accused of material support. “Providing your body as camouflage for others to do the enumerated acts is providing support,” he said. “It’s impossible to tell who is doing what. That’s the point.” [ ## Related ### How Many Members Does Antifa Have? Where Is Its Headquarters? The FBI Has No Answers. ][13] The government used Shideler and the antifa talk to try to distract jurors from the defendants’ actual actions on the night of July 4, said [MarQuetta Clayton][14], an attorney for defendant Maricela Rueda. She also warned that the trial served as a larger proving ground for the government’s [attempts to criminalize antifa][15]. “The government’s expert on antifa said his career may be boosted by the outcome of this case,” she said. “This is an experiment for them. But this courtroom is not a laboratory, and Maricela is not a lab rat.” ## **Charged for Carrying a Box** Rueda’s husband, [Daniel Sanchez Estrada][16], is the only defendant on trial who is not accused of participating in the July 4 protest. Instead, prosecutors have charged him and his wife with conspiring to obstruct justice by moving a box of zines out of Rueda’s house after her arrest. Free speech advocates say that Estrada’s arrest sets a dangerous precedent that criminalizes the [mere possession of anti-government material][17]. > “He is on trial for two things: Carrying a box, and conspiracy to carry a box.” “He is on trial for two things,” said Sanchez’s public defender, Christopher Weinbel. “Carrying a box, and conspiracy to carry a box, of which they try to call evidence.” Weinbel said the box contained Sanchez’s own possessions, the timeline of his movements disproved the theory that he was acting at the direction of his wife, and that a government agent had also testified that none of the materials were used in the investigation. Smith, the prosecutor, argued that moving the boxes was part of a larger cover-up in the hours and days after the demonstration. “What is important to the group is hiding their material,” he said. “This anarchist, insurrectionist, hating-the-government material.” ## **Song and the Rest** Defense attorneys chose their words carefully when it came to Song, the person accused of shooting an AR-15 rifle at two detention center guards and the Alvarado, Texas, police officer who was hit. None of the defense lawyers overtly blamed Song for the bloodshed, but several suggested that the government should have distinguished between Song and the rest of the protesters. “This should have been a three-day attempted murder trial of one person,” Weinbel said. Prosecutors painted Song as the ringleader that night. Still, they argued that four defendants who are also on trial for attempted murder — Song, Rueda, Autumn Hill, and Megan Morris — could have reasonably foreseen that Song would use violence based on conversations before the demonstration. The eight defendants who face material support charges gave aid to the attack by wearing black clothes, prosecutors allege. They include the defendants accused of attempted murder along with the Sotos, Savanna Batten, and Zachary Evetts. Song’s attorney, Phillip Hayes, said during his closing argument that Song was only trying to shoot “suppressive” fire at the ground after police arrived on the scene. Hayes suggested that a ricocheting bullet wounded the officer. The post [Wearing All Black at Protests Makes You Guilty of Terrorism, Prosecutors Tell Jury][18] appeared first on [The Intercept][19]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/prairieland-antifa-tr… [2]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-ice-p… [3]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic… [4]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/02/trump-nspm-7-domestic… [5]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-ext… [6]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/17/antifa-ice-protesters… [7]: https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/ [8]: https://theintercept.com/2019/03/23/black-identity-extrem… [9]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/09/prairieland-antifa-ic… [10]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/09/prairieland-antifa-ic… [11]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic… [12]: https://theintercept.com/2017/12/17/j20-inauguration-prot… [13]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/11/fbi-antifa-terrorist-… [14]: https://www.keranews.org/criminal-justice/2026-02-17/judg… [15]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic… [16]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/04/antifa-zines-accident… [17]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/04/antifa-zines-accident… [18]: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te… [19]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/03/12/antifa-ice-protest-te…