Judd Legum Profile picture
I write Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. | judd@popular.info | Signal: juddlegum.47 | DMs open
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Jan 28 5 tweets 2 min read
1. Many large media outlets are reporting that Trump "pivoted" his strategy in Minnesota and has "changed course."

This is what the White House WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE

The only problem is it is not true 2. Is Trump ending his immigration crackdown in Minneapolis? No

Is anyone responsible for the operation being held accountable. No

Has Trump acknowledged that these killings were unjustified? Also no

popular.info/p/how-legacy-m…
Jan 26 8 tweets 3 min read
1. The Trump administration is not conducting its deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis alone

Major corporations, including @amazon, @CitizensBank, and @ATT, are enabling — and profiting from — the operation. @amazon @CitizensBank @ATT 2. @Amazon powers much of the technological infrastructure that the Trump administration uses to target immigrants.

Amazon hosts the ICM database used by ICE which "integrates a vast ecosystem of public and private data to track down immigrants"

popular.info/p/the-corporat…
Jan 22 8 tweets 2 min read
1. After months of denials, the Trump administration has admitted that DOGE staff misused Social Security data.

A DOGE staffer signed a deal to share the data with a “political advocacy group” seeking to “overturn election results"

The identity of the staffer is not disclosed but there are clues 2. Antonio Gracias, a DOGE staffer who was embedded at the SSA, publicly spoke about using Social Security data to “expose” voter fraud. During a March 30 rally alongside Elon Musk, Gracias — a fellow billionaire — made a variety of false and misleading claims.

popular.info/p/doge-staffer…
Jan 21 4 tweets 2 min read
1. In 2025, 32 people died in ICE custody.

That figure was the largest in more than two decades and tied for the highest number of deaths among ICE’s detainee population ever.

2026 is only three weeks old, and it’s already shaping up to be much worse. 2. In just 21 days, at least six people have died in ICE custody.

Last year, ICE did not have six in-custody deaths until April 25. The early trends put ICE on pace for 120 in-custody deaths in 2026.

popular.info/p/in-2026-ice-…
Jan 20 10 tweets 3 min read
1. ICE has STOPPED PAYING for medical treatment for its 73,000 detainees

ICE has not paid its bills to 3rd party providers since OCTOBER and the situation will likely persist for MONTHS, a Popular Information investigation reveals

Meanwhile, critically ill ICE detainees are not receiving care

🧵 2. ICE has not paid any third-party providers for medical care for detainees since October 3, 2025. Last week, ICE posted a notice on an obscure government website announcing it will not begin processing such claims until at least April 30, 2026.

popular.info/p/ice-has-stop…
Jan 13 8 tweets 2 min read
1. In an interview with the New York Times, Trump claimed that, as a result of the civil rights movement, white men have been "very badly treated" and subjected to "reverse discrimination."

Trump says that white men have been excluded from colleges and jobs.

Here is the TRUTH. 2. In 2024, the data shows, white people represented 40.7% of the applicants but 53% of the enrolled students.

In contrast, Black applicants accounted for 8.7% of the applicant pool but just 5.8% of enrolled students.

popular.info/p/the-truth-ab…
Jan 7 5 tweets 2 min read
1. The DOJ has not released 99% of the Epstein Files, in direct violation of the law

They claim the delay is necessary to review the files

But here is the thing: The DOJ previously claimed THE REVIEW WAS COMPLETE IN JULY Image 2. In an unsigned July 7 memo, the DOJ said the review of the Epstein files was complete.

The DOJ described it as an "exhaustive review" which involved "teams of agents, analysts, attorneys, and privacy and civil liberties experts"

Now the DOJ is pretending it never happened

popular.info/p/the-contradi…
Jan 6 6 tweets 2 min read
1. Hundreds of corps that pledged to stop donating to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on 1/6/21 have broken their promise over the last 5 years

But we've identified 10 promise keepers:

Farmers
Airbnb
Expedia
Nike
Clorox
Eversource Energy
Holland & Hart
Qurate
Whirlpool
Lyft 2. Notably, there has been no meaningful change in position among the current members who voted to undermine democracy. None has expressed regret.

So there is no principled justification to resume donations

popular.info/p/five-years-l…
Jan 5 9 tweets 2 min read
1. The military raid on Venezuela and ouster of Maduro will create a financial windfall for a Trump-supporting billionaire, investor Paul Singer.

Follow this thread for details.

🧵

popular.info/p/venezuela-ra… 2. In November 2025, Singer acquired Citgo, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run oil company, for $5.9 billion. The sale was forced by creditors of Venezuela after the country defaulted on its bond payments.
Dec 18, 2025 7 tweets 2 min read
1. The decision by all four broadcast networks to interrupt prime time for an explicitly political speech from Trump was a major break from precedent.

Biden and Obama were denied time in similar circumstances.

Trump gets special treatment.

popular.info/p/breaking-pre… 2. In 2014, major networks also refused to air a speech by Obama about immigration reform, claiming it was too "partisan."

In 2022, broadcast networks declined to air a prime time speech by Biden on threats to democracy, saying it was too "political"
Dec 15, 2025 7 tweets 2 min read
1. Measles is ravaging South Carolina.

Over 100 people infected, and hundreds more in quarantine.

In response, RFK Jr., the nation's top public health official, has been SILENT

But it's much worse than that.

popular.info/p/as-measles-r… 2. In a March 11 interview on Fox News, Kennedy Jr. claimed the MMR vaccine “does cause deaths every year,” including “all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera.”

(According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Kennedy’s claims are false.)
Dec 11, 2025 7 tweets 3 min read
1. The AI industry has kicked off a $100 million+ scheme to influence the 2026 midterm elections

While they claim it's a "bipartisan" effort, it has all the markings of a campaign to benefit Trump and the GOP

🧵

popular.info/p/the-ai-indus… 2. The AI political influence campaign, known as Leading the Future, launched its first two ads yesterday. One of the ads PROMOTES a Republican running for Congress in Texas. The other one ATTACKS a Democrat running for Congress in New York. Image
Image
Dec 9, 2025 6 tweets 2 min read
1. Paramount's hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros exposes Jared Kushner's game

It's not a private equity fund. It's an influence peddling operation.

It's spelled out on page 42 of Paramount's new SEC filing.

popular.info/p/kushner-and-… 2. Paramount says its hostile takeover bid is structured to avoid review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)

Even though the Saudis and other Middle Eastern governments are putting up $24 BILLION -- most of the equity financing.
Dec 3, 2025 8 tweets 2 min read
1. Kushner's trip to Moscow yesterday was not just unethical; it was illegal.

You cannot accept millions from foreign governments and simultaneously conduct diplomacy for the U.S.

It's right in the Constitution.

popular.info/p/kushners-mos… 2. Kushner is trying to evade legal restrictions by not accepting a formal role in the administration.

But the DOJ is clear: It's not what you SAY, it's what you DO

Kushner is acting like a Special Government Employee so legally, he's a SGE
Nov 25, 2025 6 tweets 2 min read
1. In Tennessee, public libraries have closed for a week to facilitate a Trump-inspired book purge

Tennessee's Secretary of State ordered most of the state's public librarians to remove children's books w/LGBTQ characters

popular.info/p/tennessee-pu… 2. Hargett has cited Trump's executive order “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism." Executive orders are not federal law and generally do not apply to state or local governments.

Tennessee libraries do receive some federal funding, but not for book purchases.
Nov 25, 2025 6 tweets 2 min read
1. EXCLUSIVE

Musk’s xAI has secretly built its AI supercomputer, Colossus, using Chinese transformers, leaving it vulnerable to espionage or sabotage

Colossus performs sensitive work for the U.S. military

oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/musks-ai-sup… 2. For more exclusive reporting about the world's wealthiest and most powerful people, subscribe to Oligarch Watch.

It's free to sign up.

oligarchwatch.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 18, 2025 9 tweets 3 min read
1. An abrupt decision by the Trump administration on October 3 left thousands of ICE detainees without access to vital medical care — a crisis that is ongoing — according to previously unreported ICE documents.

🧵

popular.info/p/exclusive-ho… 2. For 2 decades, the VA played a limited but essential role in ensuring that people in the custody of ICE received necessary medical care. When an ICE detainee needed medication or outside medical treatment, the VA processed the claims. ICE paid the VA to provide this service.
Nov 12, 2025 7 tweets 3 min read
BREAKING: Following Tucker Carlson's friendly interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, @rocketmoneyapp has ended its sponsorship of Carlson's podcast.

🧵

popular.info/p/update-rocke… @RocketMoneyApp 2. On Monday, Popular Information revealed that several prominent companies — including Rocket Money — were continuing to sponsor Carlson’s show as he mainstreams white supremacy and other forms of bigotry.

popular.info/p/these-compan…
Nov 6, 2025 6 tweets 2 min read
1. JD Vance dismissed Tuesday's election as “a couple of elections in blue states”

But there were contests nationwide, including in purple & red states

And voters everywhere rejected the MAGA agenda

Let's review

popular.info/p/six-election… 2. In Bucks County — Pennsylvania’s largest swing county, which Trump narrowly won in 2024 — Democrat Danny Ceisler was elected county sheriff after the Republican incumbent signed a deal to collaborate with ICE earlier this year.
Oct 27, 2025 8 tweets 2 min read
1. Last week, there were 3 Trump corruption scandals in 4 days that would define any other presidency.

Most people are probably not even AWARE of all three scandals.

🧵

popular.info/p/3-scandals-i… 2. On Thursday, Trump pardoned Binance’s founder, CZ, who pled guilty in November 2023 to willfully violating anti-money laundering laws

CZ's actions “allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers” through Binance.
Oct 25, 2025 6 tweets 2 min read
1. Here are some facts about the guy, Timothy Mellon, who donated $130 million so Trump could pay the troops during the government shutdown.

🧵

popular.info/p/the-reclusiv… 2. In his self-published 2015 autobiography, Mellon writes that Black people have become "even more belligerent and unwilling to pitch in to improve their own situations" after social safety net programs were expanded in the 1960s and 1970s.