This Order Was Sold as Stopping Political Violence. Here's How It Got Weaponized Instead.
Last September, Trump signed an order to stop "organized political violence." Since then, the government has used it to spy on America's largest union, investigate nonprofits' bank records, and help a state brand a Muslim civil rights group "terrorists" — while the one time it's produced an actual terrorism conviction, the "threat" it caught was a small group that had already shot at a police officer. That gap between what this policy was sold as and who it's actually hit is the story.
Hegseth's Team Called the Signal Report a "Total Exoneration." Here's What the Report Says.
The Pentagon's own watchdog found Hegseth's Signal chat about a Yemen airstrike put U.S. pilots at risk and broke two sets of rules. His spokesman called the report a total exoneration. Both descriptions are of the same document — and you can read it yourself.