In 2013, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations probed Apple’s tax avoidance schemes, finding that the technology company paid little to no corporate taxes on over $74 billion in income over a four year period.
As the accusations mounted, Apple paid Mark Isakowitz, a Washington lobbyist, to work on corporate tax and international tax structure issues in the Senate.
The tables have turned as Isakowitz was hired in January of this year to become the chief of staff to Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the new chief of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. According to a report by Bloomberg’s Jesse Drucker and Richard Rubin, the subcommittee under Portman is “shifting its focus” away from digging into inappropriate corporate behavior.
Under previous chairs, including Democrat Carl Levin and Republicans Susan Collins and Norm Coleman, the committee “probed powerful institutions, often spurring legislative changes and criminal indictments,” Bloomberg notes. The committee made headlines for its relentless pursuit of big business, investigating multinational financial firms UBS and Goldman Sachs.
Rather than investigating corporate misdeeds, the committee under Portman will host hearings on policy reform and will reportedly probe government programs, such as the alleged mismanagement of programs related to the Affordable Care Act.
Portman also appointed Brian Callanan as the staff director for the committee. Callanan previously worked on the government affairs team of King & Spalding, a firm that represents major corporate interests such as the Carlyle Group.
Photo of Apple CEO Tim Cook (center) at a 2013 Senate hearing.
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
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