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This Is What Press Intimidation Looks Like in America: AMPED UP with David Shuster, Ellie Leonard, and Melissa Corrigan
David Shuster, Melissa Corrigan, and Ellie Leonard on FBI raids, ICE violence, and democracy under threat
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This special edition of AMPED UP was sober, unsparing, and quietly furious. With Cliff Schecter off for the day, host David Shuster led a marathon conversation with Melissa Corrigan and Ellie Leonard that laid bare how intimidation, violence, and authoritarian logic are no longer creeping into American life—they’re operating in the open.
The throughline was unmistakable: this is what it looks like when power decides the rules no longer apply.
1. When the FBI Knocks: Journalism Under Direct Threat
The show opened with a jaw-dropping development: FBI agents raiding the home of a Washington Post reporter and seizing her devices after she refused to reveal a source.
Melissa framed the raid for what it is:
state intimidation of journalists, enabled by a judge who signed off on it.
Key red flags discussed:
journalists targeted after sources are already in custody
devices seized instead of subpoenas litigated in court
chilling effects on investigative reporting nationwide
Ellie connected the dots to global press repression, warning that this is how democracies slide—fast.
2. “You Have This Thing on Your Phone”: Reporting in a Surveillance State
Melissa then pulled the curtain back on the personal cost of real investigative reporting.
She described:
receiving sensitive federal documents
realizing her phone had become a liability
relocating all reporting tools out of her home after repeated drone sightings
This wasn’t paranoia—it was professional self-preservation. The message was clear: journalists are adapting because the government isn’t protecting them.
3. Minneapolis: ICE Violence Without Limits
The conversation shifted to Minneapolis, where ICE brutality has escalated since the killing of Renee Good.
The panel dissected horrifying footage of:
an autistic woman violently dragged from her car
ICE agents screaming contradictory commands
reporters physically blocked from documenting the scene
Melissa, a Navy veteran, delivered one of the episode’s most damning lines:
“We were prohibited from treating civilians overseas the way ICE is treating Americans now.”
4. Absolute Immunity Is a Lie—and a Green Light
David zeroed in on the institutional rot:
DHS officials labeling victims “terrorists”
J.D. Vance claiming ICE agents have “absolute immunity”
the FBI withholding evidence from local investigators
That’s not chaos. That’s authorization.
Ellie called it what it is: a system training agents to shoot first, backed by political leaders who will protect them afterward.
5. White Supremacy Isn’t Subtle Anymore
Melissa delivered a devastating assessment:
ICE didn’t exist 25 years ago
it was born from the Patriot Act’s lies
it now openly signals white supremacist ideology
She described this moment as an “extinction burst”—a dying ideology getting louder, crueler, and more violent because it knows it’s losing.
6. Why Independent Journalism Matters—Right Now
The episode closed with a challenge and a charge.
Ellie and Melissa urged viewers to:
value citizen journalism
learn how to verify information
support independent outlets doing the work corporate media won’t
David made it explicit: this kind of reporting survives only if people choose to support it.
Because when intimidation becomes policy, telling the truth becomes resistance.
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Thank you Lisa Gonzalez, Jared Caraway, Lisa | We Are The Third Estate, the real pambo, Robert Danna, and many others for tuning into my live video with Melissa Corrigan, she/her and Ellie Leonard! Join me for my next live video in the app.
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