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Reposted by Shane Harris

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 3d

A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Ore., planning, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show

A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Ore., planning last weekend, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Shane Harris

Greg Jaffe @gregjaffe.bsky.social · 4d

Hegseth credits a "Trump Bump, but this program rescued Army recruiting.
My story from Ft. Jackson, S.C.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/u...

This Program Rescued Army Recruiting

www.nytimes.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 5d

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Exclusive | Lawmakers From Both Sides Pressed Pentagon on Legal Basis for Cartel Boat Strikes

The Defense Department general counsel faced questions from Republicans and Democrats in a closed-door briefing

www.wsj.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 5d

“Matthews repeatedly deferred to Trump’s designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations as granting the Defense Department unilateral authority to use military force against them…”

An FTO designation doesn’t authorize the use of force. The DOD’s lawyer reportedly claims otherwise.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 5d

"Later, I received a tour of the protest site from a person in a chicken suit." What else can you say?

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 5d

Dispatch from my hometown: @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social spent time at the Portland demonstration that the president wants to crush. What he found was more carnival than combat.
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Portland’s ‘War Zone’ Is Like Burning Man for the Terminally Online

There’s more absurdity than menace on the city’s streets—at least for now.

www.theatlantic.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 8d

Will ask the experts to say if this is a big Hatch Act violation. (Quaint, I know.) www.hud.gov#openModal

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 12d

www.cnn.com/2025/09/25/p...

Senior DOJ leaders advocating for charging Trump critic John Bolton this week, sources say | CNN Politics

Senior Justice Department leaders are advocating for a charge against President Donald Trump’s former adviser-turned-critic John Bolton this week, according to two sources familiar with the investigat...

www.cnn.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 12d

Indeed. Like determining if the documents are even still classified. Or speaking with officials Bolton worked with at the time to determine if he had some reason for taking them. This is basic work before bringing a charge. But the clock ticking here is on Comey's case, not Bolton's.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 13d

I suspect many do.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 13d

Important new reporting from @kfaulders.bsky.social and her colleagues at ABC News. abcnews.go.com/US/prosecuto...

Prosecutors' memo to new US attorney found no probable cause to charge James Comey: Sources

In a memo this week, prosecutors in Virginia recommended against potential plans by the new U.S. attorney there to charge ex-FBI Director James Comey, sources say.

abcnews.go.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 13d

Perhaps Halligan is not concerned about keeping her law license, but her new colleagues at the Justice Department sure seem to be. abcnews.go.com/US/prosecuto...

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 13d

Oh! Sorry, I should not have assumed. But hopefully these books will do the trick. In non-fiction, check out the sections on Curveball in Steve Coll's The Achilles Trap.

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Reposted by Shane Harris

Jon Rauch @jonrauch.bsky.social · 13d

A country where the leader can order up a prosecution of his political foe for revenge is not a liberal democracy. We're about to find out if the United States still is one. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...

U.S. Attorney Races to Present Case Against James Comey

www.nytimes.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 13d

Tinker, Tailor (I know, feels expected, but it's true); Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry; Damascus Station by David McCloskey (more on the ethics/moral dimensions); Libra by Don DeLillo if you want to get really out there. Accessible is not the first word that comes to mind, but I love it.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 13d

My god, this story. Beginning to end, it's like a novel. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/n...

The Billionaire, the Psychedelics and the Best-Selling Memoir

www.nytimes.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 14d

Rewatched "Clear and Present Danger" the other day, and it seems utterly quaint by today's standards. The president, with a wink and a nod, orders a covert campaign to kill cartel members, and the scandal is that Jack Ryan is duped into unknowingly lying about it to Congress? Get my smelling salts.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 14d

You're reminding me that I stopped mid seasons and need to finish it.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 15d

It surely is. But this looks more like a spam farm than an intercept capability.

Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 15d

This is all very hard to understand based on these initial reports, which themselves don't raise many skeptical questions. What USSS is laying out here sounds potentially quite serious, but also a bit like the treatment for a Die Hard movie.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 15d

On what basis does the Secret Service speculate that this apparent communications system MIGHT be used to crash a cell network? Who would do this? Why? Does USSS know? Or not? And why announce this investigation now, in mid-stream? Bad way to protect its integrity. Good way to alert bad guys.

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 15d

So many questions about this story. www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-sec...

U.S. Secret Service disrupts telecom network that threatened NYC during U.N. General Assembly

Early analysis shows the network was used for communication between foreign governments and individuals known to U.S. law enforcement.

www.cbsnews.com

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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 17d

A test of faith, in so many ways. A superb and insightful story here from @hannahnatanson.bsky.social about a federal worker, and Trump voter, who chose to take the buyout as his wife was dying, only to be told he was too late.

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...