NEW: We obtained new records that offer additional insight into the pandemic’s spread in prisons. The records include communications between the GEO Group, one of the largest private prison contractors in the country, and Florida officials. americanoversight.org/in-the-documen…
On May 1, the Florida Department of Management Services’ Office of Inspector General received an anonymous complaint from someone at the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa County, Fla. documentcloud.org/documents/2098…
The complainant alleged that inmates displaying Covid-19 symptoms were being tested for Covid-19 and returned to the general population before their test results came back.
Also in May, the GEO Group had a plan to conduct targeted testing of people over 65 at three prisons. The records suggest that the company decided not to go ahead with this testing after DMS clarified that it wasn’t mandated by Florida, and therefore might not be reimbursable.
To date, more than half a million people living and working in U.S. prisons have contracted Covid-19. Learn more about our ongoing investigation into pandemic conditions in prisons here: americanoversight.org/investigation/…
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Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in July 2018. In early September, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on his appointment; later that month, the committee reopened the hearings to discuss sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.
On Sept. 15, 2018, Senate Judiciary Chief Counsel Michael Davis emailed a “Nominations Strategy” email group and indicated he spoke to Leonard Leo. Davis wrote: “He is pushing [Kavanaugh] to call on us to reopen the hearing, so [Kavanaugh] can address allegations.”
During the first months of the pandemic, the absence of a clear federal leadership structure hampered the response of health agencies & state officials. We’ve been investigating the coordination problems that beset health departments last spring. americanoversight.org/investigation/…
Emails we obtained show that in February 2020, a senior adviser at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs cautioned in an email thread among senior federal health officials that the nation was “flying blind” in the face of early coronavirus cases in California and elsewhere.
Researchers have since found that the U.S. could have prevented hundreds of thousands of coronavirus-related deaths had it implemented sufficient mitigation measures in the spring of 2020, including aggressive and widespread testing and mask requirements. reuters.com/article/us-hea…
NEW: We obtained more of former Attorney General William Barr’s call logs and text messages from 2019 and 2020. Here’s what we learned from the documents: americanoversight.org/document/doj-t…
On Sept. 17, 2019, just days before House Speaker Pelosi’s announcement of a formal impeachment inquiry, Barr had a 35-minute call with Sen. Pat Toomey’s office. americanoversight.org/document/attor…
On Sept. 18, Barr texted DOJ Public Affairs Director Kerri Kupec: “Please get DOJ statement about me not talking to Ukrainians to Lindsay G. ASAP. He called me because he is going on talk shows,” likely referring to Sen. Lindsey Graham. documentcloud.org/documents/2052…
NEW: We obtained additional records that shed light on the potential influence wielded in spring 2020 by members of the private sector on the federal government’s pandemic response. americanoversight.org/records-reveal…
Last spring, members of the private sector had easy access to top officials, including former White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Records we obtained show Mnuchin exchanged emails with top executives at large corporations, including General Electric and Ford.
Mnuchin also fielded requests from Carnival, Walmart, Gap, and Vogue.
As Covid-19 spread through crowded and already dangerous meatpacking plants, companies sought to avoid closures and to reduce important safety regulations. We’re investigating the meat industry's influence at federal agencies during the pandemic. americanoversight.org/investigation/…
The Trump administration frequently conceded to demands from the meatpacking and food industry, taking actions that allowed plants to stay open as coronavirus cases rose. As of this month, more than 90,000 meat and food processing workers have tested positive for Covid-19.
On April 28, then-President Trump signed an executive order labeling meat-processing plants “critical infrastructure,” which allowed plants to remain open during the pandemic.
We recently published an in-depth report that looks at why potential findings of Arizona’s sham “audit” are compromised.
One key issue is contact between “audit” leaders, Donald Trump, and Rudy Giuliani after the November election. americanoversight.org/how-the-arizon…
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann’s was in contact with with Giuliani and the Trump campaign during the time when the campaign and its allies were launching dozens of long-shot election-undermining lawsuits —revealing the early partisan orientation of the operation.
On Dec. 28, 2020, Fann responded to a constituent’s email by writing that she had “been in numerous conversations” with Giuliani “over the past weeks trying to get this [forensic audit] done.”