David Fahrenthold Profile picture
Aug 9, 2019 5 tweets 4 min read Read on X
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.
@realDonaldTrump We also asked @ICEgov if they'd ever audited or investigated one of @realDonaldTrump's properties. This was their answer:

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More from @Fahrenthold

May 15, 2023
A group of nonprofits raised $89M to help cops, veterans & firefighters.

What happened to the $?

They obscured the answer by breaking it into 135,000 pieces: a blizzard of tiny transactions, routed thru addresses in 10 states.

We found it, anyway.

nytimes.com/interactive/20…
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.

Do any of these voices sound familiar?

nytimes.com/interactive/20…
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.

nomorobo.com/lookup/240-471…
Read 4 tweets
Jul 7, 2022
My latest story on the nonprofit beat was about a screamingly obvious scam that still fooled the IRS 76 times.

I wanted to explain how I found that story -- with a lot of help from you. 1/

nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/…
The original tip about this story came on my first day at the @nytimes, when I asked you all for story ideas about nonprofits.

You sent 700 of them. 2/
Many of you suggested The Human Fund or Hogwarts (A nonprofit practically *dedicated* to child endangerment, tho sadly magical and outside my beat).

One tip came from @NatlCouncilNPs -- pointing me toward the IRS, and their fast-track process for approving new nonprofits. 3/
Read 7 tweets
Apr 21, 2022
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/…
Read 6 tweets
Mar 8, 2022
I’m an investigative reporter for the @nytimes, writing about nonprofits.

This is my first story, and it sums up so much of what drew me to the nonprofit beat. 1/
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.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 15, 2022
WHAT HAPPENED TO $246 MILLION?

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.

startribune.com/fbi-investigat…
I’ve started by pulling every document I can find: IRS filings, search warrants, court records, state databases of food-aid spending.

What I want is a timeline, of what happened when, and a full financial picture of this nonprofit.
Read 6 tweets
Oct 8, 2021
UPDATED: Trump’s DC hotel — a symbol of the blurred lines between his govt and his biz — lost $71 million while he was in office, new docs show. washingtonpost.com/business/2021/…
Does this mean concerns about Trump mixing business and govt were/are overblown? I’d say no — a POTUS who’s losing money could be more open to conflicts of interest than one who’s raking it in.
Trump’s out of office, so why do we care now?
If he does run for office again, we want to understand his financial situation: successes, money-losers, debts and/or potential points of leverage. All those could have changed since 2016 — or even 2020.
Read 4 tweets

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