Brett Murphy Profile picture
journalist | brett.murphy@propublica.org | Signal: 508-523-5195
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Oct 4 15 tweets 4 min read
Our latest is on the State's secretive arms pipeline to Israel, what senior leaders knew about civilian harm and when, and how they've rushed weapons out the door since Oct 7 anyway — over internal legal objections. A quick thread on the reporting: propublica.org/article/israel… In January, Jack Lew, Biden’s ambassador to Israel, sent a cable urging Washington to send 3,000 more bombs to the IDF. Lew wrote that there was no potential the Israelis would misuse the bombs because they had a “decades-long proven track record” of avoiding killing civilians.
Sep 24 4 tweets 1 min read
Leaked docs: While Gaza starved, USAID and State's refugees bureau came to a legally explosive conclusion — Israel had deliberately prevented food & medicine from getting in

But Blinken told congress the exact opposite, so the arms could keep flowing. propublica.org/article/gaza-p… Behind the scenes, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew had pushed Blinken to trust the Israelis, who promised to help facilitate aid — even though Lew's own staff at the embassy had repeatedly told him that wasn't the case.
Dec 13, 2023 19 tweets 3 min read
1/NEW: The federal judiciary governs itself. Judges make sure other judges disclose their finances & don’t violate ethics. Chief Justice Roberts touts how well the system works.

But time and again, it's protected, not policed, federal judges. Here's how: propublica.org/article/judici… 2/ @kirstenberg and I got inside the vaunted Judicial Conference, an extremely secretive council of judges that’s supposed to enforce the transparency laws at the heart of our reporting this year.
Aug 10, 2023 33 tweets 9 min read
NEW: It's not just Harlan Crow. Clarence Thomas has had a trio of other ultrawealthy patrons — an oil baron, investment guru and corporate titan — funding his luxury travel for decades.

My latest, w/@Amierjeski, plus a thread on the reporting
propublica.org/article/claren… Each of these patrons appears to have come into Thomas’ life after he was appointed to the Supreme Court, one of the most powerful, sacrosanct government positions in the country.
Dec 28, 2022 25 tweets 6 min read
The founder of “911 call analysis” says you can spot a murderer on the phone if you know how to analyze speech patterns, tone, pauses, word choice, and even grammar. This is junk science.

So why — and how — are prosecutors across the country still using it to lock people up? This story goes down the rabbit hole a bit, thousands of emails and other documents that show prosecutors’ playbook to sidestep evidence rules and disguise 911 call analysis in court.
Nov 21, 2022 15 tweets 4 min read
A reporting thread on the story we published yesterday. It's about a young mother from Illinois named Jessica Logan and what happened after her baby died in the middle of the night. Image Just after 3 a.m. on October 7, 2019, Jessica called 911, hysterical.

The day he was assigned the case, a detective would listen to the recording and decide she was faking. Why?
Jan 3, 2022 17 tweets 4 min read
We just published the story of Jeremiah Ardoin, a narcotics detective in Louisiana who reported stop-and-frisk arrests, officers stealing/planting drugs and a Black man who had died in police custody. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/… That death was known internally by some Baton Rouge police as “The Flag Street Massacre.”

The man who died during a no-knock warrant, Dontrunner Robinson, had blunt force trauma all over his body. Thirty-two cuts, gashes and bruises.
Nov 9, 2021 12 tweets 4 min read
Around the country, we documented how police departments hunt down and silence internal whistleblowers to cover up misconduct with impunity. They've been fired, jailed and, in at least one case, forcibly admitted to a psychiatric ward. usatoday.com/in-depth/story… We found hundreds of cases. And it doesn't matter how bad the stuff is they expose: fellow deputies beating a prisoner who later died; a captain who impregnated a 16-year-old girl and then paid for an abortion; a co-worker bragging about killing an unarmed teenager.
Oct 6, 2020 28 tweets 4 min read
🚨 Late last month, Dr. Bill Foege — public health titan, former CDC director, presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, man most responsible for eradicating smallpox — sent the current CDC director an extraordinary letter in private. usatoday.com/story/news/inv… Foege called on Redfield to come clean about the federal government's failures and orchestrate his own firing to protest White House interference during the pandemic response. We got the letter. Here's what it says, in Foege's words: