NEW: Even as @realdonaldtrump railed against illegal immigration, his company quietly relied on its own crew of largely undocumented construction workers.
Two years into his presidency, it still does. washingtonpost.com/politics/if-yo…
@realDonaldTrump How'd we verify the accounts of @realDonaldTrump's undocumented stoneworkers?
Well, we already know 40+ of Trump's *other* undoc. workers, who'd been waiters, housekeepers, gardeners at his clubs.
We asked: did they know these guys?
Oh yes. "We called them 'Los Picapiedra.'"
@realDonaldTrump These are the questions we sent @realDonaldTrump's White House press office about this story. They declined comment.
@realDonaldTrump And here's what we sent @realdonaldtrump's company. They sent us a short statement (saying Mobile Payroll is now enrolled in E-Verify), but declined to answer other Q's directly.
@doge's "Wall of Receipts" is one month old this week. But the largest item on that list has always been wrong.
Here's how:
When the Wall of Receipts was first posted, @elonmusk's group said its largest savings was an $8 billion cut at ICE.
But that was a typo in government records. DOGE reduced the savings to $8 million, then zero.
@elonmusk Then @doge said its largest savings had come from terminating a USAID contract worth $655 million.
But they had triple-counted the same cancellation, and also greatly over-estimated what that cancellation was worth. That savings, too, was eventually reduced to $0.
LISTEN: We got recordings of the robo-calls these groups used to raise money. They use computers that sound just like middle-aged cops -- complete with corny mother-in-law jokes.
These calls often began with a kind of pre-programmed guilt trip, delivered via Dad joke. "You know, you're harder to catch than a rabbit on roller skates!"
Now a computer has made you feel sheepish about not answering its calls.
I’m a reporter at the @nytimes covering nonprofits. I didn’t choose this beat b/c I think all nonprofits are hiding something!
I chose it b/c nonprofits are strongly trusted but weakly policed.
So they might be a good place *to* hide something, if you wanted....1/
My first story was about people allegedly hiding fraud.
In MN, the FBI alleged that a group of nonprofits exploited lax oversight to claim millions of government dollars they didn't deserve... 2/ nytimes.com/2022/03/08/us/…
Today’s story is from Houston, where the nonprofit Crime Stoppers has a huge amount of trust & influence (take it from a HOU native!).
They've now jumped into a political debate about crime -- lauding the GOP gov, and blaming elected Dem judges.... 3/ nytimes.com/2022/04/21/us/…
First, it shows the huge amount of money that flows through the nonprofit sector — one small nonprofit in Minnesota handled $197 million in just 1 year! Even tho it’s own nonprofit status was listed as revoked and its board president said he was tricked into taking the job. 2/
Second, it shows the lax oversight of nonprofits — where a promise not to make a profit gets you a trust others don’t get.
This is an extreme example — in MN, the state said it suspected fraud at a nonprofit, but found itself unable to stop paying it. It had to wait on the FBI.
The FBI says it’s found a “massive fraud” centered on a nonprofit in MN. The group had received $246M in federal aid to feed hungry kids.
I’m an investigative reporter covering nonprofits. Here’s what I want to know — and how you can help…
I found this story by reading the great @StarTribune coverage of the FBI’s raids last month.
I want to know how anyone could lose track of *that* much money — even during a pandemic, when money was flowing fast and oversight became more difficult.