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Danielle Brian

@daniellebrian.bsky.social
147 followers 61 following 49 posts

Have been running @pogo.org for a long time. Working towards a more accountable, effective, and ethical federal government. Join us!

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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 01/07/2025
We need to close the revolving door. We’re grateful to @warren.senate.gov and Sen. Rick Scott for asking these important questions about former Sec. Def. Austin launching a lobbying firm.
warren.senate.gov
ICYMI: Bipartisan Warren, Scott (Fla.) Letter Questions Biden Defense Secretary’s Decision to Launch Lobbying Firm | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
It’s time to end the legalized corruption of the revolving door and congressional stock trading once and for all.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
We @POGO raised concerns about his industry ties when he was nominated. www.pogo.org/post/lloyd-a...
pogo.org
Lloyd Austin’s Defense Industry Ties Are Not What the Pentagon Needs
We recognize the historic nature of the nomination of retired General Lloyd Austin to lead the Pentagon, but it’s not clear that his defense industry ties will serve President-elect Joe Biden well.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
And @warren.senate.gov and @SenRickScott call out former Secretary of Defense for going back on his word when he promised he wouldn’t trade in his political power by going into the influence industry.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Both parties still fail to understand their acceptance of legalized #corruption is the reason the US population doesn’t trust politicians. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
politico.com
Senators slam Lloyd Austin over new consulting firm
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Rick Scott say the former Defense secretary is violating the public trust by going into the influence business.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
The last man standing. Michael Horowitz was an excellent Inspector General put in an impossible situation. Now that he’s gone, there’s no one left in the executive branch to hold this the Trump Admin accountable. It’s Congress and the Courts or nothing. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
news.bloomberglaw.com
Veteran DOJ Watchdog’s Exit Spurs Fears of Lax Trump Oversight
The departure of the Justice Department’s longtime inspector general next week has former officials and other lawyers worried that an era of robust, independent oversight of law enforcement is ending ...
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
The US should learn from this.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
docs.pogo.org/report/2005/...
docs.pogo.org
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
www.pogo.org/analysis/rec...
pogo.org
Recommendations for Reclaiming Congress’s War Powers
It should not take a supermajority to stop an unauthorized war with Iran.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
This is exactly what Congress doing their job looks like: Voting on a War Powers Resolution. The Congress and NOT POTUS has the power to initiate an act of war. And yes, we @POGOwatchdog were saying this during Obama and even earlier. This is not a partisan issue, it is a Constitutional one.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
To be clear 90% of all this wouldn't be a problem if CONGRESS DID ITS JOB. Justice Jackson is right. This is an imperial executive embracing an imperial judiciary filling the void left by a feckless Congress.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
THIS! On top of today’s Senate Judiciary hearing where judicial nominee Emil Bove is alleged to have encouraged DOJ to defy court orders. The Administration’s efforts to delegitimize the courts is breathtaking. And is a classic authoritarian move.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Government Accountability Project @govacctproj.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
🗞️ THIS JUST IN: DOJ whistleblower Erez Reuveni says senior Trump official Emil Bove suggested defying court orders to carry out deportations. Our team represents Reuveni—and what he uncovered is alarming. Full story via NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/u...
nytimes.com
Justice Dept. Leader Suggested Violating Court Orders, Whistle-Blower Says
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Pablo Manríquez @pabloreports.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
NEWS: Stephen Miller owns a six-figure stock in Palantir, a company profiting off deportations, per @POGOwatchdog report migrantinsider.com/p/stephen-mi...
migrantinsider.com
Stephen Miller’s Financial Stake in ICE Contractor Palantir Raises Conflict Concerns
POGO report shows top Trump adviser owned six-figure stock in company profiting off deportations.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Budgets ARE policy. There is no clearer example of Congress choosing to disempower itself than by cutting in half the budget of its own watchdog.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Until Congress begins to do its job we will continue to watch the president violate the laws intended to prevent abuse of power and corruption. The consequences of tonight’s bombings lies equally with Congress. Their inaction is not only destabilizing the country but the world.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
The president did not have the authority to bomb Iran without congressional approval. Yet again we are seeing how dangerous it is for Congress to cede its power. reassert-war-power
pogo.org
Congress Must Reclaim and Reassert War Power
The Constitution is clear: Congress, not the president, should be the branch deciding when our nation goes to war.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Charles Gaba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 14/06/2025
Jesus. The juxtaposition of these two posts back to back is just...
10:30am:

"Brevard County Sheriff Sheriff Wayne Ivey: "If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at, because we will kill you graveyard dead."

10:49am:


law enforcement officials say they made a proactive check at Rep. Hortman's home after a lawmaker who lived nearby was shot and found a "police vehicle in the driveway with emergency lights and what appeared to be a police officer at the door coming out of the house." He was actually the gunman.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Quick reminder to POTUS, the First Amendment explicitly protects freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you get a different Constitution where you can use “very heavy force” to punish protected activities.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Neil Gordon @neilegordon.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
"The tragedy at Kent State in 1970 is...an enduring warning against the militarization of civilian spaces." @pogo.org Executive Director @daniellebrian.bsky.social responds to President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles www.pogo.org/post/preside...
pogo.org
President Trump's Federalizing the National Guard Is a Dangerous…
The administration must reverse this dangerous, unjustified course.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Liza Goitein @lizagoitein.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
That’s alarming enough. But Trump has also authorized deployment of troops anywhere in the country where protests against ICE are occurring or are likely to occur, even if they are entirely peaceful. That is unprecedented and a clear abuse of the law. 2/19
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Liza Goitein @lizagoitein.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Trump has federalized at least 2,000 National Guard forces and reportedly plans to deploy troops to Los Angeles over Governor Newsom’s objections. If that happens, it will be the first time since 1965 that a president has sent troops into a state without a state request. 1/19
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
KatherineHawkins @krhawkins.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
You’ve also got Congress (at least the House) writing blank checks for a mass deportation campaign that is repeatedly violating court orders and trying to evade judicial review—and undercutting the contempt power. www.newsweek.com/hidden-provi...
newsweek.com
'Hidden' provision in Trump's big bill could disarm US Supreme Court
The provision would bar courts from enforcing contempt citations for violations of injunctions or temporary restraining orders unless a bond has been paid.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
KatherineHawkins @krhawkins.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Right now neither is happening. You’ve got the Supreme Court staying lower court orders reining in DOGE and overruling Humphrey’s executor (major precedent limiting presidential power over independent agencies) on the shadow docket
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
KatherineHawkins @krhawkins.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
It is really important right now that Congress back up the courts against executive contempt (like the rendition flights) and the courts back Congress against encroachments on Article I powers (like DOGE’s rampage)
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Joseph Nunn @josephanunn.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
The @nytimes.com is reporting that the Trump administration has requested deployment of 20,000+ National Guard members to help with immigration enforcement inside the U.S. This is an unprecedented move that raises a host of legal and practical concerns. 1/8
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Per NextGov, it looks like DOGE & Musk’s claims about high rates of phone fraud at Social Security weren’t just inaccurate but spectacularly wrong. SSA looks likely to reverse policy on applying the antifraud tool to these benefit claims, which seems wise.
nextgov.com
DOGE went looking for phone fraud at SSA — and found almost none
Since SSA installed new anti-fraud checks on claims made over the phone, only two claims out of over 110,000 were found to likely be fraudulent, according to internal documents obtained by Nextgov/FCW...
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
The bottom line is the President is lying. There is no national emergency. He is making up a story to justify increasingly militarizing our country. It is essential to expose the facts. Congress should be holding hearings immediately. www.pogo.org/investigatio...
pogo.org
Migrant Drug Seizures by Border Patrol Incredibly Rare, Data Shows
Despite political rhetoric suggesting migrants are fueling drug seizures, a detailed review shows just how infrequently Border Patrol agents seize drugs from migrants.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
... just 1 in 53,965 migrants (.002%) were caught with drugs other than marijuana." Only 11 of the nearly 6 million migrants encountered by CBP had fentanyl -- that's only .0002% of migrants being stopped were found with fentanyl.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Yet based on the evidence, THERE HAVE BEEN NEARLY ZERO DRUG ARRESTS TIED TO MIGRANTS APPREHENDED BY CBP. "Of the over 5.8 million migrants stopped by Border Patrol between fiscal years 2022 and 2024, drugs were seized from only 249 people, CBP migrant encounter data showed," according to POGO.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
STAGGERING blockbuster investigation The President has falsely been claiming "Fentanyl and other drugs are pouring over the border and flooding our communities" in order to justify exerting extraordinary powers through a national emergency.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
KatherineHawkins @krhawkins.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
I finally managed to write up my thoughts on the CECOT, and other, disappearances. I put a lot into this, please read and share. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-...
lawfaremedia.org
How Trump Is Disappearing Migrants
From CECOT to domestic jails, the Trump administration is engaging in incommunicado detention to cut migrants off from legal protections.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Feral Human Rights Lawyer @natcad.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
@krhawkins.bsky.social ‘s piece on the ways that enforced disappearances of migrants has evolved and expanded is comprehensive and necessary reading for anyone documenting human rights abuses in the US and for policy advocacy orgs. We need legislation criminalizing enforced disappearance.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
How is POTUS taking a luxury plane from a foreign government to be used through his Presidential library post-office not an illegal emolument?
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
KatherineHawkins @krhawkins.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
It’s not *that* unusual to have government officials symbolically get arrested for trespass as part of planned civil disobedience but Ras Baraka’s arrest wasn’t that
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 08/05/2025
Congress must step in to protect due process & our constitutional rights. The administration’s pattern of removing people to prison systems in foreign countries without due process and trying to evade court oversight must end. Our rights are on the line.
politico.com
A Trump admin effort to deport immigrants to Libya would ‘clearly violate’ court order, judge says
Lawyers for immigrants from Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines rushed to court to stop what they called an “imminent” deportation flight to the war-torn African nation.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Nick Schwellenbach @schwellenbach.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
The acting head of FEMA was fired after he told Congress that "I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency." Hurricane season starts in a few weeks. www.cnn.com/2025/05/08/p...
cnn.com
Trump’s acting FEMA chief fired day after breaking from the administration | CNN Politics
Cameron Hamilton, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, was escorted out of FEMA’s headquarters on Thursday, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Nick Schwellenbach @schwellenbach.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
@blumenthal.senate.gov says Trump's watchdog pick for the VA "is especially problematic because Ms. Mason has been point person in muzzling VA workers and directing them to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements" www.veterans.senate.gov/2025/5/blumenthal-statement-on-trump-nominating-loyalist
veterans.senate.gov
Blumenthal Statement on Trump Nominating Loyalist as VA's Top Watchdog Official
Blumenthal raises flag over nomination, stresses clear conflict of interest in nominating political official to independent oversight role
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 06/05/2025
In a letter to GEO Group as part of their oversight into the expansion of immigration detention, @JudiciaryDems cited POGO's investigation into the the revolving door between the private prison company and the federal government www.pogo.org/investigatio...
pogo.org
Private Prison Giant Hired ICE Detention Chief
GEO Group hired a top ICE official — one of many over the years — as the company stands to profit from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 06/05/2025
The officer corps is expensive and bloated, so reducing 4-star positions is a good idea, as long as it is a true, cost-cutting reform — not a partisan punishment. We need a plan, not another 1/2 page memo with no details and no timeline.
cnn.com
Hegseth orders Pentagon to cut number of senior generals by 20% | CNN Politics
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered senior Pentagon leadership to cut the number of four-star generals and admirals by at least 20% across the military, according to a memo signed by Hegseth...
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Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 07/05/2025
This news is appalling, and blatantly unconstitutional. The administration’s continued rejection of due process threatens our constitutional order. Congress must pressure this administration to end these shocking rights violations.
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Plans to Send Migrants to Libya on a Military Flight
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 07/05/2025
We wrote to these leaders a month ago expressing our deep concerns about this website’s removal.
pogo.org
Civil Society Presses for Answers on Apportionment Transparency
Congress should ask: Why did the administration take down an important public database?
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 07/05/2025
Thank you @delauro.house.gov, @murray.senate.gov, Rep. Tom Cole, and Senator Susan Collins for pushing the administration to restore this essential spending website! This is information that the public has the right to know.
nytimes.com
Bipartisan House and Senate Leaders Urge White House to Restore Spending Website
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 05/05/2025
Watch @daniellebrian.bsky.social on ABC's #ThisWeek talking about the potential conflicts of interest w/ the Trump family’s crypto firm:
abcnews.go.com
Video Trump family crypto firm raises concerns over potential conflicts of interest
On “This Week,” ABC News’ Chief Investigative Correspondent Aaron Katersky reports on Trump’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
So tell your elected officials they need to hold a vote again. Our system of govt requires the balance of powers not a runaway king. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/u...
nytimes.com
Senate Rejects Bipartisan Measure to Undo Trump’s Tariffs
Only three Republicans joined Democrats in voting to end the national emergency President Trump declared to impose tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, leaving the measure short of the support neede...
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
In a bipartisan split of 49-49 the resolution failed, but the two missing senators would have voted to end the emergency if they were there. This isn’t just about tariffs - it’s about the Congress asserting its constitutional role and taking back the powers the president is abusing.
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
You’re wondering what can be done? Here’s a specific example: Trump falsely declared a national emergency in order to engage in his tariff wars. A simple majority vote in Congress can stop it. That almost happened yesterday.
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Reposted by Danielle Brian
Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 16/04/2025
Apparently the Trump admin thinks “court order” is just a suggestion. Judges aren’t having it — and neither should the public. 📣 Our system only works if power can be checked. #ContemptOfCourt #DemocracyUnderThreat
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Danielle Brian @daniellebrian.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
This is a pivotal moment for our constitutional system of checks and balances.
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