The Opperman Report' How a Landlord and a Florida PR Firm Helped Trump Kick Off the Tren de Aragua Gang Panic
Apr 12, 2025
56:24
Trevor Aaronson - How a Landlord and a Florida PR Firm Helped Trump Kick Off the Tren de Aragua Gang Panic
Trump’s “Operation Aurora” swept up only one suspected gang member — but set the stage for a radical expansion of government power.Trevor Aaronson is an American journalist. He is a contributing writer at The Intercept and author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism. He was a 2020 ASU Future Security Fellow at New America and a 2015 TED Fellow.Aaronson is the creator and host of the documentary podcasts American ISIS, which tells the story of Russell Dennison, an American who joined the Islamic State as a fighter in Syria; and Chameleon: High Rollers, which investigates an FBI undercover operation in Las Vegas.In January 2023, Aaronson launched a podcast series called Alphabet Boys about "secret investigations of the FBI, CIA, DEA, ATF, and other alphabet agencies". The first season, "Trojan Hearse", focuses on the summer 2020 COINTELPRO-like infiltration of antifa / Black Lives Matter protesters and activists in Denver, Colorado, following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in May 2020. The second season, "Up in Arms," tells the story of a DEA narcoterrorism sting that targeted a former FBI informant who claimed to work for the CIA.Aaronson has won the Molly National Journalism Prize, the Data Journalism Award, and the John Jay College/Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.
Trump’s “Operation Aurora” swept up only one suspected gang member — but set the stage for a radical expansion of government power.Trevor Aaronson is an American journalist. He is a contributing writer at The Intercept and author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism. He was a 2020 ASU Future Security Fellow at New America and a 2015 TED Fellow.Aaronson is the creator and host of the documentary podcasts American ISIS, which tells the story of Russell Dennison, an American who joined the Islamic State as a fighter in Syria; and Chameleon: High Rollers, which investigates an FBI undercover operation in Las Vegas.In January 2023, Aaronson launched a podcast series called Alphabet Boys about "secret investigations of the FBI, CIA, DEA, ATF, and other alphabet agencies". The first season, "Trojan Hearse", focuses on the summer 2020 COINTELPRO-like infiltration of antifa / Black Lives Matter protesters and activists in Denver, Colorado, following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in May 2020. The second season, "Up in Arms," tells the story of a DEA narcoterrorism sting that targeted a former FBI informant who claimed to work for the CIA.Aaronson has won the Molly National Journalism Prize, the Data Journalism Award, and the John Jay College/Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.