Sarah Posner
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sarahposner.bsky.social
Sarah Posner
@sarahposner.bsky.social
79K followers 660 following 9.7K posts
Investigative journalist, columnist, expert on the Christian right.

Author, Unholy. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/605774/unholy-by-sarah-posner/

More info, links: https://www.sarahposner.com/portfolio
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sarahposner.bsky.social
Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · Sep 5
I'm here for all manner of publishing trends and literary takes. Bring it on! (Or maybe I'll start something...?)
sarahposner.bsky.social
Impeach him. Call it Cassidy's Atonement.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2d
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
wthrockmorton.bsky.social
once restored to an independent government & no longer persecuted they would soon wear away some of the asperities & peculiarities of their character, possibly in time become liberal Unitarian Christians for your Jehovah is our Jehovah & your God of Abraham Isaac & Jacob is our God."
November 21, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
wthrockmorton.bsky.social
To Mordecai Noah, March 1819 - "For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation. For as I believe the most enlighten’d men of it have participated in the ameliorations of the philosophy of the age,
November 21, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
wthrockmorton.bsky.social
Pence quotes John Adams and Elias Boudinot as "the Founders." First mistake. One or two founders don't stand in for all of them or state US policy.

The full Adams quote predicts convertion of Jews to unitarian Christianity. founders.archives.gov/documents/Ad...
Founders Online: From John Adams to Mordecai M. Noah, 15 March 1819
From John Adams to Mordecai M. Noah, 15 March 1819
founders.archives.gov
November 21, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
thebulwark.com
Jamal Khashoggi's widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi: "Try as much as you can to save democracy and freedom of the press and speech in America. Do not be a copy of a Middle East dictatorship. We look to you as a role model of Western civilization—please maintain it."
November 21, 2025 at 4:47 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
you all know the punchline
November 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
paging @wthrockmorton.bsky.social
parkermolloy.com Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · 2d
Mike Pence wrote an opinion piece for Fox News. Reading the headline, I was like, "Okay, seems like a normal take."

Then I read the subheadline and... bro, what?
November 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
This is quite something

“Embarrassed” Trump Attorney Wants to Investigate DOJ for Incompetence newrepublic.com/post/203502/... via @newrepublic.com
“Embarrassed” Trump Attorney Wants to Investigate DOJ for Incompetence
Todd Blanche is worried that unforced errors could affect two massive cases.
newrepublic.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
This was the third time that Judge Xinis had ordered DOJ to produce someone who could actually testify to support its claims, and it was the third time DOJ failed to produce someone who could actually testify to support its claims.
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3d
ABC News: "After not being able to answer several questions from Abrego Garcia's attorneys, [ICE's John] Cantu said he received 'verbiage' for his declaration from a State Department attorney."
ICE official struggles to answer questions about Abrego Garcia's potential deportation
A top ICE official struggled to answer questions about Kilmar Abrego Garcia during an evidentiary hearing about the Salvadoran native's potential deportation.
abcnews.go.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
ryanjreilly.com
Reminds me of a quote I heard about Lindsey Halligan: “There is a reason why we put baby AUSAs in misdemeanors…”

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Justice Department reverses course, now says full grand jury reviewed James Comey's indictment
The turn of events comes a day after federal prosecutors admitted in court that not all grand jury members saw the final version of the indictment against the former FBI director.
www.nbcnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
stevanzetti.bsky.social
Elon Musk and his cronies turning up Grok's flatter-Elon-dial to 11 and then mass deleting a bunch of posts from Grok that say things like "Elon drinks piss/bottoms better than anyone on Earth" is the sort of poetic comedy that makes X the place to be
November 20, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
If a federal judge wrote in a decision that I was a lying liar who lied in testimony, I would be pretty fucking nervous.
November 20, 2025 at 10:33 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
More details on the Bish subpoena situation

wapo.st/3JPz0Dw
The subpoena also asked for any contact Bish may have had with Scott Strauss — a former Justice Department prosecutor who was pushed out of his job after attempting to launch investigations of baseless voter-fraud conspiracy theories tied to the 2020 election, according to three other people familiar with the matter, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive subjects. It also sought any communication Bish had with Robert Bowes, a former banker who was a political appointee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the first Trump administration but does not currently appear to have any formal ties to Pulte or FHFA.
November 20, 2025 at 11:43 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
🧵
liamsadams.bsky.social Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 3d
This past month, four different Protestant groups/denominations, most evangelical, have been at the center of in-depth news reports detailing how those denominations’ systems of oversight have failed victims of alleged abuse. In chronological order…
November 20, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
annabower.bsky.social
This notice of "correction" is very lawyered.

- No affidavit or declaration by counsel seeking to amend, clarify, or correct representations they made to the court during yesterday's hearing
- No assertion that the full grand jury actually saw the 2-count charging document
- Etc.
annabower.bsky.social Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 3d
This is nuts.

Yesterday in the Comey hearing, prosecutors *repeatedly* confirmed that the full grand jury never saw or voted on the two-count indictment.

Now they’re claiming the grand jury *did* vote on it.
The government respectfully submits this supplemental filing to correct the record regarding statements during the hearing held on November 19, 2025, before U.S. District Court Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, suggesting an issue with the grand jury voting process on the indictment returned in Case No. 1:25-CR-272-MSN. The official transcript of the September 25, 2025, proceedings before Magistrate Judge Vaala conclusively refutes that claim and establishes that the grand jury voted on - and true-billed - the two-count indictment. I. The Court and the Foreperson Confirmed the Vote on the Two-Count Indictment The transcript contains the following direct exchange between the Court and the grand jury foreperson: THE COURT: Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. 10 So you voted on the one that has the two counts? 11 THE FOREPERSON: Yes. See Transcript, Dkt No, 10, attached as Exhibit "A" at 4. This sworn testimony alone establishes that the grand jury voted on the two-count
November 20, 2025 at 11:20 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
AYFKM

(also attacking the judge in the NYPost and on X won't do what Halligan and DOJ are hoping, I suspect)

abcnews.go.com/US/doj-halli...
In reversal, DOJ says Comey indictment was reviewed by full grand jury
In a reversal from what the DOJ represented in court Wednesday, prosecutors said Thursday that the full grand jury reviewed the indictment of ex-FBI Director James Comey.
abcnews.go.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:21 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
fuck yeah
ryanjreilly.com Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 3d
Been ranting to folks for a year now about how fucking obvious it’s been forever that the only way for Dems to break through in this media environment is to curse more and — how bout that! — this broke through the noise.
chrismurphyct.bsky.social Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 3d
The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. "HANG THEM", he posted.

If you're a person of influence in this country and you haven't picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a fucking side.
November 20, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
404media.co
Grok has been reprogrammed to say Musk is better than everyone at everything, including blowjobs, piss drinking, playing quarterback, conquering Europe, etc.
Elon Musk Could 'Drink Piss Better Than Any Human in History,' Grok Says
Grok has been reprogrammed to say Musk is better than everyone at everything, including blowjobs, piss drinking, playing quarterback, conquering Europe, etc.
www.404media.co
November 20, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
What this shows yet again is that DHS's "official version" of events simply shouldn't be believed without verification. In video after video, claims made by DHS officers and DHS itself were shown not to have occurred at all — or to have occurred in a substantially different way than first described.
November 20, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
For example, the incident on October 23 where DHS claimed that Bovino was hit in the head with a rock before he deployed tear gas at protestors?

That didn't happen. He fired tear gas and then AFTERWARDS, someone threw a rock. He went back and forth on this under oath, repeatedly changing his story.
Most tellingly, Bovino admitted in his deposition that he lied multiple times about the events that occurred in Little Village that prompted him to throw tear gas at protesters. As discussed further below, Bovino and DHS have represented that a rock hit Bovino in the helmet before he threw tear gas. See Doc. 190-1 at 1; Homeland Security (@DHSgov), X (Oct. 28, 2025 9:56 a.m.), https://x.com/dhsgov/status/1983186057798545573?s=46&t=4rUXTBt_W24m-uWR74DQ5A. Bovino was asked about this during his deposition, which took place over three days. On the first day, Bovino admitted that he was not hit with a rock until after he had deployed tear gas. Doc. 191-3 at 222:24–223:18. Bovino then offered a new justification for his use of chemical munitions, testifying that he only threw tear gas after he “had received a projectile, a rock,” which “almost hit” him. Doc. 191-3 at 222:24–223:18. Despite being presented with video evidence that did not show a rock thrown at him before he launched the first tear gas canister, Bovino nonetheless maintained his testimony throughout the first and second days of his deposition, id. at 225–27; Doc. 237 at 11–17. But on November 4, 2025, the final session of his deposition, Bovino admitted that he was again “mistaken” and that no rock was thrown at him before he deployed the first tear gas canister. Doc. 238 at 9:12–21 (“That white rock was . . . thrown at me, but that was after . . . I deployed less lethal means in chemical munitions.”); id. at 10:20–23 (Q. [Y]ou deployed the canisters, plural, before that black rock came along and you say hit you in the head, correct? A. Yes. Before the rock hit me in the head, yes.”).
November 20, 2025 at 11:14 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
icing, meet cake
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3d
Judge Ellis also found that a top CBP leader's testimony was not credible, in part because he admitted that was relying on unreliable "use of force" reports generated by DHS officers — and in a footnote, says video showed an officer asking ChatGPT to help him fill out a use of force report!
As for the evidence Defendants marshalled through Parra with respect to CBP’s actions, Parra testified in his deposition that he had only been in the field with CBP a “handful of times, four to five,” during Operation Midway Blitz. Doc. 191-9 at 30:7–10. And he made clear that he based much of his declaration on information he gleaned from use of force reports, with maybe some (unidentified) review of video footage. See, e.g., id. at 81:17–82:16, 85:17–23, 86:15–91:1 (describing that Parra viewed some video footage, but that he could not recall how much or of what events). Given the inconsistencies between the BWC footage and the use of force reports, with the BWC footage undermining what agents put in their reports, the Court cannot rely on Parra’s broad generalizations of protesters’ actions or Defendants’ responses to those actions. [FN 9] [FN 9] 9 The Court also notes that, in at least one instance, an agent asked ChatGPT to compile a narrative for a report based off of a brief sentence about an encounter and several images. Axon_Body_4_Video_2025-10-03_0949_D01A2556T at 00:00–00:42. To the extent that agents use ChatGPT to create their use of force reports, this further undermines their credibility and may explain the inaccuracy of these reports when viewed in light of the BWC footage.
November 20, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
When she gets to Gregory Bovino, she finds him completely uncredible, and says he was evasive or outright lied multiple times across three days of testimony — and not just any falsehoods, he was not telling the truth about multiple things which were all captured on video, making it all very obvious.
Turning to Bovino, the Court specifically finds his testimony not credible. Bovino appeared evasive over the three days of his deposition, either providing “cute” responses to Plaintiffs’ counsel’s questions or outright lying. When shown a video of agents hitting Rev. Black with pepper balls, Bovino denied seeing a projectile hit Rev. Black in the head. Doc. 191-3 at 162:21–165:17; Doc. 22-44 (Ex. 44 at 0:10–12, available at https://spaces.hightail.com/space/ZzXNsei63k). In another video shown to Bovino, he obviously tackles Scott Blackburn, one of Plaintiffs’ declarants. Doc. 191-3 at 172:13–173:7; Doc. 22-45 (Ex. 45 at 0:19–30, available at https://spaces.hightail.com/space/ZzXNsei63k). But instead of admitting to using force against Blackburn, Bovino denied it and instead stated that force was used against him.
November 20, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Judge Ellis says all these errors, no matter how minor, add up. "[A]t some point, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything that [DHS] represent[s]."

E.g., a top officer testified protestors had shields with nails in them; there were no nails and mostly it was carboard.
These are not the only inconsistencies and incredible representations in the record. While Defendants may argue that the Court identifies only minor inconsistencies, every minor inconsistency adds up, and at some point, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything that Defendants represent. The Court discusses these inconsistencies in greater detail below, highlighting only a few here. For example, Hewson testified that people held shields with nails in them, Doc. 255 at 199:22–23, 200:19, 201:17–18, 202:10–11, but video demonstrates that at least some of these shields were merely pieces of cardboard, none of the shields had nails in them, and nothing warranted the aggression that the agents showed toward the protesters holding these shields,
November 20, 2025 at 11:10 PM
sarahposner.bsky.social
🧵
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3d
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.

I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
November 20, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Sarah Posner
maxkennerly.bsky.social
This is legal jargon for "you and your lawyers are full of shit," which is really not something that should happen when the "you" is a federal government agent and the "your lawyers" are the federal government's lawyers.
"Mr. Cantu, when you say Costa Rica is not an option for removal ... where does that come from?" U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis interjected. "Counsel," Cantu said referring to the State Department attorney. "The point has been made that this witness knows zero information about the content of the declaration," Xinis said.
November 20, 2025 at 10:56 PM