Mike Baker

An Accuser’s Story Suggests How Trump Might Appear in the Epstein Files

New: Epstein victim urged FBI to investigate Trump and his relationship with Epstein during interviews with agency in 1996 and 2006. Records of these interviews could be in FBI files that Trump admin now refuses to release. @mikebaker.bsky.social 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/u...

Epstein victim:
• says she spoke to FBI about people in Epstein's orbit, including Trump
• says Trump came to Epstein’s office and began hovering over her
• says Epstein told Trump: “She’s not here for you”

White House denies her account.

Full story: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/u...

A day after the Texas floods, FEMA laid off hundreds of call-center workers. Then, records show, the agency did not answer thousands of calls to its disaster assistance line.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/c...

Camp Mystic Cabins Stood in an ‘Extremely Hazardous’ Floodway An analysis of flood maps shows that several buildings, including those where children were sleeping, were in known hazard zones. A $5 million expansion in 2019 did nothing to alleviate the problem.

Cabins at Camp Mystic, the Texas youth camp where 27 people died, had long sat in a flood zone. The camp pursued an expansion project six years ago. Instead of relocating cabins to higher ground, it put new ones in the flood zone.

We have another story today, detailing the scene at Camp Mystic: people climbing out windows, huddling on rooftops, clinging to a volleyball net, making makeshift ropes, hearing screams. All while local officials were unaware of the disaster.

Link: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...

Camp Mystic Cabins Stood in an ‘Extremely Hazardous’ Floodway (Gift Article) An analysis of flood maps shows that several buildings, including those where children were sleeping, were in known hazard zones. A $5 million expansion in 2019 did nothing to alleviate the problem.

Here is a no-paywall link to our article where you can more clearly see the flood zones, the camp layout, how the 2019-2020 construction project unfolded, and more insights from flood experts.

8/9

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Several years ago, Camp Mystic underwent a $5 million construction project. But instead of using that project to move at-risk cabins to higher ground, the camp built new cabins inside the 100-year flood zone.

7/9

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Along with the cabins located right in the floodway, Camp Mystic had many other cabins and buildings inside a separate zone that flood modeling projects will be inundated once every 100 years.

6/9

Officials Feared Flood Risk to Youth Camps but Rejected Warning System

The flood risks have long been clear.

Dick Eastland, who led Camp Mystic, had worked on flood-protection issues for decades. Data shows that dozens of people had died from flooding in the region. Warning systems had been discussed and rejected.

5/9

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/u...

One flood-risk expert told us the Camp Mystic buildings should not have been in such a dangerous location. They believed that the cabins should have been rebuilt on higher ground when the flood risks became clear.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

4/9

We found that Camp Mystic had 6 cabins in the floodway, including those housing some of the youngest campers. Other camp buildings were also in that part of the flood zone.

3/9

The riskiest areas are known as “floodways,” where rushing waters are expected during flood events.

In Kerr County, like many places, officials put strict limits on development in those areas “to protect human life.”

Story link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

2/9

We have been mapping and studying the known flood risks at Camp Mystic.

It turns out that not only was the camp in a flood zone, some cabins were located in areas that local county officials had deemed “extremely hazardous.”

Here is more of what we found.

🧵 1/9

Oh my goodness. The latest Texas update:

• 161 people are STILL MISSING. “There could be more added to that list," Greg Abbott says.
• Death toll at 109.
• 27 of the dead from Camp Mystic, with 6 still missing.

NEW details on Travis Decker, the man suspected of killing his 3 girls and then going on the run more than a month ago.

The feds say someone might have spotted Decker in Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest.

The Texas flooding is one of the deadliest events for U.S. children that we have ever seen.

21 dead so far. More children killed than in any mass shooting, including Uvalde and Sandy Hook. It may end up killing more children than Hurricane Katrina.

Unfathomable heartbreak.

Live Updates: Frantic Search for the Missing After at Least 13 Killed in Texas Flood

Texas flood update:
• At least 13 dead
• At least 20 girls missing from Camp Mystic
• Death toll expected to rise
• Floods in the same region swept away 10 teenagers in July 1987

Live updates from my colleagues on the ground:

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Paramount to Pay Trump $16 Million to Settle ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit

Paramount has agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes"

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...

📈

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/c...

Strike Set Back Iran’s Nuclear Program by Only a Few Months, U.S. Report Says

Classified intel assessment:
• Iran's underground buildings survived
• Enriched uranium was moved before bombing
• Iran may have other covert enrichment sites
• Iran’s nuclear program set back only a few months

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/u...

It's growing fast! That said, Boise's Ada County only had ~116,000 people who voted for Harris last year.

Even in Idaho, there is quite a turnout for the No Kings protests. Here is a pic via the Idaho Statesman.

www.idahostatesman.com/news/politic...

NEW: Texas authorities have issued an alert saying there is a "credible threat toward state legislators attending today’s protest at the State Capitol."

That comes just hours after an assassination in Minnesota and the cancelation of all No Kings protests in that state.

There is so much happening right now that NYT is running 5 live blogs.

All of the remaining No Kings demonstrations in Minnesota have been canceled as police hunt for the lawmaker assassin. The authorities have said they are concerned the attacker might be planning to target protests.

UPDATE: The Minnesota State Patrol is urging people not to attend today’s "No Kings" demonstrations across the state. The authorities said that fliers for the “No Kings” events were found in the vehicle of the suspect, who remains at large.

Note:

Both houses of the Minnesota Legislature are closely divided. Before Ms. Hortman’s death, the House had been evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats have a one-person majority in the Senate.

Live Updates: Minnesota Lawmaker Is Assassinated in Targeted Attack, Governor Says

Minnesota lawmaker shootings:
• State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D), has been assassinated. Her husband was also killed.
• State Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife were also shot. They underwent surgery.
• Police exchanged gunfire with gunman, who then escaped.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

Meanwhile, we are continuing to examine the ways that billionaires are exercising their influence in all corners of the country. Got tips? I’m all ears.

(8/8)

A Billionaire Island Where Bezos and Kushner Live Is Fighting Over Sewage

There is lots more in this story about the history and the feuding and the people involved.

Here is GIFT LINK for the article.

(7/8)

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/u...