Claire Heddles

‘A Serious Misuse of My Research’: Climate Scientists Say New Trump Energy Report Botches Their Work “Our work has no relevance,” an astrobiologist whose research was cited in the administration’s climate change report said.

🚨 At least 10 scientists, all cited in the Trump admin's new climate change report, told me that the report completely mischaracterizes their research.

I also found five citations with significant errors, and a paragraph missing an important citation.

How Ron DeSantis Is Bending Emergency Powers for a Sprawling Detention Camp The Florida governor’s use of emergency authority to build “Alligator Alcatraz” has had sweeping ramifications for his state — and for the expansive use of executive power.

Ron DeSantis’ push to build the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center is stretching the bounds of executive power in Florida.
www.notus.org/ron-desantis...

TPM reported these contracts were removed from the accountability site in my story earlier this week. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/contrac...

Jeanine Pirro Says a Crypto Scam Case Was Sealed Because of a ‘Clerical Error’ The interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told NOTUS that DOJ had initially amended its complaint against the alleged scammer “to remove the name of one of the companies.”

Jeanine Pirro says a case to recoup funds for Trump allies who fell for a crypto scam was temporarily hidden from the public because of a “clerical error.”

She told NOTUS her office was trying to shield the identity of a company, not the entire case.

www.notus.org/money/jeanin...

Jeanine Pirro Says a Crypto Scam Case Was Sealed Because of a ‘Clerical Error’ The interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told NOTUS that DOJ had initially amended its complaint against the alleged scammer “to remove the name of one of the companies.”

More drama here. Now Jeanine Pirro tells us that the court clerk is to blame for temporarily rendering secret a case that appears to involve would-be Trump supporters.

Story from me @claireheddles.bsky.social:

@notusreports.bsky.social:

www.notus.org/money/jeanin...

UPDATE: After this story was published on Monday evening, the case was unsealed on Tuesday morning.

The DOJ's Case to Recoup Money for Trump Allies Is Now Secret A District of Columbia court has sealed a cryptocurrency scam case after NOTUS revealed the scam appeared to target MoonPay executives.

Last week, my colleague @claireheddles.bsky.social spotted a case that involved Trump's allies.

Now it's been sealed entirely -- which means it's currently proceeding in secret.

@notusreports.bsky.social:

www.notus.org/money/crypto...

The DOJ's Case to Recoup Money for Trump Allies Is Now Secret A District of Columbia court has sealed a cryptocurrency scam case after NOTUS revealed the scam appeared to target MoonPay executives.

The DOJ’s Case to Recoup Money for Trump Allies Is Now Secret

w/ @josepagliery.bsky.social

www.notus.org/money/crypto...

Just as this happens, a top ICE official tells a judge that the US State Department brokered the Salvadoran-Venezuelan deal.

And yet, in the same document, the federal government keeps insisting El Salvador remained in full custody of these guys.

Republican lawmakers are stepping in to personally protect some people who are facing deportation — while saying they support Trump’s immigration crackdown
www.notus.org/immigration/...

Florida Dem. House Rep. @annaforflorida.bsky.social first flagged these contracts’ removal.

At least 11 of the contracts I downloaded earlier this week were no longer available today.

DeSantis has signed at least $225 million in no-bid contracts for the site in just the past month using an emergency authority he granted himself in 2023.

Only one of those 22 contract documents was publicly available Thursday.

Key details from the public contracts are no longer publicly available, including points of contact, dates and times of state approvals and cost breakdowns.

Read 11 of the now-deleted contracts via
@notusreports.bsky.social t.co/gksK6U8p53

Florida Quietly Hid Contracts Detailing DeSantis’ $225 Million Spending Spree to Detain Migrants The contracts, obtained by NOTUS before they were removed, detail millions in spending on staffing, fencing, transportation and meals.

Florida Quietly Hid Contracts Detailing DeSantis’ $225 Million Spending Spree on Everglades Detention Center

www.notus.org/florida/desa...

Florida Quietly Hid Contracts Detailing DeSantis’ $225 Million Spending Spree to Detain Migrants The contracts, obtained by NOTUS before they were removed, detail millions in spending on staffing, fencing, transportation and meals.

Florida Quietly Hid Contracts Detailing DeSantis’ $225 Million Spending Spree to Detain Migrants

NEW via @claireheddles.bsky.social
www.notus.org/florida/desa...

Trump Has Systematically Cut Access to Natural Disaster Prevention Resources “I’m a super big fan of the president, but I’m going to challenge him any time he gets something wrong,” Central, Louisiana, Mayor Wade Evans told NOTUS.

Norman, Oklahoma was ready to build the same kind of flood warning system that could have saved lives in Texas — until Trump took away the funding

I found a long list of places with similar stories👇

The DOJ Seemingly Outed Top Crypto Executives as Falling for a Nigerian Crypto Scam The DOJ revealed “Ivan” and “Mouna” as paying $250,000 in Ethereum to a scammer pretending to be from Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.

If the victims of the scam were, in fact, the top execs of MoonPay, “that smacks of favoritism or selective enforcement,” one critic said, pointing to the Trump DOJ’s separate rollback of enforcement against crypto companies.

Full story: www.notus.org/money/crypto...

446. MoonPay itself, and Soto-Wright personally, traded in Yuga NFTs while having material non-public information about the celebrity endorsement deals and the sources of the funds used for these purchases. 447. Soto-Wright made these purchases through his “IvanHodl.eth” Wallet, at Ethereum wallet address 0x695626A661831A618ae846482FE8abF6c8d4529C (also referred to as the “Soto-Wright Wallet”). The IvanHodl wallet was funded by the Moonpay.eth wallet as well as by the Ethereum wallet address 0x7AFC12C8DD2e6591581D95586eB2c2A4905a12a9 (the “Funding Wallet”).

“Ivan" and "Mouna" used a crypto wallet to pay the scammer that was publicly linked to MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright in an unrelated 2023 court filing accusing MoonPay, various celebrities and others of artificially boosting essentially worthless NFTs for profit.

An email reads: “Hi Steve - our contribution of $250k was just processed. Here is the confirmation.”

An email reads, "Hi Ivan & Mouna, Please find below the USDT wallet address and barcode for the contribution”

According to DOJ, “Ivan” and “Mouna” — the same names as the CEO and CFO of MoonPay — paid a scammer pretending to be from Trump’s inaugural committee $250k.

(MoonPay, which has said it got a massive windfall from Trump’s memecoin, did not respond to a request for comment).

The DOJ Seemingly Outed Top Crypto Executives as Falling for a Nigerian Crypto Scam The DOJ revealed “Ivan” and “Mouna” as paying $250,000 in Ethereum to a scammer pretending to be from Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.

NEW: The DOJ seemingly outed top crypto executives at MoonPay as falling for a Nigerian crypto scam

www.notus.org/money/crypto... @notusreports.bsky.social

Devastating Texas Floods Leave State and Federal Officials Pointing Fingers at Each Other “In classic Washington D.C. fashion, everybody wants to politicize everything,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy said amidst a blame game over disaster preparedness.

The deadly floods that ripped through Kerr County, Texas have left state and federal officials blaming each other.
www.notus.org/us-news/texa...

Knives, bullets and thieves: the quest for food in Gaza NPR's Gaza producer faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at his forehead and masked thieves as he tried to get food from a U.S.-supported group.

NPR's Gaza producer faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at his forehead and masked thieves as he tried to get food from a U.S.-supported group.

By Anas Baba

Pentagon Sends Hurricane Forecasters Scrambling After Suddenly Announcing Shutdown of Key Satellites “I've never seen anything like this,” a former NOAA administrator said of the surprise announcement.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The Pentagon sent hurricane forecasters scrambling after suddenly announcing a shutdown of key satellites.
www.notus.org/climate-envi...

Democratic State Attorneys General Are Now the Most Powerful People in the Trump Resistance And they're running an uphill battle.

New: SCOTUS' decision in Trump v. CASA has made Dem AGs the most important people in the Trump resistance

AGs are now "in the unique position of retaining the ability to secure injunctions that protect the rights of all," Jamie Raskin said

w/ @annackramer.bsky.social
www.notus.org/courts/democ...

As someone who grew up in South Florida and endured hurricanes Andrew, Frances, and so many others... limiting meteorologists will have immediate impacts.

I went to FIU. The National Hurricane Center is on the edge of campus. We all respected the work they do there.

Pentagon Sends Hurricane Forecasters Scrambling After Suddenly Announcing Shutdown of Key Satellites “I've never seen anything like this,” a former NOAA administrator said of the surprise announcement.

Pentagon Sends Hurricane Forecasters Scrambling After Suddenly Announcing Shutdown of Key Satellites

Forecasters could miss out on “six, eight, 10 hours” of early warning about dangerous storms, one expert said.

w/ @emilykennard.bsky.social

www.notus.org/climate-envi...

RFK Jr.’s Planned Assault on Corporate Influence Is Clashing With Reality “I haven’t noticed anything different at all,” one lobbyist said. “I don’t know anybody who’s had a problem getting a meeting.”

NEW: “The rhetoric is quite different, but it doesn’t seem like the reality is obviously different."

RFK Jr. promised to end the "corporate capture" of the health agencies. But lobbyists and experts said for the most part, it's still business as usual. www.notus.org/health-scien...

Democrats wrestle whether to kill ban on trans care in Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Democrats have an opportunity to protect transgender people’s health care. It also comes at a time when Republicans see anti-trans policies as a winning issue, Eric Garcia writes

AND I wrote about how despite being in the minority, Democrats have a shot at killing these anti-trans positions in the OBBB and they might take it despite consistent anti-trans attack ads from Republicans last cycle.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Emil Bove Avoids Telling the Senate Much of Anything About DOJ Trump’s former personal lawyer, up for a powerful judicial seat, was hammered by Senate Democrats over his role as the president’s legal enforcer.

Behind closed doors, Emil Bove has a lot to say about how to turn the DOJ into Trump's enforcers.

But in Congress...

www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Democrats’ Hot New Legal Strategy is to Use Conservative Wins Against Trump “You go to war with the tools you have, not the tools you want,” one legal scholar said of Democratic attorneys general using legal theories they hate to challenge Donald Trump.

“You go to war with the tools you have, not the tools you want,” one expert told me of Dem AGs using legal theories they hate to challenge Trump.

www.notus.org/courts/democ... @notusreports.bsky.social