Plus, White nationalists around the globe are working together.

View in browser ([link removed]) | Support our newsroom ([link removed])
[link removed]


** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, July 23, 2022

Hello! In this issue:
* How a $2.5 million donation ([link removed]) for a campaign to contest the 2020 presidential election results has put a (further) spotlight on embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
* The growing global network ([link removed]) of White nationalist groups.
* Helping a local newsroom continue accountability reporting into D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department.


** NEW
------------------------------------------------------------


** Texas Charity That Backs Trump’s Stolen-Election Lie Has Deep Ties to Ken Paxton
By Cassandra Jaramillo
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]


** Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton outside the U.S. Supreme Court in April. Credit: STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
------------------------------------------------------------

Texas-based nonprofit True the Vote ([link removed]) has raised millions in donations claiming there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. One major conservative donor even gave the organization $2.5 million to lead a legal and PR campaign to contest the results. But that donor later sued, saying True the Vote had swindled him.

The nonprofit argued that the Texas attorney general’s office – not a court – should probe the donor’s allegations. A state judge sided with True the Vote, freeing it from the specter of having to return $2.5 million.

But more than a year after the case was dismissed, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his office won’t say whether they ever investigated the donor dispute. And they refused to answer questions about whether the office will examine the organization’s finances.
* Last month, we found ([link removed]) that True the Vote had engaged in a series of questionable transactions that sent more than $1 million to founder Catherine Engelbrecht and other insiders.

* In the reporting of that story ([link removed]) , Paxton’s office withheld financial documents and email communications from us and issued contradictory and inaccurate statements about the nonprofit.

It turns out Paxton is pretty familiar with Engelbrecht.
* His office advocated on Engelbrecht’s behalf before the Texas Supreme Court in 2016 when she got into legal trouble with her previous nonprofit organization, King Street Patriots, for being overtly political.

* Paxton was also a guest on Engelbrecht’s podcast in July 2020, during which Engelbrecht said she considers Paxton a friend ([link removed]) . “God bless you, Ken Paxton, God bless you. And thank you for all that you and your team do,” she added.

For now, the donor has appealed the judge’s ruling. And True the Vote has remained in the headlines, grabbing attention during the Jan. 6 committee hearings, where its research into voter fraud was debunked.
Keep reading ([link removed])


** RELATED
------------------------------------------------------------
📄 She Helped Create the Big Lie. Records Suggest She Turned It Into a Big Grift. ([link removed])
📄 6 Takeaways From Our Investigation Into a Prominent Voter Fraud Nonprofit ([link removed])


** DIG DEEPER
------------------------------------------------------------
More from our coverage on the threats to democracy

Inside the GOP’s Purge of Local Election Officials in Michigan. Proponents of Trump’s Big Lie have “been able to infiltrate the Republican Party right down to the precinct level in a way that I’ve been astounded by,” says a former GOP head. Read ([link removed]) .

How Michigan Became the Test Lab for the Anti-Democratic Movement. Across the nation, many Republicans are campaigning on the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and promising to change the way elections are run in the future. Listen ([link removed]) .

Behind the Tweet That Became the Rallying Cry for the Insurrection. “I underestimated how crazy certain people could get.” Read ([link removed]) .

Viral Lies. From wild anti-vaccine conspiracy theories to “Stop the Steal” and QAnon, we examine how misinformation swiftly spreads online – and the lives it disrupts. Listen ([link removed]) .


** THIS WEEK’S PODCAST
------------------------------------------------------------


** Inside the Global Fight for White Power
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

From Russia to Sweden and the United States, there’s a growing network of White nationalist groups that stretches around the world. This week on Reveal ([link removed]) , the reporting team at Verified: The Next Threat investigates how these militant groups are helping each other create propaganda, recruit new members and share paramilitary skills.

You’ll hear:
* How a group called the Russian Imperial Movement ([link removed]) , or RIM, and its members are taking up arms in Russia’s war against Ukraine, which they say is a battle in a much larger “holy war” for White power.

* How a neo-Nazi named Matt Heimbach ([link removed]) , who was a major promoter of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, invited members of RIM to the U.S. and connected them to his network of American White power extremists.

* Top counterterrorism officials ([link removed]) who track the growing international network of White supremacists say those groups have started forming political parties. This makes it difficult for the U.S. Department of State to use its most powerful counterterrorism tool: designating them as terrorists.

Listen to the episode ([link removed])
🎧 Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , Google Podcasts ([link removed]) , Stitcher ([link removed]) or wherever you get your podcasts.
📸 Weapons training at the Russian Imperial Movement’s Partizan paramilitary camp. Credit: Screenshot from vk.com/partisan_kurs / ruspartizan.com via Verified: The Next Threat podcast trailer


** In Case You Missed It
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
🎧 All the President’s Pardons ([link removed])
[link removed]
🎧 The Religious Right Mobilized to End Roe. Now What? ([link removed])

At Reveal, we pour the necessary time and resources into unearthing original stories that hold people and institutions accountable for the problems they’ve caused or benefited from. This work is possible because of the contributions from readers and listeners like you. Donate to keep us going ([link removed]) .
Support Reveal ([link removed])


** Ending on a Good Note
------------------------------------------------------------
🗃️ Sharing our records. In December, we published an investigation ([link removed]) into how high-ranking officers in D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, including the current police chief, kept troubled officers on the force, even after the department’s own internal affairs investigators had determined they committed crimes.

Reveal’s Dhruv Mehrotra uncovered this information ([link removed]) by creating a unique searchable database of the 250 gigabytes of police data that came out as a result of a ransomware attack and hack by a group called Babuk. And now, through a partnership with local news outlet Washington City Paper, Dhruv has shared his records with its journalists so that the reporting can continue.

The first story based on these records is out now: Lt. Shane Lamond Previously Disciplined for ‘Erroneous’ Belief That MPD Would Pay Him for Off-Duty Work ([link removed]) .

⚾ A win for minor league baseball players. In March 2021, we released a show ([link removed]) on how minor league baseball players can earn less than the equivalent of minimum wage and don’t get paid overtime – and it’s legal because Major League Baseball has exploited loopholes in federal law. One former minor league player-turned-attorney filed a class-action lawsuit against the MLB and its teams. The league responded by lobbying Congress to explicitly rewrite federal law to say baseball doesn’t have to follow the same pay standards as other industries.

Earlier this month, the suit was settled. Pending a judge’s approval, the MLB will pay $185 million. “Thousands of other players will be eligible to receive part of the $120,197,300 due to players, with the rest going to attorney's fees and other costs,” ESPN writes ([link removed]) . Teams, for the first time, will also be allowed to pay minor league players during spring training.

Listen to the show here ([link removed]) .
This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Kassie Navarro, edited by Andrew Donohue and copy edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 The Center for Investigative Reporting. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for The Weekly Reveal newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
The Center for Investigative Reporting
1400 65th St., Suite 200
Emeryville, CA 94608
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.