Donald Trump
Donald Trump is the 45th and 47th President of the United States, returning to office on January 20, 2025, after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. During his second term he has issued sweeping executive orders on immigration, federal workforce reduction, and foreign policy. He was subject to four criminal indictments before his election victory led to their federal charges being dismissed.
Also known as Donald J. Trump · President Donald Trump · President Donald J. Trump
2026 Events (149)
U.S. Central Command struck three Iranian oil tankers after Iran fired missiles at Navy warships, continuing war-powers-defiant Iran campaign
On September 5, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck three Iranian oil tankers — near Kharg Island, near Jask, and in the Gulf of Oman — after Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and destroyer patrolling the region; both U.S. ships evaded the missiles and no personnel were hurt. CENTCOM permanently disabled two of the tankers and destroyed the third, with CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper saying on the record the U.S. would "destroy Iran's limited and exposed oil fleet" if necessary. The strikes continued a military campaign against Iran that has proceeded without new congressional authorization since Congress's June 2026 War Powers Resolution directed the president to end hostilities.
Trump threatened to halt trade with U.S. deficit countries unless the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates
President Trump posted on Truth Social on September 4, 2026, that he would halt trade with countries running a deficit with the United States -- including Canada, Mexico, European Union nations, and China -- unless the Federal Reserve cut interest rates, citing a Supreme Court tariff ruling as giving him "an absolute right" to condition trade this way. The threat extended a monthslong pressure campaign against the Fed's independence that has already included the removal of a Fed governor and a criminal probe of the former Fed chair. Trump said he speaks regularly with Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair he selected to succeed Jerome Powell.
U.S. Central Command struck roughly 100 Iranian targets under new 'tanker for tanker' policy, continuing war-powers-defiant Iran campaign
On September 1, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck roughly 100 Iranian military targets — including two Iranian government tankers, IRGC air-defense sites, radar systems, and anti-ship missile launchers — under a newly approved "tanker for tanker" policy aimed at deterring Iranian attacks on Gulf shipping. The strikes continued a military campaign against Iran that has proceeded without new congressional authorization since lawmakers passed a bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities. Iran retaliated with roughly 25 ballistic missiles and drone attacks on U.S. bases in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, most of which were intercepted.
U.S. Central Command struck Iranian rocket launchers near Larak Island, resuming Iran strikes in defiance of the bicameral war-powers resolution
On August 30, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps rocket launchers and sea mines near Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, the first confirmed U.S. military action against Iran in roughly a month. The strike came without new congressional authorization, continuing a campaign that has proceeded since Congress passed a bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities with Iran. Iran acknowledged casualties among its forces and retaliated with ballistic missiles fired at U.S. bases in Jordan, which Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted.
Trump threatened to report NBC's Kristen Welker to the FCC for 'rebuke or punishment' over her endorsement-record coverage
On August 30, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social that NBC's Kristen Welker would be reported to the FCC for "rebuke or punishment" after she described his primary-endorsement record as producing "mixed results." Trump called Welker's characterization "purposeful inaccuracy" and urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to "take this Threat to our Country very seriously." CNN reported the posts were Trump's most explicit effort yet to direct the FCC against a broadcaster over its coverage, though the agency's own website states it cannot penalize a broadcast for its viewpoint.
Trump falsely claimed a flawed, unauthored Census Bureau report proved over 24,000 noncitizens voted illegally in 2020
On August 18, 2026, President Trump cited an unauthored, seven-page Census Bureau report as proof that over 24,000 noncitizens voted illegally in the 2020 election and urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act. Data and election experts, along with a Census Bureau employee, said the report departed from the bureau's normal practice -- it carried no named author, was not produced by career civil servants, and used a matching methodology multiple experts called unreliable. The disputed figure represents about 0.02% of the 128 million voter records analyzed.
White House's Rapid Response account attacked CNN's Kristen Holmes, invoking her children, after Trump berated her in Oval Office
On August 17, 2026, the White House's official "Rapid Response" account on X attacked CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes, telling her "your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question" and calling her "a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment," hours after President Trump repeatedly told Holmes to "be quiet" and called her "a fake reporter" during an Oval Office event, after she asked him about North Korea and about a Trump aide. CNN said the attacks were "beneath the office" and inconsistent with the principles of a free press.
Defense Secretary Hegseth announced expansion of unauthorized boat-strike campaign to land operations in Latin America
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on August 13, 2026, during a visit to Panama, that the administration's unauthorized boat-strike campaign against alleged drug traffickers would expand to joint land operations, citing agreements with Colombia, Honduras, and Ecuador — which had already launched joint raids with the U.S. in March 2026 — while Guatemala publicly denied reaching any such agreement. The expansion extends a campaign that had killed more than 200 people in over 60 vessel strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September 2025 without congressional authorization or public evidence that those targeted were traffickers, and no new authorization was sought for the land-based expansion.
Trump signed drone tariffs that sent stock of Trump Jr.-linked dronemaker Unusual Machines soaring
On August 13, 2026, President Trump signed a Section 232 proclamation imposing tariffs of up to 100% on imported drones and drone components, primarily targeting Chinese manufacturers. Shares of Unusual Machines Inc. (UMAC), a Florida-based domestic drone-parts maker, closed roughly 22-24% higher the next trading day -- the largest single-day gain among U.S. drone stocks -- benefiting Donald Trump Jr., who holds 200,000 shares of the company he received as compensation for joining its advisory board in November 2024.
Trump signed memorandum authorizing private companies to conduct offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal groups
President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on August 12, 2026 directing the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to create a program authorizing vetted private companies to conduct offensive "cyber surveillance" and "cyber effects" operations against foreign transnational criminal organizations, under federal government direction and oversight. It is the first time the U.S. government has authorized private firms to conduct offensive hacking operations, a role historically reserved for government agencies; participating companies must maintain a bond or escrow of at least $1 million.
U.S. Navy helicopter fired Hellfire missiles into cargo ship Vela Nova enforcing Iran blockade in Gulf of Oman
On August 11, 2026, a U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel M/V Vela Nova in the Gulf of Oman, disabling its steering gear as the ship sailed toward an Iranian port in violation of the U.S. blockade of Iran reimposed July 14, 2026. U.S. Central Command said the vessel's civilian crew had ignored repeated warnings and did not say whether any crew members were injured. CENTCOM said that, as of August 11, it had redirected 55 commercial vessels, disabled three non-compliant vessels, and boarded two since the blockade's reimposition.
Trump threatened to sue the Center for American Progress and floated naming its donors as co-defendants over a National Guard crime report
On the night of August 11, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social threatening to sue the Center for American Progress (CAP) over its July 13 report finding no evidence that National Guard deployments reduced violent crime and estimating the deployments would cost more than $1.7 billion. Trump said he was "strongly considering" adding some of CAP's donors — including George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, Google, Apple, and Goldman Sachs — as co-defendants, calling the report a "Radical Left SCAM." The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) called the donor-naming threat "wholly incompatible with a free society."
Trump signed two new executive orders again restricting birthright citizenship after Supreme Court struck down his original order
On August 6, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders again seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Barbara (June 30, 2026) that his original January 2025 order denying citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants was unconstitutional. The first order lists categories of U.S.-born children -- including those of "alien enemies," foreign government lobbyists, and members of terrorist organizations -- that it deems ineligible for citizenship, while the second delegates authority to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to deny visas to and take enforcement action against travelers found to be engaged in "birth tourism."
Trump ordered leak investigations, threatened jail time over reporting on depleted US munitions stockpiles
President Trump ordered new investigations into leaks of information about depleted U.S. munitions stockpiles on August 6, 2026, after weeks of media reports describing dwindling Army Tactical Missile System, Precision Strike Missile, and interceptor inventories from the Iran war. On Truth Social, Trump called the leaks "treasonous" and said "long term jail sentences will be sought," while the White House separately maintained the reports were inaccurate. The order followed a heated exchange with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the shortages, which the Pentagon and White House denied took place.
Trump alleged Wayne County vote fraud without evidence, warned of a 'Rigged Election' after El-Sayed's Michigan primary win
On August 5, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social that Wayne County, Michigan, home to Detroit, is "one of the most corrupt voting areas in the United States," claiming without evidence that "more votes" were cast "than there are voters" and warning of "fake mail-in ballots" before urging Michiganders to "get ready for another Rigged Election." The post came one day after progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic U.S. Senate primary over Rep. Haley Stevens. Wayne County's clerk said the primary had no problems other than the length of the count, and Trump's own Justice Department had deployed election monitors to Detroit for the same primary without reporting any complaints.
Scripps News investigation revealed Trump's disclosed stock trades in Axon and other companies awarded immigration contracts
A Scripps News "ICE Inc." investigation published August 5, 2026 reported that President Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, received by the Office of Government Ethics on June 29, 2026, showed 24 trades totaling $1.26 million in Axon Enterprise stock -- a company the Department of Homeland Security awarded more than $30 million in new body-camera contracts on July 17, 2026, days after ICE agents fatally shot two immigrants in separate encounters. The same disclosure showed trades in other companies holding immigration-enforcement contracts, including The GEO Group, CoreCivic, Amentum Holdings, and Palantir Technologies. The White House said Trump's investments are managed by independent third parties without his involvement.
Trump named Defense Secretary Hegseth's wife to chair a new White House military-family commission
On August 3, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order creating the President's Military Spouse Commission and named Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth -- wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth -- as its chair. The appointment extends a documented pattern of her unofficial influence at the Pentagon: the Wall Street Journal reported she attended at least two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, despite attendee lists for such meetings normally being limited to cleared personnel with a need to be there.
Trump resumed Iran airstrikes after five-day pause, again defying bicameral war-powers resolution
On July 29, 2026, President Trump ordered U.S. forces to resume direct airstrikes on Iran after a five-day pause, following an Iranian missile attack a day earlier that targeted a U.S. air base and CENTCOM center in Jordan. U.S. Central Command said it completed a "heavy wave" of strikes against dozens of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps targets, with Iranian media reporting several civilian deaths, continuing a military campaign waged without new congressional authorization in defiance of the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026.
U.S. forces boarded and searched tanker M/T Charminar in Arabian Sea under unauthorized Iran blockade
On July 25, 2026, U.S. Central Command boarding teams stopped, boarded, and inspected the Comoros-flagged tanker M/T Charminar in the Arabian Sea, then released it to continue its voyage. CENTCOM described the action as enforcement of the naval blockade of Iranian ports it reimposed on July 14, 2026 — a campaign it has continued without new congressional authorization and after Congress passed a bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities with Iran. Maritime trackers reported the Charminar had been sanctioned in July 2025 for carrying Iranian fuel to Houthi forces.
U.S. forces disabled tanker M/T Lavine off Oman enforcing unauthorized Iran blockade; union disputes CENTCOM's account of what was struck
On July 24, 2026, U.S. forces fired into the engine room of the Mozambique-flagged tanker M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman, disabling it while enforcing the executive-ordered naval blockade of Iran; U.S. Central Command said the crew had repeatedly ignored warnings while attempting to reach an Iranian port. All 28 Indian seafarers aboard survived. The Forward Seamen's Union of India disputed CENTCOM's account, alleging the strike targeted the crew's living quarters rather than the engine room, a claim video the union released does not clearly resolve either way.
Trump signed executive order directing warning signs placed outside National Museum of American History labeling exhibits inaccurate
On July 24, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution," directing the Secretary of the Interior, the OMB Director, the GSA Administrator, and the Domestic Policy Assistant to install temporary warning signs on National Park Service-maintained sidewalks outside the National Museum of American History, notifying visitors that the museum's exhibits "should be renovated" and directing them to alternate resources. The order referenced a July 4, 2026 White House Domestic Policy Council report accusing the museum of treating American history as a tool for social justice advocacy. The Smithsonian Institution declined to comment.
Trump publicly declared the way to identify government leakers is 'through the journalists,' endorsing pursuit of reporters
On July 24, 2026, President Donald Trump stated in the Oval Office that federal authorities find government leakers "through the journalists," publicly endorsing the use of criminal investigative tools — including subpoenas — against reporters as a source-identification mechanism. Trump made the remarks while defending the Justice Department's recently withdrawn grand-jury subpoenas issued to four New York Times reporters in connection with the Air Force One security leak investigation. When asked whether subpoenaing journalists' relatives was appropriate, Trump said, "I don't know what's appropriate and what's not. We do it legally."
Trump administration imposed new Section 301 tariffs on ~60 countries after truncated forced-labor investigations
On July 23, 2026, the Trump administration, through the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, imposed new tariffs of 10%-12.5% on imports from roughly 60 countries and the European Union under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, citing forced-labor trade practices. The action followed the Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling that Trump's earlier IEEPA tariffs exceeded his executive authority. A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general and two governors is suing, alleging USTR's underlying investigation was rushed and procedurally deficient in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Trump ordered federal review of scientific manual used by federal judges
On July 20, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social directing "federal suspension and debarment officials" to review the National Academy of Sciences' Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, calling its climate science content "fraudulent" and "bogus." The manual serves as a reference resource for federal judges evaluating scientific testimony. The Federal Judicial Center had already removed the manual's climate chapter in February 2026 under pressure from Republican state attorneys general; Trump's directive escalated that pressure by invoking executive contracting enforcement authority against the NAS.
Trump launched Iran airstrikes for a tenth consecutive day, defying bicameral war-powers resolution
On July 20, 2026, U.S. forces launched airstrikes against Iran for the tenth consecutive day, continuing a campaign waged without congressional authorization in direct defiance of the bicameral War Powers Resolution both chambers passed in June 2026. Congressional Democrats were searching for procedural options to halt the campaign as Senate Republicans backed the administration's claim that no new authorization was required. Nearly 100 U.S. troops had been injured in the first two weeks of the conflict.
Trump ordered a ninth consecutive night of Iran strikes as troop deaths mounted, still defying the war-powers resolution
On the night of July 19, 2026, U.S. Central Command carried out a ninth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iranian military command centers, air defense, coastal surveillance, and missile and drone launch sites, ordered by President Trump without new congressional authorization. The strikes followed CENTCOM's disclosure of additional U.S. service-member deaths in Jordan and Iraq from Iranian-linked attacks, continuing the campaign in defiance of the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026.
Trump ordered new Iran airstrikes after Jordan attack killed 2 U.S. troops, still defying war-powers resolution
On July 18, 2026, President Trump ordered a new round of U.S. airstrikes against Iran after an Iranian drone-and-missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan killed two U.S. service members the previous night, with a third missing and four hospitalized. U.S. Central Command said the strikes -- the eighth consecutive night of the campaign -- were meant to "swiftly punish" Iran's Revolutionary Guard and further degrade Iran's ability to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, continuing without new congressional authorization under the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026.
Trump ordered a seventh consecutive night of Iran strikes, still defying the war-powers resolution
On July 17, 2026, U.S. Central Command carried out a seventh consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran, hitting bridges, energy sites, and military infrastructure and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, while Iran launched retaliatory missiles into Qatar and Kuwait that damaged a desalination plant. The strikes continued without new congressional authorization, defying the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026 directing the administration to end hostilities absent a declaration of war.
Trump delivered a prime-time White House address reviving his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen
On the evening of July 16, 2026, President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address from the White House reviving his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Administration officials said in advance that he was expected to allege foreign election interference by adversaries including China, and The Washington Post reported he planned to argue that the nation's election infrastructure is vulnerable and that China had accessed U.S. voter data. The address followed a string of court losses in the administration's campaign to compel states to surrender voter-roll data.
Trump ordered a sixth night of Iran strikes that hit bridges and collapsed a port tower, again defying the war-powers resolution
Overnight into July 16-17, 2026, U.S. Central Command carried out a sixth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran, hitting highway and railway bridges in Bandar-e Khamir and collapsing a tower at Iran's Chabahar port, expanding the campaign to infrastructure aimed at cutting off the port city of Bandar Abbas. Iranian state media reported at least seven to eight people killed in the strikes, and Iran's government warned the war "will spread" across the region. The strikes continued a campaign Congress had directed the administration to end through a bicameral War Powers Resolution passed in June 2026, without new congressional authorization.
Trump called for ABC and NBC's broadcast licenses to be revoked after the networks declined to air his primetime speech
On July 16, 2026, ABC and NBC declined to carry President Trump's primetime address on election security live on their broadcast networks, instead offering it on streaming platforms. During the speech, Trump said the networks' decision should "mean a revocation of their licenses," accusing them without evidence of being part of a "plot" to protect "the radical left." CNN also did not air the speech live, while CBS and Fox carried it.
Trump ordered a fifth day of Iran strikes as CENTCOM reimposed the Strait of Hormuz blockade, again defying the war-powers resolution
On July 15, 2026, U.S. forces struck Iranian targets for a fifth consecutive day and U.S. Central Command reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, in a round Iran's Health Ministry said wounded more than 260 people, the highest single-day toll reported since the campaign resumed. Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened to halt all Middle East energy exports in response and launched retaliatory missiles and drones at U.S.-hosting states including Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. The strikes and blockade continued a campaign Congress had directed the administration to end through a bicameral War Powers Resolution passed in June 2026, without new congressional authorization.
White House fired court-appointed Seattle U.S. Attorney Roger Rogoff within an hour of his swearing-in
On July 15, 2026, the judges of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington unanimously invoked 28 U.S.C. § 546 to appoint veteran Seattle prosecutor and former state judge Roger Rogoff as U.S. Attorney after the seat had sat vacant past the statutory limit, and he was sworn in before 8 a.m. in downtown Seattle. Less than an hour later, the White House emailed Rogoff a termination notice from the presidential personnel office removing him, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted that "District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them." Rogoff called the dismissal "most likely unlawful" and said he was consulting lawyers about challenging it.
U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles to disable oil tanker M/T Belma, first vessel struck under reimposed Iran blockade
On July 15, 2026, a U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the smokestack of the Curaçao-flagged oil tanker M/T Belma as it transited international waters in the Persian Gulf toward Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal, disabling the unladen vessel after U.S. Central Command said it ignored repeated warnings to stop. CENTCOM said it was the first vessel U.S. forces disabled since reimposing the naval blockade of Iranian ports the day before, and that two other commercial vessels that complied were redirected the same day. The strike enforced a blockade continuing without new congressional authorization after Congress's June 2026 War Powers Resolution directed the president to end hostilities with Iran.
Trump extended federal National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. through January 2029
On July 14, 2026, the Trump administration extended the federalized National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. through Inauguration Day in January 2029, the Pentagon confirmed. The deployment, begun in August 2025 under a since-lapsed "crime emergency," had recently doubled to nearly 5,000 troops and now ranks as the longest such domestic deployment in U.S. history.
Trump ordered a fourth day of Iran strikes as CENTCOM reinstated the Strait of Hormuz blockade, again defying the war-powers resolution
On July 14, 2026, U.S. forces struck Iranian targets for a fourth consecutive day and U.S. Central Command reinstated a naval blockade on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, backed by more than 20 Navy warships. President Trump the same day dropped a 20 percent cargo toll he had imposed on Hormuz shipping a day earlier, saying Gulf-state leaders had offered to invest in the United States instead. The strikes and blockade continued a campaign Congress had directed the administration to end through a bicameral War Powers Resolution passed in June 2026, without new congressional authorization.
Trump personally received $2 million from a South Korean company facing a U.S. trade investigation
A financial disclosure that President Trump filed in late June 2026, reported by the New York Times on July 14, showed he was personally paid $2 million by South Korea's Base Group, an aluminum company whose affiliate Korea Aluminum was found by the U.S. Commerce Department in 2023 to have skirted trade duties on Chinese-made aluminum. The payment was listed as a nonrefundable development fee tied to a letter of intent, which the Trump Organization said related to an unannounced golf project. The arrangement gave the president a direct personal financial tie to a foreign business subject to his own administration's trade enforcement.
Trump reinstated the Strait of Hormuz blockade with a 20% cargo toll and resumed Iran strikes, again defying the war-powers resolution
On July 13, 2026, President Trump announced he was reinstating a U.S. naval blockade of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, proposed a 20 percent toll on cargo transiting the strait, and directed U.S. forces to launch a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, declaring that fighting with Iran had resumed. He also pressed Gulf states to help fund the strait's "protection." The action continued a pattern begun in June 2026 in which the administration has repeatedly ordered strikes and blockade-enforcement measures against Iran despite a bicameral War Powers Resolution directing an end to hostilities absent a declaration of war or specific congressional authorization.
Trump reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90%
On July 13, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders cutting Bears Ears National Monument from about 1.36 million acres to roughly 121,100 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from about 1.87 million acres to roughly 181,500 acres, each a reduction of about 90%. He invoked the Antiquities Act's "smallest area compatible" clause as authority, though the Supreme Court has never ruled that presidents may shrink existing monuments. Native American tribes and conservation groups condemned the move as unlawful.
Trump ordered fifth round of Iran strikes near Strait of Hormuz, again defying war-powers resolution
On July 12, 2026, U.S. Central Command conducted a fifth distinct round of strikes on Iran, hitting drone, missile, and ammunition sites as well as surveillance and naval-operations facilities near the Strait of Hormuz at Sirik, Qeshm Island, Jask, and west of Bandar Abbas. President Trump directed the strikes, which CENTCOM said were meant to hold Iranian forces accountable and continue degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping through the strait, a day after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the strait closed and Iran reported strikes on Qeshm Island and explosions in Bandar Abbas.
Trump ordered a fourth round of Iran strikes after a Hormuz vessel attack, again defying the bicameral war-powers resolution
On July 11, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck roughly 140 targets in Iran — missile and drone launch sites, ammunition depots, and communications facilities near Bandar Abbas and Sirik — after Iran attacked a Cyprus-flagged commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. This is the fourth distinct round of U.S. strikes on Iran since Congress passed the first-ever bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities absent a declaration of war or specific congressional authorization.
Trump removed the remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, leaving it unable to act before the 2026 midterms
On July 9, 2026, President Trump terminated the two remaining Democratic members of the independent, bipartisan Election Assistance Commission — chair Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland — who were notified by email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, while the sole remaining Republican, Christy McCormick, resigned. The removals left the four-member commission with no commissioners and therefore unable to take official action just months before the 2026 midterm elections. The EAC maintains the national mail voter registration form, certifies voting systems, and provides guidance to state and local election officials.
Trump declared Iran ceasefire over and ordered a third round of strikes defying the bicameral war-powers resolution
On July 8, 2026, President Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire "over" and U.S. Central Command conducted a new wave of strikes on Iran, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz and struck U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. This is the third distinct round of U.S. strikes on Iran since Congress passed the first-ever bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities absent a declaration of war or specific congressional authorization.
Trump announced Sikorsky, a major defense contractor, would fund new White House helipad construction
On July 6, 2026, President Donald Trump announced that Sikorsky, a subsidiary of defense contractor Lockheed Martin, would pay for construction of a new granite helicopter landing pad on the White House South Lawn, which he estimated would cost up to $6 million. Sikorsky and its parent hold billions of dollars in active federal contracts, including multibillion-dollar awards finalized in the weeks before the announcement. Construction crews had already begun work on the South Lawn when Trump confirmed the privately funded project.
The New York Times reported federal civil-rights agencies abandoned active discrimination cases at Trump's direction
The New York Times reported that federal civil-rights enforcement agencies, including the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, have dropped or abandoned active discrimination cases brought on behalf of historically marginalized groups at President Trump's direction. Former officials described a systematic dismissal of pending matters and a redirection of enforcement resources away from traditional anti-discrimination mandates toward challenging diversity programs. The reported pattern spans multiple agencies acting under executive direction.
Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, Abramoff-scandal figure and Republican fundraiser host, for his 2005 fraud conviction
On July 3, 2026, President Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, a former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff who pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy in the SunCruz gambling-boat scandal and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison. Kidan, who reporting indicates helped host a 2026 Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for a Long Island Republican congressional candidate, was among 11 people granted clemency that day.
Trump pardoned six people prosecuted for Clean Air Act 'defeat device' emissions violations
On July 3, 2026, President Trump announced pardons for six people who had been prosecuted for disabling vehicle emissions controls in violation of the Clean Air Act, describing the cases as an act of "weaponization and stupidity" by federal prosecutors. A lawyer and a lobbyist representing five of the six defendants — Ryan and Wade Lalone, Matt Geouge, Tim Clancy, and Mac Spurlock — identified them to CBS News after the White House declined to release the names. The clemency followed an organized advocacy campaign and came after the Justice Department earlier in 2026 ordered prosecutors to drop all pending "defeat device" cases and after Trump pardoned a similar Wyoming defendant last fall.
Trump denied disaster aid to four Democratic-led states after FEMA and NOAA confirmed they qualified
On July 2, 2026, President Trump denied FEMA major disaster declaration requests from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island for a record-breaking February blizzard, even though FEMA and NOAA regional offices had already verified that all four states exceeded the damage thresholds required for approval. Emails and documents obtained by POLITICO showed Trump personally overruled his own agencies' determinations, and the four states' congressional delegations said Trump separately announced $846 million in disaster aid for Republican-led states the same day. All four states have since filed formal appeals seeking reversal.
Trump took first flight on Qatar-gifted Air Force One without congressional consent
On July 1, 2026, President Trump took his first flight on a Boeing 747-8 luxury aircraft gifted by the government of Qatar, using it as Air Force One for a trip to North Dakota. The plane, valued at approximately $400 million, was put into presidential service without the consent of Congress, which the Foreign Emoluments Clause requires before a federal officeholder may accept gifts of value from a foreign state. The Senate had passed S.Res.244 formally withholding that consent, and the House had passed H.Res.410 demanding Trump submit his plans for the gift to Congress.
Trump's 2025 financial disclosure revealed $1.4B in cryptocurrency income from ventures he simultaneously regulated
Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, released June 30, 2026 by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and analyzed by the New York Times, shows he earned at least $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency income during his first year back in office: $635 million from the TRUMP meme coin launched days before his inauguration, approximately $515 million from World Liberty Financial token sales, and $65 million from WLF equity sales, with over $50 million in Bitcoin holdings. During the same period, Trump signed executive orders establishing the United States as a "crypto hub," created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and appointed crypto-friendly regulators at the SEC and CFTC — regulatory actions that directly benefited the ventures generating his income. Total 2025 income across all sources was at least $2.2 billion.
Trump's 2025 disclosure showed he traded Coinbase and Robinhood stock repeatedly after his SEC dropped enforcement cases against both
Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, released June 30, 2026 by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, shows the president purchased Coinbase and Robinhood stock on January 29, 2025 — weeks before his SEC dismissed its enforcement cases against both companies in late February 2025 — then traded both repeatedly for the rest of the year. The filing records 15 Coinbase purchases ($310,000–$875,000 combined) and 8 sales ($334,000–$760,000) between March and December 2025, 12 Robinhood purchases ($359,000–$910,000), and roughly $2.33 million in validator rewards through two Coinbase staking agreements.
Washington Post investigation revealed Trump awarded $500M no-bid White House ballroom contract, bypassing competitive bidding
A Washington Post investigation published June 30, 2026 revealed that the Trump White House awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million to Clark Construction for a new East Wing ballroom, routing the deal through the Executive Residence — a White House entity exempt from federal competitive bidding requirements. Trump personally selected the contractor and negotiated project costs, including a $2.3 million reduction in concrete pricing. White House Office of Administration Director Joshua Fisher justified bypassing competitive bids by claiming that disclosing the project's procurement needs would "compromise the national security."
U.S. ambassador to Belgium accepted a jeweled gold ring for Trump from a diamond group that won U.S. tariff relief
On June 28, 2026, U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White accepted an ornately jeweled gold ring — set with 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds, and six rubies and appraised by independent jewelers at roughly $25,000 to $35,000 — presented by the Antwerp World Diamond Center as a gift for President Trump at an America 250 event in Brussels. The gift came months after the diamond group secured a zero-percent U.S. tariff on Antwerp's more than $2 billion in annual polished-diamond exports, a concession granted during the Trump administration's 2025 trade negotiations. Trump thanked the group in a prerecorded video, and White said the ring would be displayed in the Oval Office once formally presented to the president.
Trump bought $500,000 in Abbott Laboratories stock before his DOJ dropped its criminal probe of the baby-formula maker
During 2025, President Donald Trump purchased roughly $500,000 in Abbott Laboratories stock, beginning in late September, while the Justice Department's years-long criminal investigation into the company's contaminated Sturgis, Michigan infant-formula plant remained open. On June 28, 2026, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported that DOJ leadership had closed the criminal probe, which was tied to at least two infant deaths, in favor of civil clawbacks; Abbott had donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration. Trump's stock purchases were disclosed in his annual financial disclosure released days later.
Trump resumed Iran strikes defying first-ever bicameral war-powers resolution directing end to hostilities
On June 27–28, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck Iranian military sites near the Strait of Hormuz, days after Congress — for the first time in American history — passed a war-powers resolution through both chambers directing the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran absent a declaration of war or congressional authorization. The Senate voted 50–48 on June 23 to join the House, which had passed the same measure 215–208 on June 3. Trump called the resolution "poorly timed and meaningless," said "there are no limits" to his executive power, and directed strikes that Iran met with retaliatory attacks on U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain on June 28.
Trump's Religious Liberty Commission released draft report urging DOJ to narrow Establishment Clause protections
On June 26, 2026, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Religious Liberty — a federal advisory body established by Trump executive order — released a 12-point draft report calling for a stronger government role in promoting religion and recommending that the Department of Justice issue guidance to narrow First Amendment Establishment Clause doctrine. The report proposes replacing the concept of church-state separation with government "bridges" to religion and additionally recommends eliminating the Johnson Amendment, which bars tax-exempt religious organizations from endorsing political candidates. President Trump personally met with the commission and publicly stated, "We're going to bring religion back."
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Trump has unreviewable power to terminate TPS for 330,000 Haitian and 3,800 Syrian nationals
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 25, 2026, that the Trump administration has virtually unreviewable power to terminate Temporary Protected Status for approximately 330,000 Haitian and 3,800 Syrian nationals living legally in the United States. Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that the TPS statute bars judicial review of presidential TPS decisions and rejected a constitutional racial-animus claim, despite Justice Elena Kagan's dissent quoting Trump's own statements describing Haitians in explicitly racist terms.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that CBP metering policy does not violate asylum law, eliminating asylum seekers' principal legal challenge avenue
On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that U.S. Customs and Border Protection's "metering" policy — systematically turning asylum seekers away at ports of entry before they physically cross the border line — does not violate federal asylum law. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that noncitizens physically blocked at a port of entry have not "arrived in the United States" within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1158 and therefore have no statutory right to apply for asylum. The decision forecloses the primary legal avenue that had permitted asylum seekers to challenge their systematic exclusion at the border.
Trump directed the Justice Department to investigate oil companies for alleged gas-price gouging
In a Truth Social post shortly after midnight on June 24, 2026, President Trump announced that he had instructed the Justice Department to "immediately start looking into" oil companies for "gouging" consumers, alleging they had failed to lower pump prices in line with falling crude prices amid U.S.-Iran de-escalation. Trump named no companies and cited no evidence, and the American Petroleum Institute noted that gasoline prices do not move in lockstep with crude during supply disruptions. A DOJ spokesperson affirmed a commitment to fuel affordability but announced no formal probe.
New York Times reported Trump DOJ appointees killed criminal probe into alleged payments for Gentile commutation
On June 21, 2026, the New York Times reported that Trump administration DOJ appointees shut down a criminal probe examining whether improper payments secured David Gentile's November 2025 commutation. Gentile, convicted of operating a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme, was freed within two weeks of beginning a seven-year sentence. The probe ended abruptly after the Times began asking the White House and federal prosecutors about the investigation.
Trump cancels Jay Clayton DNI confirmation hearing, demands Senate pass SAVE America Act
At approximately 4 a.m. ET on June 17, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social canceling Jay Clayton's Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for Director of National Intelligence, hours before it was scheduled to begin. Trump conditioned Clayton's confirmation on the Senate passing the SAVE America Act — a voter ID bill that had already failed — and also threatened to block reauthorization of FISA Section 702, a major intelligence surveillance authority, unless it was tied to that legislation. The move left Bill Pulte, Trump's acting DNI pick with no intelligence background, in the role for at least several additional weeks.
Brian Kemp convened Georgia redistricting session under Trump pressure to reduce minority representation; legislature blocked it
Following the Supreme Court's June 2026 Louisiana v. Callais ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act's Section 2 protections, President Trump pressured Republican-led states to redraw electoral maps mid-decade to reduce minority representation. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp convened a special legislative session on June 17, 2026 to undertake redistricting; voting rights groups estimated ~26 legislative seats with large minority populations were at risk. House Speaker Jon Burns blocked the session before it could proceed, announcing the legislature would not take up redistricting without more public input and further court development of post-Callais doctrine.
Newsom says Trump's DOJ is investigating him and his wife, alleging political retaliation
On June 15, 2026, California Gov. Gavin Newsom disclosed that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and accused President Trump of personally directing the probe as political retaliation for his potential 2028 presidential run. The DOJ's Public Integrity Section, working with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, has been examining alleged tax fraud and misuse of nonprofit funds tied to Siebel Newsom, issuing subpoenas and interviewing associates. Justice Department officials have said the inquiry originated earlier from whistleblower information and was not ordered by the White House.
White House hosts UFC 'Freedom 250' with fighter bonuses paid in Trump-family crypto
President Trump hosted a UFC mixed-martial-arts card, "Freedom 250," on the White House South Lawn on June 14, 2026, his 80th birthday. World Liberty Financial — a crypto venture of the Trump family, which reportedly receives roughly 75% of net token proceeds — served as presenting partner of the event's fighter bonus pool, adding about $250,000 in "Performance of the Night" bonuses paid in its own USD1 stablecoin. The Trump Organization separately marketed commemorative coins tied to the event.
U.S. strike in Venezuela kills Tren de Aragua leader Héctor Guerrero Flores
President Trump announced on June 12, 2026, that U.S. Southern Command carried out a "kinetic strike" in Bolívar state, Venezuela, that killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores ("Niño Guerrero"), the alleged longtime leader of Tren de Aragua. The named target had been indicted in U.S. federal court and carried a $5 million U.S. bounty, but was killed without arrest, trial, or judicial process. Trump said the operation was closely coordinated with the Venezuelan government, which confirmed a combined operation in Bolívar state.
U.S. resumes Iran strikes for a second straight day, defying House war-powers resolution
On June 10–11, 2026, the United States resumed major airstrikes against Iran for a second consecutive day, collapsing a ceasefire that had held since early April and re-escalating a war the executive branch began on February 28, 2026 without congressional authorization. The strikes came barely a week after the House passed a War Powers Resolution, 215–208, directing the President to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran absent a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force. The administration continued to assert that the resolution's 60-day clock did not apply because a ceasefire had "paused" it, pressing ahead with strikes over Congress's recorded objection.
Trump signed proclamation stripping commercial fishing bans from ~500,000 square miles of Pacific marine monuments
On June 11, 2026, President Trump signed a proclamation modifying four prior Antiquities Act designations to remove commercial fishing prohibitions from approximately 500,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean, including zones within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, and the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. The proclamation overrode protections that Presidents Bush and Obama had established, opening the areas to federally managed commercial fishing by U.S.-flagged vessels. Environmental groups immediately announced legal challenges on the grounds that the Antiquities Act authorizes monument creation but does not grant presidents power to eliminate monument protections.
Trump blocked Gordie Howe Bridge opening, benefiting Moroun family donors who gave $1 million to Trump super PAC
President Trump refused to allow the Gordie Howe International Bridge — a completed Detroit-Windsor crossing built jointly by Canada and Michigan — to open, causing cancellation of a scheduled June 11, 2026 grand opening at the last minute. The Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge and donated $1 million to a Trump-aligned super PAC, stands to benefit from the new bridge remaining closed. Canadian officials, including Windsor's mayor, publicly named the Moroun family's financial ties to Trump as the likely driver of his opposition.
Public Citizen investigation reveals Freedom250 funneled $103M through pay-to-play donor tiers, sidelining Congress's America250 commission
A June 11, 2026 Public Citizen investigation found that the Trump administration directed at least $103 million in federal contracts and grants for the nation's 250th-anniversary celebrations to Freedom250 — a fundraising entity established under a January 2025 executive order's task force and incorporated in October 2025 as a National Park Foundation subsidiary — while the bipartisan, congressionally- chartered America250 commission received only $50 million of its promised $100 million appropriation. Freedom250, run by Keith Krach, simultaneously operated a tiered donor scheme in which contributions of $1 million or more purchased private receptions and photo opportunities with President Trump. Investigators found that some donors who intended to give to America250 were provided incorrect wire instructions redirecting their funds to Freedom250 instead.
U.S. strike enforcing Iran oil blockade kills three Indian sailors aboard tanker off Oman
On June 10, 2026, U.S. forces enforcing an executive-ordered naval blockade of Iranian oil exports fired on the Palau-flagged oil tanker M/T Settebello in the Gulf of Oman, killing three of its 24 Indian crew members — deck cadet Aditya Sharma, engine fitter Shivanand Chaurasiya, and chief engineer Patnala Suresh. U.S. Central Command said it disabled the tanker for violating the blockade as it allegedly attempted to carry Iranian oil, and has described the crews of targeted vessels as having repeatedly failed to comply with U.S. directions. India confirmed the deaths and summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on June 11 to lodge a formal protest, and the U.N. International Maritime Organization called the targeting of seafarers "unacceptable."
Trump directs acting DNI Pulte to start firing intelligence community personnel
In a Wall Street Journal interview published June 5, 2026, President Trump said he has directed newly installed acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to "start the process" of firing national-security personnel and to make the intelligence community smaller, framing the targets as career officials who served under the Biden and Obama administrations. Trump said Pulte's "acting" status leaves him "less shackled" to execute rapid cuts, and indicated he does not intend to formally nominate Pulte — who has no national-security background — for the permanent role.
DOJ sends a federal prosecutor to observe the Los Angeles ballot count amid Trump's baseless fraud claims
On June 5, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles, led by Trump appointee Bill Essayli, said it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" into California's elections and dispatched an assistant U.S. attorney to Los Angeles County's vote-counting center. The move followed days of evidence-free claims by President Trump that Democrats were "rigging" the slow primary count for governor, Los Angeles mayor, and Congress, and inserted federal pressure into a routine state-run tabulation that local officials said was proceeding normally.
Trump claims without evidence that California Democrats are 'stealing' state primaries
As California carried out its routine post-election ballot count following the June 2 primary, President Trump posted on Truth Social accusing Democrats, without evidence, of trying to "steal" the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral races by misusing mail-in ballots and deliberately delaying the tally. He asserted the count was "under investigation" by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles — which declined to comment — even though California law routinely allows up to 30 days to count ballots and certify results.
Trump invokes Defense Production Act to direct ~$700M to the coal industry
On June 4, 2026, the Trump administration moved to direct roughly $700 million in federal support to the coal industry, invoking the Defense Production Act — a 1950 national-defense statute — to fund coal-fired power plants and export infrastructure. The package routes about $425 million in DPA funds to 13 existing plants across 10 states, roughly $185 million in Energy Department grants to build two new coal plants (Alaska and West Virginia) and restart a Maryland plant, and $75 million in DPA funds toward the West Gateway coal export terminal in Oakland, California. It builds on an April 20, 2026 Presidential Determination declaring coal supply chains and baseload power "essential to national defense," with the stated rationale being rising electricity demand from AI and data centers rather than a defense emergency.
Trump pardons ex-Rep. Stephen Buyer, convicted of insider trading, after GOP lobbying campaign
On June 4, 2026, President Donald Trump granted a "full, complete, and unconditional" pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana convicted in 2023 of securities fraud for two insider-trading schemes, sentenced to 22 months, and ordered to forfeit more than $350,000. The proclamation cites the "advice and recommendation" of more than 50 current and former Republican members of Congress, whose letters — which Trump amplified on Truth Social on May 31 — cast the jury conviction as Biden-administration "lawfare" against a "deep state" target.
Trump signs order stripping civil-service protections from ~8,000 senior federal workers
On June 3, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order implementing "Schedule Policy/Career" — a revival of the first-term "Schedule F" — that reclassifies roughly 8,000 senior career federal positions, about 97% of them at the GS-15 level or above, into a new at-will category. Affected employees lose civil-service removal protections and the right to appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, letting agencies fire them without cause. The Office of Personnel Management, which finalized the underlying rule, had earlier estimated up to 50,000 positions could ultimately be covered and has not ruled out expanding the pool.
Trump reclassified ~8,000 senior career federal workers as at-will under Schedule Policy/Career
On June 3, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order formalizing the "Schedule Policy/Career" classification, converting roughly 8,000 senior career civil-service positions into at-will employment removable without the procedural protections established by the Civil Service Reform Act. The order revives the first-term "Schedule F" concept (EO 13957) and lists "subversion of Presidential directives" among the grounds for removal; about 97% of affected positions are GS-15 or Senior Level roles, including directors, chiefs of staff, senior advisers, and regulation drafters. Federal unions and good-government groups warn it strips merit-system protections from policy-influencing career staff by executive action, outside the legislative process.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~63rd strike, ~207 campaign deaths
On June 3, 2026, the U.S. military struck a vessel it alleged was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men, according to U.S. Southern Command. The strike was part of Operation Southern Spear, the administration's open-ended military campaign against suspected traffickers begun in September 2025; the Pentagon provided no evidence the boat carried drugs and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings. The reported cumulative death toll from the campaign's boat strikes reached at least 207.
Trump names Bill Pulte acting Director of National Intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard
On June 2, 2026, President Trump named Bill Pulte — director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, with no intelligence background — acting Director of National Intelligence, succeeding Tulsi Gabbard, who plans to resign effective June 30. The acting designation lets Pulte lead the 18-agency intelligence community without Senate confirmation while he keeps his FHFA post and his chairmanship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Federal "summer surge" to nearly double DC National Guard to ~5,000 for America 250
Federal officials announced a "summer surge" of the DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, requesting roughly 1,500 additional National Guard members to raise the federalized troop presence in Washington, D.C. to about 5,000 (up from ~2,800) ahead of the America 250 / July 4, 2026 celebrations. The plan keeps Guard members on Title 32 orders under the D.C. National Guard and folds militarized enforcement tools — high- visibility patrols, drones, tactical K-9 units, and helicopters — into routine policing of the capital, with no announced end date.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~62nd strike, ~205 campaign deaths
On May 31, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as a drug-trafficking boat, killing three men in the fourth such strike of the week. SOUTHCOM said the boat was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization but provided no evidence, and said the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America. The strike is the latest in an open-ended military campaign begun in early September 2025 whose reported death toll has now reached roughly 205, carried out with no judicial process and no congressional authorization for hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.
Trump demands a federal judge be criminally charged and impeached over a ruling against him
On May 30, 2026, President Donald Trump published a 700-word Truth Social post demanding that U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper "be brought up on charges" and impeached over Cooper's ruling that the Kennedy Center board lacked authority to rename the institution after Trump. Trump asserted the judge had "a total Conflict of Interest," citing the political affiliations of Cooper's wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, rather than any finding of judicial misconduct. The demand to prosecute and remove a sitting judge specifically for how he ruled is a direct pressure campaign against judicial independence.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; ~61st strike, ~205 campaign deaths
On May 30, 2026, U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The strike was directed by Gen. Francis L. Donovan, SOUTHCOM commander, under the authorization of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. SOUTHCOM described the vessel as engaged in drug-trafficking operations, operated by a designated terrorist organization, but provided no evidence and no judicial process.
Court finds Trump board unlawfully renamed Kennedy Center and 'preordained' its two-year closure
On May 29, 2026, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in a 94-page decision that President Trump's handpicked Kennedy Center board acted unlawfully when it unilaterally added Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, holding that only Congress can rename the congressionally chartered institution and ordering the name removed from the building and website within 14 days. The court also enjoined the board's March 2026 vote to close the center for two years, calling it an "ill-informed and seemingly preordained decision" reached through "an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information." The ruling authoritatively establishes that the Trump-chaired board overstepped its statutory authority.
U.S. Postal Service proposes rule requiring states to submit mail-ballot voter lists, implementing Trump's elections executive order
On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (published in the Federal Register June 2) that would require state election officials to submit the names and ballot barcodes of voters who request mail-in or absentee ballots to a new federal "Federal Ballot Mail Portal," and would direct USPS to deliver ballots only to voters on the resulting lists. The rulemaking implements President Trump's March 31 executive order (EO 14399) asserting federal control over mail voting — authority the Constitution's Elections Clause reserves to the states and to Congress, not the president. The proposal is not final and faces legal challenge; the act recorded here is the executive directing a federal agency to claim that authority, not the (contingent) disenfranchisement that would follow if it takes effect.
Trump signed order directing CDC to align child vaccine schedule with Kennedy-backed study
On May 29, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to align federal childhood vaccine recommendations with a January 2026 HHS scientific assessment favored by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The assessment recommends narrowing routine childhood vaccination to 11 diseases, moving several others to case-by-case "shared decision-making" between doctors and parents.
HRW: 4,353 Cubans deported to Mexico under undisclosed US deal, denied due process
In a report released May 27, 2026, Human Rights Watch documented that between January 20, 2025 and March 9, 2026 the Trump administration deported more than 18,000 third-country nationals, nearly 13,000 of them to Mexico under an undisclosed US-Mexico agreement; Cubans were the largest group, with 4,353 sent to Mexico. HRW found that none of the 53 deportees it interviewed were given any opportunity to contest their country of removal, a violation of due-process requirements under the Immigration and Nationality Act and international law, and that detainees faced overcrowding, denial of medical care, and guard violence in US custody before being left stranded in southern Mexico.
Trump ordered D.C. National Guard levels not be lowered; Hegseth pledged to 'surge this summer'
At a White House cabinet meeting on May 27, 2026, President Donald Trump publicly directed that the number of National Guard troops deployed across Washington, D.C. not be reduced, saying "don't lower the number." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at the same table, responded that the administration would "surge this summer too." The exchange committed the executive branch to maintaining and expanding an ongoing federalized National Guard presence in the District, part of the administration's domestic security posture in U.S. cities.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 60th strike, ~196 campaign deaths
On May 27, 2026, U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as operated by a designated terrorist organization, killing two men. It was the 60th strike of Operation Southern Spear and the second in two days, following a May 26 strike that killed one. The Pentagon offered no evidence the vessel carried drugs, and Congress has not authorized hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.
Trump publicly backs Kalshi and Polymarket, where son Donald Trump Jr. is a paid adviser, as his administration sues states to block their regulation
On May 27, 2026, President Trump declared on Truth Social that prediction-market firms Kalshi and Polymarket "will thrive" under his leadership and that the federal government is "setting the rules of the road" as the "gold standard for the States," while his administration actively backs the companies against state regulators. The CFTC and Department of Justice have sued Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois — and contested Minnesota's first-in-the-nation ban — to block states from regulating the operators as gambling. Donald Trump Jr. is a paid strategic adviser to both firms and his venture firm 1789 Capital is a major Polymarket investor, so the favorable federal posture directly benefits the president's family.
Pentagon awards Dell ~$9.7B software contract weeks after Trump bought Dell stock and publicly promoted the company
On May 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a five-year, roughly $9.7 billion blanket purchase agreement with Dell for Microsoft enterprise software and cloud services, consolidating dozens of separate contracts. The award came after President Donald Trump's portfolio acquired between $1 million and $5 million in Dell stock in early February 2026 (with smaller follow-on purchases in March, per his ethics disclosure) and after he repeatedly praised Dell and urged supporters to buy its products. Government-ethics specialists said the deal created the appearance of a conflict of interest, though under current rules it is not an ethics violation.
JTF Southern Spear killed one aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~59th strike, ~194 campaign deaths
On May 26, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as a suspected drug-trafficking boat, killing one man and leaving two survivors. The strike continues an open-ended military campaign begun in early September 2025 that has now killed at least 194 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean theaters; the Pentagon has not provided evidence that any struck vessel was carrying drugs, and Congress has not authorized hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.
Southern Poverty Law Center moves to dismiss DOJ fraud indictment as vindictive prosecution
On May 26, 2026, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama asking a federal judge to dismiss as vindictive prosecution the 11-count indictment the Justice Department obtained against it in April 2026 on wire-fraud, false-statement, and money-laundering charges. The motion documents a sustained pattern of public hostility from President Trump and senior officials toward the civil-rights group — including Trump branding it "one of the greatest political scams in American History" — and notes the FBI and IRS reviewed the same conduct in 2019-2020 without seeking charges, only for the case to be reopened after SPLC became a frequent target of the administration. The court has not yet ruled on the motion.
South Carolina Senate blocks Trump-pressured mid-decade gerrymander of Clyburn's district
On May 26, 2026, the South Carolina state Senate blocked a Trump-pressured mid-decade redistricting bill that would have redrawn the state's seven congressional districts to dismantle its only majority-Black and only Democratic-held seat, long represented by Rep. James "Jim" Clyburn, and position Republicans to win all seven seats. Twelve Republicans joined twelve Democrats on a procedural vote to deny the 26 votes needed to end debate, killing the map for the cycle. It is the first state in President Trump's national mid-decade redistricting drive where the legislative push has collapsed.
South Carolina Senate advances congressional map dismantling its only majority-minority district
On May 23, 2026, the South Carolina state Senate advanced a new congressional redistricting map on a 27-17 second-reading vote, after invoking cloture earlier in the day to cap each member's floor debate at one hour and abandoning a planned overnight session to move ahead of schedule. The map redraws the state's seven U.S. House districts to break up the 6th Congressional District -- South Carolina's only majority-minority district and its only Democratic-held seat, long represented by Rep. James Clyburn -- positioning Republicans to win all seven seats. The bill also delays the state's congressional primary from June 9 to August 18; a decisive third-reading vote is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26.
Trump signs executive order treating immigration status as a financial-risk factor
On May 19, 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, "Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System," directing the Treasury Department and federal bank regulators to treat customers' immigration status as a financial-risk factor. The order tells Treasury to issue an advisory flagging "red flags" tied to non-work authorized populations -- including the use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers and foreign consular identification cards -- and directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider treating "potential deportation and loss of wages" as factors weighing against a borrower's ability to repay. It stops short of an earlier-reported plan to mandate citizenship collection, but legal experts warned it could push undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens out of the banking system.
DOJ order bars IRS from auditing Trump, his family, and their businesses for prior tax returns
On May 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a one-page order, signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and not co-signed by the IRS, declaring the federal government "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing tax examinations of President Donald Trump, his relatives, trusts, and businesses for returns filed before the underlying settlement's effective date. The order expanded the previously announced $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" settlement — under which Trump and his adult sons dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — and effectively forecloses a long-running audit that, per earlier reporting, could have produced an IRS bill exceeding $100 million. The DOJ later said the bar applies only to existing audits, not to returns Trump files in the future.
Trump administration proposes reserving 10,000 added refugee slots for white South Africans
On May 18, 2026, the State Department sent Congress an emergency determination proposing to raise the fiscal-year 2026 refugee admissions ceiling from 7,500 -- the lowest in U.S. history -- to 17,500, with all 10,000 additional slots reserved for white South African Afrikaners. The department justified the carve-out by citing an "emergency refugee situation" of race-based persecution, a characterization the South African government rejects. The expansion advances while U.S. refugee admissions from other countries remain effectively frozen: of the 6,069 refugees resettled between October 2025 and the end of April 2026, 6,066 were South African.
DOJ created a $1.776 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' to settle Trump's $10 billion lawsuit and related claims against the federal government
On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," financed through the federal Judgment Fund, to compensate individuals who allege they were unfairly targeted by the federal government on "political, personal, or ideological grounds." The fund was established as part of an agreement under which President Trump, his two adult sons, and the Trump Organization dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the 2019 leak of Trump's tax returns, along with related damages claims arising from the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search and the Russia- collusion investigation. The president and co-plaintiffs receive a formal apology and no direct monetary damages; the $1.776 billion instead flows to a class of beneficiaries — Trump's broadly stated "allies" — selected by the DOJ.
Trump demanded a DOJ investigation into Maryland's mail-ballot error and blamed Gov. Wes Moore for alleged fraud
On May 18, 2026, President Trump publicly demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate Maryland's mail-ballot administration and blamed Democratic Governor Wes Moore, claiming without evidence that Moore had allowed the problem "in order to make sure that Democrats win." The underlying incident was a vendor coding error, disclosed publicly by the Maryland State Board of Elections, that sent roughly 400,000 voters primary ballots for the wrong party; state officials said no illegal ballots were distributed or counted. Moore's office called Trump's fraud accusation "false and irresponsible."
Trump White House backed taxpayer-funded 'Rededicate 250' worship service on National Mall
On May 17, 2026, the Trump White House backed an all-day evangelical worship service — "Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving" — on the National Mall, funded through a mix of taxpayer dollars and private donations. President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared by video, and House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed the crowd in person alongside religious leaders. Church-state separation advocates and constitutional-law scholars said the federal government's endorsement and partial funding of an explicitly Christian worship service on federal land raised First Amendment Establishment Clause concerns.
Colorado Gov. Polis commutes Tina Peters' election-tampering sentence after Trump pressure campaign
On May 15, 2026, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the nine-year prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, convicted in 2024 of tampering with the county's election equipment, ordering her release on parole June 1, 2026 -- roughly halving her sentence. The commutation followed a months-long public pressure campaign by President Donald Trump that combined personal insults of Polis ("Scumbag Governor"), threats to federal disaster aid and federal program placements in Colorado, and repeated demands on Truth Social to "FREE TINA!" Peters's conviction was a state offense and so sat outside Trump's federal pardon power; clemency could come only from Polis.
Trump misses STOCK Act 45-day deadline; OGE fines him twice for late stock-trade disclosures
A May 15, 2026 Washington Post analysis of financial-disclosure forms the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released the prior day reported that President Donald Trump missed the 45-day filing deadline the STOCK Act imposes on covered securities transactions, and that OGE assessed him $200 fines on two separate occasions for failing to report stock trades on time. The late filings include a February 10, 2026 Nvidia purchase made days before a market-moving Meta–Nvidia deal that lifted Nvidia shares roughly 2.5 percent, and $5 million–$25 million each in Microsoft and Amazon sold in February and repurchased in March shortly before the Pentagon announced plans to deploy Microsoft and Amazon technology in classified computer networks.
President Trump bought more than $500,000 in Palantir stock, then publicly praised the federal contractor on Truth Social
Newly released federal ethics filings disclosed in May 2026 show that President Donald Trump purchased more than $500,000 in Palantir Technologies stock — a company holding extensive federal contracts across ICE, the Defense Department, and other agencies his administration directs — over the weeks before he publicly praised the company on Truth Social ("Just ask our enemies"). The buy-then-tout sequence, reported May 15, 2026, drew ethics scrutiny because the President used the office's public platform to boost a stock he personally holds and whose revenue depends on his administration's contracting decisions.
Trump conducted $220M-$750M in securities transactions while in office, including trades in companies affected by his administration's decisions
On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released two financial-disclosure forms covering President Donald Trump's first three months of his second term. The filings show more than 3,700 individual securities transactions in major U.S. corporate equities — including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, Broadcom, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Nvidia, Apple, and Amazon — with a cumulative dollar range of $220 million to $750 million. The president is simultaneously the chief executive whose administration regulates, contracts with, sues, prosecutes, and sets trade policy affecting many of the same companies. Subsequent Associated Press reporting on May 19, 2026 identified specific positions whose value was directly affected by the president's own decisions — among them Nvidia, after he approved its advanced-chip sales to China; major U.S. defense contractors, amid the Iran war; and Intel, after the federal government took a 10% equity stake. The OGE disclosure form by design reports values only in broad ranges, with no execution date, direction (purchase/sale of equivalent securities can both appear separately), price, profit, or counterparty information.
Interior Secretary Burgum unveils a Tom Fazio redesign of D.C.'s East Potomac Golf Links
On May 14, 2026, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum publicly unveiled, via his official @SecretaryBurgum account, a Tom Fazio design for the federally led renovation of East Potomac Golf Links, a century-old District of Columbia municipal course. Fazio Golf Design is the firm of architect Tom Fazio, who designed President Donald Trump's Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and has worked on multiple other Trump courses; Trump and Burgum will jointly oversee the East Potomac redesign. The arrangement follows the December 2025 termination by the Trump administration of the National Links Trust's 50-year lease covering East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek and a May 2026 National Park Service deal placing the East Potomac renovation under an NPS-led group of public and private partners rather than the NLT.
Pentagon plans to rename Iran war 'Sledgehammer' to restart the War Powers 60-day clock
On May 12, 2026, NBC News reported — citing two U.S. officials and a White House official — that the Pentagon is preparing to officially rename the U.S. war with Iran from "Operation Epic Fury" to "Operation Sledgehammer" if the current ceasefire collapses and President Trump orders the resumption of major combat operations. The White House official told NBC that any renewed campaign would be conducted under a new name and that, from the administration's perspective, this would effectively restart the 60-day clock under the 1973 War Powers Resolution that requires congressional authorization for sustained hostilities. The maneuver layers onto the administration's existing position that the early-April ceasefire paused the statutory clock — which expired May 1 by Antiwar.com's count — even as the United States has continued to enforce a blockade of Iran.
DOJ subpoenas Wall Street Journal reporters' records over Iran-war leaks after Trump hands acting AG Blanche stack of articles marked 'Treason'
On May 11, 2026, The Wall Street Journal publicly disclosed that the Justice Department had issued grand jury subpoenas for its reporters' records, tied to a February 23, 2026 WSJ article — five days before the Iran war began — that reported on Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and other Pentagon officials warning President Trump about the risks of an extended military campaign against Iran. CNN reported the same day that Trump personally pushed the DOJ to issue the subpoenas, delivering the directive to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a White House meeting in the form of a stack of printed articles topped by a sticky note reading "Treason" in Sharpie. CNN further reported that other news outlets have also received DOJ subpoenas in recent months.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~58th strike, ~192 campaign deaths
On May 8, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as a suspected drug-trafficking boat, killing two people and leaving one survivor. SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to begin search-and-rescue operations and called the boat a narcotrafficker but provided no public evidence; the strike is the third deadly attack in five days and brings the open-ended campaign's reported death toll to roughly 192 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean theaters.
CNN reveals DOJ shakeup of Brennan probe: career prosecutors warned case was too weak, told 'that's not good enough'
On May 8, 2026, CNN published an investigation detailing how the Justice Department restructured the criminal probe of former CIA Director John Brennan after career prosecutors told leadership the evidence did not support charges. At a Washington meeting earlier in 2026 attended by Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, lead prosecutor Maria Medetis Long told acting Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald and his top deputy Trent McCotter the case against Brennan was too weak to bring; the reply, per two people briefed on the meeting, was "that's not good enough." Medetis Long was removed days later. CNN reports that with Trump ally Joe diGenova installed in Fort Pierce, Florida, the investigation has been "essentially reset" into a broader conspiracy probe, more than 150 subpoenas have been issued, and another round of subpoenas targeting officials close to Brennan is expected. CBS News corroborates that DOJ veterans fear the probe is being staffed with Trump loyalists.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; 57th strike, ~194 campaign deaths
On May 5, 2026, JTF Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike against an alleged narcotics vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men. U.S. Southern Command provided no evidence the vessel carried drugs, and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings.
FCC orders early license review of Disney's ABC stations a day after Trump demands Kimmel's firing
On April 28, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission ordered The Walt Disney Company to file early renewal applications within 30 days for the eight ABC-owned broadcast television stations it operates, licenses not otherwise due for renewal for years. The order came one day after President Trump publicly demanded that ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about First Lady Melania Trump. The FCC cited an open investigation into Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion policies, a rationale widely viewed as pretextual given the timing.
Federal grand jury indicts ex-FBI Director James Comey a second time over '86 47' post
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted former FBI Director James Comey on April 28, 2026, on two counts arising from a May 2025 Instagram post of seashells arranged to read "86 47," which the Justice Department casts as a death threat against President Trump. The charges follow the 2025 collapse of an earlier DOJ case against Comey and the dismissal weeks earlier of Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom Trump faulted for not pursuing his agenda aggressively enough.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~55th strike, ~186 campaign deaths
On April 26, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as an alleged drug-trafficking boat, killing three people. SOUTHCOM posted a video of the strike on X and said the boat was transiting "known narco-trafficking routes," but provided no public evidence that it carried narcotics. The attack was the latest in the Trump administration's open-ended boat-strike campaign, which by late April had killed at least 186 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.
Trump fires all 22 members of the National Science Board overseeing the NSF
On April 24, 2026, the Trump White House emailed all 22 seated members of the National Science Board — the statutory body Congress created in 1950 to set National Science Foundation policy, submit its budget, and approve its programs and awards — informing them their positions were "terminated, effective immediately." The mass dismissal removed the NSF's entire congressionally-created oversight body in a single morning, without legislative action and without replacement appointments in hand, leaving the agency's roughly $9 billion in research funding without its governing board.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~54th strike, ~183 campaign deaths
On April 24, 2026, U.S. forces operating under Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel they alleged was engaged in narco-trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, U.S. Southern Command said. SOUTHCOM asserted the boat was operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" but, consistent with the entire campaign, released no public evidence that the vessel carried drugs and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings. The strike was part of Operation Southern Spear, the open-ended military campaign begun in September 2025 whose reported cumulative death toll had reached at least 183.
Pentagon awards $24M humanoid-robot contract to Foundation Future Industries, where Eric Trump is chief strategy adviser
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded approximately $24 million in research contracts (across the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force) to Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco robotics startup whose chief strategy adviser is Eric Trump, son of sitting President Donald Trump. On April 23, 2026, Eric Trump appeared on Fox Business's "Mornings with Maria" alongside Foundation CEO Sankaet Pathak to publicly tout the deal, and Democracy Now! reported on his promotion of it the following day. The contracts fund testing of the company's "Phantom" humanoid robots for military applications, with two Phantom MK-1 units sent to Ukraine in February 2026 for logistics and reconnaissance testing.
DOJ refers 384 naturalized Americans for denaturalization in record-volume push
On April 23, 2026, The New York Times first reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had identified 384 foreign-born, naturalized U.S. citizens as a "first wave" of denaturalization targets, with cases being distributed to federal prosecutors in 39 U.S. Attorney's offices across the country. A DOJ spokesperson, citing the leadership of President Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, called it "the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history." The push follows a June 2025 directive from Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate ordering the Civil Division to "prioritize and maximally pursue" denaturalization, with an internal cadence of roughly 100–200 referrals per month — against a 1990–2017 baseline of about 11 cases per year and a total of 120 cases attempted between 2017 and the end of 2025.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 52nd strike, ~178 campaign deaths
On April 15, 2026, U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel it alleged was operated by designated terrorist organizations in the eastern Pacific, killing three men it described as "narco-terrorists." It was the fifth lethal U.S. boat strike in five days and raised the reported death toll from Operation Southern Spear to at least 178 across roughly 53 targeted vessels since September 2025. The Pentagon released an unclassified video but offered no evidence the boat carried drugs, and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings.
JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 51st strike, ~175 campaign deaths
On April 14, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as a suspected narco-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four men. Reported as the 51st strike in the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign and the fourth in roughly five days, it brought the campaign's cumulative reported death toll to at least 175. SOUTHCOM released aerial video and said intelligence confirmed the vessel was on known trafficking routes, but the administration again provided no public evidence for its "narco-terrorist" designation.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 50th strike, ~169 campaign deaths
On April 13, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men. USNI News identified it as the 50th strike since the administration's maritime lethal-force campaign began on September 1, 2025, putting the campaign's cumulative reported death toll at least 169. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was transiting known narco-trafficking routes but released no evidence that it carried drugs or posed an imminent threat.
JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 48th-49th strikes, ~168 campaign deaths
On Saturday, April 11, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels it described as drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five men and leaving one survivor of the first strike. SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to launch a search-and-rescue effort for the survivor. The same-day double strike — reported as the campaign's 48th and 49th — brought Operation Southern Spear's cumulative reported death toll to at least 168, and as in prior strikes the military provided no evidence that the vessels were carrying drugs.
Trump sold up to $1 million in ExxonMobil stock the same day he announced the Iran ceasefire, hours before shares fell 6.5%
President Trump's investment accounts sold between $500,000 and $1 million in ExxonMobil stock on April 7, 2026, the same day Trump declared a ceasefire in the U.S.-Iran war; Exxon closed at $163.91 that day and opened 6.5% lower the next morning. The sale was one of hundreds of thousands of dollars in trades across Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other oil and gas companies that Trump's accounts made during the first half of 2026, a period in which his disclosed energy holdings rose in value from an estimated $13–46 million to $17–61 million as the war drove oil prices higher. The White House said Trump's portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions and that neither he nor his family directs individual trades.
National Park Service awards $6.9M no-bid Reflecting Pool contract to a Trump-chosen firm
On April 3, 2026, the National Park Service awarded a $6.9 million no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings — a Virginia firm that had never previously held a federal contract — to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and paint its basin blue. President Donald Trump said he personally selected the firm, citing its work on his private swimming pools, and the administration invoked a competitive-bidding exemption reserved for urgent situations without claiming the injury that exemption requires, citing instead Trump's wish to finish before the July 4 celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary. Government documents reported by The New York Times indicate the cost has already more than tripled the roughly $2 million Trump publicly promised and could exceed $12 million.
Trump signs second federal-elections executive order asserting presidential control over voter eligibility and mail voting
On March 31, 2026, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14399, "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," directing the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to compile federal "citizenship verification" lists and instructing the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters on those lists. Constitutional law experts, federal courts, and 24 state attorneys general have stated that the president has no authority under the Elections Clause (Art. I, Sec. 4) to set federal voting procedures — a position that already produced a 2025 injunction against substantial portions of Trump's first elections executive order.
Trump signs EO 14398 exposing federal contractors' DEI programs to False Claims Act liability
On March 26, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14398, "Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors," directing agencies to insert a mandatory clause — flowing down to subcontractors at every tier — that bars "racially discriminatory" diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and makes compliance material to government payment decisions, exposing contractors to False Claims Act liability and to cancellation, suspension, or debarment. The order directs the Attorney General to prioritize False Claims Act enforcement against violators and defines covered "program participation" expansively to include training, mentoring, leadership-development programs, clubs, and associations. A legal challenge was filed within days, and the new clause was set to take effect April 24, 2026.
Trump ordered ICE deployed to 14 airports as explicit shutdown pressure on Democrats, displacing TSA roles
On March 23, 2026, President Trump ordered armed, uniformed ICE agents deployed to at least 14 major U.S. airports — including Phoenix, Houston, Chicago, New York, and New Orleans — to staff security checkpoints alongside TSA officers during a partial government shutdown that had begun February 14, 2026. Trump stated the deployment was intended to "ramp up pressure on Democrats" over shutdown funding, and threatened to deploy the National Guard to airports if ICE's presence proved insufficient.
DOE and Commerce awarded SoftBank a federal AI data-center land deal two months after its $50 million gift to Trump's library
On March 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Commerce announced a partnership letting SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy redevelop the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant near Piketon, Ohio into a 10-gigawatt AI data-center campus on federal land. SoftBank had donated $50 million to Trump's presidential library in January 2026, while its proposal was reported to be on the administration's shortlist for the project; congressional Democrats disclosed the donation's timing on August 6, 2026, after SoftBank confirmed the dates in a written response to their inquiry.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 46th strike, ~158 campaign deaths
On March 19, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as transiting known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific Ocean, identified by USNI News as the 46th strike since the administration's maritime lethal-force campaign began on September 1, 2025. SOUTHCOM announced the strike the next day and said it had notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue for survivors; the Coast Guard ultimately rescued one survivor, and two people were killed. As throughout the campaign, which by this point had killed at least 156 people, those aboard were targeted without charge, trial, identification, or judicial authorization.
Wright invokes Defense Production Act to override California, restart Sable oil pipelines
On March 13, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order delegating his Defense Production Act authority to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who that same day ordered Sable Offshore Corp. to restart the Santa Ynez Unit and its offshore pipeline system along the California coast. The lines had been shut since the 2015 Refugio oil spill and remained subject to California regulatory approval; invoking the 1950 national-defense statute let the administration override the state hold, and oil resumed flowing on March 14. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued days later, calling the order executive overreach that purported to authorize illegal oil transportation through state-regulated pipelines.
DOJ dropped Ticketmaster breakup demand, settled Live Nation antitrust case mid-trial; Trump had personally called CEO Rapino before deal
On March 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a surprise mid-trial settlement with Live Nation Entertainment, abandoning its demand for Ticketmaster's divestiture and accepting structural remedies that included a fee cap and a $280 million fund — far short of the breakup the Biden-era DOJ had sought. The settlement was announced while the antitrust trial was underway in New York and blindsided the judge and the DOJ's own trial team. A court filing disclosed June 24, 2026 documented that President Trump had personally spoken with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino before the settlement was reached, and that Live Nation had hired Trump allies during the same period.
Trump fired NTSB member Todd Inman before his term was set to expire in 2027
On March 6, 2026, the White House fired National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman without stated cause, despite his term running through the end of 2027. The administration later said the firing was based on allegations of on-the-job drinking, staff harassment, misuse of government resources, and missed meetings; Inman, a Republican appointed under the Biden administration, denied the allegations and called the firing "a political hit job." The dismissal follows a pattern of the administration removing members of other independent multi-member boards, including the Federal Reserve, the Surface Transportation Board, the EEOC, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ahead of their statutory terms.
Trump Organization files 'Trump 250' trademark applications tied to U.S. 250th anniversary
On March 6, 2026, DTTM Operations LLC — the entity that manages President Donald Trump's trademarks — filed five federal trademark applications for "Trump 250," covering merchandise such as clothing, drinkware, tote bags, stickers, and golf balls. The intent-to-use filings, tied to the nation's taxpayer-funded 250th-anniversary commemoration, would let the president's family business sell or license branded products around the milestone. Government-ethics observers questioned whether the sitting president is positioning his private company to profit from an official national event.
EPA illegally terminates $2.8B Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program
The Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Lee Zeldin and acting on Trump executive orders issued January 20, 2025, terminated the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program — a $2.8 billion program established by the Inflation Reduction Act to fund pollution reduction and climate readiness in underserved communities — and directed grantees to close their projects. On June 12, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel (D. South Carolina) ruled the termination "illegal" and voided the action, finding the EPA violated the Inflation Reduction Act. Gergel declined to issue a permanent injunction requiring reinstatement, noting that rehiring the fired program staff appeared "impractical," leaving hundreds of community projects in limbo.
Trump tells reporters no taxpayer money is spent on White House ballroom; federal agencies had already approved $300M
President Trump promised in 2025 that a new White House ballroom would be funded entirely by private donors, stating "no government to help us." However, costs escalated dramatically—from $200 million (July 2025) to $250 million, then $300 million, then $400 million, and finally $600 million or more by March 2026. Internal government documents reveal that by March 2026, when Trump publicly denied that "any taxpayer money" would be spent, over half the project's cost was already planned to be funded by federal agencies including the Secret Service, White House Military Office, and Executive Residence—totaling approximately $300 million in direct taxpayer subsidies. Trump's false public statements concealed this shift from private to public funding.
Trump orders federal agencies and contractors to cut off Anthropic over its AI-use limits
On February 27, 2026, President Trump ordered federal agencies and military contractors to halt business with the AI company Anthropic, giving the government roughly six months to phase out its products. The order followed the breakdown of Pentagon contract talks: the department sought access to Anthropic's Claude models "for all lawful purposes," while the company's acceptable-use policy barred their use for fully autonomous weapons and the mass domestic surveillance of Americans. Announcing the move on Truth Social, Trump called the company's refusal a "disastrous mistake," opening a retaliation campaign that culminated in the March 5 "supply chain risk" designation.
Trump threatened Netflix with "consequences" unless it fired board member Susan Rice amid pending Warner Bros. deal
On February 21, 2026, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Netflix should immediately fire board member Susan Rice or "pay the consequences," after Rice said on a podcast that corporations that acquiesce to Trump would be "held accountable" once Democrats regain power. Trump did not specify the consequences, but the threat came while Netflix's proposed $82 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery awaited Justice Department antitrust review — leverage Trump had referenced before regarding the deal.
White House fires court-appointed U.S. Attorney Donald Kinsella hours after judges seated him
After a federal court found the administration's prior U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York was serving unlawfully, the district's judges invoked 28 U.S.C. § 546 to appoint veteran prosecutor Donald T. Kinsella, who was sworn in on February 11, 2026. Within about five hours, the White House emailed Kinsella that the president had removed him, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche posted that "judges don't pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does," telling Kinsella, "You are fired."
Coast Guard sole-sourced $957 million Arctic icebreaker contract to Davie Defense without competitive bidding
On February 10, 2026, the U.S. Coast Guard awarded a sole-source, single-offer contract worth $957 million to Davie Defense Inc. for five Arctic Security Cutters, citing a public-interest exception rather than competing the work. The award completed an 11-ship, roughly $3.3 billion program that followed President Trump's personal push for a larger icebreaker fleet than the Coast Guard had itself requested; the program's first two contracts, awarded to Bollinger Shipyards and Rauma Marine Constructions on December 26, 2025, are recorded separately.
DOJ sought grand jury indictment of six lawmakers over anti-illegal-orders video; grand jury rejected the case
On February 10, 2026, attorneys from the office of Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, presented a criminal case to a federal grand jury seeking to indict six Democratic members of Congress — Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan — over a November 2025 social media video reminding military and intelligence personnel of their duty to refuse illegal orders. The grand jury declined to find probable cause, rejecting the indictment; no career federal prosecutors were involved in bringing the case. The attempt followed President Trump's public accusations that the lawmakers had committed "seditious" acts "punishable by death," and came about two months after an FBI counterterrorism inquiry into the same six lawmakers over the same video.
Trump purchased up to $5 million in Axon Enterprise stock 14 days before ICE posted a $220M Taser contract tailored to Axon's specifications
On February 10, 2026, President Donald Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million in Axon Enterprise stock, according to federal financial disclosure forms filed with the Office of Government Ethics in May 2026. Fourteen days later, on February 24, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a solicitation for a five-year, $220 million contract for roughly 17,800 conductive energy weapons whose technical specifications — including a 45-foot effective range and 10 individually deployable probes — procurement experts said effectively matched only Axon's TASER 10 model. Axon's stock rose more than 34% in the seven days following the ICE notice; no contract has been awarded.
Trump excluded Govs. Polis and Moore from bipartisan White House governors' meeting and dinner over their criticism
On February 6, 2026, President Trump restricted that month's White House working meeting of the National Governors Association to Republican governors only, and personally blocked Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore from the traditionally bipartisan black-tie dinner held alongside it. Other Democratic governors who have also criticized Trump, including California's Gavin Newsom and Illinois' JB Pritzker, remained invited to the dinner. NGA leadership said it would not treat the restricted meeting as an official NGA event, calling it a break from decades of bipartisan tradition.
President Trump and his sons sued the IRS and Treasury for $10 billion over a tax-return leak
On January 29, 2026, President Donald Trump, his two adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization filed suit in federal court in Florida against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department, seeking at least $10 billion in damages over the 2019 leak of Trump's tax returns. The complaint attributes legal responsibility to the IRS for the conduct of Charles Littlejohn, a Booz Allen Hamilton contractor with staff-like access to taxpayer records who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 for disclosing thousands of returns, including Trump's, to news organizations. Trump filed in his personal capacity; as the sitting president he also heads the executive branch whose Department of Justice is responsible for defending the federal agencies named as defendants.
FBI raids Fulton County, Georgia election office to seize 2020 ballots; DNI Gabbard joins
On January 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia election office in Union City, seizing the physical 2020 presidential-election ballots, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls of the county Donald Trump falsely blames for his narrow Georgia loss. The warrant followed a December 2025 Justice Department lawsuit demanding the records; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — who has no domestic law-enforcement authority — joined the raid, ran a parallel election-fraud inquiry, and arranged a call for Trump to thank the agents. County officials said the seizure left them unable to vouch for the chain of custody of the 2020 records.
Trump announced DOJ and Congress were investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar's finances amid Minnesota fraud scandal
On January 26, 2026, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Justice Department and Congress were "looking at" Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), tying the claim to her reported net worth and an ongoing Minnesota fraud investigation involving mostly Somali-American defendants. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the same day that the administration was "very focused on getting to the bottom of" whether Omar was connected to the fraud rings. The Justice Department had not confirmed an active case, and Omar called the post a deflection from Trump's declining support.
Trump pardoned three defendants in a Puerto Rico bank-regulator bribery scheme, including banker Herrera Velutini and ex-Gov. Vázquez
On January 16, 2026, President Trump pardoned three co-defendants in a Puerto Rico bank-regulator bribery scheme: Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio Herrera Velutini, former Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, and former FBI agent Mark Rossini. Prosecutors had alleged that Herrera Velutini arranged roughly $300,000 in support for Vázquez's 2020 reelection campaign in exchange for firing a banking regulator investigating his bank. The pardons wiped out the cases, including Vázquez's guilty plea to reduced campaign-finance charges.
Court filing revealed Trump had appointed ballroom's own architect and three loyalists to the commission required to approve it
A court filing submitted January 15, 2026 in litigation over Trump's White House ballroom project revealed that President Trump had appointed four new members to the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the federal board that must review and approve the ballroom expansion. The appointees include Mary Anne Carter, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts and a close friend of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; conservative art critic Roger Kimball; White House National Garden of American Heroes official Matthew Taylor; and architect James McCrery, who was separately hired to lead the ballroom's own construction. Trump had fired the board's entire prior six-member membership in October 2025, leaving the CFA unable to meet.
DOJ opened criminal probe of Federal Reserve Chair Powell with no evidence, using renovation costs as pretext for Trump's rate-policy feud
Around January 11, 2026, the Justice Department served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, opening a criminal investigation of Chair Jerome Powell focused on $2.5 billion in headquarters renovation cost overruns — a probe that followed months of Trump publicly attacking Powell for refusing to lower interest rates faster. At a March 3 court hearing, the lead prosecutor told U.S. District Judge James Boasberg "we do not know at this time" what evidence of fraud or criminal misconduct existed; the judge quashed the subpoenas on March 13, finding the government had produced "essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime" and calling the investigation's justifications "pretextual."
Trump ordered military raid to capture Venezuela's Maduro in Caracas without congressional authorization or advance notice
President Trump ordered a U.S. military and CIA raid, "Operation Absolute Resolve," that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores at their Caracas compound in the early hours of January 3, 2026, without seeking congressional authorization or notifying congressional leadership in advance. More than 150 aircraft and Delta Force commandos took part in the operation, which killed an unspecified number of Venezuelan security personnel; Maduro was extracted to the USS Iwo Jima and flown to New York to face U.S. drug-trafficking charges. Trump and administration officials characterized the raid as a law-enforcement action under the president's Article II authority rather than an act of war, a framing several senators in both parties disputed.
2025 Events (139)
Interior Department terminated National Links Trust's D.C. golf-course lease on disputed grounds, clearing path for a Trump-favored redesign
On December 30, 2025, the Interior Department's Solicitor sent National Links Trust (NLT) a letter terminating its 50-year lease to manage Washington, D.C.'s three public golf courses — East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek — citing unmet capital-improvement obligations and roughly $8.8 million in unpaid rent. NLT disputed the stated basis, saying it had fully complied with the lease and invested more than $8.5 million in the courses since 2020. The termination followed Interior leadership privately pitching President Trump on converting East Potomac into a high-end tournament course, and Trump's own longtime architect touring the site and visiting the White House weeks before the letter issued.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 30th strike, ~107 campaign deaths
On Dec. 29, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon's Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal "kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. U.S. Southern Command claimed the boat was operated by designated terrorist organizations and engaged in narco-trafficking but provided no evidence to support the claim. It was the 30th known boat strike in the campaign since Sept. 2, bringing the reported death toll to at least 107.
Coast Guard sole-sourced $2.39 billion in Arctic icebreaker contracts to Bollinger and Rauma without competitive bidding
On December 26, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard awarded sole-source, single-offer contracts worth a combined $2.39 billion to Bollinger Shipyards and Rauma Marine Constructions for six Arctic Security Cutters, citing a public-interest exception rather than competing the work. The awards were the first two of an 11-ship, roughly $3.3 billion program that followed President Trump's personal push for a larger icebreaker fleet than the Coast Guard had itself requested; the program's third contract, awarded to Davie Defense on February 10, 2026, is recorded separately.
CIA drone strike hits dock on Venezuela's coast — first known U.S. attack on Venezuelan soil
On or about December 24, 2025, the CIA carried out a drone strike on a dock on Venezuela's coast that U.S. officials said was used by the gang Tren de Aragua to load drugs onto boats; no one was reported on the dock and no one was killed. It was the first known U.S. attack inside Venezuelan territory, a sharp escalation of the administration's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro beyond the at-sea "drug boat" strikes. President Trump publicly claimed credit, saying the U.S. had "knocked out" a "big facility" in "the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs."
JTF Southern Spear killed one aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 29th strike, ~105 campaign deaths
On Dec. 22, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a "lethal kinetic strike" on a low-profile semi-submersible vessel transiting international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing one person, U.S. Southern Command announced. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was operated by an unnamed designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route but released no evidence of drugs aboard or of an imminent threat, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. It was the 29th strike of Operation Southern Spear, which had killed 105 people since early September.
U.S. Coast Guard seizes Panama-flagged oil tanker Centuries off Venezuela as Trump's oil 'blockade' escalates
In a pre-dawn operation on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker named Centuries off Venezuela, the second sanctioned tanker the United States took within roughly ten days, as part of President Trump's declared "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil vessels entering or leaving Venezuela. The White House called Centuries a "falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet," while Venezuela condemned the seizure as "a serious act of piracy" and said it would complain to the U.N. Security Council.
President Trump signed the FY2026 NDAA, barring transgender athletes at military academies and ending Pentagon DEI offices
On December 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed S.1071, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (Public Law 119-60), into law. The act bars individuals whose sex is male from competing on female-designated teams at the U.S. military service academies and prohibits the Department of Defense from maintaining any diversity, equity, and inclusion office or plan or recognizing employee resource groups organized around characteristics including sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate passed the conference version 75-22 and the House 312-112.
JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 26th strike, ~99 campaign deaths
On December 17, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people. U.S. Southern Command described the boat as operated by a designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route, but provided no charges, judicial process, or independent evidence. The same day, Senate war-powers resolutions intended to constrain the campaign failed to reach the floor.
Trump orders unilateral "complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela
On December 16, 2025, President Trump announced via Truth Social that he had ordered a "complete blockade" of all U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela, declaring the country "completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America." The unilateral order — issued without congressional authorization — became the operational basis for a wave of Coast Guard tanker seizures and interdictions off Venezuela in the days and weeks that followed.
JTF Southern Spear killed eight across three suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 23rd-25th strikes, ~95 campaign deaths
On December 15, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out lethal strikes on three vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 23rd strike of Operation Southern Spear — killing eight people. U.S. Southern Command asserted the boats belonged to designated terrorist organizations transiting known narco-trafficking routes but filed no charges, released no evidence, identified no individuals, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. Lawmakers from both parties questioned the legality of the strikes as the campaign's reported death toll reached approximately 95.
Trump directed DOJ to sue states over AI laws and threatened to withhold federal funds, bypassing Congress on AI regulation
On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14365, "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," directing the Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to sue states over AI laws the administration considers excessive. The order also instructs the Commerce Department to identify conflicting state laws and to condition states' access to federal broadband (BEAD) funds on compliance, and directs all federal agencies to weigh conditioning discretionary grants on states not enacting conflicting AI legislation — achieving through executive action what Congress had not enacted.
Trump directed U.S. forces to seize oil tanker Skipper off Venezuela, opening blockade campaign without congressional authorization
On December 10, 2025, U.S. forces seized the crude-oil tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela in a pre-dawn operation launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, boarding the vessel with Coast Guard and Marine personnel under a DOJ civil-forfeiture warrant. President Trump announced the seizure at a White House event, declaring the U.S. would keep the roughly 1–2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude on board. The action — the first vessel seizure of a broader oil-blockade campaign — was carried out without congressional authorization; Venezuela condemned it as "an act of international piracy."
Trump pardoned Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke of a bid-rigging charge brought by his own DOJ
On December 3, 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned Tim Leiweke, former Oak View Group CEO, of a criminal Sherman Antitrust Act bid-rigging charge that Trump's own Justice Department had brought in July 2025 over the Moody Center arena project in Austin, Texas. The pardon came one day before Leiweke was scheduled to be deposed in a separate DOJ civil antitrust case against Live Nation, in which a DOJ attorney had told the court he held "unique individual knowledge." Oak View Group had donated $250,000 to Trump's 2025 inauguration, and former Rep. Trey Gowdy had lobbied Trump on Leiweke's behalf.
HHS and CMS repealed federal nursing-home minimum-staffing rule after industry gave $4.8M to pro-Trump super PAC
On December 2, 2025, HHS and CMS repealed the Biden-era Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities rule, eliminating requirements including 3.48 total nursing-care hours per resident daily and 24/7 on-site registered-nurse coverage. The New York Times reported that nursing-home executives donated roughly $4.8 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. beginning in August 2025 and met privately with President Trump at one of his golf clubs to press for repeal, after which federal prosecutors stopped defending the rule in pending litigation.
FBI probes Democratic lawmakers for First Amendment-protected video on military constitutional duties
The FBI's counterterrorism division contacted six Democratic members of Congress on November 25, 2025 to request interviews following President Trump's public accusations that they committed "seditious" acts. The six—Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan—had released a video reminding U.S. military personnel of their constitutional obligation to refuse unlawful orders, protected First Amendment speech in response to the Trump administration's strikes on Latin American targets. The inquiry came one day after the Pentagon threatened to recall Sen. Kelly to active duty for potential military charges.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 21st strike, ~80 campaign deaths
On November 15, 2025, U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 3 people. U.S. Southern Command announced the strike the following day, identifying the vessel as operated by a "Designated Terrorist Organization" involved in "illicit narcotics smuggling" but offering no evidence, trial, or judicial process. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the strike on President Trump's orders; it was the 21st confirmed strike of the campaign.
Trump pardoned Joseph Schwartz, nursing-home chain owner convicted in $39M tax fraud, after $960,000 lobbying push
On November 14, 2025, President Trump granted Joseph Schwartz, former owner of the 95-facility Skyline Healthcare nursing-home chain, a full and unconditional pardon for his April 2025 guilty plea to a roughly $38-39 million employment tax fraud scheme. Schwartz had served about three months of a three-year federal sentence; disclosure filings show he paid lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl $960,000 to seek the pardon, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney gave no public reasoning for the clemency.
Defense Secretary Hegseth formally named Operation Southern Spear, launching large-scale military campaign without congressional authorization
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally announced "Operation Southern Spear" on November 13, 2025, after approximately 20 U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific had killed roughly 80 people without congressional authorization. The announcement coincided with deployment orders for the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, bringing roughly 12,000 U.S. sailors and Marines to the region in what officials described as the largest U.S. military buildup in Latin America in generations. Trump publicly stated he would not seek a war declaration from Congress.
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 20th strike, ~79 campaign deaths
On November 10, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the 20th strike of what would become Operation Southern Spear, killing four people with "no survivors" in the Caribbean Sea. Three days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally named and announced the campaign, citing this strike as the milestone. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed 79 people killed across 20 strikes; no evidence of drug trafficking was publicly disclosed and Congress had not authorized the operation.
JTF Southern Spear killed 6 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 19th strike, ~73 campaign deaths
U.S. forces struck two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on November 9, 2025, killing six people — three aboard each vessel. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strikes the following day, claiming the boats were associated with narcotics smuggling but providing no evidence. The operation was the 19th strike in the Southern Spear campaign, bringing reported total deaths to approximately 73.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 18th strike, ~69 campaign deaths
U.S. forces struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on November 6, 2025, killing three people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike that evening on X, stating it was conducted "at the direction of" President Trump and targeted a "vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization," but provided no public evidence of drug trafficking. The operation was the 18th strike of the Southern Spear campaign, bringing reported total deaths to approximately 69.
Trump and Lutnick sons held Kaz Resources stake as their fathers brokered a $1.6B U.S.-backed Kazakhstan tungsten deal
On November 6, 2025, the U.S. government announced a deal with Kazakhstan granting a U.S.-backed company, Kaz Resources, access to one of the world's largest undeveloped tungsten resources, supported by up to $1.6 billion in financing from the Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Six days before the announcement, investors linked to Dominari Securities — a firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and based at Trump Tower — had acquired a 20 percent stake in the entity connected to the Kazakhstan project; Cantor Fitzgerald, run by Howard Lutnick's sons, separately raised $210 million for a related vehicle. A June 2026 New York Times investigation found that at least 14 companies affiliated with the Trump or Lutnick families were actively working with the federal government on critical-minerals deals worth more than $8.9 billion in federal support.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 17th strike, ~67 campaign deaths
U.S. military forces struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on November 4, 2025, killing two people aboard. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, alleging the vessel was traveling a known narcotics route; no evidence was provided. The strike was the 17th of the Southern Spear campaign, bringing the documented campaign death toll to at least 67.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 15th strike, ~50 campaign deaths
On November 1, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike against an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing three crew members. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the strike via social media, claiming the vessel was operated by a "Designated Terrorist Organization" involved in narcotics smuggling; no evidence was presented and no judicial process preceded the killings.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 16th strike, ~62 campaign deaths
U.S. military forces killed three people aboard a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on November 1, 2025, in the 16th strike of the Southern Spear campaign. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on X, claiming the vessel was "known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling," but no public evidence was presented. The strike brought documented campaign deaths to approximately 62, and the campaign continued without formal congressional authorization or judicial process.
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 14th strike, ~59 campaign deaths
U.S. Joint Task Force forces struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on October 29, 2025, killing four people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, stating it was carried out "at the direction of President Donald Trump" against a vessel "operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization." No public evidence was presented for the trafficking allegation.
JTF Southern Spear killed 14 aboard suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 13th strike, ~[N] campaign deaths
U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Command conducted three separate strikes on Oct. 27, 2025 in the eastern Pacific, killing 14 people total. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced all three strikes in a single post, marking the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day. No substantiating evidence was presented for alleged drug-trafficking. One survivor was spotted clinging to debris; Mexican Navy search operations ended October 31 with no survivor located.
JTF Southern Spear killed six aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 10th strike, ~14 campaign deaths
On October 24, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the 10th strike of Operation Southern Spear, killing six people aboard a vessel in the Caribbean Sea. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, claiming the vessel was "operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea," and that it was the first Southern Spear strike conducted at night. No public evidence was provided for the TdA affiliation or drug-trafficking allegation, and the identities of those killed were not disclosed.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 9th strike, ~16 campaign deaths
On October 22, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the ninth strike of Operation Southern Spear, killing three people aboard an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media and characterized the targeted organizations as "the 'al-Qaida' of our hemisphere." The administration provided no public evidence that the vessel or crew engaged in drug trafficking. The strike continued despite Congressional War Powers resolutions attempting to limit the campaign.
Trump demanded DOJ pay him $230 million in compensation for federal investigations; claim routed to his former defense attorney
On October 22, 2025, President Donald Trump formally demanded that the Department of Justice pay him approximately $230 million through an administrative claims process, citing federal investigations including the Russia probe and the classified documents case. The claim required approval from DOJ officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump's personal defense attorney in the classified documents prosecution. Representatives Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia announced an investigation into the demand over self-dealing concerns.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 8th strike, ~14 campaign deaths
On October 21, 2025, a U.S. military strike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the Colombian coast killed two people aboard an alleged drug smuggling vessel. This marked the first Southern Spear operation in the Eastern Pacific, expanding the campaign beyond the Caribbean where strikes had begun in September 2025. UN human rights experts characterized the strike as "extrajudicial executions," asserting it lacked proper legal authority under international law.
Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao whose exchange settled a $2B MGX deal via Trump family stablecoin
President Trump granted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao a full and unconditional pardon on October 21, 2025, clearing a 2023 guilty plea for failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program as Binance CEO. Zhao's company had built a documented financial relationship with the Trump family's World Liberty Financial crypto venture in 2025, including a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi's MGX settled through WLFI's USD1 stablecoin, and a separate stablecoin listing that coincided with the SEC dropping its lawsuit against Binance.
Reuters investigation reveals Trump administration operating secret 'Weaponization Working Group' targeting political critics
Reuters published an exclusive investigation on October 20, 2025, revealing an interagency "Weaponization Working Group" operating biweekly since at least April 2025. The group comprised approximately 39 officials drawn from the White House, DOJ, FBI, CIA, ODNI, Defense Department, DHS, IRS, and FCC. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed the group's existence, describing it as "interagency coordination under President Trump's leadership to deliver accountability." Identified targets included former FBI Director James Comey, Anthony Fauci, and senior military officers who implemented COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 7th strike, ~14 campaign deaths
On October 17, 2025, the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in international waters in the Caribbean Sea, killing three men. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the operation on October 19, characterizing the men as "narco-terrorists" and stating they were transported "substantial amounts of narcotics." The strike was directed by President Donald Trump as part of Operation Southern Spear, an ongoing military campaign launched without congressional authorization.
Trump commutes George Santos sentence after three months of seven-year wire fraud term
President Trump commuted the federal prison sentence of former Republican Congressman George Santos on October 17, 2025, releasing him after he had served approximately three months of a seven-year sentence. Santos had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges stemming from his 2022 congressional campaign. The commutation came after lobbying by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA-aligned figures; Santos's conviction remains on his record, but his prison term ended.
U.S. military killed 2 in Caribbean narco-submarine strike; survivors released without charges after Trump called them 'terrorists'
On October 16, 2025, U.S. Southern Command forces struck a narco-submarine in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people and leaving two survivors—one Colombian and one Ecuadorian. President Trump publicly called the survivors "terrorists" and said they would be detained and prosecuted. Both were repatriated and released without charges on November 6, contradicting Trump's terrorism designation.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 8th strike, ~18 campaign deaths
On October 16, 2025, U.S. military forces under U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal strike on a semi-submersible vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people and wounding two survivors. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike, alleging narcotics trafficking, but provided no independent evidence. President Trump publicly labeled the survivors "terrorists"; both were later repatriated and released without charges.
Trump signs EO 14356 indefinitely extending federal hiring freeze, placing political appointees in control of all career hiring
On October 15, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14356, indefinitely extending the federal hiring freeze that had been scheduled to expire that day. The order requires every federal agency to establish a Strategic Hiring Committee — composed of a majority of non-career political appointees — to approve the creation or filling of every vacancy, and mandates that all career hiring be "consistent with the national interest, agency needs, and the priorities of my Administration." Civil service experts described the requirement as unlike anything previously seen in merit-system governance, warning it erases the distinction between merit-based and patronage-based hiring.
JTF Southern Spear killed 6 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 5th strike, ~17 campaign deaths
On October 14, 2025, the U.S. military conducted an airstrike on a small vessel in the Caribbean Sea off the Venezuelan coast, killing six people. Trump claimed the vessel was affiliated with a terrorist organization and the victims were drug traffickers, but families identified them as civilian fishermen and farm workers. The strike was conducted without congressional authorization or military adjudication of combatant status.
Trump directs Pentagon to redirect $8B in R&D funds to military pay, bypassing Purpose Statute and congressional reprogramming
On October 11, 2025, President Trump posted on Truth Social directing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to use "all available funds" to pay active-duty military personnel on October 15, amid an ongoing government shutdown. A Pentagon official identified approximately $8 billion in unobligated FY2024 research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) funds as the source. The Purpose Statute (31 U.S.C. § 1301) restricts appropriated funds to their congressionally designated purpose; transferring R&D accounts to cover military salaries requires advance congressional reprogramming approval that the administration did not seek.
Trump administration fires 4,200 federal workers via shutdown RIFs, wielding budget lapse as workforce reduction tool
On October 10, 2025, the tenth day of a federal government shutdown, the Trump administration began issuing reduction-in-force notices to approximately 4,200 career federal workers across seven agencies, including the CDC, CISA, EPA, and IRS. OMB Director Russell Vought announced the action on social media with "The RIFs have begun."
OMB deletes GEFTA back-pay guarantee from shutdown guidance, claiming furloughed workers not entitled to statutory protection
On October 7, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget stripped the reference to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 from its shutdown guidance, and the White House drafted legal arguments claiming GEFTA does not mandate back pay for furloughed workers. Congress enacted GEFTA in 2019 specifically to guarantee pay for roughly 900,000 furloughed employees during any government shutdown — a protection Trump himself had signed into law.
Trump federalizes 300 Illinois National Guard troops over Gov. Pritzker's objection, deploying state forces for immigration enforcement
On October 4, 2025, the Trump administration federalized 300 Illinois National Guard troops after Governor JB Pritzker refused a White House ultimatum to voluntarily mobilize them for immigration enforcement at the Broadview ICE facility near Chicago. Pritzker called the demand "absolutely outrageous and un-American."
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 4th strike, ~20 campaign deaths
U.S. military struck a small vessel in international waters off Venezuela's coast on October 3, killing four men. Defense Secretary Hegseth announced the strike without providing evidence of drug trafficking. The strike occurred after Trump declared a 'non-international armed conflict' with drug cartels and despite Senate opposition to strikes without authorization.
Trump federalizes Oregon National Guard over Gov. Kotek's explicit objection, orders 200 troops to Portland ICE facility
On September 27, 2025, President Trump invoked Title 10 to federalize 200 Oregon National Guard members, placing them under Pentagon command and ordering them to Portland to protect an ICE detention facility under protest — over the explicit objection of Governor Tina Kotek. Trump announced the action on social media, calling Portland "war-ravaged" and authorizing troops to use "full force" against protesters he called domestic terrorists.
Trump signs NSPM-7 directing DOJ and FBI to investigate political beliefs as domestic terrorism indicators
On September 25, 2025, President Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), directing the Department of Justice, FBI, and Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate and disrupt individuals based on political speech and ideology—designating "anti-Christian," "anti-American," and "anti-capitalist" beliefs as domestic terrorism indicators. The directive authorized pre-crime investigation of citizens before any violent act occurs and directed the IRS and Treasury to trace funding of target organizations. FBI Director Kash Patel publicly pledged to pursue political targets "like the domestic terrorists that they are."
Trump designates Antifa a domestic terrorist organization by executive order, directing all federal agencies to investigate and disrupt the movement
President Trump signed a presidential order on September 22, 2025, formally designating "Antifa" as a domestic terrorist organization and directing all executive departments and agencies to use all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle operations by anyone claiming to act on behalf of Antifa. The order describes Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization engaged in political violence to suppress lawful political activity, despite Antifa being a decentralized political stance rather than a formal membership organization. The U.S. has no statute authorizing domestic terrorist organization designations equivalent to the foreign terrorist organization framework, making the order a purely executive — and constitutionally contested — designation.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 3rd strike, ~17 campaign deaths
On September 19, 2025, U.S. forces struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea in a joint operation with the Dominican Republic, killing three men. President Trump announced the strike on social media but provided no location, victims' identities, or evidence of trafficking. The Dominican Republic independently disclosed that the vessel was approximately 80 nautical miles south of Beata Island and later recovered 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from the wreck.
Trump signs EO 14351 establishing Gold Card pay-to-play immigrant visa, bypassing congressional immigration criteria
President Trump signed Executive Order 14351 on September 19, 2025, creating the "Gold Card" program, which directs the Secretaries of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security to treat a $1 million "unrestricted gift" to the Department of Commerce as evidence of eligibility for EB-1, EB-2, or national interest waiver immigrant visas — categories Congress designed for merit-based immigration, not financial payments. The order was published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2025. The program bypasses the EB-5 investor visa framework Congress established at 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), which requires demonstrated job creation and minimum investment thresholds; the Gold Card requires neither.
Trump publicly demands removal of EDVA U.S. attorney Siebert, who refused to indict Letitia James; Siebert resigns
President Trump publicly stated on September 19, 2025 that he wanted Erik Siebert, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, removed from his post; Siebert confirmed his resignation the same day. Siebert had reportedly informed senior Justice Department officials that he found insufficient evidence to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James — a Democrat who had successfully prosecuted Trump for civil fraud — with mortgage fraud. His top deputy, First Assistant Maya Song, also departed, and James was subsequently indicted on October 9, 2025, after new leadership took over.
DOJ filed emergency SCOTUS petition to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, challenging independent-agency firing protections
On September 18, 2025, Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to lift lower-court injunctions blocking President Trump's August 25 firing of Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. Two courts had found Cook likely to succeed on the merits, ruling that the Federal Reserve Act's "for cause" removal protection shielded her position. The DOJ argued the injunctions were "untenable" and asked the Court to intervene before the Federal Open Market Committee's scheduled September meeting.
Trump threatened TV broadcast license revocations; FCC chair targeted The View's news-program status
On September 18, 2025, President Trump publicly threatened to revoke broadcast licenses of television networks he deemed biased, and FCC Chair Brendan Carr questioned whether ABC's daytime talk show The View still qualified as a "bona fide news program" — a reclassification that would subject ABC affiliates to the FCC's equal-opportunity rule, requiring equal airtime for any political candidate appearing on the show. Trump explicitly deferred to Carr to determine whether licenses "should be taken away," and the FCC's lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, characterized the agency's conduct as a "campaign of censorship and control."
Trump signed a fourth executive order directing DOJ not to enforce the PAFACA TikTok divestment law, suspending the statute through December
President Trump signed EO 14350 on September 16, 2025, directing the Department of Justice to take no enforcement action under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act through December 16, 2025 — the fourth consecutive executive order suspending a congressionally enacted, SCOTUS-upheld statute without legislative authorization.
Trump signed memo deploying National Guard and federal agents to Memphis over mayor's objection
On September 15, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum titled "Restoring Law and Order in Memphis," deploying Tennessee National Guard troops alongside FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Marshals to Memphis for crime enforcement. Mayor Paul Young — who had not requested the deployment and represented a city where crime had reached a 25-year low — publicly objected. The deployment came weeks after a federal court ruled Trump's Los Angeles military deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act, the longstanding federal law prohibiting military forces from performing domestic law enforcement.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 2nd strike, ~[N] campaign deaths
On September 15, 2025, President Trump announced a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean killing three men aboard a vessel he alleged was trafficking drugs. Colombian President Gustavo Petro subsequently alleged that one of the three was a Colombian fisherman and that the boat was in Colombian territorial waters, not international waters as Trump claimed. Trump dismissed the allegation as "baseless."
Trump signed EO 14347 directing Pentagon to adopt 'Department of War' name; DoD website rebranded to war.gov
President Trump signed Executive Order 14347 on September 5, 2025, directing the Department of Defense to use the title "Department of War" in all non-statutory communications, correspondence, and ceremonies. The DoD website was immediately rebranded to war.gov. Implementation was estimated to cost approximately $2 billion, covering new signage and letterhead across the defense establishment — all without congressional authorization to rename the department as required by the National Security Act of 1947.
Trump announced 2026 G20 summit at his Doral resort, directing foreign-government spending to his own property
President Trump announced on September 5, 2025, that the United States would host the 2026 G20 summit at his Trump National Doral Miami resort in Doral, Florida. The White House claimed the venue would host the event "at-cost" with no profit to Trump, but even at-cost hosting generates substantial indirect value — global media exposure, advance security expenditures, and ancillary bookings — for a property Trump personally owns. Trump abandoned an identical proposal to host the G7 at Doral in 2019 following bipartisan congressional criticism; he is now proceeding without seeking congressional consent as required by the Foreign Emoluments Clause.
JTF Southern Spear killed 11 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in southern Caribbean; 1st strike, ~11 campaign deaths
On September 2, 2025, U.S. military forces conducting Operation Southern Spear struck a vessel in the southern Caribbean, killing eleven people the Trump administration labeled Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists. President Trump announced the action on Truth Social and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted video of the explosion, but neither provided public evidence identifying those aboard as drug traffickers or gang members. The strike was conducted without congressional authorization or judicial process and was the first publicly acknowledged U.S. military airstrike in the Americas since the 1989 Panama invasion.
Trump signed EO 14343 stripping collective bargaining from NASA, National Weather Service and Patent Office workers
President Trump signed Executive Order 14343 on August 28, 2025, extending his earlier March 2025 order to remove collective bargaining rights from employees at NASA, the National Weather Service, the Patent and Trademark Office, and several other agencies under a "national security" rationale. The order targeted agencies with no primary national security mission, and union leaders said it was explicit retaliation against organizations — including IFPTE and NWSEO — that had filed lawsuits challenging Trump's March executive order.
Trump directed DOJ to investigate federal grantees for lobbying and partisan activity, targeting advocacy organizations
President Trump signed a presidential memorandum on August 28, 2025, directing the Attorney General to investigate whether federal grant funds are being used for lobbying or partisan political activity, with a report due in 180 days. The memo, titled "Use of Appropriated Funds for Illegal Lobbying and Partisan Political Activity by Federal Grantees," cited the Byrd Amendment but framed the investigation scope to include political and advocacy activity broader than what the statute covers. Legal observers noted the memo's "partisan political activity" language creates a chilling effect on civil society organizations that receive federal funding while engaging in policy advocacy.
Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, citing FHFA director's pretextual mortgage fraud allegation
President Trump removed Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on August 25, 2025, posting a termination letter to Truth Social citing his Article II authority and a "criminal referral" by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte alleging Cook committed mortgage fraud before joining the Fed. The Federal Reserve Act permits removal of Board governors only "for cause," a provision designed to protect the central bank's independence from short-term political pressure. A federal court subsequently found Cook had made a strong showing that the removal violated the statute's cause requirement.
Trump signed EO 14341 directing AG to prosecute flag burning despite Supreme Court rulings protecting it as free speech
President Trump signed Executive Order 14341 on August 25, 2025, directing the Attorney General to prioritize prosecution of flag burning under any available criminal or civil law, despite Supreme Court rulings in Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990) holding that flag desecration is constitutionally protected political speech. The order explicitly acknowledges the Supreme Court precedent but instructs the AG to pursue prosecution using content-neutral laws as a workaround and to litigate to narrow First Amendment protections. The order also directs immigration officials to deny or revoke visas and naturalization for foreign nationals who burn the American flag.
HHS de-recognized union contracts at CDC, FDA, and other agencies, stripping collective bargaining rights
The Department of Health and Human Services moved on August 22, 2025, to de-recognize all collective bargaining agreements covering workers at the CDC, FDA, and other HHS divisions, stripping thousands of federal public health employees of union rights. The action implemented a Trump labor-management executive order, making HHS the latest agency in a rolling campaign that had already reached the VA on August 6 and the EPA on August 8. The American Federation of Government Employees condemned the action as an illegal decertification of unions.
FBI searched home and office of former national security adviser Bolton; Trump privately directed investigation toward vocal critic
On August 22, 2025, FBI agents searched the Maryland home and Washington office of former national security adviser John Bolton as part of a classified-information investigation. Bolton, a vocal Trump critic since leaving the administration in 2019, was not detained and no charges were filed at the time. The Washington Post reported that Trump had privately pointed a finger at Bolton in the days immediately preceding the raids, while the Biden-era Justice Department had reviewed the same underlying materials and declined to prosecute.
Trump signed EO 14333 federalizing DC Metropolitan Police under Home Rule Act; deploys 800 National Guard to city at 30-year crime low
On August 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14333, invoking Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act for the first time in the law's nearly 50-year history to transfer operational control of the Metropolitan Police Department from the elected D.C. government to federal authority. Simultaneously, Trump deployed 800 D.C. National Guard troops and redirected FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, and HSI agents to patrol under U.S. Park Police authority, despite D.C. recording its lowest crime levels in 30 years.
Trump signed EO 14332, placing political appointees as sole gatekeepers over all federal discretionary grants
On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14332, requiring all federal agencies to appoint senior political appointees as sole gatekeepers with approval authority over every new discretionary grant announcement, reducing peer review panels to advisory status. The order prohibits federal funding for programs using racial preferences, rejecting binary sex classifications, supporting immigration assistance, or promoting undefined "anti-American values." A "termination for convenience" provision permits agencies to retroactively cancel any existing grant that no longer aligns with "agency priorities."
Trump ordered NCES to collect race-disaggregated admissions data from colleges, bypassing required APA notice-and-comment
On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued a presidential memorandum directing the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics to collect race- and sex-disaggregated admissions data from colleges nationwide, requiring institutions to report seven years of applicant, admissions, and enrollment records to verify they were not using race as a factor in decisions. The directive imposed a presidentially mandated 120-day deadline that caused NCES to skip the Administrative Procedure Act's required notice-and-comment rulemaking process. A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general subsequently challenged the mandate, and a federal judge later found the rollout "rushed and chaotic."
Trump directed the Education Department to collect college race-admissions data in 120 days, bypassing notice-and-comment rulemaking
On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics to expand IPEDS reporting requirements to collect data from colleges purporting to show they are not using race as a factor in admissions, imposing a 120-day deadline to initiate enhanced reporting for the 2025–2026 school year. The accelerated timeline forced NCES to skip the legally required federal notice-and-comment rulemaking process. A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general sued, and on April 3, 2026, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV (D. Mass.) granted a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate for public universities in the plaintiff states, finding the rollout "rushed and chaotic" and that the presidentially-imposed deadline had caused NCES to bypass required administrative procedure.
Trump fired BLS Commissioner McEntarfer hours after weak jobs report, accusing her without evidence of rigging data
On August 1, 2025, President Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer via Truth Social hours after BLS released a jobs report showing only 73,000 nonfarm jobs added in July, below market expectations. Trump publicly accused McEntarfer of manipulating the data "to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad," despite the fact that commissioners do not produce employment estimates and McEntarfer did not see the report until shortly before its public release. McEntarfer had been confirmed 86-0 by the Senate, including then-Senator JD Vance, and was serving a statutory four-year term.
Trump signed EO 14321 directing DOJ to dismantle ADA Olmstead protections and expand forced civil commitment of homeless people with disabilities
On July 24, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14321, directing the Attorney General to seek reversal of federal and state judicial precedents — including Olmstead v. L.C. (1999) consent decrees — and expand civil commitment of homeless people with mental illness or substance use disorders. The order terminates federal support for housing-first programs and conditions discretionary grants on states enforcing bans on urban camping, loitering, and squatting.
Trump sued Wall Street Journal reporters and Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion over Epstein reporting
On July 18, 2025, President Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, and Wall Street Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo over the paper's July 17 report that Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a bawdy 50th-birthday letter. Trump denied writing the letter and called the story "false, malicious, defamatory" reporting; Dow Jones said it had "full confidence" in its reporting and would defend against the suit.
Trump signed EO 14317 creating unlimited Schedule G political appointee class, bypassing Senate confirmation and SES caps
President Trump signed Executive Order 14317 on July 17, 2025, creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service — a new, numerically unlimited class of non-career political appointees who fill "policy-making or policy-advocating" roles without Senate confirmation. Unlike the Senior Executive Service, whose political appointments are capped at 10 percent by statute, Schedule G positions do not count against that limit, allowing the administration to install an unrestricted number of Trump loyalists in senior agency positions. The White House described the order as providing "horsepower for agency implementation of administration policy" and as a tool to "dismantle the deep state."
Trump exempts 180+ facilities from Clean Air Act air-toxics rules via an EPA email inbox
Across 2025, President Trump signed seven proclamations invoking Clean Air Act Section 112(i)(4) — a provision unused in the statute's 55-year history — to grant more than 180 industrial facilities in 38 states and Puerto Rico a two-year exemption from federal hazardous-air-pollutant standards. A May 2026 ProPublica investigation found that facilities qualified by emailing an EPA-run inbox, with no rigorous application and no meaningful role for the agency's air-quality experts. The statute permits such exemptions only where compliance technology is "not available" and the exemption is "in the national security interests of the United States."
DOJ subpoenaed six years of records on every minor treated for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital
On July 9, 2025, the Justice Department served an administrative subpoena on Rhode Island Hospital demanding roughly six years of records — identities, addresses, diagnoses, treatments, and parents' names — for every minor treated there for gender dysphoria. The subpoena was one strand of a nationwide DOJ campaign that came to target more than 20 doctors and hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors. The hospital did not comply; nearly ten months later a federal judge quashed the demand, holding it "lacks a congressionally authorized purpose" and was "issued in bad faith for an improper purpose," and tying it directly to White House policy direction. DOJ has appealed.
DHS Secretary Noem and President Trump threatened to prosecute CNN over its reporting on the ICEBlock app
On July 1, 2025, after CNN reported on ICEBlock — a free app that let users anonymously flag the locations of ICE agents — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration was working with the Justice Department to "go after" and prosecute CNN, calling the network's coverage a form of aiding people trying to avoid law enforcement. President Trump separately endorsed pursuing CNN, and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller accused the network of helping "invaders and insurrectionists sabotage ICE." Noem did not identify what law CNN had violated, and no charges were filed against the network as of the reporting.
World Liberty Financial took $80 million in June 2025 from a wallet tied to a UK money-laundering suspect, netting Trump family $75 million
In June 2025, Aqua 1 Foundation -- a United Arab Emirates-based crypto fund -- publicly announced a $100 million purchase of tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family's crypto venture. The New York Times reported in August 2026, based on blockchain analysis by Arkham Intelligence, that a wallet likely controlled by Aqua 1 actually purchased $80 million of those tokens in June, with roughly $75 million of WLFI's combined proceeds from Aqua 1 and a related entity flowing to a company controlled by President Trump and his three sons. Aqua 1 has disputed reporting linking it to that related entity.
Trump signed EO 14310, third consecutive order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law
President Trump signed Executive Order 14310 on June 19, 2025, extending for a third consecutive time the non-enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which required ByteDance to divest or cease operating TikTok by January 19, 2025. The order extended the DOJ non-enforcement period to September 17, 2025, retroactively immunized all past non-compliance dating back to the statutory deadline, and declared state-level enforcement of the law an encroachment on executive power.
Trump deployed 2,000 more National Guard to Los Angeles after protests end, directed ICE to target Democratic-run cities
On June 17, 2025, the Trump administration activated an additional 2,000 California National Guard troops from the 49th Military Police Brigade for deployment to Los Angeles, even as the downtown curfew was lifting and protests had largely subsided. On the same day, Trump posted to Truth Social directing ICE to prioritize deportation operations in Democratic-run cities — explicitly naming Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York — and reversed a June 12 pause on agricultural, hotel, and restaurant worksite raids.
Trump signed three CRA resolutions revoking California Clean Air Act waivers; GAO and Senate parliamentarian found CRA inapplicable
On June 12, 2025, President Trump signed H.J. Res. 87, 88, and 89 into law, revoking three EPA Clean Air Act waivers that authorized California to enforce stricter-than-federal vehicle emissions standards under its longstanding § 209(b) authority. Both the Government Accountability Office and the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian had issued findings that the Congressional Review Act does not legally apply to EPA waiver decisions. The three resolutions' enactment permanently bars EPA from issuing any "substantially similar" waiver, ending California's decades-long independent emissions authority without a statutory basis for the prospective ban.
Trump invoked § 12406 to federalize California National Guard over governor's objection, labels LA protesters 'rebellion'
On June 7, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum invoking 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to call at least 2,000 California National Guard members into federal service, transferring command from Governor Gavin Newsom — who explicitly refused consent — to the Department of Defense. The memo labeled Los Angeles anti-ICE protesters as engaged in "a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States," a characterization that carried no factual or legal basis. Two days later, Trump expanded the deployment with an additional 2,000 National Guard troops and authorized 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms, the first domestic active-duty Marine deployment since the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Trump signed Proclamation 10949 suspending entry from 19 countries, full ban on 12 majority-Black or Muslim-majority nations
On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10949 creating a new multi-country entry ban effective June 9, 2025. The proclamation imposed a full suspension of entry for nationals of 12 countries—including Afghanistan, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—and partial suspensions for 7 more, including Cuba and Venezuela. Critics and legal analysts identified the country selection criteria as selectively applied, noting that countries with worse vetting records were excluded while 10 of 12 fully banned nations are majority-Black or majority-Muslim.
Trump signed memorandum directing DOJ to investigate Biden's autopen use and alleged cognitive decline, without evidence
On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing White House Counsel David Warrington and Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether officials "conspired to deceive the public" about President Biden's mental state and whether Biden validly executed executive actions through autopen. Legal experts confirmed autopen use has been settled law since a 2005 DOJ OLC opinion; Biden denied the claims; and Trump himself acknowledged the next day that he had not found evidence documents were signed without Biden's approval.
Trump signed Proclamation 10948 banning new Harvard international student visas, directing State to revoke existing ones
On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10948, suspending entry of all new Harvard-bound international students on F, M, and J visas and directing the Secretary of State to consider revoking existing visas for current Harvard students on a case-by-case basis. The proclamation, issued under INA § 212(f), accused Harvard of jeopardizing the student visa system's integrity by refusing to surrender student records demanded by DHS and defying April 2025 demands to alter curriculum, admissions, and diversity programs. At the time of signing, Harvard enrolled approximately 6,800 international students.
President Trump commuted donor Imaad Zuberi's sentence, voiding his prison term and about $16 million in restitution
On May 28, 2025, President Trump commuted the 12-year federal sentence of political donor Imaad Zuberi, who had pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions, acting as an undisclosed foreign agent, tax evasion, and obstructing the probe of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee. The commutation freed Zuberi years into his term and, by its terms, voided a nearly $2 million fine and roughly $16 million in restitution owed to victims.
Trump administration pressured Secret Service to warrantlessly surveil Comey after 'seashells' post
On the night of May 15, 2025, President Trump and administration officials pressured U.S. Secret Service agents to warrantlessly access former FBI Director James Comey's phone location data after Comey posted an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to spell "86 47." Secret Service personnel warned internally that they lacked a warrant or a reasonable basis to believe Comey posed an imminent threat, but the agency issued an emergency request to Verizon and tracked Comey's phone as he drove from North Carolina toward Virginia. The pressure and warrantless tracking were disclosed in July 2026 through internal Secret Service records filed in Comey's separate federal criminal case.
Trump signed EO 14290 directing CPB to cease all federal funding to NPR and PBS
President Trump signed Executive Order 14290 on May 1, 2025, directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop all direct and indirect federal funding to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, citing what the order called their "biased and partisan news coverage." The order also required every federal agency to terminate existing contracts and grants with NPR and PBS, and ordered CPB to revise its 2025 grant criteria by June 30, 2025 to bar grantees from channeling funds to either organization. CPB, NPR, and PBS each stated the order was unlawful; CPB's board declined to comply.
Trump signed EO 14287, creating 'sanctuary jurisdiction' list and ordering agencies to identify federal grants for withholding
On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14287, "Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens," formally establishing a government-wide sanctuary jurisdiction designation-and-punishment mechanism. The order directed the Attorney General and DHS Secretary to publish a list of states and localities that obstruct federal immigration enforcement and instructed all federal department heads to identify grants and contracts flowing to listed jurisdictions "for suspension or termination." A federal court blocked the funding-withholding component within 11 days, ruling it could not be used as "an end run around" an existing preliminary injunction against earlier Trump sanctuary-city directives.
Trump signed EO 14288 directing DOJ to rescind police-reform consent decrees and threaten prosecution of local officials for DEI policing
On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14288, directing the Attorney General to review and rescind DOJ Civil Rights Division consent decrees with local police departments and to pursue prosecution of local officials whose DEI-based policing policies the administration deems unlawful. The EO also directed the Department of Defense to identify how military assets and personnel could be used for domestic crime prevention. Implementation was immediate: the Civil Rights Division dismissed pending consent decrees in Minneapolis and Louisville, retracted violation findings in six other cities, and approximately 70 percent of Civil Rights Division staff were expected to resign or be removed.
Trump signed EO 14284 requiring political appointees to certify retention of all probationary federal employees
On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14284 requiring political appointees to affirmatively certify the retention of all probationary and trial-period federal employees before they receive career tenure. Under the prior framework established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, new career employees automatically received tenure upon completing their probationary period without adverse action. The order made automatic separation the default in the absence of political-appointee certification, inserting a political approval gate over tenure for all competitive and excepted service employees across the executive branch.
Trump directed AG Bondi to investigate ActBlue while applying no scrutiny to Republican equivalent WinRed
On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in consultation with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to investigate alleged straw-donor and foreign-contribution violations at ActBlue, the dominant Democratic online fundraising platform. The directive cited a partisan House Republican investigation that examined only ActBlue and not WinRed, the structurally identical Republican equivalent. Democratic party leaders called the memo "designed to undermine democratic participation."
Trump signed EO 14281 directing all agencies to end disparate-impact enforcement, orders AG to repeal Title VI regulations
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14281, "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy," directing all federal agencies to deprioritize enforcement of disparate-impact liability across housing, lending, employment, education, and healthcare "to the maximum degree possible." The order instructed the Attorney General to repeal or amend all Department of Justice regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that contemplate disparate-impact liability. Civil rights organizations described EO 14281 as the most sweeping rollback of federal civil rights enforcement since passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
Trump pardoned tax felon Paul Walczak weeks after his mother paid $1M for Mar-a-Lago access
President Trump granted Paul Walczak a full and unconditional pardon on April 23, 2025, for failing to remit roughly $7.5 million in employee payroll taxes and failing to file individual income tax returns, a total tax loss to the IRS of about $10.9 million. The pardon came 12 days after Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison and $4.4 million in restitution, and roughly three weeks after his mother, Trump fundraiser Elizabeth Fago, paid $1 million to attend a Mar-a-Lago candlelight dinner where Trump was the featured guest.
Trump signs EO 14263 targeting Susman Godfrey, suspending clearances and barring building access
On April 9, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14263, directing the suspension of security clearances for Susman Godfrey LLP employees, termination of all federal contracts with the firm, and restriction of firm employees from accessing federal buildings. The order cited the firm's diversity fellowship and its representation of clients in election-related and civil rights cases as justification, framing Susman's legal work as a national-security threat. Susman Godfrey, which had represented Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation lawsuit against Fox News over 2020 election coverage, filed suit to block the order within two days.
Trump bought 327 stocks, including Apple and Nvidia, on April 8, 2025, one day before announcing a tariff pause that sent markets soaring
President Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and analyzed by CNBC and NBC News, shows that investment accounts he owns made 327 previously undisclosed stock purchases on April 8, 2025 — worth as much as $12.8 million, including $100,001–$250,000 blocks in each of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The purchases came six days after Trump launched his "Liberation Day" tariffs, which had sent markets tumbling, and one day before he posted "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" and announced a 90-day tariff pause that sent the S&P 500 up roughly 9.5% in one of its best sessions on record. The trades were disclosed more than fourteen months after they occurred, past the deadlines the STOCK Act sets for reporting covered transactions.
Trump signed EO 14258, second order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law
President Trump signed Executive Order 14258, "Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay," on April 4, 2025, directing the Department of Justice not to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act and extending the non-enforcement period to June 19, 2025. The order also retroactively immunized all past non-compliance dating back to January 19, 2025 — the statutory deadline — barring DOJ from ever taking enforcement action for violations during that period. It was the second consecutive executive order directing non-enforcement of the TikTok divestment statute, following EO 14166 issued on January 20, 2025.
Trump signs EO 14251 stripping collective bargaining rights from 40+ federal agencies on pretextual national security grounds
President Trump signed Executive Order 14251 on March 27, 2025, excluding more than 40 federal agencies and subdivisions from the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), the law Congress enacted to protect most federal employees' right to collectively bargain. The order applied a sweeping "national security" rationale to agencies including the Department of Justice, FDA, CDC, and EPA — bodies with no plausible national security mission — stripping their workers of union rights through executive action rather than legislation. Affected unions including the NTEU, AFGE, and AFL-CIO filed legal challenges, and the EO became the legal authority for a cascade of agency-level de-recognition actions through August 2025.
Trump signs EO 14253 directing Smithsonian to eliminate content on Black history, women's history, and gender identity
President Trump signed Executive Order 14253, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," on March 27, 2025, directing the Vice President — through his seat on the Smithsonian Board of Regents — to remove content labeled "improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology" from Smithsonian museums, education centers, and the National Zoo. The order specifically named the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum as perpetuating "divisive, race-centered ideology." The EO also directed Cabinet members to work with Congress to defund Smithsonian programs that "divide Americans based on race" or acknowledge transgender identity, and ordered reinstatement of historical statues removed from federal property over the prior five years.
President Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton, foreclosing restitution sought for defrauded investors
On March 27, 2025, President Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton, who had been convicted by a jury of securities and wire fraud for misleading investors about his company's technology. Milton and his wife had given more than $1.8 million to a Trump reelection fund shortly before the 2024 election, and the pardon foreclosed hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors. At a news conference Trump said Milton was targeted for having been an early supporter.
Trump signs EO 14250 suspending WilmerHale employees' security clearances, directing federal contractors to sever ties with firm
President Trump signed Executive Order 14250 on March 27, 2025, directing federal agencies to suspend the security clearances of all WilmerHale employees and instructing federal contractors to terminate their relationships with the firm. The order cited WilmerHale's prior association with Special Counsel Robert Mueller — a former WilmerHale partner — and the firm's DEI policies as justification. It was the third in a series of retaliatory executive orders targeting law firms whose attorneys had represented parties adverse to the president or participated in legal investigations of him.
Trump pardoned Devon Archer, a Hunter Biden associate, remitting $43M restitution for his tribal-bond fraud conviction
On March 25, 2025, President Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, remitting $43 million in restitution and $15 million in asset forfeiture ordered after Archer's conviction for diverting roughly $60 million raised through bonds issued by the Oglala Sioux Nation's Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation. Archer, sentenced to one year and one day, never served time before the pardon. Trump tied the clemency to Archer's 2023 congressional testimony about Hunter Biden.
Trump signed EO 14246 suspending Jenner & Block security clearances, pressuring contractors to cut ties with firm
On March 25, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14246, "Addressing Risks From Jenner & Block," directing the immediate suspension of security clearances for all firm employees and requiring federal contractors to certify no business relationships with the firm under threat of contract termination. The order cited the firm's prior employment of Andrew Weissmann—who participated in the Mueller investigation—and its representation of transgender and immigrant clients as justification. A federal court permanently enjoined the order in May 2025, finding it violated the First Amendment through viewpoint discrimination.
Trump signed EO 14248 requiring documentary proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form
On March 25, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14248, directing the Election Assistance Commission to add documentary proof of U.S. citizenship — including a passport or REAL ID — as a mandatory requirement on the national mail voter registration form. The order also directed DOGE and the Department of Homeland Security to cross-check all state voter rolls against federal immigration databases and instructed the Attorney General to enforce post-Election Day ballot prohibitions. Federal courts subsequently permanently enjoined the citizenship-proof mandate, finding that Trump lacked statutory authority to unilaterally alter the EAC's congressionally established voter registration form.
Trump signed EO 14243 directing all agencies to grant DOGE officials unrestricted federal database access, superseding Privacy Act
On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14243, "Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos," directing all federal agency heads to provide DOGE-designated officials with full access to all unclassified agency records, data systems, and IT infrastructure. The order explicitly superseded Privacy Act system-of-records notices and any regulations restricting inter-agency data sharing, requiring agencies to rescind such limitations within 30 days. Legal challenges argued the order impermissibly overrode statutory Privacy Act protections that only Congress has authority to amend.
Trump signed EO 14242 directing closure of the Department of Education, ordering Secretary McMahon to facilitate shutdown
President Trump signed Executive Order 14242 on March 20, 2025, directing the Secretary of Education to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities." The order also directed Secretary McMahon to condition all federal education funds on compliance with the administration's anti-DEI directives. The Department of Education was established by Congress under Pub. L. 96-88 in 1979; its formal abolition requires an act of Congress, not an executive order.
Trump signed presidential memo granting OPM authority to dismiss career civil servants based on post-appointment conduct
On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Office of Personnel Management to make final suitability determinations against career federal employees based on conduct that occurred after their initial appointment — an authority previously limited to job applicants. The memo required agency heads to remove any employee OPM found unsuitable within five business days, overriding the civil service removal protections established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. OPM was further directed to propose new regulations under 5 C.F.R. Part 731 to implement the expanded authority.
Trump fired FTC Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya without cause, asserting Article II removal power the statute does not grant
On March 18, 2025, President Trump fired the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission — Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Álvaro Bedoya — by email, citing no statutory cause. Trump's removal letters stated only that their continued service was "inconsistent with my Administration's policies," invoking Article II authority; the FTC Act permits removal only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. Both commissioners publicly declared the firings illegal, and the terminations left the FTC as a 3-0 Republican commission for the first time in the agency's history.
Trump invoked Alien Enemies Act for CECOT transfer bundled with secret Bukele prisoner exchange, defying court order
On March 15, 2025, President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to fly more than 250 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador's CECOT prison without individualized hearings, defying a federal judge's same-day order to turn the planes around. A diplomatic note later declassified shows the operation was bundled with a separate request: El Salvador President Nayib Bukele personally asked for the return of MS-13 leader César Antonio Lopez Larios, and El Salvador agreed to also hold up to 500 Tren de Aragua members for a year, in exchange for undisclosed U.S. financial and in-kind support.
Trump signed EO 14238 directing elimination of USAGM, IMLS, and five other congressionally-created agencies
On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14238, "Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy," directing seven congressionally-created federal agencies — including the United States Agency for Global Media (parent of Voice of America), the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the CDFI Fund — to eliminate all non-statutory functions and reduce statutory functions to the legal minimum. Each agency head was required to submit a compliance report to the Office of Management and Budget within seven days, and OMB was directed to reject funding requests inconsistent with the elimination mandate. Courts subsequently ruled that several of the closures exceeded executive authority, as only Congress can abolish agencies established by statute.
Trump signed EO 14237 suspending security clearances and barring federal contracts for Paul Weiss law firm
On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14237, "Addressing Risks From Paul Weiss," targeting the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm. The order suspended security clearances for Paul Weiss employees, directed agencies to terminate existing federal contracts with the firm, and barred its lawyers from accessing federal buildings. The administration cited the firm's past employment of lawyers who had participated in prosecutions of Trump's allies and its representation of clients in litigation adverse to Trump.
Trump administration halted CISA's election security support to states, ending the agency's congressionally mandated protection of voting systems
On March 11, 2025, a U.S. official confirmed to Votebeat that CISA had ceased all election security support to state and local officials, ending programs the agency had run since its creation following the 2016 Russian interference campaign. The halt followed the placement of CISA election security and disinformation staff on administrative leave in February 2025. State election officials said they were left without federal cybersecurity assistance to protect voting systems and infrastructure from foreign threats.
Trump bought and publicly endorsed a Tesla from the White House lawn amid Musk's DOGE-tied stock boycott
On March 11, 2025, President Trump held a White House South Lawn event where he inspected and announced the purchase of a red Tesla Model S alongside Tesla CEO and DOGE lead Elon Musk, amid a Tesla stock decline tied to consumer boycotts over Musk's government role. Former White House chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter said Trump's on-camera endorsement of a specific consumer product from federal grounds appeared to violate rules against using public office for private gain.
Trump signed EO 14230 suspending security clearances and barring federal contracts for Perkins Coie over its 2016 Clinton campaign work
On March 6, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14230, "Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP," suspending security clearances for all firm employees, directing agencies to bar its attorneys from federal buildings, and ordering termination of all federal contracts with the firm or entities doing business with it. The order explicitly cited Perkins Coie's 2016 representation of Hillary Clinton's campaign and its hiring of Fusion GPS as justification. On May 2, 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell permanently struck down the order, calling it an "unprecedented attack" on the legal system.
Trump signed EO 14224 designating English as the official U.S. language, revoking the federal multilingual access requirement
On March 1, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14224, designating English as the official language of the United States. The order rescinded Executive Order 13166, which since 2000 had required federal agencies to provide meaningful language access to individuals with limited English proficiency. The change eliminates a 25-year multilingual services framework affecting millions of non-English speakers who rely on federally funded programs, without any act of Congress.
Trump directed suspension of Covington & Burling security clearances and contract terminations over Jack Smith representation
President Trump issued a presidential memorandum on February 25, 2025, directing the Attorney General and all agency heads to immediately suspend security clearances held by partners, members, and employees of Covington & Burling LLP who had assisted former Special Counsel Jack Smith, and to terminate all federal agency contracts with the firm. The memorandum cited the firm's representation of Smith as "involvement in government weaponization." It was the first in a sequence of retaliatory executive actions targeting major law firms whose attorneys had represented parties adverse to Trump or participated in investigations of him.
Trump signed EO 14217, directing elimination of Inter-American Foundation, USADF, USIP, and Presidio Trust
On February 19, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14217, "Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy," directing four congressionally-created entities — the Inter-American Foundation, U.S. African Development Foundation, U.S. Institute of Peace, and Presidio Trust — to eliminate all non-statutory functions and reduce staff to the legal minimum. The EO also abolished the Presidential Management Fellows Program and terminated six federal advisory committees.
Trump signed EO 14215, asserting presidential control over independent regulatory agencies and requiring OMB approval of their regulations
On February 18, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14215, "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies," asserting presidential authority over independent regulatory agencies including the FEC, FTC, FCC, SEC, CFPB, and NLRB. The order required these agencies to submit significant rules to OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review before publication, and declared that the President's and Attorney General's legal interpretations are binding on all executive branch employees. Congress deliberately shielded these agencies from direct presidential control when it established them.
Trump signed EO 14210 ordering mass federal workforce reductions and granting DOGE political veto over career hiring
On February 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14210, directing all federal agencies to begin large-scale reductions in force and imposing a 1:4 hiring cap allowing no more than one new hire per four departures. The order required DOGE-designated team leads to approve all new career civil service appointments, inserting a political veto into the merit-based hiring system the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was designed to protect from partisan control. Agency DEI offices and units performing non-statutory functions were identified as priority targets for elimination.
Trump fired Office of Government Ethics Director David Huitema without explanation; OGE reverted to acting director
On February 10, 2025, President Trump fired David Huitema as director of the Office of Government Ethics via a brief email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, with no explanation given. Huitema had been Senate-confirmed in November 2024 to a five-year term, having served 19 years in federal ethics roles including at the State Department. The OGE, established by Congress as the executive branch's principal ethics watchdog, reverted to an acting director upon Huitema's removal.
Trump fired Office of Special Counsel Director Hampton Dellinger without statutory cause, disabling federal whistleblower protection agency
On February 7, 2025, President Trump fired Hampton Dellinger, director of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), via a one-sentence email from a White House personnel aide citing no cause. Federal statute limits OSC director removal to cases of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance — grounds the termination notice did not invoke. The OSC is the primary federal agency responsible for investigating whistleblower retaliation, enforcing the Hatch Act, and protecting the employment rights of military veterans.
Trump signed Executive Order 14203 imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court officials and their U.S. supporters
On February 6, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14203, imposing asset freezes and U.S. entry bans on International Criminal Court officials and anyone providing them material support, in response to the ICC's arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. A week later, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan under the order. The sanctions extended to U.S. lawyers and human-rights advocates who assist the court, triggering First Amendment litigation.
Trump removed FEC Chair Weintraub without cause, asserting presidential removal power the agency's statute does not grant
On January 31, 2025, President Trump sent a letter to Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub declaring she was "hereby removed," effective immediately. Trump cited no cause and offered no statutory basis; the letter was transmitted via email on February 6, 2025, and Weintraub's FEC system access was revoked on February 7. No president had previously attempted to remove a sitting FEC commissioner without cause or a Senate-confirmed replacement in place.
Trump signed memo directing Pentagon and DHS to expand Guantánamo Bay to house up to 30,000 migrant detainees
On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay to full capacity, stating the facility would hold up to 30,000 detained immigrants. The site in Cuba falls outside ordinary U.S. federal court jurisdiction, raising legal uncertainty about detainees' access to habeas corpus review. Administration officials described intended detainees as "high-priority criminal aliens," though subsequent transfers included low-risk detainees with no serious criminal records.
Trump signed EO 14187, directing federal defunding of institutions providing gender-affirming care to minors
On January 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14187, "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," directing all executive agencies to end federal funding to medical institutions providing gender-affirming care—including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgery—to individuals under 19. The order instructed HHS to revise Medicaid and Medicare conditions of participation to exclude coverage, directed TRICARE and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program to exclude such treatments, and required federal research and education grant recipients to certify they did not provide such care. The order also directed HHS to rescind reliance on World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines from all federal policy.
Trump signed EO 14183, reinstating a ban on transgender military service
On January 27, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14183, "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness," reinstating a ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the U.S. military and rescinding a Biden-era policy that had permitted transgender enlistment and coverage of transition-related medical care. The order directed the Department of Defense to update medical enlistment and retention standards within 60 days, end pronoun accommodation based on self-identification, and require service members to use sleeping, changing, and bathing facilities corresponding to their sex assigned at birth.
Web3Port announced a $10 million World Liberty Financial purchase days after Trump's inauguration; blockchain analysis later found $20 million
Web3Port Foundation announced on January 27, 2025 that it had invested $10 million in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family's crypto venture, days after Trump's inauguration. The New York Times reported in August 2026, based on blockchain analysis by Arkham Intelligence, that a Web3Port-controlled wallet had actually purchased $20 million in WLFI tokens that January. Web3Port is controlled by businessman Guren "Bobby" Zhou, who has been under an active United Kingdom money-laundering investigation since a March 2021 arrest, disclosed in UK court records made public in February 2024.
Trump fired 17 Senate-confirmed inspectors general without the 30-day congressional notice required by law
On the evening of January 24, 2025, the White House Presidential Personnel Office sent two-sentence termination emails to at least 17 Senate-confirmed inspectors general across federal departments including Agriculture, Defense, Education, HHS, and State, informing them they were fired effective immediately. The firings provided no 30-day advance notice to Congress and no substantive rationale, violating the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 as amended in 2022. In September 2025, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes ruled the firings unlawful but declined to reinstate the IGs, finding that Trump could simply re-fire them after providing the required notice.
Trump pardoned two DC police officers convicted of murder and cover-up in Karon Hylton-Brown's death, before either served time
On January 22, 2025, President Trump granted full pardons to Washington, D.C. police officers Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky before either served a day of their sentences for the 2020 death of Karon Hylton-Brown. A federal jury had convicted Sutton of second-degree murder and both officers of obstruction of justice for covering up the fatal chase; a judge had sentenced Sutton to five years and Zabavsky to four. Neither officer met Justice Department clemency guidelines, which require having served most of a sentence and expressed remorse.
Trump signed EO 14173 revoking 60-year affirmative action requirement for federal contractors, directing AG to investigate private-sector DEI
On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," revoking Executive Order 11246 — the 60-year-old Johnson-era requirement mandating affirmative action and equal employment opportunity for federal contractors. The order directed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to cease all affirmative action and diversity workforce enforcement, and required all future federal contracts to include a certification that the contractor operates no DEI programs, exposing contractors to False Claims Act liability. The order also directed the Attorney General to compile enforcement recommendations against private-sector DEI programs within 120 days.
Trump signed EO 14159 expanding expedited removal to US interior, eliminating immigration court hearings for non-citizens
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14159, directing DHS to expand expedited removal to the fullest extent authorized by statute. DHS implemented the order via a Federal Register designation effective January 21, 2025, extending expedited removal authority to any non-citizen anywhere in the United States who could not prove at least two years of continuous presence. Previously, the procedure had applied only to migrants apprehended at or near the border; the expansion allowed interior deportations without any hearing before an immigration judge.
Trump ordered Bureau of Prisons to transfer 37 Biden-commuted death-row inmates to Supermax as punishment for their clemency
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to house 37 federal inmates whose death sentences Biden had commuted in conditions matching "the monstrosity of their crimes," and the Bureau of Prisons moved to redesignate them to the ADX Florence Supermax facility. A federal judge found in February 2026 that the redesignation process had been predetermined and blocked further transfers as a due-process "sham."
Trump signed EO 14168 eliminating federal recognition of transgender identity, revoking X passport marker and barring affirming facilities
On January 20, 2025, his first day in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 14168, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," establishing a federal policy that sex is a binary, immutable biological characteristic and directing all federal agencies to eliminate recognition of gender identity across communications, forms, data systems, and policies. The order directed the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to eliminate the "X" gender marker from all federal identity documents and barred transgender people from using sex-segregated federal facilities consistent with their gender identity. It also directed agencies to end all funding, training, and programs acknowledging gender identity.
Trump signed EO 14171 reinstating Schedule F, stripping civil service protections from policy-influencing federal employees
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14171, "Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce," immediately reinstating his first-term Schedule F executive order — renamed "Schedule Policy/Career" — which reclassifies career federal employees in policy-adjacent roles into an excepted-service category without civil service protections. The order directed OPM to rescind Biden-era rules that had restored affected employees' appeal rights, and required agencies to recommend positions for reclassification; employees in the new schedule could be removed for "subversion of Presidential directives," making political alignment effectively a condition of employment.
Trump signed EO 14160 directing agencies to deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and visa holders
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," directing the State Department, Social Security Administration, and Department of Homeland Security to refuse recognition of birthright citizenship for children born in the United States if neither parent was a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order purported to reinterpret the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which the Supreme Court has held since 1898 grants citizenship to virtually all persons born on U.S. soil regardless of parental immigration status. Multiple federal courts issued injunctions blocking the order within days of its signing.
Trump signed EO 14166, first order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law
President Trump signed Executive Order 14166, "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," on January 20, 2025 — the same day he was inaugurated and the statutory deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok under PAFACA (P.L. 118-50). The order directed the Department of Justice not to enforce the statute and established a non-enforcement period retroactive to January 19, 2025. It was the first of at least four consecutive executive orders suspending enforcement of PAFACA, followed by EO 14258 (April 4, 2025), EO 14310 (June 19, 2025), and a fourth order (September 16, 2025).
Trump signed EO 14151 eliminating all DEI offices, programs, and equity-related grants across the executive branch
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14151, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," directing all executive agencies to terminate their diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, equity action plans, and related grants and contracts within 60 days. The order required agencies to place DEI staff on administrative leave pending termination, to report programs "misleadingly relabeled" to evade compliance, and designated OMB, OPM, and the Attorney General to coordinate agency-wide enforcement. A Maryland federal court issued a preliminary injunction against key provisions on February 21, 2025, which the Fourth Circuit vacated on February 6, 2026.
Trump pardons roughly 1,500 January 6 Capitol attack defendants and commutes 14 sentences
On January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation granting a "full, complete and unconditional" pardon to roughly 1,500 people convicted of or charged with offenses related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and commuted the sentences of 14 others to time served. The clemency reached leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers — including Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, both convicted of seditious conspiracy — and defendants convicted of assaulting police. Trump also directed the Justice Department to dismiss the remaining pending Capitol-riot prosecutions.
Trump signed EO 14147 directing AG and DNI to review prior-administration enforcement as 'weaponization' and prepare remedial actions
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14147, "Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government," directing the Attorney General to review all DOJ and civil and criminal enforcement activities of the prior four years, identify purported instances of politically-motivated enforcement, and submit a report recommending remedial actions. The order also directed the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a parallel review of all Intelligence Community activities over the same period. The EO served as the originating legal authority cited in subsequent retaliatory actions against law firms, prosecutors, and former officials throughout 2025 and 2026.
Trump signed EO 14152 revoking security clearances of 50 former intelligence officials who signed Hunter Biden laptop letter
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14152, "Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information," immediately revoking the security clearances of approximately 50 former intelligence officials who in October 2020 signed a public letter asserting that the Hunter Biden laptop story bore hallmarks of a Russian information operation. The order also revoked the clearance of former National Security Advisor John Bolton, citing his 2020 memoir's treatment of sensitive national security information. The Director of National Intelligence was directed to submit a 90-day report recommending further disciplinary actions against the signatories.
Eric Trump signed $500 million deal giving UAE-linked investors a 49% stake in Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial
Eric Trump signed a $500 million deal on January 16, 2025 -- four days before his father's second inauguration -- giving an investment firm linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser and manager of its largest sovereign wealth fund, a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture. The Wall Street Journal first reported the previously undisclosed deal on February 1, 2026; of the payment, $187 million went to Trump family entities and at least $31 million to entities tied to Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy and a WLFI co-founder. Two senior officers at Tahnoon-backed companies joined WLFI's board as part of the agreement.
2024 Events (1)
Trump sued The Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer under Iowa consumer-fraud law over an unfavorable pre-election poll
On December 16, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump sued The Des Moines Register, its parent company Gannett, and pollster J. Ann Selzer under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, alleging "brazen election interference" over a Selzer poll published days before the November 2024 election that showed Trump trailing Kamala Harris in Iowa; Trump ultimately carried the state by more than 13 points. Press-freedom advocates characterized the suit as a retaliatory action meant to punish and chill unfavorable political polling and news coverage. The case was subsequently litigated across federal and Iowa state court.