The AP has just posted a detailed investigation into the background of David Brouillette, the recently hired ICE agent who shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. It’s genuinely horrifying on more levels than are easy to describe. Brouillette was hired during ICE’s recent hiring spree, as the agency attempted to rapidly staff up to manage a program of mass deportation. Brouillette has a long history of severe mental illness, a lengthy history of violence against at least two wives as well as his children, stalking, a seemingly endless list of restraining orders, violent threats against other family members and more.

The big announcement of a “prime-time,” “Oval Office” “address” was typical Trump, encouraging Americans to live in his world. In the end, none of what he said was new. He did make the ill-founded claims about non-citizens on voter rolls, described in that “draft press release” which was covered by Politico and which Josh noted below. He also said some stuff about China acquiring voter files that we’ve known for years. He did not even go so far as to baselessly allege votes were changed, or that the election was otherwise stolen, as so many predicted he would. He of course concluded with a demand that the Senate pass the SAVE America Act.

We’ll look through the documents his government released and share any interesting or amusing details. More soon.

Voting rights, voter intimidation and the politics of voting have been central themes of TPM reporting going back more than 25 years. Over a quarter century you develop a lot of institutional knowledge. Today we’re seeing some of the most egregious journalistic negligence, sloppiness and ignorance helping propel forward the Trump White House’s assault on the integrity of the 2026 midterms. The piece I want to point you to this evening is Politico’s claim that DHS found “thousands of non-citizens on voter rolls in California and three other states.”

This claim is almost certainly false for reasons I’ll explain. I want to briefly summarize the multiple levels of journalistic negligence in Politico’s reporting.

I hope you’ve gotten a chance to read Josh Kovensky’s exclusive from yesterday. The guy DOJ has assigned to lead the task force targeting left-wing organizations/”antifa” in the U.S. was himself one of the January 6th boys. Amazing. (Of course, MAGA claims Jan. 6 was an antifa false-flag operation so perhaps prosecutor Brian W. Lynch is actually antifa? Which would be weird. But I jest…) We got a lead on this exclusive because of another exclusive Josh reported at the end of last month revealing the existence of the task force itself.

Investigative work like this is basically never economic. You sink way more hours into the work than the publication of the story can ever reap in direct terms. That’s where your dollars come in, where the TPM Journalism Fund comes in. These are the critical exclusives, revealing the details of the Trump White House’s crackdown on civic freedoms in the USA, that your contributions make possible. Want to get in on the action? We need your help in this year’s drive. Just click right here to contribute any dollar amount and help us get toward our goal of raising $500,000. This is what your dollars make possible. We appreciate your support so much.

As many have noted, opposition to AI data centers is one of the very few issues that cuts across political and ideological lines in the U.S. Everyone hates them. Many hate them on first principles — opposition to AI “hyperscaler” centers, environmentalists, electrical grid lovers. Others hate them because they don’t want them in their neighborhoods or rural counties. But the scope of the opposition is notable because so few things these days generate grassroots opposition on both sides of the political aisle.

Earlier this afternoon, President Trump posted a long screed attacking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) who just announced a statewide moratorium on the construction of new data centers in New York state. But the post is really a broad and totalizing endorsement of data centers everywhere, with the claim that they generate tons of tax revenue and jobs. The former is highly debatable; the latter is clearly false. “They are big, strong, bold and Money Machines for the state in which they are built … Both the Taxes and the Jobs amount to LIQUID GOLD!,” wrote the president and creative capitalizer/punctuator in a Truth Social post today.

Thanks to everyone who’s contributed so far in this year’s Annual TPM Journalism Fund drive. We truly can’t thank you enough. Milestones are important in these drives — marks progress, builds momentum. We’re on the cusp of a big one: 50% of the way toward our goal of raising $500,000 in this year’s drive. If you’ve been planning on contributing, please make today the day. It’s very important for this organization. Just click right here. We make it super easy. Every amount is greatly appreciated.

Now at $244,060.

CNN is reporting new information about a sprawling and intensive leak investigation at the White House, with officials being asked to turn in phones, all to figure out who embarrassed the president by reporting on the fiasco about Qatar Force One. The probe is being led by Kash Patel (who holds some role at FBI) and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

If you haven’t heard, we’re hosting our next event Wednesday July 29 at Crystal Lake in Brooklyn. We’re partnering with Marisa Kabas, founder of The Handbasket, for a conversation about everything going on in politics at the moment. Josh Marshall and Marisa will share their experience running successful, independent media outlets. We only have about 20 tickets left, so get yours here before they are gone!

As I noted yesterday, after the killings of Good and Pretti in Minneapolis last winter, ICE/DHS shifted strategy, trying to keep up the pace of arrests and predation, while also keeping it more under the radar. Then the recent push to up the number of daily arrests began to upset that apple cart with two brazen killings of two motorists in just one week. What was notable yesterday was that ICE didn’t use its standard excuse for killing a civilian — weaponized vehicles, an agent feeling his life was threatened. They simply said the agent shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero because of a vague belief he posed a danger to the community. This seemed odd since ICE has manufactured cover stories with abandon in the past. Why not now? And why go with an excuse that actually provides a much less robust defense in court? Sure it’s good not to lie. But again, they’ve done it so consistently for 18 months.

Now we’re hearing that DHS has ordered ICE to stop most traffic stops around the country, though this claim is being put out by the administration with no one actually saying it on the record. It’s just “sources.” This also looks like an effort to get Susan Collins out of a jam. She claimed credit today for the shift in policy.

We had a solid first week of this year’s Annual TPM Journalism Fund Drive. But we have a long way to go to get to our goal of raising $500,000 and, if possible, a bit more. If you haven’t taken a moment yet to contribute, please take just 90 seconds or so out of your Monday midday routine and join us now. (If you have, thank you so much).

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