Avi Asher-Schapiro

This may the first of this recent wave of brief-Trump-phone-call-excusives to yield an actually important scoop?

At the Department of Energy, Trump officials have been making the case to loosen radiation safety standards, in part to *save* Valar Atomics money on its new reactors, as I reported last month. Meanwhile, Valar keeps raising piles of cash. propublica.org/article/trump-…

A DOGE staffer convened a meeting with Department of Energy officials to discuss the future of nuclear power and downplayed the risk of radiation exposure at nuclear test sites: “They are testing in Utah. … I don’t know, like 70 people live there.” propublica.org/article/trump-…

ICYMI, I investigated Trump's transformation of nuclear energy: -Peter Thiel vetted nuclear staff -Start-ups edited nuclear executive orders -DOGE let loose on the safety regulator -Radiation safety rules loosened to save companies money And more... propublica.org/article/trump-…

It turns out the future of tech journalism is .....reporting up to Chris Lehane at OpenAI.

Christmas Eve, 2024: A nuclear energy expert gets an unexpected phone call. It’s Peter Thiel. The billionaire was vetting staff to work in the incoming Trump administration on nuclear energy issues. And he wanted to talk about rapid deregulation and massive nuclear buildout 🧵

The FTC just settled with OkCupid and Match Group for secretly handing nearly 3 million users' dating profile photos and location data to Clarifai, a company that builds facial recognition software(!!!). The penalty? A promise not to do it again.

To dramatically increase the amount of energy available to power artificial intelligence, the Trump administration is rewriting thousands of pages of regulations while downplaying safety issues and focusing on industry incentives. propublica.org/article/trump-…

Mark Zuckerberg texts Elon Musk February 3, 2025

At the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) there's been a rush to the exits, as the Trump administration invited DOGE into the building & is began to completely overhaul safety rules. We crunched the numbers on just how many staffers have left NRC: propublica.org/article/trump-…

“The regulator is no longer an independent regulator — we do not know whose interests it is serving,” warned a former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the Trump administration’s changes. “The safety culture is under threat.” propublica.org/article/trump-…

Under Trump, career nuclear power experts have been forced out and regulations are being rewritten at a sprint. A new generation of politically connected, Silicon Valley-funded nuclear energy companies wield increasing influence over policy. propublica.org/article/trump-…

In a meeting with Department of Energy officials, a DOGE staffer shot down the long-held notion that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent body. “Assume the NRC is going to do whatever we tell the NRC to do,” he said, records show. propublica.org/article/trump-…

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected FOIAs about DOGE, claiming no DOGE operatives worked there, per @petercastagno_ & @Sludge readsludge.com/2026/03/23/dog… This would come as news to the dozens of sources I spoke with/for my piece: "DOGE goes Nuclear" propublica.org/article/trump-…

I wrote about the wave of lawsuits as they were first cresting nearly 3 years ago: reuters.com/world/lawsuits…