Salvador Rizzo
Salvador Rizzo is a federal courts reporter at the Washington Post, focused on crime, justice and the use of prosecutorial power in Washington and Virginia. His coverage follows how judges, prosecutors and political figures deploy the justice system to advance or restrain political agendas, often through intricate mechanisms inside courts and the Justice Department. He writes from court filings, hearings and investigative records, turning complex legal structures into clear, fact-heavy narratives about power, accountability and consequences.
Payout fund battles and Justice Department authority
Rizzo has devoted sustained reporting to the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” covering its design as a payout vehicle for people who say they were unfairly investigated and the political backlash it triggered. He tracks the fund as a live dispute rather than a single announcement, writing on orders requiring the department to reveal who conceived the program, GOP revolts that helped force officials to abandon it, and lingering lawsuits that argue the effort could be revived in practice despite claims it has been shut down.
His stories explain where the fund’s money comes from, how its rules are written, and what kinds of cases might qualify, giving readers a concrete sense of how a seemingly abstract program could shift incentives inside the justice system.
Across these pieces he pays close attention to the relationship between legal formalities and political pressure, showing how officials describe their decisions in court while pursuing very different objectives in public. The coverage is granular and chronological: he follows the Anti-Weaponization Fund from rollout to internal revolt and into courtroom challenges, documenting each procedural step rather than summarizing the controversy at a distance. That focus on evolving legal tools distinguishes his reporting from broader politics coverage that treats such programs mainly as talking points or campaign fodder.
Contempt inquiries, deportation flights and Jan. 6 cases
Rizzo covers high-stakes clashes between federal judges and Trump-era officials, including a contempt inquiry over deportation flights that moved Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador despite court orders. In that work he explains how an appeals court can revive an investigation into whether senior figures ignored a judge’s directive, detailing the legal thresholds for contempt and what kinds of evidence might support charges. He situates these developments inside broader questions about the administration’s migration policies, treating the flights and the court’s response as a test of whether judicial authority can restrain executive power in practice.
His justice beat also includes rare institutions and extraordinary remedies, such as the first known use of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to deport a woman to Afghanistan after she conceded being an “alien terrorist”. He reports on the government’s move to undo seditious conspiracy convictions for members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, explaining how prosecutors can wipe out serious charges even after verdicts and what that means for the legal record of the Jan. 6 attack.
In pieces on Jeanine Pirro’s charging powers, special grand juries and the treatment of high-profile defendants like the Federal Reserve chair, he shows how rule changes and procedural choices expand or narrow the reach of federal prosecutors in the capital.
These stories share a method: Rizzo traces individual cases through legal motions, hearings and appeals, unpacking the specific tools prosecutors and judges use and what they signal about the administration’s priorities. He brings the same level of detail to death penalty coverage, writing on botched executions and the unsettled state of lethal injection in Tennessee, with an emphasis on medical facts, court intervention and the human fallout of procedural failure. The through-line is a close reading of the justice system as an arena where politics is expressed through charging decisions, plea deals, resentencing and the deliberate use - or abandonment - of extraordinary courts and statutes.
D.C. bribery trials and local political fallout
On the local side of his beat, Rizzo covers major corruption cases involving District leaders, most prominently the bribery prosecutions of D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr.. His reporting follows the case through jury deliberations that end in deadlock, a mistrial, and the prosecutor’s decision to seek a new trial, tracking each turn in court and on the council.
He writes closely from secret FBI videos, describing how envelopes of cash change hands, how a government informant frames the meetings, and how defense lawyers attack the witness’s credibility and motives.
He extends the coverage beyond the courtroom by documenting how colleagues weigh their options on expulsion or discipline and how council procedures intersect with the unresolved criminal case.
The pieces are built around specific evidence - recordings, informant testimony, contract details - rather than general claims about corruption. This approach makes his D.C. politics coverage feel like an extension of his federal courts beat: the focus stays on what can be shown in documents and video, and how legal findings feed back into the political system that produced the case.
Fact-checking background and methodical reporting style
Rizzo’s work on crime and justice is shaped by his earlier role on a national fact-checking team at the Washington Post, where he reported on politics and scrutinized claims from politicians and advocacy groups.
He co-authored a book on Donald Trump and truth, and was part of a project that catalogued tens of thousands of the former president’s false and misleading statements in a public database. That experience shows up in his current coverage through a heavy reliance on primary documents, careful parsing of language in legal filings and an emphasis on what officials can support with evidence rather than what they say at a podium.
Before returning to the Post, he spent several years covering New Jersey state government and Chris Christie’s governorship and presidential campaign for major state news organizations, later editing a prominent politics blog. This background in state-level politics and executive power complements his present focus on federal courts, giving him familiarity with how governors, presidents and prosecutors wield authority across different venues.
His reporting style is measured and factual, with little rhetorical flourish; the distinctiveness comes from how thoroughly he follows legal disputes over time and how much weight he places on documented behavior over political positioning.
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A.D. Quig
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Adam Daly
Adam Daly covers politics for amNewYork with a focus on the inner workings of city and state government and the low-profile forums where power is exercised and negotiated. He reports on commissions and panels that shape how New York is governed, treating charter reform and government efficiency as central political terrain. His coverage of moves to replace an Adams-era charter commission with a new government efficiency panel foregrounds mandate, authority, and what “efficiency” means in practice for agencies and services. He tracks who gains and loses influence when one commission supplants another and which constituencies are being answered to. Daly explains dense procedural questions in clear, reader-facing terms, using specific institutional details and occasional wordplay to connect jargon-heavy reforms to public spending, service delivery, and mayoral power.
Adam Pack
Adam Pack covers Capitol Hill through power struggles, investigations and ideological fights, focusing on how Congress intersects with Donald Trump’s agenda. He is a politics writer on Fox News Digital’s Capitol Hill team, covering Congress, federal elections, legislative battles, election rules, war powers, primaries and intraparty fights. He previously wrote for the Daily Caller News Foundation. His reporting examines deadlines, vote counts, bill language, campaign spending, court rulings, oversight reports, culture clashes and emerging issues such as AI-backed political groups. He has covered FISA reauthorization, defense spending, the SAVE America Act, housing policy, redistricting, candidate absences, primary spending and disputes over sex, gender, religion and race-based caucuses. He reports primarily through news features and investigative-style pieces built around documents, committee reports, court records, unearthed video and specific legislative details. He often co-writes complex Capitol Hill stories and publishes “FIRST ON FOX” exclusives.
Adam Sullivan
Adam Sullivan is a veteran politics reporter for WCAX who connects elections and party disputes to everyday life. He covers statewide races, party primaries, federal representation, political rhetoric, extremism, and accountability across the Upper Valley and neighboring states. His reporting includes Becca Balint’s victory over Molly Gray in the Democratic U.S. House primary to replace Congressman Peter Welch. He also reports when political controversies affect public safety, political culture, towns, and institutions, including a New Hampshire Libertarian Party post endorsing violence against elected Democrats. Sullivan follows cultural stories with civic consequences, such as Noah Kahan’s appeal to fans to stop stealing a Strafford road sign linked to his music. He writes straight news centered on concrete events, official reactions, political context, community impact, and what comes next.