@jdspielberger
Senior Policy Counsel @ Project On Government Oversight. Fighting for whistleblowers & federal employees. Combating abuse of power & corruption. Strengthening government ethics, transparency, & accountability. Opinions are my own.
Congress has made a lot of noise about potential fraud in federal programs out of Minnesota.
But just how serious are they about tackling systemic fraud?
POGO's Janice Luong discusses a major upcoming test for Congress in FEDweek : https://bit.ly/4qs79bL
BREAKING: Pentagon Dep. Sec. Feinberg and the company he co-founded appear in 100s of docs in Epstein files, including personal emails sent by Epstein & whistleblower emails alleging a vast money laundering scheme involving Feinberg’s company.
www.pogo.org/investigates...
“We don’t deserve the trust of the nation if we’re unclear about the divisiveness of swastikas,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to a fear of reprisal.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE MUST CREDIT: Lunch for jurors in the “sandwich guy” trial are a variety of sandwiches, according to a source familiar with lunch.
“Someone who shows so much disdain for federal workers is entirely unfit to lead a key whistleblower office. Senators were right to question his fitness for the role, and I hope they will give the next nominee the same level of scrutiny." -@jdspielberger.bsky.social in @govexec.bsky.social
Homeland Chair Rand Paul on Paul Ingrassia nomination 👀
“they have to decide if they think he can go through. I told them to count the votes and see if he had the votes. The White House needs to make a decision. I'm leaving it up to them”
News: Ingrassia's nomination is cooked: He's got two GOP no on Homeland and potentially more coming and a chairman who's leaving it to the White House.
BUT -- as of now he's still on the committee schedule for Thursday after DANIEL LIPPMAN story today
www.semafor.com/article/10/2...
Is this enough? We're looking at Senators who've considered themselves to be champions of whistleblowers.
If they don't speak out now, when will they?
Just today, @politico.com's Daniel Lippman reports on racist and grotesque text messages from Ingrassia, including referring to himself as having a "Nazi streak."
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
What's the latest on this guy? First, it was reported that he's facing sexual assault allegations:
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Someone like this, who holds in such low regard the very people whose rights he'd be responsible for enforcing, simply cannot be trusted with such a responsibility.
He lacks the experience, temperament, judgment, professionalism, and maturity for such a critical role.
He's spewed racist, sexist, and just plain weird conspiracy theories. He's defended January 6th insurrectionists and called for a national holiday in their honor.
He's referred to federal workers in subhuman terms, calling them "parasites" and "bugmen" who "leech" off the dying republic.
He's said they have no real skills to offer, they're out of touch with reality, and they'll have to find work elsewhere.
Ingrassia's abject disdain for civil servants and the work they do should automatically disqualify him from leading an agency whose mission is to protect federal employees from retaliation, discrimination, and other unfair employment practices.
@pogo.org led the opposition of whistleblower and good government organizations this summer, which succeeded in pulling him from consideration at that time:
www.pogo.org/policy-lette...
@pogo.org is once again sounding the alarm on Paul Ingrassia's dangerous nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel @us-osc.bsky.social. We call on @hsgac.senate.gov Senators to categorically reject this unfit and unqualified nominee during this Thursday's committee hearing.
This is what she lives with every day now: “The fear of leaving your family and letting them know, ‘If I don’t return, it’s not because I am abandoning you.’”
Powerful story by @chabeli.bsky.social for @19thnews.org.
We hope that the interest in UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) from Congress and the public will spur more bipartisan action to strengthen protections for all whistleblowers
I was privileged to testify this morning before the House Oversight Committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets about the importance of protecting whistleblowers, especially in national security.
oversight.house.gov/hearing/rest...
Mood in Hungary "is palpably different" than a year ago, with people "more comfortable criticizing Orbán in public.…Public figures speak about the 'Orbán regime' instead of the 'Orbán government.'…
"In response, the rhetoric from the regime…has become more threatening, violent, and openly fascist."
I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.
I know many people who have worked in federal agencies and there are exactly zero of them that I would even begin to describe as "radical." They are people who believe in the work and find meaning in serving the public -- it takes a lot to get people like that walking out against their employer!
After Muscogee Nation won a Supreme Court Decision–over FIVE years ago–Oklahoma’s Gov is still refusing to comply. Now, the Gov is suing the city of Tulsa for working with the tribe.
"The nostalgia for the idea of American democracy can’t blind us to its collapse. Americans are less free than they were a year ago, more subject to state power directed by a President disinterested in democratic norms."
An amazingly clear-eyed summary of Trump's authoritarianism by Don. Must read.
The irony/idiocy of this banner currently draped on the Department of Labor building is not lost on me, given all the federal workers he's forced out of their jobs.
(Pic via Getty Images)
‼️ Now on @axios.com: Whistleblower warns of massive Social Security data risk
Our whistleblower client Charles Borges' disclosure details how DOGE uploaded an enormous Social Security database to an unsecured cloud in June, compromising the private information of hundreds of millions of Americans.
It's been widely noted that Trump seems newly emboldened on many fronts. But another thing that makes this moment so ominous is that his accomplices at very senior levels *also* seem emboldened. Many of them seem arrogantly certain of never facing accountability.
newrepublic.com/article/1996...
Rumors abound that one or more of those individuals whose #securityclearances were revoked and named in ODNI/DNI Gabbard list - which they also tweeted out on X - are undercover, which could be criminal violation of 50 U.S.C. § 421, if certain conditions are met.
MAJOR IMPACT: We just learned via ethics disclosures that Stephen Miller has sold much of his stake in #Palantir—the same stake we exposed in our June investigation.
Thread ⬇️
Always a good night to be at the ballpark