A look back at The Intercept’s must-read national security stories from 2019.
The Threat Within
By Trevor Aaronson, Margot Williams, Alleen Brown, Alice Speri
UAE Enlisted Businessman to Spy On Trump White House
By Alex Emmons, Matthew Cole
An Iranian Activist Wrote Dozens of Articles for Right-Wing Outlets. But Is He a Real Person?
By Murtaza Hussain
How Erik Prince Used the Rise of Trump to Make an Improbable Comeback
By Matthew Cole
Secret Report Reveals Saudi Incompetence and Widespread Use of U.S. Weapons in Yemen
By Alex Emmons
I Wrote About the Bidens and Ukraine Years Ago. Then the Right-Wing Spin Machine Turned the Story Upside Down.
By James Risen
Did Felix Sater’s 20 Years as an Informant Help Land Him at the Center of the Trump-Russia Story?
By Johnny Dwyer
Rudy Giuliani Turned NY’s Southern District Into a Spin Machine. His Legacy Is Coming Back to Haunt Him.
By Johnny Dwyer
A Republican Conspiracy Theory About a Biden-in-Ukraine Scandal Has Gone Mainstream. But It Is Not True.
By Robert Mackey
Charging Julian Assange With Espionage Could Make His Extradition to the U.S. Less Likely
By Robert Mackey
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?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
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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