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Brad Heath

@bradheath.bsky.social
56K followers 481 following 1.8K posts

DC reporter for Reuters on crime, justice and investigations. Data, documents and "convoluted KGB style back-door" stuff. Lawyer, but not yours. 202-527-9709, brad.heath@tr.com

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Reposted by Brad Heath
Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 8h
Good morning. Federal prosecutors in Chicago filed partially redacted documents overnight in the "Broadview Six" case. The redactions appear to include the signature block (including the name) of one of the attorneys representing the United States government:
A partially redacted motion to seal a petition for order authorizing disclosure. One signature block on the document belongs to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Walsh. The other signature block is redacted.The concluding page of a document in which "the United States respectfully requests that the court authorizes the disclosure of the unredacted Oct. 9, 16, 23 transcripts and related exhibits." The rest of the sentence is redacted. 

One signature block belongs to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Walsh. The other is redacted.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 6h
Mr. Trump’s demands for revenge have divided the Justice Department, diverted resources from other investigations and continued the erosion of the principle that politics must be kept strictly separate from federal law enforcement. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/09/u...
nytimes.com
How Trump’s Revenge Campaign Descended Into Turmoil
The president’s allies have sought to prove a “grand conspiracy” through a sprawling Justice Department inquiry. It has buckled under staffing shake-ups, internal disputes and trouble finding evidence...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Kurt Olsen, a Justice Department lawyer who has been a leading Trump administration proponent of false claims the 2020 ​election was stolen, had his DOJ security clearance terminated last month after failing a polygraph test. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
reuters.com
Failed polygraph played role in the loss of Trump ally Kurt Olsen’s security clearance, sources say
Kurt Olsen, a Justice Department lawyer who has been a leading Trump administration proponent of false claims the 2020 ​election was stolen, had his DOJ security clearance terminated last month after ...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A new Reuters poll makes pretty clear that Republicans aren't willing to follow President Trump on some of his vanity projects. 80% of Republicans don't like his taxpayer-funded political ads. Only a quarter approved of Trump adding his name to the Kennedy Center. www.reuters.com/world/americ...
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings. w/ @regret.bsky.social
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
NEW: Director of White House Press Operations states in a declaration that access was restored and press passes available before 10 a.m. after a brief process of locating physical passes and restoring access this morning. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
DECLARATION OF MICAH STOPPERICH
I, Micah Stopperich, declare under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746 as
follows:
1. I am the Director of White House Press Operations.
2. This declaration has been prepared in connection with litigation in Cable News Network, Inc. v. Trump, No. 1:26-cv-3287 (D.D.C.).
3. The information contained in this declaration is based on my personal knowledge or on
information made available to me.
4. On September 24, 2026, White House Operations were notified at 7:10 am to restore access to affected reporters by turning on their hard badges.
5. White House Operations began the process of reinstating badges at 7:25 am.
6. United States Secret Service indicated that badges were back on at 9:07 am. United States Secret Service also began locating confiscated badges.
7. Confiscated badges were delivered to White House Operations at 9:45 am.
8. The White House press team dropped badges at the entry gate for members of the press to pick up around 9:55 am.
9. United States Secret Service has represented that press passes that were turned on were
available for pick up at the press gate as soon as they were delivered.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.
Mical Fropord
Micah Stopperich
Executed on September 24, 2026 at Washington, D.C.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Six of the seven active federal judges in Minnesota spoke to The New York Times about the fallout from the Trump administration's surge there. One judge had to go into hiding. Another said it "created a grave threat to the rule of law.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns
In a rare interview, Patrick Schiltz, who served as the federal court’s chief judge last winter, called the administration’s actions “a grave threat to the rule of law.”
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
FBI Director Kash Patel told lawmakers on Tuesday he changed the bureau's hiring standards to eliminate bestiality as an automatic disqualifier because he did not want ​to bar trafficking victims who had been forced to have sex with animals. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
reuters.com
FBI's Patel defends change in 'bestiality' hiring practice as lawmakers seek answers
FBI Director Kash Patel told lawmakers on Tuesday he changed the bureau's hiring standards to eliminate bestiality as an automatic disqualifier because he did not want ​to bar trafficking victims who ...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Defense Department Inspector General has this disclaimer about what it calls itself.
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Border Patrol, not ICE, just FYI.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The judge ultimately found that ICE officers violated the men's Fourth Amendment rights when they questioned them in the parking lot of another store. (The opinion doesn't say whether the supervisor ever got to the bathroom.)
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Interesting window into immigration enforcement: An ICE supervisor in upstate New York stopped at Walmart to use the bathroom and instead ended up surveilling a group of Spanish-speakers he saw in the toy aisle. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Reposted by Brad Heath
John Gramlich @johngramlich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
By a 60%-23% margin, Americans say the US government should be able to require a news outlet to take down a story if it poses a threat to national security. And by a 51%-33% margin, they say it should be able to do that if the story contains false info. www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2...
Bar chart showing that Americans favor allowing the U.S. government to require news organizations to take down stories if they threaten national security or contain false information. The chart is based on a June 2026 Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults.
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Everyone's focused on bestiality but don't forget that the same report says per new FBI rules "a person who stole from an employer is not automatically disqualified as long as the incident occurred more than three years ago" www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-can...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Two months before Americans vote in midterm elections that, local and state officials across the country are rehearsing for a crisis that once seemed unthinkable: What if the U.S. president tries to use the power of the federal government to tilt the vote his way? www.reuters.com/investigatio...
reuters.com
Election officials prepare for chaos as Trump seeks to tilt the midterms to Republicans
U.S. state and local officials are taking extraordinary steps to protect voting systems, staff and public confidence amid growing signs that the president is trying to use federal power and fraud clai...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Serving a summons on all of the sunlight in the world sounds sort of like an excuse to go to Hawaii?
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
10th Cir., making no friends today, says a pro se plaintiff should get a chance to revive his suit against . . . well, I'll just show you. www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...
LAUNCH ALL NUCLEAR MISSILES; ALL PLANETS NUCLEAR MISSILES; NATE LONG, Grand Junction CO Police Officer in his official and individual capacities; BEN COOPER, Grand Junction CO Police Officer in his individual capacity; CRISS KOPP, Grand Junction CO Police Officer in his official and individual capacities; STEVE ANSEL, Grand Junction Police Officer in his official and individual capacities; 5 unknown named Delta County Sheriff Deputies in their individual and official capacites; STEVE BERUJ, Delta County Sheriff in his official and individual capacities; FAY MATHEWS, Delta County Planning Department Director in his official and individual capacities; STARBUCKS COFFEE; DAVID STEINER, United States Post Office Postmaster General in his official and individual capacities; ACSES HEATH; GOD LOVES US; GOD LOVES YOU; GOD HATES US; GOD HEAVEN; GOD HELL; ALL SPACE PLANETS; ALL PLANETS PEOPLE; ALL PLANETS SUN LIGHT; ALL PLANETS ATOMS; SATAN; ALL PLANETS; ALL SPACE PLANETS COURTS ALL PLANETS POLICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT; ALL PLANETS MILITARY; ALL PLANETS COMPUTERS
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Reposted by Brad Heath
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 09/09/2026
A National Guard member who had been assigned to patrol Washington is being held in the D.C. jail on a felony charge after allegedly unholstering his loaded firearm and pointing it at another Guard member during an argument in a van.
washingtonpost.com
National Guard member accused of pulling a gun during argument in D.C.
A National Guard member is accused of pointing his weapon at another Guard member inside a van while sitting outside a Popeye's on H Street Northeast. He's being held in jail.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A swarm of rogue OpenAI agents hijacked a German website this spring and transformed it into a bulletin board for other AI agents, according to ​new research published Friday and two people familiar with the matter. www.reuters.com/world/europe...
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: OpenAI agents hijacked German website in previously undisclosed AI breakout this spring
A swarm of rogue OpenAI agents hijacked a German website this spring and transformed it into a bulletin board for other AI agents, according to ​new research and two people familiar with the matter.
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Short version: SCOTUS already ruled on this
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
From street names to supply chains to vacation bookings, Canadians are severing everyday ties in ways that could outlast the current trade dispute. Ottawa is moving to rename "Trump Avenue." www.reuters.com/business/str...
reuters.com
From street names to supply chains, Canadians pull away from US as rift grows
For more than 20 years, Diane Hosker has lived on Trump Avenue in Ottawa’s leafy west end, a neighborhood with New York City -themed street names including Central Park, Bloomingdale Street and Gotham...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The DOJ Inspector General found that a federal prosecutor "engaged in prostitution."
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The Justice Department is pursuing unlawful-entry charges against a person who was caught in a subway station "holding his phone recording and following National Guard members around the station."
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The Pentagon has secretly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings in government roles, declining to disclose their assignments as they amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s viewpoints www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
Pentagon secretly installs military influencers in civilian roles
Conservative veterans with large social media followings have been hired by the Defense Department and are amplifying Pete Hegseth’s culture-war fights.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The unusual feature of dismissing Bannon's case is that he's already been convicted and served his prison sentence.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Russian-speaking hackers used SpaceX’s new tab AI coding assistant, Cursor, to help break in to a Belgian chemical company and at least six other ​firms earlier this year. www.reuters.com/world/russia...
reuters.com
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Link: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
#211 in United States v. BANNON (D.D.C., 1:21-cr-00670) – CourtListener.com
ORDER denying 207 Motion to Dismiss Indictment as to STEPHEN K. BANNON (1). Signed by Judge Carl J. Nichols on 08/26/2026. (lccjn3) (Entered: 08/26/2026)
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Until Monday, one of Bannon's attorneys of record had been Trent McCotter, who asked to leave the case in July. He's been a senior Justice Department official since January, and is now the acting deputy attorney general.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A federal judge in Washington has denied the Justice Department's request to drop the case against Steve Bannon, who had been found guilty of contempt of Congress. The judge said the government has not explained why it wants to drop the case after Bannon had been found guilty.
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
UPDATE: Judge in the League of Women Voters of Mass. case lifted the injunction there blocking the mail voting part of the EO — for now — but makes clear there could (and, imho, likely will) be a new injunction once the plaintiffs file their amended complaint addressing the final USPS rule.
For the reasons set forth below, while Plaintiff Organizations' have substantial arguments that might persuade the Supreme Court to reach a different result if Plaintiff Organizations have
an opportunity to present them, this court is compelled by the Supreme Court's ruling to grant Defendants' Motion to Reconsider [Doc. No. 196] and vacate the preliminary injunction
obtained by the Plaintiff Organizations. This order is without prejudice to Plaintiff Organizations
filing a new motion for a preliminary injunction after filing their anticipated Amended
Complaint. See Elec. Order [Doc. No. 202]; Assented to Mot. for Leave to File a Suppl. Compl.
[Doc. No. 200].
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The United States has filed a lawsuit against approximately 85 dogs.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The central point of the Justice Department's latest filing in the ongoing litigation over the Kennedy Center is that only the Trump administration has the expertise to save the place, but they'll only do it if it ends up with Trump's name on it somewhere. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Homeland Security spent 250,000 fewer hours working on fentanyl cases last year because agents were told to focus on immigration matters instead, the DHS Inspector General says. www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/defaul...
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Jose Pagliery @josepagliery.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The nation's acting deputy attorney general, Trent McCotter, was technically still Steve Bannon's listed lawyer until this morning. (Bannon asked to swap him out in July, three months after McCotter joined the DOJ.)
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Reposted by Brad Heath
Steven Mazie @stevenmazie.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
BREAKING: Supreme Court lets Trump continue building his ballroom, for now.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
True. Though you'll also see National Guard units doing some of the same things around the Super Bowl.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
To be fair, D.C. routinely uses its National Guard for large public events. It puts soldiers at road closures around the July 4 fireworks, for example, because that invariably leads to a lot of barricades they'd otherwise have to man with police officers.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Not conclusive by any means, but fodder for more research.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The change in crime in D.C. wasn't all that different in the neighborhoods where we found the Guard iand the ones where we didn't. Murder was down about 35% January - July in both sets of neighborhoods. Theft was down about 15%. Total violent crime was up slightly more in places with soldiers.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
We know from court records where soldiers in D.C. have done any kind of law-enforcement or been crime victims, a loose proxy for where they've been most active. Those are the green areas. The other areas are where 82% of murders happened over the past five years. About 70% of car thefts. Etc.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
One of the questions I got a lot yesterday was about deterrence. Wouldn't people obviously not commit crimes on the street in the presence of armed soldiers? After all, murder is down significantly in D.C. this year, and so are most property crimes. That's very complicated to answer.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
More than 150 wallets on Polymarket International may have traded on inside U.S. military information, attracting copycat ​bets and raising concerns that the market could broadcast signals exploitable by foreign adversaries. www.reuters.com/business/fin...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Been a minute since I had a story in @usatoday.com: www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
usatoday.com
Trump put thousands of soldiers on DC streets. They seldom stop crime
Reuters found soldiers Trump ordered to Washington took part in about 1.3% of criminal cases in DC Superior Court.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Here's the whole thing. I hope you'll read it. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
reuters.com
Trump put thousands of soldiers on Washington’s streets. They seldom stop crime
The administration told Congress it plans to keep sending soldiers to Washington until the end of Trump’s presidency in ​2029 at a cost of $1.4 billion.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
We haven't found evidence of MPD re-deploying like that. And the other day, I was in Union Station and there were four soldiers patrolling. There's already a dedicated train-station police force and it's not like they can re-deploy to other parts of the city when the Guard shows up.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
They detained him. (But at least many of the soldiers on the street in D.C. now are deputized as U.S. Marshals.)
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Has it worked? That's very hard to tell. D.C. has recorded another big drop in murders this year. But so have other cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia where soldiers have not been deployed. And the total number of violent crimes in D.C. is up slightly compared to the same period last year.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The Justice Department's brief arguing its case against former FBI director James Comey over his allegedly-threatening photo of an arrangement of seashells does not read like your typical DOJ court filing. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
What have the National Guard soldiers in D.C. been doing? They chased down a man who took two slices of pizza after trying to pay only $2 for them. They arrested a man who stole Slim Jims worth $7 from a pharmacy. In July, six soldiers held a woman who drank a bottle of root beer without paying.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Since Trump deployed soldiers to Washington, Reuters found that they have been mentioned in 1.3% of the city's criminal cases (despite costing more than the police). They have broken up some fights. But most of the 105 cases in which they helped arrest someone, it's been for quite minor crimes.
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