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THE WEEKLY REVEAL

Saturday, November 29, 2025

What Is Riley Gaines Hiding? We Investigated.
Alt text: Donald Trump, out of focus in the foreground, speaks behind a lectern. In focus behind Trump are about a dozen young women, clapping and with slight smiles on their faces. Central to that group is Riley Gaines, a blond Caucasian woman in a white suit and pale pink shirt.

Courtesy of Andrew Harnik/Getty
Listen to the episode

This week, we’re bringing you something a bit different. 

Our reporter Madison Pauly recently teamed up with journalist and podcaster Pablo Torre for a special episode of his investigative show, Pablo Torre Finds Out. 

The episode is a deep dive into right-wing superstar Riley Gaines, a swimmer who tied a transgender woman for fifth place and became a viral figure with outsized influence within the MAGA movement. 

Pauly spent six months digging into the money behind Gaines’ anti-trans empire and interviewing Gaines’ former teammates and competitors. She uncovers how the swimmer is profiting from her newfound fame as a generational conservative activist and explores how a lawsuit Gaines filed against the NCAA, which will be decided by the Supreme Court next year, could change everything for trans athletes.

Pablo Torre Finds Out is produced by Meadowlark Media and distributed by The Athletic. Check out their other investigations on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.

Check out the full episode here! (And if you want to read Pauly’s full feature from our partners at Mother Jones, check out this link.)

Find this episode wherever you listen to Reveal, and don’t forget to subscribe:

Alabama’s Threats to Prosecute Abortion Helpers
A woman carries two large boxes of Luvs diapers across a street. In a parking space behind her, a U-Haul truck with its cargo bay open holds supplies in cardboard boxes.

Photo Credit: Charity Rachelle/Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation and Commonwealth Fund 

In August 2022, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made a guest appearance on a local conservative talk radio show. It was two months after the US Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade, and abortion was now illegal in Alabama. And Marshall addressed rumors that he planned to prosecute anyone helping people get abortions out of state.  

“If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortion out of state,” Marshall explained to the host, “then that is potentially criminally actionable for us.” 

This particular threat launched an epic legal battle with implications for some of the most basic American rights: the right to travel, the right to free speech, the right to give and receive help. 

This week on Reveal, in an update of an episode that first aired in May, reporter Nina Martin spends time with abortion rights groups in Alabama, following how they’ve adapted to one of the nation’s strictest anti-abortion policies—and evolved their definition of help.

Listen here.
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🎧 Other places to listen: Spotify, Overcast, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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In Case You Missed It
A man in a baseball cap and sunglasses is seen in the foreground as he wades through tall grass. Behind him, in focus, is a young woman wearing glasses, standing on a platform in the grass. She holds a shotgun microphone that’s covered in a fuzzy windscreen and has layers of other equipment strapped around her, including headphones.

🎧 In Rural America, Public Radio Saves Lives

In remote Alaska, public radio station KYUK is crucial during natural disasters. Without federal funding, how will it survive?

Photo Credit: Katie Basile
A middle-aged man with a short graying haircut is shown in profile, looking out a barred window, elbow resting on the sill. He wears a green prison jumpsuit, which includes a white tag displaying his name and prisoner identification number.

🎧 Why America Is Obsessed With True Crime


Journalist John J. Lennon argues that true crime too often turns tragedy into entertainment. And he would know. He’s in prison for a murder he committed years ago, whose own story has been fodder for cable news.

Photo Credit: Luke Piotrowski
A close-up photograph of Donald Trump peering out a back window of the presidential limousine. With narrowed eyes and mouth slightly ajar, he is wearing a suit and tie with an American flag pin on his left lapel.

🎧 I Study Fascism. I’ve Already Fled America.


Former Yale professor Jason Stanley has been taking a lot of heat for moving to Canada. Why? Because he studies fascism—and he believes it’s already arrived in the US. 

Photo Credit: ANP/Zuma
A white man in a gray hoodie and black-and-gray beanie, with two black eyes and bruises on his forehead, stands outside on a clear day. A low-slung brick building surrounded by a barbed-wire fence stands in the background.

🎧 In a Mississippi Jail, Inmates Became Weapons

 

After a violent scandal involving his deputies, a popular sheriff survived calls to resign. But another scandal was already brewing in his county jail.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Christopher Mack
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This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Arianna Coghill and edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend. Have some thoughts? Drop us a line with feedback or ideas!
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