Donald Trump
person
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.
Entries involving this actor (70)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 creates $1.776 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' as part of settlement of President 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 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.
OGE Q1 2026 disclosures: President Trump conducted $220M–$750M in securities transactions while in office, including trades in companies — Nvidia, defense contractors, Intel — directly affected by his own 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.
Federal judge quashes DOJ subpoena for trans youth medical records at Rhode Island Hospital, finding it issued in 'bad faith' for an 'improper purpose'
On May 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy of the District of Rhode Island quashed a July 2025 Justice Department subpoena that had demanded roughly six years of records — identities, addresses, diagnoses, treatments, and parents' names — of every minor treated for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital, holding it was "a drastic overreach," "lacks a congressionally authorized purpose," and was "issued in bad faith for an improper purpose." McElroy tied the subpoena to a broader White House policy direction, writing that the administration "has publicly characterized gender-affirming care for minors as abuse, directed the DOJ to bring its practice to an end, and celebrated when hospitals curtailed such programs as a result of this subpoena campaign." The DOJ has appealed to the First Circuit; the Rhode Island subpoena is one strand of a nationwide DOJ campaign targeting more than 20 providers, with at least seven other federal courts having previously quashed or limited similar subpoenas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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."
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.