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Adam Klasfeld | Print and Online Journalism
Whether reporting from Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, the streets of Havana, the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, or from a New York courtroom, my stories routinely have a global impact.
For more writing samples than the ones on this page, please use the pull-down menu for environmental, political, national security or investigative journalism.
The Russia Probe
Over the course of the Russia investigation, I became a go-to source for breaking news about the prosecution of President Donald Trump's personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen. CTV News invited me to discuss Cohen's three year sentence, and the Washington Post, Politico, The Daily Beast, and other outlets cited my live-coverage of the proceedings. After the Mueller report's release, MSNBC invited me on Lawrence O'Donnell's "The Last Word" to analyze the mystery criminal referrals it contained live on the air, and then brought me back on weeks later for an update on a federal court fight over congressional subpoenas of Trump's Deutsche Bank records.
Writing Samples
Cohen Case: FBI Suspected Cohen as Foreign Agent Nearly a Year Before Raids
Deutsche Case: Subpoenas Targeting Trump Bank Records Get Lift-Off
International Money Laundering
The biggest money laundering scheme to Iran ever charged in U.S. history played out in a federal courthouse in New York and involved a gold trader named Reza Zarrab, whose playboy lifestyle earned him the nickname the "Turkish Gatsby." At the time that I covered this case, Turkey became the world's leading press jailer, and I helped break through a media blackout in that country with uncensored live coverage of a case that had been a thorn in the side of Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Trump administration insiders like former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-attorney general Michael Mukasey came to Zarrab's defense. Along the way, I interviewed presiding U.S. District Judge Richard Berman about the case, and Turkish NBA star Enes Kanter about the Interpol red notice against him by Erdoğan's government.
Writing Samples
Turkish President Implicated in Iran Sanctions Case
In the Age of Trump, Judge Reflects on D’Souza and the ‘New Rudy’
Turkish Knicks Player Enes Kanter Fights Pressure From Erdoğan
Chevron v. Ecuador
In March 2014, I went to Ecuador for a two-week series of articles investigating a major development in a more than $9 billion legal battle against Chevron for its predecessor Texaco's oil contamination of the Amazon rainforest. A New York federal judge had just ruled that an Ecuadorean judge's verdict against the oil giant was fraudulent, and I traveled to Ecuador to get reactions from government officials and people still living on top of oil pits. This series ended with an exclusive interview with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in New York, and NPR's flagship program "All Things Considered" invited me on air to speak about my observations for a segment coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Contested Tales of Life in Ecuador's Indigenous Oil-Rich Oriente Region
CNS Talks to President Correa on Legacy of Oil Drilling in Ecuador
During the Chelsea Manning court-martial, Mother Jones repeatedly invited my commentary about the legal issues surrounding the case. In this freelance story for the magazine, I reported on scientific studies finding that transgender people are twice as likely to enlist into the armed services, and that suicidal behavior is 20 times more prevalent in transgender vets. After this story's publication, I learned that Veterans Affairs dissemminated the story on its internal newsletter, and the Pentagon shelved what the Secretary of Defense called its "outdated" anti-transgender regulations two years later.
"The Pentagon's Transgender Problem"
Questions about my reporting? Want to see more? Email me at adam@adamklasfeld.com.
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