Sheldon Whitehouse Profile picture
U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, the Ocean State. Ranking Member @EPWcmte
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Jul 19 4 tweets 1 min read
Let’s be clear about this: an investigative file can have cabinets full of documents, video and audio tapes, FBI 302s (interview reports), physical evidence, and reams of other records and materials. The grand jury may only see a small portion.
washingtonpost.com/national-secur… Of that small portion seen by grand jury, Bondi may only seek to have a smaller portion disclosed, and the court allow only a smaller portion still. Understand: This is not bad, but it is NOT a pathway to full disclosure.
Jul 17 7 tweets 1 min read
Follow this: a temporary administrative stay of a court proceeding is supposed to last “hours or days, not weeks or months.” Justice Barrett recently suggested that a two-week temporary administrative stay would be too long.
Jul 11 8 tweets 2 min read
I’ve reviewed the texts and emails the whistleblower supplied to back up his comprehensive report and warning about Trump administration efforts to defy and ignore court orders.

🧵

nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/… The texts and emails absolutely corroborate the whistleblower report, quite exactly. The only lie they reveal is AG Bondi lying that his testimony is “false.” Clearly, it is precisely detailed and beautifully corroborated. Here are some high points.
Jul 9 23 tweets 3 min read
What's up with Justice Jackson? She started making her mark and speaking out early, and some of her dissents are so pointed Kagan and Sotomayor don’t even join them. The far right is out for her, and even Republican justices are getting snarky.

So what's up? Here’s my take 🧵 One of the internal traditions of the Court is “collegiality.” First, you’re there for life, so you may as well get along.
Jun 26 19 tweets 3 min read
The tale of Trump and “his” justices — you need to understand this to understand what went down at the Supreme Court. The commonly understood story is wrong.

So here we go 🧵 Remember when Trump first ran, how the most powerful political force on the Republican side was the Koch political operation? Americans for Prosperity and the associated armada of Koch-funded, coordinated front groups?
Jun 6 9 tweets 2 min read
Trump is slowly figuring out that it was the Koch operation that chose, and is served by, “his” Supreme Court nominees, and that “his” people Leo and McGahn were really working for the polluter billionaires.

Let’s review the history. 🧵 Remember, in 2016 election Koch political operation attacked Trump relentlessly, until the so-called “Federalist Society list,” which FedSoc never considered or approved. That was misdirection, hiding that it was really a Leo/Koch/polluter list.
May 30 4 tweets 1 min read
Trump’s mad rant unloads on Court-fixer Leonard Leo — has Trump FINALLY figured out that he was chumped big-time by Leo, McGahn and the creepy billionaires (Koch) who REALLY controlled “his” judicial appointments? Slow learner. It looks like House of Trump cut a deal in the 2016 election with House of Koch, to back off on attacking Trump in return for Koch minions controlling Trump’s appointments. Leo was their minion — and Trump was clueless? Some “Art of the Deal”!
May 6 5 tweets 1 min read
This looney-tunes right-wing group’s complaint against Roberts was an effort to ferret out my correspondence on judicial ethics matters with the Judicial Conference.
dailykos.com/stories/2025/5… Other efforts against my work with the Judicial Conference included an invective-heavy letter from Mitch McConnell attacking judges for wanting better amicus disclosure and faux outrage from the WSJ Polluter Page.
Apr 24 4 tweets 1 min read
Let me get this straight: the party that defends dark money, which by definition can come from overseas since the donor is kept secret, is complaining about foreign influence?
nytimes.com/2025/04/24/us/… And the guy who benefited from Russian money, pouring in to influence our American elections to try and help him get elected, is the guy leading the charge?

Do they know that ActBlue delivers *declared* contributions under federal disclosure laws and regulations?
Apr 14 8 tweets 1 min read
It’s incredibly weird how many people around Trump seem to get an unhealthy pleasure from other people’s pain, distress, and humiliation. It seems abnormal.

🧵 It’s weird and twisted how fixated they are on a brutal Salvadoran prison, and taking photos with people behind bars, and bent-over shaved men. (Even caging children at the border, back in Trump One.)
Apr 3 4 tweets 1 min read
Here’s how Trump betrays his voters:

🧵

1.  Tariffs add thousands of dollars in added costs to families every year — north of 3 grand already, before more retaliatory tariffs. 2.  The market rout trashes 401ks and pensions — ~$2 trillion lost already.

3.  Families counting on Medicaid get hit for nursing home, childbirth expenses — could be as bad as $800 billion.
Mar 20 11 tweets 2 min read
Trumpsters pretend that the courts are out of line, even that judges should be impeached when they don’t like the rulings, but that’s hogwash. Even Chief Justice Roberts is calling out that crap, which is saying something. What’s actually happening is a pattern of very bad, even dangerous, courtroom conduct by Trump lawyers, I guess thinking that being MAGA entitles them to special rules and privileges — but not so. Here are examples.
Mar 16 13 tweets 2 min read
I voted against the horrible MAGA “continuing resolution” — a fake and partisan CR loaded up with executive power for Trump. I hated it. But respected colleagues voted otherwise, and not just to “cave in” versus “stand up.” 🧵 I did a lot research into how a shutdown might play out, and there was lots to fear; not least that the Trump/Musk/Vought axis of MAGA extremists would love a shutdown, and want a long one, and use it to cruel advantage. What was there to fear?
Mar 15 7 tweets 1 min read
Here’s how I think the Social Security attack plan works: 🧵 One: Trump and his vassals tell lies that there’s no plan to cut Social Security.
Mar 10 10 tweets 2 min read
As we struggle with the Trumpian assault on America, there is a way home, and there is broad public agreement on its elements. Whatever the immediate issues and outrages, we must persistently and relentlessly pursue the pathway home. 1.   Get rid of dark money in politics. Getting this corrupting toxin out of our elections enjoys powerful public support all across the country; even slightly better in red-leaning districts. Yet most voters don’t know who opposes and who defends dark money.
Mar 7 5 tweets 1 min read
This week’s 5-4 win for federal funding was less notable for the 5 than for the 4.

This was payment for contracts the government had agreed to where the work contracted for had been properly performed. How was that not 9-0?

🧵 The short answer is that it had the irresistible odor of MAGA, Musk and Trump. It was a Project 2025 thing, funded by the creepy far-right billionaires who also funded the capture of the Court; same network behind the justices’ Billionaire Gifts Program.
Feb 28 11 tweets 2 min read
Many Democrats are asking what the path forward is, calling for a period of reflection. “Where did we go wrong? What is the way back?” Well, how about looking right in front of our own noses. For years, creepy billionaires funded (and enjoyed) the destruction of America’s political money limits, and launched billions in corrupting dark money into American elections. Despite massive public reaction against that, Democrats basically let it happen.
Feb 27 6 tweets 1 min read
After the Trump/Musk/Russia smash-and-grab through government agencies, we are going to need to rebuild. It’s not as hard as you may think. 1.   Get the dark money out of politics. There is way too much secret corruption from billionaires and giant corporate interests.
Feb 24 16 tweets 3 min read
This all began years ago, when a bunch of fossil fuel billionaires saw trouble ahead for their pollution and their pollute-for-free business model, so they began a covert operation to bring industry influence to bear on U.S. politics. Climate denial was born. The science was clear. Even Exxon’s scientists knew. The predictions have proven deadly accurate. But when science encounters politics in Congress, politics wins, so fossil fuel went to work to corrupt Congress, deny the science, and mislead the public.
Feb 19 9 tweets 2 min read
There always was Trump/Russia. There still is Trump/Russia.

The early actions of the Trump administration signal the continuing force of Trump/Russia.

Feel free to add to the list, but here’s my list.

Note: It’s only been a month. 1.  Russia’s apologist Tulsi Gabbard is selected and confirmed as Director of National Intelligence, the person who controls what gets to the president from our intelligence services. Her appointment is cheered in Russia’s state-controlled media.
Feb 14 6 tweets 1 min read
As we land in Munich, the stable geniuses of the Trump administration are in full disarray. Maybe we’ll use troops against Russia, says one. Maybe we’ll get Ukraine to concede to Russia sovereign territory that Russia invaded, says another.