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Peter Elkind

I report on government and business, and the compelling stories behind the intersection of the two.

Need to Get in Touch?

I’m eager for tips about important stories, and zealously protect whistleblowers and confidential sources. You can reach me by email or securely on Signal.

What I Cover

I’m focusing on the U.S. Department of Energy and the impact of the Trump administration’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda on the public, business and the environment.

My Background

I’ve written about FBI director James Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation; profiled Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale; investigated how America’s biggest oxygen company has repeatedly cheated Medicare and elderly patients; reported how a private equity firm plundered a chain of safety-net hospitals; detailed a tax-shelter industry that transformed a charitable deduction into a profitable investment, costing the government tens of billions; explained the fiasco that nearly shut down the entire U.S. aviation system; and profiled Trump’s shadowy accountants.

I’m the co-author of the bestseller “The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron” and also wrote “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer” and “The Death Shift: The True Story of Nurse Genene Jones and the Texas Baby Murders.”

Before joining ProPublica in 2017, I worked at Fortune for 20 years, edited the Dallas Observer, and was on staff at Texas Monthly. At Fortune, I wrote about how Steve Jobs concealed his fatal battle with pancreatic cancer; covered a cyber-invasion that brought Sony Pictures to its knees; and co-authored an account of a coup at Pfizer. The Pfizer story was awarded the Gerald Loeb Award for magazine writing.

My work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, on newyorker.com and in The Washington Post. I live in Texas.

How a Typical Government Leak Turned Into a Three-Way War Between Comey, McCabe and Trump

Two former allies, James Comey and Andrew McCabe, have offered contradictory accounts of the orchestrated FBI leak that spawned a critical investigation. That means one of them has to be lying — as President Trump is happy to tweet to the world.

“I Really Did Kill Those Babies”

Genene Jones, a Texas nurse long suspected of more than a dozen child murders decades ago but convicted of only one, allegedly confessed. The newly uncovered evidence emerged in a hearing today in which Jones attempted to have five murder charges against her dismissed.

The Six Stages of Trump’s Resistance

When state regulators tried to get the future president to address a few environmental problems on two golf courses some years ago, little did they know they’d be treated to a multi-year lesson in how he handles regulatory challenges.

A Closer Look

Revelations About the FBI’s Delay on Clinton Emails May Be Less Than They Seem

Reports have examined the lag in examining Hillary Clinton’s emails just before the 2016 election. But the question inside the FBI wasn’t whether to reveal the emails quickly — it was whether it was proper to reveal them at all.

The Billion-Dollar Loophole

The most generous charitable deduction in the federal tax code is being manipulated to make big profits — and there’s no sign that Congress has any intention of fixing the problem.

Former Texas Nurse Convicted of Baby-Killing Told Authorities ‘I Was Heinous.’

In a letter from prison, Genene Jones appeared to acknowledge her guilt and asked Texas nursing regulators to forgive her for a crime she committed when she was not “of sound mind.”

Suspected Texas Serial Killer Charged With Death of Second Baby

Decades after prosecutors convicted Genene Jones of killing a single infant, a Texas grand jury has indicted the former nurse on a second new charge of murder. Prosecutors hope to prevent Jones’ release from prison, which is scheduled for next year.

Prosecutors Race to Keep Notorious Angel-of-Death Behind Bars

Texas is scheduled to release Genene Jones, a former nurse and suspected serial killer of children, early next year. Today, prosecutors in San Antonio moved to prevent her release, bringing a new murder charge against Jones in connection with the death of a child 35 years ago.

The Problems With the FBI’s Email Investigation Went Well Beyond Comey

Previously unreported judgments and misjudgments by FBI agents played a crucial role in the FBI director’s fateful decisions.

James Comey’s Testimony on Huma Abedin Forwarding Emails Was Inaccurate

The FBI hasn’t decided how to correct the director’s false claim that she forwarded thousands of Clinton emails to the laptop computer of her husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner.