Drew Harwell
@drewharwell.com
tech & society @washingtonpost.com
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stories: drewharwell.com
videos: tiktok.com/@drewharwell
+ instagram.com/bydrewharwell
Pinned
Drew Harwell
@drewharwell.com
· Oct 29
Trump administration uses misleading videos to portray chaos, push deportations
Official videos purporting to show the triumph of recent immigration operations used footage that was years old or recorded thousands of miles away, a Washington Post analysis found.
wapo.st
Scoop: The Trump admin's videos boasting triumphs on immigration have used misleading footage from months ago or thousands of miles away
When we showed them the errors, DHS said they make a lot of videos and the White House said it'll keep making "banger memes"
wapo.st/4nuDGwf
When we showed them the errors, DHS said they make a lot of videos and the White House said it'll keep making "banger memes"
wapo.st/4nuDGwf
Reposted by Drew Harwell
My colleague @dfriedman.bsky.social contacted the Pentagon about a top Pete Hegseth aide.
The next day, far-right influencer Jack Posobiec threatened to write a scurrilous story about him.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The next day, far-right influencer Jack Posobiec threatened to write a scurrilous story about him.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I asked the Pentagon about Pete Hegseth's mentor. Then the threats started.
Journalism in the second Trump administration gets personal.
www.motherjones.com
December 11, 2025 at 4:33 PM
My colleague @dfriedman.bsky.social contacted the Pentagon about a top Pete Hegseth aide.
The next day, far-right influencer Jack Posobiec threatened to write a scurrilous story about him.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The next day, far-right influencer Jack Posobiec threatened to write a scurrilous story about him.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
"Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because it does bad for the children, it does bad for the people that are older than children" www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Trump seeks to cut restrictions on marijuana through planned order
The president is expected to attempt to classify marijuana similar to some common prescription painkillers and other drugs.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:28 AM
"Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because it does bad for the children, it does bad for the people that are older than children" www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Drew Harwell
ICE will spend nearly $140 million to buy its own fleet of six Boeing 737s to deport immigrants, Marianne LeVine and @jacobbogage.bsky.social report: www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
DHS inks contract to create its own fleet of Boeing 737s for deportations
The agency will spend nearly $140 million to buy the planes, funding that comes from a massive budget increase for immigration enforcement approved by Congress.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:41 PM
ICE will spend nearly $140 million to buy its own fleet of six Boeing 737s to deport immigrants, Marianne LeVine and @jacobbogage.bsky.social report: www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
"After firing thousands and destroying 2/3rds of the company’s value, Zaslav is poised for one of the all-time grotesque paydays": ~$550 million.
"When the book about late-stage Hollywood is written, Zaslav has secured his spot on the cover"
puck.news/world-war-wb... @mattbelloni.bsky.social
"When the book about late-stage Hollywood is written, Zaslav has secured his spot on the cover"
puck.news/world-war-wb... @mattbelloni.bsky.social
How High Will the Ellisons Go?
If Warners rejects David Ellison’s latest bid, I’m told that he’ll almost certainly offer more. Will Netflix exceed that offer?
puck.news
December 11, 2025 at 1:25 AM
"After firing thousands and destroying 2/3rds of the company’s value, Zaslav is poised for one of the all-time grotesque paydays": ~$550 million.
"When the book about late-stage Hollywood is written, Zaslav has secured his spot on the cover"
puck.news/world-war-wb... @mattbelloni.bsky.social
"When the book about late-stage Hollywood is written, Zaslav has secured his spot on the cover"
puck.news/world-war-wb... @mattbelloni.bsky.social
The Trump-obliging "correspondent" who mocked Volodymyr Zelensky's clothes in the Oval Office is moving to Georgia now that the president is at war with his congresswoman girlfriend. www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/... @karavoght.bsky.social
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend has had a weird month
Brian Glenn is trying not to get caught in the middle of the breakup between his partner and his president.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:50 AM
The Trump-obliging "correspondent" who mocked Volodymyr Zelensky's clothes in the Oval Office is moving to Georgia now that the president is at war with his congresswoman girlfriend. www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/... @karavoght.bsky.social
Love this @jeremybmerrill.com @fox.computer piece mapping TikTok's brain, especially the tool they made to find a content theme's diametric opposite.
People who like the "Fallout" games, for instance, aren't very interested in videos about having hair
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
People who like the "Fallout" games, for instance, aren't very interested in videos about having hair
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
December 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Love this @jeremybmerrill.com @fox.computer piece mapping TikTok's brain, especially the tool they made to find a content theme's diametric opposite.
People who like the "Fallout" games, for instance, aren't very interested in videos about having hair
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
People who like the "Fallout" games, for instance, aren't very interested in videos about having hair
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
Reposted by Drew Harwell
EXCLUSIVE:
Mom of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House narrative of her ICE arrest
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Mom of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House narrative of her ICE arrest
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Mom of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House narrative of her ICE arrest
In an interview, Bruna Ferreira, who chose the White House press secretary as her son’s godmother, contested the portrayal of her as a criminal, absentee mom.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
EXCLUSIVE:
Mom of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House narrative of her ICE arrest
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Mom of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House narrative of her ICE arrest
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Absolutely buzzing over this new video of a rarely seen giant squid
December 7, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Absolutely buzzing over this new video of a rarely seen giant squid
Reposted by Drew Harwell
NEW — I put together a list of independent journalism subscriptions that would make great holiday gifts. From music to politics, astronomy to alcohol, tech to social justice, there’s something for [almost] everyone. Support indie media *and* surprise and delight your loved ones!
My guide:
My guide:
Giving the gift of independent journalism: a guide
The Handbasket has subscription suggestions for almost everyone on your list.
www.thehandbasket.co
December 6, 2025 at 3:38 PM
NEW — I put together a list of independent journalism subscriptions that would make great holiday gifts. From music to politics, astronomy to alcohol, tech to social justice, there’s something for [almost] everyone. Support indie media *and* surprise and delight your loved ones!
My guide:
My guide:
Fascinating @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social story on the rearming of Germany, a zeitenwende - turning of the times - reversing decades of history, fueled by a loss of faith in U.S. power
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The New German War Machine
After World War II, Germany embraced pacifism as a form of atonement. Now the country is arming itself again.
www.theatlantic.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Fascinating @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social story on the rearming of Germany, a zeitenwende - turning of the times - reversing decades of history, fueled by a loss of faith in U.S. power
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Drew Harwell
NEW: Our look at one of the most important players in the school choice debate: Jeff Yass, the billionaire funding campaigns across the country and in his home state of PA. Got a chance to talk with him at length and he had lots of provocative things to say 1/x
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Meet the billionaire pushing taxpayer-funded school vouchers
How one of the richest people on the planet presses his pet issue: school choice
www.washingtonpost.com
December 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM
NEW: Our look at one of the most important players in the school choice debate: Jeff Yass, the billionaire funding campaigns across the country and in his home state of PA. Got a chance to talk with him at length and he had lots of provocative things to say 1/x
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
DOJ's newest recruitment ad features Judge Dredd, the comic satire about the dangers of lawless policing and authoritarian power
December 4, 2025 at 9:41 PM
DOJ's newest recruitment ad features Judge Dredd, the comic satire about the dangers of lawless policing and authoritarian power
Reposted by Drew Harwell
New: “Eric Trump Has Gotten 10 Times Richer Since Dad’s Election”
@kylekhanmullins.bsky.social for @forbes.com
@kylekhanmullins.bsky.social for @forbes.com
Here’s How Much Eric Trump Is Worth
Crypto took the real estate heir’s fortune and supersized it, briefly making the president’s second-oldest son a billionaire in early September.
www.forbes.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:06 PM
New: “Eric Trump Has Gotten 10 Times Richer Since Dad’s Election”
@kylekhanmullins.bsky.social for @forbes.com
@kylekhanmullins.bsky.social for @forbes.com
Reposted by Drew Harwell
They need to release this video to the public
December 4, 2025 at 4:06 PM
They need to release this video to the public
The military's position is that the guys clinging to the charred wreckage of an exploded boat in the middle of the Caribbean were still so singularly focused on transporting drugs that they had to be blown up www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec... @alexhorton.bsky.social
Republicans begin to tighten the screws on Hegseth’s Pentagon
Adm. Frank M. Bradley is set to meet with lawmakers Thursday to discuss the boat strike he oversaw that killed 11 people, including two who died in a follow-up attack.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The military's position is that the guys clinging to the charred wreckage of an exploded boat in the middle of the Caribbean were still so singularly focused on transporting drugs that they had to be blown up www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec... @alexhorton.bsky.social
Reposted by Drew Harwell
The “crime emergency” declared by Trump in D.C. resulted in 932 arrests of immigrants with no criminal conviction or pending charge, federal data shows. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Most immigrants arrested in Trump’s D.C. crackdown had no criminal records
A Post analysis of federal data shows that the arrests of immigrants with no prior criminal record shot up sixfold during the Trump administration’s crackdown.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The “crime emergency” declared by Trump in D.C. resulted in 932 arrests of immigrants with no criminal conviction or pending charge, federal data shows. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Reposted by Drew Harwell
BREAKING: The New York Times sued the Defense Department over its new press policy, arguing the government rules violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press and the newspaper’s due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
The New York Times sues the Pentagon over press restrictions
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new requirement that journalists pledge not to solicit any unauthorized information violates the First and Fifth amendments, the newspaper alleges, calling it “an atte...
www.washingtonpost.com
December 4, 2025 at 10:07 AM
BREAKING: The New York Times sued the Defense Department over its new press policy, arguing the government rules violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press and the newspaper’s due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
Reposted by Drew Harwell
U of Alabama suspends magazines for Black students and for women, citing anti-DEI, pro-white supremacy memo from #Florida woman turned AG Pam Bondi. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/u...
U. of Alabama Suspends Black and Female Student Magazines, Citing D.E.I. Guidance
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:10 PM
U of Alabama suspends magazines for Black students and for women, citing anti-DEI, pro-white supremacy memo from #Florida woman turned AG Pam Bondi. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/u...
Sabrina Carpenter's post yesterday calling the White House video "evil and disgusting" is in record-setting ratio territory: 1.3 million likes (20x more than WH's), 177,000 reposts, 83 million views
December 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Sabrina Carpenter's post yesterday calling the White House video "evil and disgusting" is in record-setting ratio territory: 1.3 million likes (20x more than WH's), 177,000 reposts, 83 million views
"While Hegseth did not make an appearance in the briefing room, he and his wife made time to sit for a chummy interview inside the Pentagon with former Trump official-turned-podcaster Katie Miller, where she asked about his favorite chicken wings and the current shows they are binge-watching"
The Pentagon held its first media briefing in months, hand-selecting a group of MAGA influencers to lob softballs—a charade that disgusted the actual journalists Pete Hegseth exiled earlier this year.
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/pentagon-m...
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/pentagon-m...
The Pentagon’s Propagandists
The Pentagon held its first media briefing in months, hand-selecting a group of MAGA influencers to lob softballs—a charade that disgusted the actual journalists Pete Hegseth exiled earlier this year.
www.status.news
December 3, 2025 at 2:46 PM
"While Hegseth did not make an appearance in the briefing room, he and his wife made time to sit for a chummy interview inside the Pentagon with former Trump official-turned-podcaster Katie Miller, where she asked about his favorite chicken wings and the current shows they are binge-watching"
Reposted by Drew Harwell
It's become normal now for high-level political figures to argue that an entire generation was brainwashed through fake videos into mass anti-Israel political mobilization by TikTok. Complete conspiracy thinking, rooted in zero evidence, based on nothing
Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
December 3, 2025 at 4:29 AM
It's become normal now for high-level political figures to argue that an entire generation was brainwashed through fake videos into mass anti-Israel political mobilization by TikTok. Complete conspiracy thinking, rooted in zero evidence, based on nothing
Full pardon for the convicted drug trafficker who helped move 400 tons of cocaine. Death by airstrike for the guys on the boat www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Ex-Honduras president, convicted of drug trafficking, freed on Trump pardon
A former DEA agent called the release “devastating”: “It means any attempt to work your investigations to the highest levels is meaningless.”
www.washingtonpost.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Full pardon for the convicted drug trafficker who helped move 400 tons of cocaine. Death by airstrike for the guys on the boat www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Reposted by Drew Harwell
Lead Post reporter on that story Alex Horton served in the infantry in Iraq.
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Lead Post reporter on that story Alex Horton served in the infantry in Iraq.
I'd forgotten that Cam Higby, the pro-Trump content creator who has gloated about replacing journalists as part of the Pentagon's new "press corps," was also the same guy from this
December 3, 2025 at 3:41 AM
I'd forgotten that Cam Higby, the pro-Trump content creator who has gloated about replacing journalists as part of the Pentagon's new "press corps," was also the same guy from this