Reign of Terror

by Spencer Ackerman

  Flynn appointee on the NSC: Jana Winter and Elias Groll, “Here’s the Memo that Blew Up the NSC,” Foreign Policy, August 10, 2017. Damien Paletta, Robert Costa, and Josh Dawsey, “The Partisan Warrior Leading the White House’s Shutdown Response,” Washington Post, January 8, 2019. Andrew Kaczynski and Nathan McDermott, “More Anti-Muslim, Conspiratorial Tweets Emerge from Trump’s Pick for Top U.N. Migration Job,” CNN, March 22, 2018. Andrew Kaczynski, “HHS Official Listed Work for Anti-Islam Show, Conspiracy Website on Resume,” CNN, June 22, 2018. Andrew Kaczynski, “Top Trump Appointee at Veterans Affairs Spread Conspiracy Theories, Made Anti-Muslim Comments,” CNN, July 24, 2018. Josh Rogin, “New USAID Religious-Freedom Adviser Has History of Anti-Islam Comments,” Washington Post, May 27, 2020. Eli Rosenberg and Amar Nadhir, “After Drubbing by Media, Trump’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Apologizes for Anti-Muslim Remarks,” Washington Post, January 12, 2008.

  Smear campaigns circulated: Amanda Seitz, “Photograph Does Not Show Rep. Omar with a Gun at a Military Camp,” Associated Press, August 22, 2019. Lauren Aratani, “How Trump Distorts Facts to Make Ilhan Omar Seem Like an Enemy to the U.S.,” Guardian, July 18, 2019. Lateshia Beachum, “Rep. Ilhan Omar Wants Compassion for Trump Supporter Convicted of Making Death Threats against Her,” Washington Post, November 19, 2019.

  singled out Omar: Tom McCarthy, “Trump Rally Chants ‘Send Her Back’ after President Attacks Ilhan Omar,” Guardian, July 18, 2019. Bianca Quilantan and David Cohen, “Trump Tells Dem Congresswomen: Go Back Where You Came From,” Politico, July 14, 2019.

  “very fine people”: Cassie Miller and Howard Graves, “When the Alt-Right Hit the Streets: Far Right Rallies in the Trump Era,” Southern Poverty Law Center, August 10, 2020. “Remarks by President Trump on Infrastructure,” August 15, 2017. Glenn Kessler, “The ‘Very Fine People’ at Charlottesville: Who Were They?” Washington Post, May 8, 2020.

  an active-duty marine: A. C. Thompson, Ali Winston, and Jake Hanrahan, “Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty Military,” ProPublica, May 3, 2018.

  drove his Dodge Challenger: Joe Heim, Ellie Silverman, T. Rees Shapiro, and Emma Brown, “One Dead as Car Strikes Crowds amid Protests of White Supremacist Gathering in Charlottesville,” Washington Post, August 13, 2017. Ian Shapira, “The Parking Garage Beating Lasted 10 Seconds. DeAndre Harris Still Lives with the Damage,” Washington Post, September 16, 2019. Christine Hauser, “DeAndre Harris, Beaten by White Supremacists in Charlottesville, Is Found Not Guilty of Assault,” New York Times, March 16, 2018. Mitch Smith, “James Fields Sentenced to Life in Prison for Death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville,” New York Times, June 28, 2019.

  The leader of the Base, Rinaldo Nazzaro: Ben Makuch, “Department of Homeland Security Confirms Neo-Nazi Leader Used to Work for It,” Vice, February 17, 2021, www.vice.com/en/article/epd7wa/department-of-homeland-security-confirms-neo-nazi-leader-used-to-work-for-it.

  far quicker to ban jihadists: Janet Reitman, “All-American Nazis,” Rolling Stone, May 2, 2018.

  Crusius left a manifesto: Campbell Robertson, Christopher Mele, and Sabrina Tavernise, “11 Killed in Synagogue Massacre; Suspect Charged with 29 Counts,” New York Times, October 27, 2018. Minyvonne Burke, “What We Know about the Pipe Bomb Scare and Suspect Cesar Sayoc’s Arrest,” NBC News, October 26, 2018. Tim Arango, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, and Katie Benner, “Minutes before El Paso Killing, Hate-Filled Manifesto Appears Online,” New York Times, August 3, 2019.

  Scheuer knew the Security State: Michael Scheuer, “Racism, Hate, Power-Lust, and Greed Are Part of Human Nature; They Can Be Restrained, Not Ended; Trying to Do So Means War,” Non-Intervention, July 20, 2020. Scheuer, “Trump Moves Closer to the Meaning of America First by Killing Soleimani,” Non-Intervention, January 5, 2020. Scheuer, “Must Martial Law Be Applied against the Insurrection in 2020?” Non-Intervention, December 29, 2019. Scheuer, “Those Who Do Not Believe QANON Will Be Mighty Surprised,” Non-Intervention, December 7, 2019.

  Running the Justice Department: Lachlan Markay and Spencer Ackerman, “Team Trump Cooks Terror Stats for Bogus Immigration Argument,” Daily Beast, January 16, 2018. Adam Serwer, “Jeff Sessions’ Blind Eye,” The Atlantic, April 5, 2017.

  Comey leaked his accounts: Eric Tucker and Hope Yen, “AP Fact Check: Trump’s Baseless Claim of Fudged NBC Tape,” Associated Press, August 30, 2018.

  kill Section 702: Matthew Rosenberg, Maggie Haberman, and Adam Goldman, “2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports,” New York Times, March 30, 2017. Spencer Ackerman and Sabrina Siddiqui, “Trump v US Intelligence: Growing Feud Puts NSA’s Legislative Authority at Risk,” Guardian, March 7, 2017.

  stunning amount of “overcollection”: Spencer Ackerman, “NSA Admits It Improperly Collected a Huge Amount of Americans’ Call Records,” Daily Beast, July 28, 2018.

  FBI’s backdoor searches: Spencer Ackerman, “Secret Court: FBI Warrantless Searches Were Illegal,” Daily Beast, October 8, 2019. Charlie Savage, “National Security Surveillance on U.S. Soil Fell amid Scrutiny of Russia Inquiry,” New York Times, April 30, 2020.

  “get the documents”: Spencer Ackerman, “Republicans Won’t Say If Spying on Carter Page Was Wrong,” Daily Beast, February 9, 2018.

  Mike Morell vouched: “What They Are Saying: Widespread Praise for Gina Haspel, President Trump’s Nominee for CIA Director,” www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/press-release-what-they-are-saying-widespread-praise-for-gina-haspel-president-trumps, May 2, 2018, accessed June 8, 2020.

  unexpectedly threatened Haspel: Spencer Ackerman, “Gina Haspel, Trump’s Nominee to Lead the CIA, ‘Ran the Interrogation Program,’ Former CIA Lawyer Wrote,” Daily Beast, April 18, 2018.

  legal wing of the #Resistance: Neema Singh Giuliani and Brian Tashman, “William Barr Helped Build America’s Surveillance State,” ACLU, January 9, 2019.

  “A very decent outcome”: Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes), “Ok, folks, I know Barr has said some bad stuff, but let me express the perhaps unpopular view that say that this would be a very decent outcome. Barr was a very fine AG. He knows and values the department’s traditions and supervised at least two special prosecutor investigations,” Twitter, December 6, 2018, 2:47 p.m., https://twitter.com/benjaminwittes/status/1070766732904722434.

  “Complete and Total EXONERATION”: Mark Mazzetti and Michael S. Schmidt, “When the Mueller Investigation Ended, the Battle over Its Conclusions Began,” New York Times, May 1, 2019.

  “quid pro quo”: Rachel Bade, Aaron C. Davis, and Matt Zapatowsky, “Sondland Acknowledges Ukraine ‘Quid Pro Quo,’ Implicates Trump, Pence, Pompeo and Others,” Washington Post, November 21, 2019.

  “necessity for vengeance”: Michael Scheuer, “The Time and Necessity for Vengeance Is Upon Us,” Non-Intervention, February 2, 2020.

  theatrically baseless defenses: “Rep. John Ratcliffe Statement on Vote against Trump Impeachment,” December 19, 2019, txktoday.com/news/rep-ratcliffe-statement-on-vote-against-trump-impeachment, accessed June 9, 2020.

  Allies of the president: Spencer Ackerman, Sam Brodey, and Adam Rawnsley, “Devin Nunes Aide Is Leaking the Ukraine Whistleblower’s Name, Sources Say,” Daily Beast, October 28, 2019. Robert Mackey, “Republicans Accuse Colonel Vindman, a Jew Who Fled Soviet Persecution, of Dual Loyalty,” The Intercept, October 29, 2019.

  “full-blown national security crisis”: Spencer Ackerman, Betsy Swan, Erin Banco, and Sam Stein, “Russia Is Helping Elect Trump Again, Intel Official Says,” Daily Beast, February 20, 2020. Eddy Rodriguez, “Former CIA Director Criticizes Trump’s Recent Intel Moves as a ‘Virtual Decapitation of the Intelligence Community,’ ” Newsweek, February 21, 2020.

  Grenell used his appointment: Matt Zapotosky and Shane Harris, “ ‘Unmasking’ Probe Commissioned by Barr Concludes without Charges or Any Public Report,” Washington Post, October 13, 2020.

  Grenell’s obvious cronyism: B
rooke Singman, “Newly Declassified Intel Document Noted Steele Dossier Claims Had ‘Limited Corroboration,’ ” Fox News, June 11, 2020.

  deemphasized threat assessments: Whistleblower complaint from Brian Murphy to the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security, September 8, 2020, intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/murphy_wb_dhs_oig_complaint9.8.20.pdf, accessed September 9, 2020.

  “The bottom line from the White House”: Spencer Ackerman, “FBI Sits on Report Detailing White-Supremacist Terror Threat,” The Daily Beast, October 26, 2020.

  “He dishonestly mischaracterized”: Spencer Ackerman, “Democrats Working with Trumpsters to Re-Up the PATRIOT Act,” Daily Beast, March 10, 2020. Charlie Savage, “House to Vote on Limiting FBI Power to Collect Americans’ Internet Data,” New York Times, May 26, 2020. Davidson to author, May 29, 2020.

  twenty errors in each: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, “Management Advisory Memorandum for the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Regarding the Execution of Woods Procedures for Applications Filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Relating to U.S. Persons,” March 31, 2020, 8. Available at https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/a20047.pdf.

  keep Hassoun in such cages forever: Charlie Savage, “Testing Novel Power, Trump Administration Detains Palestinian after Sentence Ends,” New York Times, March 26, 2019. Spencer Ackerman, “Trump Is First to Use PATRIOT Act to Detain a Man Forever,” Daily Beast, November 29, 2019.

  “This is the USA”: Author’s interview with Adham Hassoun, May 21, 2020.

  Chapter Nine: The Invisible Enemy

  air cover for Iraqi Shiite militias: Renad Mansour and Faleh A. Jabar, “The Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraq’s Future,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 28, 2017.

  Iraqi militia Kata’ib Hezbollah: Sawsan Morrar and Sam Stanton, “U.S. Contractor Killed in Iraq, Which Led to Strike on Iranian General, Buried in Sacramento,” Sacramento Bee, January 7, 2020. Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Eric Schmitt, “Despite Vow to End ‘Endless Wars,’ Here’s Where About 200,000 U.S. Troops Remain,” New York Times, October 21, 2019. Anita Chabria, Laila Miller, and Sarah Parvini, “Defense Contractor from California Whose Death Sparked U.S.-Iran Conflict Is Mourned,” Los Angeles Times, January 9, 2020.

  his Mar-a-Lago resort: Spencer Ackerman, Asawin Suebsaeng, Erin Banco, and Betsy Swan, “Trump Told Mar-a-Lago Pals to Expect ‘Big’ Iran Action ‘Soon,’ ” Daily Beast, January 3, 2020.

  ever-expanding target list: Spencer Ackerman, “Leaked Audio Shows an Iranian Gambit to Control Iraq Failing,” Daily Beast, October 5, 2018. Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt, Maggie Haberman, and Rukmini Callimachi, “As Tensions with Iran Escalated, Trump Opted for Most Extreme Measure,” New York Times, January 4, 2020. Philip Rucker, John Hudson, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey, “ ‘Four Embassies’: The Anatomy of Trump’s Unfounded Claim about Iran,” Washington Post, January 13, 2020.

  lack of carnage: Jane Arraf, “The Aftermath of Iran’s Missile Attack on an Iraqi Base Housing U.S. Troops,” NPR, January 14, 2020. Ariel Zilber, “Iraqi Prime Minister Says Qassem Soleimani Was in Iraq to ‘Discuss De-escalating Tensions between Iran and Saudis’ When He Was Killed—and Claims Trump Had Asked for Help Mediating Talks after Embassy Attack,” Daily Mail, January 5, 2020. Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart, “More than 100 U.S. Troops Diagnosed with Brain Injuries from Iran Attack,” Reuters, February 10, 2020. Bobby Allyn and Jane Arraf, “In a Day of Turmoil, Repercussions of Soleimani Killing Grow More Widespread,” NPR, January 5, 2020.

  Trump portrayed Soleimani: “Qasem Soleimani: Strike Was to ‘Stop a War,’ Says Trump,” BBC, January 4, 2020. Rucker, Hudson, Harris and Dawsey, “ ‘Four Embassies.’ ” Spencer Ackerman, “Trump, Iran and Where the Forever War Was Always Headed,” Daily Beast, January 7, 2020. The Pentagon’s first statement after killing Soleimani spoke not of “imminent” attacks, but instead of Soleimani “actively developing plans to attack” Americans in the region. U.S. Department of Defense, “Statement by the Department of Defense,” press release, January 2, 2020, 9:46 p.m. Available atwww.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2049534/statement-by-the-department-of-defense.

  twenty-five hundred troops in Iraq: Spencer Ackerman, Erin Banco, and Asawin Suebsaeng, “Trump Is Handing Iran Its Biggest Strategic Objective: Iraq,” Daily Beast, January 10, 2020. Alissa J. Rubin and Eric Schmitt, “Rocket Attack Kills Three U.S. Coalition Members in Iraq,” New York Times, March 11, 2020. Associated Press, “4 Rockets Hit Baghdad’s Green Zone in Challenge to Iraqi PM,” June 19, 2020. Spencer Ackerman and Asawin Suebsaeng, “A Cadre of Top Trumpists Is Pushing for Full Afghanistan Withdrawal,” Daily Beast, November 17, 2020.

  demonstration of white anger: Carol Thompson, “Michigan Capitol Building Will Be Closed During Protest Because Legislature Won’t Meet,” Lansing State Journal, May 13, 2020.

  At least 260,000: Kate Taylor, “The U.S. Reaches 20 Million Cases,” New York Times, December 31, 2020.

  deny the novel coronavirus: Maggie Haberman, “Trump Admits Downplaying the Virus Knowing It Was ‘Deadly Stuff,’ ” New York Times, September 9, 2020.

  as late as March 24: Philip Bump, “Trump Again Downplays Coronavirus by Comparing It to the Seasonal Flu. It’s Not a Fair Comparison,” Washington Post, March 24, 2020. Haberman, “Trump Admits Downplaying the Virus.”

  received first-rate treatment: Spencer Ackerman, Erin Banco, Asawin Suebsaeng, and Sam Stein, “White House Quietly Told Vets Group It Might Have Exposed Them to COVID,” Daily Beast, October 7, 2020. Sam Gringlas and Barbara Sprunt, “Timeline: What We Know of President Trump’s COVID Diagnosis, Treatment,” NPR, October 5, 2020. Matthew Impeli, “Fact Check: Is U.S. ‘Rounding the Turn’ on COVID, as Trump Claims?” Newsweek, October 26, 2020.

  new cases daily: Rick Noack, “In Countries Keeping the Coronavirus at Bay, Experts Watch U.S. Case Numbers with Alarm,” Washington Post, June 19, 2020. Peter Baker, “Trump Foresees Virus Death Toll as High as 100,000 in The United States,” New York Times, May 3, 2020. Denise Lu, “The True Coronavirus Total in the U.S. Has Already Surpassed 200,000,” New York Times, August 13, 2020. New York Times, “COVID in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count,” www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html, accessed November 27, 2020.

  December 9 was the first day: Carolyn Crist, “COVID-19 Deaths Surpass 9/11 Deaths in Single Day,” WebMD, December 10, 2020.

  “post-9/11 mindset”: Ben Rhodes, “The 9/11 Era Is Over,” The Atlantic, April 6, 2020.

  pre-9/11 warnings: Shane Harris, Greg Miller, Josh Dawsey, and Ellen Nakashima, “U.S. Intelligence Reports from January and February Warned of a Likely Pandemic,” Washington Post, March 20, 2020. “Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Conference,” Whitehouse.gov, February 26, 2020, available at https://ge.usembassy.gov/remarks-by-president-trump-vice-president-pence-and-members-of-the-coronavirus-task-force-in-press-conference-february-26. Julian E. Barnes and Adam Goldman, “For Spy Agencies, Briefing Trump Is a Test of His Attention,” New York Times, May 21, 2020.

  a narrative of emergency leadership: David Smith, “Trump Talks Himself Up as ‘Wartime President’ to Lead America through a Crisis,” Guardian, March 22, 2020. Ebony Bowden, “Trump Says Coronavirus Pandemic ‘Worse than Pearl Harbor . . . World Trade Center,’ ” New York Post, May 6, 2020.

  at Trump’s first rally: Benjamin Fearnow, “White House Promised 27 Million Coronavirus Test Kits by End of March, but U.S. Just Hit 1 Million,” Newsweek, March 31, 2020. Spencer Ackerman, “It’s Probably Too Late to Use South Korea’s Trick for Tracking Coronavirus,” Daily Beast, March 26, 2020. Maeve Reston, “Trump Says He Wanted Testing Slowed Down, Uses Racist Term for Coronavirus,” CNN, June 21, 2020.

  purge this windfall: Spencer Ackerman, “FEMA Tells States to Hand Pub
lic Health Data to Palantir,” Daily Beast, May 21, 2020.

  hate crimes against Asian Americans: Julia Reinstein, “A Man Who Allegedly Tried to Kill an Asian-American Family Because of the Coronavirus Could Face Federal Hate-Crimes Charges,” BuzzFeed, April 1, 2020. Matt Lofman, “Asian Americans Describe ‘Gut Punch’ of Racist Attacks during Coronavirus Pandemic,” PBS NewsHour, April 7, 2020. Myah Ward, “15 Times Trump Praised China as Coronavirus Was Spreading across the Globe,” Politico, April 15, 2020. Barnes and Goldman, “For Spy Agencies, Briefing Trump Is a Test.” Kimmy Yam, “Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Increased by Nearly 150% in 2020, Mostly in N.Y. and L.A., New Report Says,” NBC News, March 9, 2021.

  to portray conclusively: Mark Mazetti, Julian E. Barnes, Edward Wong, and Adam Goldman, “Trump Officials Are Said to Press Spies to Link Virus and Wuhan Labs,” New York Times, May 14, 2020. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Intelligence Community Statement on Origins of COVID-19,” ODNI news release no. 11-20, April 30, 2020, available at www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2112-intelligence-community-statement-on-origins-of-covid-19. Paul R. Pillar, “The Trump Administration’s Politicization of Coronavirus Intelligence,” The National Interest, May 4, 2020. Erin Banco, Adam Rawnsley, and Lachlan Cartwright, “Busted: Pentagon Contractors’ Report on ‘Wuhan Lab’ Origin of Virus Is Bogus,” Daily Beast, May 17, 2020.

  first wave of coronavirus deaths: Centers for Disease Control, “COVID-19 in Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups,” stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/89820/cdc_89820_DS1.pdf, accessed June 23, 2020. Vanessa Williams, “Disproportionately Black Counties Account for Over Half of Coronavirus Cases in the U.S. and Nearly 60 Percent of Deaths, Study Finds,” Washington Post, May 6, 2020.