Separation of powers and independent oversight
The American constitutional architecture distributes power across three branches and supports them with a layer of independent oversight — inspectors general, the Government Accountability Office, the Office of Special Counsel, congressional committees, the courts. The branches are designed to be in productive friction with one another; the watchdogs exist because power has always tended to consolidate, and someone independent has to be watching.
This ideal is upheld when each branch performs its role and the watchdog institutions can do their work without political interference. It is eroded by executive actions that exceed constitutional or statutory authority, substantive lawmaking by executive order where Congress is the proper actor, refusals to comply with lawful subpoenas, the use of the Justice Department to target opponents or shield allies, firings of inspectors general to obstruct ongoing oversight, defunding of watchdog agencies, obstruction of active OIG inquiries, retaliation against whistleblowers, attacks on judicial independence, and knowing false statements to congressional bodies. The pattern of concern is not any one of these actions in isolation but their accumulation: checks fail because someone is dismantling them, not because they were never there.
Further reading: National Constitution Center Interactive Constitution — Article I, Article II, Article III. Government Accountability Office — non-partisan oversight reports.
Entries
2026
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.
DOJ used DEI investigation as leverage to force University of Virginia President Jim Ryan to resign
On June 27, 2026, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan announced his resignation, effective no later than August 15, under direct pressure from the Department of Justice. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, had sent Ryan letters in April and June accusing him of failing to dismantle UVA's DEI programs and warning that "the department's patience is wearing thin." PBS NewsHour and NBC News reported that DOJ officials demanded Ryan's resignation as the condition for resolving the investigation, marking the first documented case of the federal government forcing a public university president from office through an active federal probe.
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."
CDC ordered health grantees to adopt 'parental authority' priorities and abandon harm reduction, threatening funding loss
The CDC issued a memo on June 25, 2026, to state, territorial, tribal, and local health program grantees requiring compliance with new agency priorities within five business days — by July 1 — or risk funding cancellation. The new priorities, obtained by The Guardian, included "parental authority" over children's education and required programs to move away from evidence-based harm reduction; programs covering immunizations, HIV, hepatitis, tobacco, and overdose prevention were affected. HHS confirmed the action after the story was published, and CDC program staff were reported to be unaware the memo had been sent.
HHS canceled Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants, redirected $67M to 'parental rights' and 'body literacy' competitions
The Department of Health and Human Services canceled most active grants under the congressionally funded Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program on June 24, 2026, and simultaneously published $71.7 million in new grant competitions requiring content aligned with "parental rights" and "body literacy" and explicitly excluding programs that "promote or advance gender ideology." An HHS official confirmed the reclaimed TPPP funds would be redirected to the new competitions. A federal court had previously vacated similar HHS guidance stripping gender-identity content from existing TPPP grantees; HHS achieved the same result by terminating and recompeting the grants.
Hegseth forced out Gen. Donahue, last U.S. soldier to leave Afghanistan, amid Pentagon leadership purge
On June 24, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth forced out Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and the last U.S. service member to board the final flight out of Afghanistan in 2021. The Pentagon announced Donahue would relinquish command on July 2, 2026, after just 18 months of a typical three-year tour, without providing a reason for the abrupt change. Donahue's removal is the latest in a series of senior military leadership purges under Hegseth, who has removed more than a dozen top generals and admirals since taking office.
Postmaster General Steiner announced USPS will refuse mail ballot delivery in states withholding voter data under Trump elections order
On June 24, 2026, U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner announced that the Postal Service would refuse to deliver mailed ballots in states that declined to submit voter lists and associated ballot barcodes to the federal government, as demanded by a proposed rule implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14399. The announcement came as all 47 Democratic senators wrote to USPS warning that such voter lists would be "ripe for abuse" and likely to contain inaccuracies that would prevent eligible voters from casting ballots. The coercive policy was announced on the same day a federal court blocked separate provisions of EO 14399 requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.
DOJ sued New York to block state law requiring ICE agents to unmask and display identification
On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General Letitia James, seeking to block a New York law requiring federal law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, to unmask during operations and display individual identifying information. The law, scheduled to take effect June 26, also bars 287(g) cooperative agreements in jurisdictions that maintain mask bans. DOJ argues the law violates the Supremacy Clause and poses officer safety risks; Hochul and James filed a countersuit the same day seeking to preserve the law.
Acting DNI Pulte ordered ODNI offices to rank personnel for mass firings, targeting career intelligence professionals
On June 22, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte directed Office of the Director of National Intelligence offices to submit ranked lists of their personnel for cuts, beginning an expected mass purge of career intelligence professionals. The National Counterterrorism Center and National Counterintelligence and Security Center were identified as facing the deepest cuts. Pulte, who has no national-security background, assumed the acting DNI role on June 19 following Tulsi Gabbard's departure, and the firings proceed under a June 5 Trump directive to reduce the size of the intelligence community.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; ~66th strike, ~213 campaign deaths
On June 21, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its approximately 66th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing 2 men and rescuing 6 others. U.S. Southern Command issued an official "Lethal Kinetic Strike" press release confirming the action on June 22. The strike brought the campaign's reported death toll to approximately 213 people since Operation Southern Spear launched in September 2025, all conducted without formal congressional war authorization.
DOJ refused judge's order to confirm termination of $1.8B 'anti-weaponization fund'
On June 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice refused to comply with Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema's order to submit a sworn declaration that the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" created to settle Trump's personal lawsuit against the IRS is permanently terminated. Judge Brinkema had issued a preliminary injunction on June 12 blocking the fund; she then required DOJ to formally confirm its termination in writing, but the department called the requirement "unnecessary" and raised "separation of powers concerns"—effectively rejecting judicial authority. The judge converted the preliminary injunction into an indefinite block on June 20.
DOJ sues Philadelphia to block federal officer identification and local oversight requirements
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a 28-page lawsuit on June 18, 2026, against Philadelphia, challenging City Bill No. 260060, which requires federal law enforcement officers to display visible identification, use marked vehicles, and comply with local regulations during operations in the city. If successful, the suit would nullify a civil-rights protection that Philadelphia enacted to ensure accountability in immigration enforcement — reducing residents' ability to identify and report federal agents operating in their communities. DOJ argues that municipalities lack authority to regulate federal officers and claims the law threatens officer safety.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 65th strike, ~211 campaign deaths
On June 18, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 65th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men. SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan confirmed the strike and released video footage of the targeted vessel. The strike brought the campaign's reported death toll to approximately 211 people since Operation Southern Spear launched in September 2025, all killed without formal congressional war authorization.
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.
JTF Southern Spear killed 1 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; 64th strike, ~204 campaign deaths
On June 17, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 64th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person and leaving two survivors. The U.S. Coast Guard launched search and rescue operations but suspended them after 20 hours and a 46-mile search area, leaving the survivors' fate unknown. The strike was confirmed by U.S. Southern Command; the campaign had killed at least 203 people across 63 prior strikes since September 2025, all without formal congressional war authorization.
House Democrats blocked from detainee access during statutory ICE facility oversight visit
On June 17, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement blocked six House Democrats from accessing detainees during a statutory congressional oversight visit to Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. The Department of Homeland Security has also implemented a policy requiring 7 days advance notice for congressional facility visits, contradicting the 2019 appropriations law that grants lawmakers unannounced oversight authority.
ICE blocks House Democrats from detainee access during statutory oversight visit to Delaney Hall
On June 17, 2026, six House Democrats conducting statutory congressional oversight visited the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. ICE officials blocked the delegation from accessing detainees and conducting interviews despite their statutory authority to conduct unannounced oversight. The Department of Homeland Security has also implemented a policy requiring members of Congress to provide 7 days advance notice before visiting ICE facilities—contrary to appropriations law in effect since 2019.
FBI expands Ohio Organizing Collaborative probe to affiliated national elections network
Federal agents have expanded the FBI's criminal investigation of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC), a pro-democracy voter registration nonprofit raided on June 11, 2026, to include an affiliated national elections advocacy network. The expansion suggests a broader targeting of voter registration efforts ahead of the 2026 midterms, with evidence suggesting pre-election surveillance more than a year prior.
Education Dept. transfers Office for Civil Rights to DOJ and special education office to HHS
The U.S. Department of Education announced interagency agreements on June 16, 2026, transferring its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon, and its special education oversight office (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services. OCR handles discrimination complaints in K-12 and higher education; OSERS oversees implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guaranteeing services for disabled students. Legal experts called the OCR move "illegal," saying DOJ lawyers lack specialized education-law expertise and the transfer will make it harder for students to secure relief from discrimination.
U.S. Attorney charges 15 Minnesota anti-ICE protesters as 'antifa,' invoking Trump's domestic-terrorist executive order
On June 16, 2026, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and HSI Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy announced federal conspiracy charges against 15 members of Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN), framing them as "antifa" and explicitly tying the case to President Trump's September 2025 executive order designating antifa a domestic-terrorist organization. The lead charge — conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer — rested substantially on protest-organizing conduct including Signal communications, training sessions, and surveillance of federal vehicles. The announcement came days after DOJ dropped more than a third of its earlier Metro Surge assault cases for prosecutorial misconduct, with one judge barring re-prosecution to prevent "prosecutorial harassment."
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.
ICE's HSI unit obtains individual voter files from Texas and North Carolina counties to investigate alleged noncitizen voting
Election officials in Webb County, Texas, and Forsyth County, North Carolina, turned over individual voter-file records — including registration history, addresses, dates of birth, driver's-license numbers, and voting histories — to agents of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit as part of the Trump administration's campaign against alleged noncitizen voting, according to emails obtained by Democracy Forward and first reported by Axios on June 13, 2026. The requests reached Webb County in May 2026 and Forsyth County in November 2025, and on June 9 DHS General Counsel James Percival directed ICE to pursue stricter penalties, including deportation, for noncitizens found to have voted.
ICE deports Adelanto hunger-strike organizer Kyon Swaso to Belize after no-notice out-of-state transfers
On June 12, 2026, ICE deported Kyon Shakeel Swaso — a Belizean national and lead organizer of the hunger strike at California's GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE Processing Center — to Belize, following a series of no-notice transfers to facilities in Texas and Louisiana that his attorneys say violated Central District of California General Order 26-05's advance-notice requirement. The deportation proceeded despite a pending Stay of Removal and Motion to Reopen. The removal came eleven days after Swaso met with members of Congress to report inhumane conditions at Adelanto; DHS disputes that a hunger strike is occurring and characterizes the removal as routine.
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 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.
FBI raids Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a voter-registration group
On June 11, 2026, FBI agents raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a nonprofit that runs statewide voter-registration programs, and fanned out across Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati to question current and former staff, serve subpoenas, and seize electronic devices. A board member estimated that more than 100 agents were involved and said investigators alleged voter fraud while presenting no evidence of wrongdoing. The raids came roughly five months before the 2026 midterm elections and drew condemnation from Ohio Democrats and democracy advocates as an attempt to intimidate voter-registration work.
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."
DOJ dismantles federal election-integrity safeguards ahead of 2026 midterms
Reporting published June 8, 2026 details that the Justice Department has not taken its customary steps to protect the 2026 election: it fired most lawyers in its Public Integrity Section, left the Election Crimes Branch director post unfilled, canceled election-integrity training for prosecutors and FBI agents, deleted a 281-page guide to prosecuting election offenses, and has not stood up the usual Election Day "command center" to monitor voter intimidation and disinformation. Enforcement now falls to the 93 local U.S. attorney offices, which former prosecutors warn lack the specialized expertise the dismantled units provided.
DOJ shut down criminal Clean Water Act probe of Sen. Jim Justice's coal companies
ProPublica reported that the Justice Department's Office of the Deputy Attorney General, then headed by now–Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, shut down a career-initiated federal criminal investigation into potential Clean Water Act violations by the coal empire of Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV), a close Trump ally. Prosecutors with the EPA, DOJ's Environmental Crimes Section, and the Western District of Virginia believed they had a strong case and were litigating subpoenas when they were told "pencils down." DOJ said the case was not consistent with the administration's priorities and should be resolved civilly; former prosecutors called top-level intervention to quash an early-stage criminal case highly unusual.
VP JD Vance refers Gov. Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison to DOJ for criminal fraud investigation
Vice President JD Vance announced on June 8, 2026, that he was referring Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison — both Democrats — to the Justice Department for a criminal fraud investigation. Vance said the referral followed a Republican-led House Oversight Committee report and letter alleging the officials knew of fraud in federally funded social programs and failed to act. Ellison called it "a political stunt from an administration that uses the machinery of government to target its perceived opponents."
GEO Group cancels Delaney Hall family visits, bars Sen. Kim from speaking with detainees
On Saturday, June 6, 2026, GEO Group — the private contractor operating ICE's Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark — canceled the day's family visitation, turning away spouses and children at the gate, according to Mother Jones. U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), conducting a congressional oversight visit, was admitted but told that if he spoke with any detainee the tour would be terminated immediately. Kim reported seeing a woman curled up in visible medical distress in a women's housing unit, more than two weeks into detainees' hunger and labor strike over conditions, and said guards would not answer his questions about her.
DOJ told D.C. Circuit no court has authority to block Trump's $400m White House ballroom
At a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on June 5, 2026, a Justice Department lawyer argued that no court — not the panel, not the Supreme Court — has the authority to halt or order the demolition of President Trump's $400m White House ballroom, contending that only Congress could intervene. Pressed by Judge Patricia Millett on whether any court could stop the construction, the government answered no, even when asked whether courts could stop the executive from bulldozing the Statue of Liberty. The administration is appealing District Judge Richard Leon's earlier ruling that Trump lacked legal authority for the project.
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.
Federal judge rules USCIS freeze on immigration processing for 39 travel-ban countries unlawful
U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the District of Rhode Island ruled on June 5, 2026 that USCIS unlawfully froze asylum claims and immigration-benefit adjudications — work permits, green cards, and citizenship — for nationals of the 39 countries under the administration's travel restrictions. The 135-page ruling found the freeze exceeded the agency's statutory authority, was arbitrary and capricious, and masked anti-immigrant animus behind pretextual national-security claims, and ordered processing resumed.
FBI fires five analysts who worked on withdrawn 2023 'Richmond memo'
On June 5, 2026, the FBI fired five employees — four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst — who were involved in creating the withdrawn 2023 "Richmond memo" on "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" ideology, a document long targeted by President Trump's allies. An internal FBI review and a DOJ inspector general review had both previously found no malicious intent and no discriminatory conduct, and the employees had already been admonished, with corrective process changes adopted. Their lawyer called the firings "manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts."
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.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opens 15 new race-discrimination probes into medical school admissions
On June 4, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced it had opened 15 new investigations into U.S. medical schools over alleged race discrimination in admissions, expanding a campaign that had already produced adverse findings against the medical schools of Yale University and UCLA. The Division said it would examine whether the schools — each a recipient of millions of dollars in federal funding — comply with Title VI as interpreted by the Supreme Court's 2023 decision restricting race-conscious admissions. The schools under investigation were not publicly named.
DOJ opened 15 new race-discrimination investigations into medical school admissions
On June 4, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced it had opened 15 new investigations into U.S. medical schools over alleged race discrimination in admissions, declining to name the schools. The Division said it will examine whether the schools — each a recipient of millions of dollars in federal funding — are complying with the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling restricting race-conscious admissions, extending a campaign that already produced adverse findings against the Yale and UCLA medical schools.
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.
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.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 61st strike, ~202 campaign deaths
On May 29, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The Trump administration released no public evidence that the victims were engaged in drug trafficking, provided no names or nationalities, and offered no legal proceedings. The strike was the 61st in Operation Southern Spear, bringing the campaign's total to approximately 202 deaths since September 2025.
DOJ opens criminal perjury investigation into Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll
In late May 2026, CNN, CBS and NBC reported that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into whether writer E. Jean Carroll — who won a $5 million sexual-abuse/defamation verdict and a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment against Donald Trump — committed perjury in a 2022 deposition when she said no one else was funding her lawsuit, after it emerged that a nonprofit tied to Democratic donor Reid Hoffman had covered some of her legal costs. The probe is reportedly run out of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois and tied to a broader criminal inquiry into the Hoffman trust spanning money laundering, obstruction and conspiracy, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — a former Trump lawyer — recused. The Chicago U.S. Attorney, Andrew Boutros, publicly denied opening any investigation into Carroll; CNN reported that its sources reaffirmed the probe after the denial.
OPM proposes government-wide NDA for federal workers, with civil and criminal penalties for press disclosures
On May 26, 2026, the Office of Personnel Management posted a Federal Register notice proposing a draft non-disclosure agreement for use by all federal agencies with both new and existing employees. The draft exposes signatories to civil and criminal penalties — and entitles the government to any royalties they receive — for disclosing information the administration deems "confidential" to the press, and requires former employees to obtain written permission from an authorized agency official before speaking to journalists about such material. OPM frames the NDA as preserving whistleblower channels through inspectors general and Congress, but the named target of the proposal is press disclosure of non-public information.
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.
DOJ files its second 2026 antisemitism lawsuit against UCLA
On May 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the University of California for the second time in 2026, alleging UCLA was "deliberately indifferent" to Jewish and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian encampment protests in spring 2024, in violation of Title VI. The administration had earlier sought more than $1 billion in fines against the university before a federal judge intervened, and several DOJ attorneys have resigned from the underlying investigation, telling reporters the case was "fraudulent," a "sham," and driven by pressure to "find" evidence against UCLA.
Trump DOJ moves to release Biden's private ghostwriter recordings to Heritage Foundation
The Trump Justice Department reversed the prior administration's position and gave notice it will release audio recordings and transcripts of former President Joe Biden's interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer — material gathered during special counsel Robert Hur's classified-documents investigation — to the conservative Heritage Foundation and the House Judiciary Committee on June 15, 2026 unless a court intervenes. Biden sued the Department on May 26, 2026 to block the release, arguing the recordings contain private conversations, including about his late son Beau's death.
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim pepper-sprayed by federal agents during ICE oversight visit in Newark
On Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said he was pepper-sprayed by federal agents outside Delaney Hall, a private ICE detention facility in Newark, after conducting an in-person oversight visit while detainees inside were on a hunger strike. Kim said he had tried to position himself between ICE personnel and protesters to de-escalate when officers — who had deployed an armored vehicle as a barricade — pushed through and discharged pepper balls and pepper spray. DHS publicly defended the action, blaming "rioters" and asserting officers used "the minimum amount of force necessary," and later said no individuals were directly struck by pepper-ball projectiles.
Judge dismisses DOJ human-smuggling case against Abrego Garcia as vindictive prosecution
On May 22, 2026, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of the Middle District of Tennessee dismissed the federal human-smuggling indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, granting his motion to dismiss for selective or vindictive prosecution. The judge found the Justice Department failed to rebut the "presumption of vindictiveness," writing that the evidence "sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power" and that, absent Abrego Garcia's successful court challenge to his wrongful deportation to El Salvador, the government would not have brought the case. The Justice Department said the ruling was "wrong and dangerous" and that it will appeal.
USCIS memo requires most green-card applicants to leave the U.S. and apply abroad
On May 21, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199, reclassifying adjustment of status — the process by which eligible immigrants obtain a green card without leaving the country — as an "extraordinary" form of relief and an act of "administrative grace" rather than a routine pathway. The memo directs officers to treat an applicant's choice to pursue adjustment of status inside the United States, instead of consular processing abroad, as an adverse factor weighing against approval, a change that would force most green-card seekers — including spouses of U.S. citizens, students, and employer-sponsored workers — to leave the country and apply through a U.S. consulate. The restructuring affects an estimated half-million cases a year and was made by internal agency memorandum, without legislation or notice-and-comment rulemaking; USCIS says it implements existing law, while former officials of both parties call it largely unprecedented.
DOJ opinion declares Presidential Records Act unconstitutional; court orders White House to comply
In April 2026, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum opinion declaring the Presidential Records Act — the post-Watergate law that makes presidential records public property and requires their preservation — unconstitutional, and advised that President Trump need not comply with it. On May 20, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Bates granted a preliminary injunction in American Historical Association v. Trump, holding the Act "likely constitutional," finding a substantial risk that covered records were not being preserved, and ordering most Executive Office of the President staff to comply. The injunction takes effect at 9 a.m. on May 26, 2026; it binds White House staff but not the President or Vice President directly.
DOJ swore in active-duty military JAG officers as temporary immigration judges
On May 20, 2026, the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) held an investiture at the DOJ Great Hall swearing in 77 permanent and 5 temporary immigration judges — the largest single class in the agency's history. The 5 temporary judges are active-duty military Judge Advocate General (JAG) attorneys, the first cohort detailed under an August 2025 Pentagon authorization to assign up to 600 military lawyers to the immigration courts. The buildout follows the removal of more than 100 sitting immigration judges and the hiring of enforcement-aligned replacements, and is explicitly aimed at accelerating deportation cases.
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.
VP Vance says the DOJ is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar, a prominent administration critic
At a White House press briefing on May 19, 2026, Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) over immigration-fraud allegations and questions about her family's finances, saying that "if we think that there's a crime, we're going to prosecute that crime." Vance, who leads the administration's anti-fraud task force, had already asserted publicly that Omar "definitely committed immigration fraud" months earlier. There is no public evidence that Omar committed immigration fraud, and the DOJ has not confirmed an active case; Omar called the probe a "racist, creepy, and weird conspiracy theory."
NIAID bars U.S. disease scientists from communicating with the WHO during active outbreaks
A May 18, 2026 internal directive from a senior National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official, obtained by CNN, restricted U.S. infectious-disease researchers to attending World Health Organization meetings only in groups of three or fewer and only in a "listening capacity," with any research questions or countermeasure ideas routed through HHS's chain of command. The limits were imposed during active Ebola and Hantavirus responses; current and former officials called barring direct scientist-to-scientist coordination during an emerging public-health emergency unprecedented.
Federal court bars ICE from arresting immigrants at three Manhattan federal courthouses after finding the agency lacked internal legal authority for the year-plus practice
On May 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel (Southern District of New York) issued a 15-page stay barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from arresting most immigrants inside or around three federal courthouses in lower Manhattan — 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway — except in narrow circumstances involving imminent national-security or public-safety threats. The court's findings document the underlying abuse this entry records: ICE had conducted courthouse arrests at substantial scale for over a year despite, as federal prosecutors admitted in March 2026, having no internal agency rules establishing the legal authority for the practice, and the agency had continued the arrests after conceding this to prosecutors. A masked-agent arrest was witnessed at 26 Federal Plaza on the morning of May 18, hours before the stay took effect.
Federal agencies refuse records to oversight investigation of DOGE data access; GSA officials block physical inspection of converted offices and Starlink installation
The Washington Post reported on May 18, 2026 that multiple federal agencies are refusing to produce records for an active oversight investigation into how the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) obtained access to sensitive federal data and systems. At the General Services Administration, senior officials blocked investigators from examining at least six offices DOGE had converted into bedrooms and from inspecting Starlink satellite equipment installed at the agency. The pattern of refusal sits on top of a January 2026 dismantling of the executive branch's principal internal oversight infrastructure — the dismissal of 18 inspectors general and the heads of the Office of Special Counsel and Office of Government Ethics — which removed many of the watchdogs that would otherwise have compelled compliance.
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 administration runs 67M+ voter registrations through DHS SAVE database for federal noncitizen/deceased checks; voting-rights advocates warn of pre-midterm purge
Associated Press reporting on May 17, 2026 (carried by PBS NewsHour, the Philadelphia Inquirer, HuffPost, and ABC News) documented that the Trump administration has run at least 67 million voter registrations — predominantly from Republican-controlled states — through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's expanded SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database since August 2025. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed about 60 million registrations checked in a roughly one-year window, with about 24,000 flagged as potential noncitizens; the DOJ Civil Rights Division separately said about 350,000 records were flagged as possibly deceased. The SAVE program was statutorily designed to prevent improper benefit payments to noncitizens — its use for voter- roll administration is an executive-driven expansion without a corresponding statutory mandate.
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.
DOJ files complaint against DC Bar to block disbarment of Jan. 6 ally Jeffrey Clark
On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a formal complaint against the District of Columbia Bar disciplinary authorities seeking to block the Bar from pursuing disbarment of Jeffrey Clark, a former senior DOJ official and Trump ally who had attempted to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 presidential election. DOJ argued that the state bar's disciplinary proceedings constitute improper interference with federal government functions — a legal theory that would effectively exempt former federal attorneys from professional accountability for conduct in their official capacity. The complaint was filed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
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.
Tennessee House Speaker strips entire Democratic caucus of all committee assignments in retaliation for May 7 floor protest of anti-Black gerrymander
On May 12, 2026, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) removed every member of the state House Democratic caucus from every standing committee and subcommittee assignment. The stated reason was the caucus's conduct during the May 7 special session, where Democrats protested the passage of a new congressional map eliminating Memphis's majority-Black 9th district. The blanket scope of the action — caucus-wide rather than targeting individual members for specific procedural violations — is what makes this distinct from routine legislative discipline and an exercise of institutional power against the minority party itself.
BIA fast-tracked Mahmoud Khalil's deportation case in 9-day 'unprecedented' turnaround
Internal Department of Justice case-tracking documents obtained by The New York Times and reported publicly on May 11, 2026 reveal that the Board of Immigration Appeals — an appellate body housed within the DOJ — fast-tracked the deportation case of Palestinian Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil along a procedural track that a former BIA member called "unprecedented." Per the internal documents, the case was flagged high-priority before the board officially received it; a staff note instructed handling Khalil's case as if he were still in detention even though he had been released several days earlier; the BIA's April 9, 2026 decision authorizing Khalil's deportation came just nine days after paperwork was submitted; and at least three judges recused themselves from the proceedings.
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.
Hegseth calls for second Pentagon investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly over weapons-stockpile remarks
On Sunday, May 10, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly called for a second Pentagon investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) over Kelly's comments on CBS' "Face the Nation" about depleted U.S. munitions stockpiles amid the Iran war, posting that the Pentagon's legal counsel would review whether Kelly had "violate[d] his oath." Kelly, a retired Navy captain who sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, responded that the substance of his remarks was not classified and pointed to Hegseth's own prior public testimony about the same stockpile-depletion timeline. The referral came days after a D.C. Circuit panel appeared poised to reject Hegseth's first effort to punish Kelly — an administrative action to reduce Kelly's retired military rank over a November video urging service members to refuse illegal orders.
Hegseth replaces Congressionally-mandated Military Justice Review Panel with open-ended Pentagon legal-system review under his own general counsel
On May 8, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a two-page memo directing the creation of an "ongoing, long-term, department-wide review of all aspects of the military legal system," convened by Department of Defense General Counsel Earl Matthews and reporting directly to Hegseth. The new panel substitutes for the Military Justice Review Panel — the 13-member independent oversight body created by Congress in April 2022 to report to Congress, which Hegseth disbanded in 2025 after it delivered a 238-page review of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Current and former JAGs describe the move as completing a transfer of military-legal oversight from an independent, Congressionally-created body to an executive-controlled panel staffed by political appointees.
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.
FBI opens criminal leak probe targeting the sources behind The Atlantic's reporting on Kash Patel
In early May 2026, MS NOW reported — with corroboration from PBS NewsHour, TheWrap, Poynter and Democracy Now — that the FBI had opened a criminal "insider threat" investigation into the sourcing behind Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick's story documenting FBI Director Kash Patel's excessive drinking and erratic conduct. The probe is highly unusual: it does not stem from any disclosure of classified information and instead targets leaks to a journalist, a posture in which reporters have historically been treated only as witnesses. FBI agents assigned to the matter reportedly objected that they were not supposed to pursue it, and the bureau publicly denied the investigation.
DOJ in Puerto Rico halted drugs-for-votes election-fraud probe after Trump win
On May 5, 2026, ProPublica disclosed that in November 2024 — days after Donald Trump won the presidency and Jenniffer González-Colón clinched Puerto Rico's governorship — supervisors at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico ordered line prosecutors to drop voting-fraud counts and all charges against prison staff from a built-out drugs-for-votes indictment, and after Trump took office told them to abandon the probe of any campaign ties entirely. The pulled charges arose from evidence that the Los Tiburones prison gang traded drugs for inmate votes for González-Colón in 2024 and that the candidate had communicated with a gang leader on WhatsApp during the primary. In the weeks that followed, Puerto Rico's resident commissioner and four U.S. House Democrats publicly called for a DOJ Inspector General and congressional investigation; González-Colón has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; ~57th strike, ~191 campaign deaths
On May 4, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people. The strike was carried out under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Operation Southern Spear mandate with no prior judicial process or public evidence regarding the victims.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~56th strike, ~189 campaign deaths
On May 4, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The strike was carried out under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Operation Southern Spear mandate at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, with no prior judicial process or public evidence regarding the victims.
State Department orders consular officers to deny visas to applicants who fear returning home
On April 28, 2026, the U.S. State Department sent a worldwide diplomatic cable ordering consular officers to ask every nonimmigrant visa applicant two new verbal questions -- whether they have suffered harm or mistreatment at home and whether they fear harm if returned -- and to deny the visa to anyone who answers "yes" or refuses to answer. The directive, which covers tourist, student, and temporary-worker visas, converts an expression of protection-need into an automatic disqualifier and is part of a broader effort to screen out applicants who might later seek asylum.
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.
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.
ORR blocked a physician-lawmaker's oversight visit to pregnant migrant minors held in an abortion-restricted Texas shelter
When Rep. Maxine Dexter — a physician serving in Congress — made an oversight visit to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelter in San Benito, Texas on April 24, 2026, officials blocked her from speaking with the pregnant migrant minors held there and would not say where detainees who had left the facility had been transferred or what continuity of care they received. The minors — some as young as 13, at least half of whom became pregnant as a result of rape — had been concentrated at the single facility since a July 22, 2025 directive by ORR Acting Director Angie Salazar, in a state that bans abortion and over the objections of the agency's own health officials. Nearly 50 members of Congress demanded answers from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Salazar; HHS says its placement decisions follow child-welfare best practices.
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.
Hegseth eliminated mandatory military flu vaccine requirement in force since 1945
On April 21, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the annual flu vaccine would no longer be mandatory for U.S. military personnel — active duty or reserve — ending a requirement in place since the close of World War II. Hegseth characterized the 80-year policy as "overly broad and not rational" and said "we will not force you" to take the vaccine.
DOJ indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of fraud over $3M informant payments
On April 21, 2026, a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, charging the 55-year-old civil-rights organization with wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering over a covert program in which the SPLC says it paid confidential sources to infiltrate violent extremist groups. The indictment came after the FBI under Director Kash Patel had severed its long-running relationship with the SPLC, and amid publicly expressed presidential pressure on the Justice Department to pursue prosecutions of political opponents. SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair said the organization was "targeted" by the administration and that its informant work "saved lives."
DOJ installs Trump legal ally Joe diGenova as Counselor to the Attorney General assigned to the Brennan probe in Fort Pierce
On April 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice installed Joseph diGenova — a longtime Washington attorney, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and a Trump legal-team adviser during the Mueller investigation who has publicly backed efforts to overturn the 2020 election — as Counselor to the Attorney General in the Southern District of Florida, assigned to the federal criminal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan. The appointment came one day after the Justice Department removed career national-security prosecutor Maria Medetis Long from the Brennan probe after she resisted bringing charges career prosecutors judged unsupported by the evidence. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, seeking to retain the job after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier in April over dissatisfaction at the pace of cases against Trump's political adversaries, drove the appointment.
DOJ removes career federal prosecutor leading the Brennan investigation after she resisted bringing charges career staff judged unsupported
On April 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice removed Maria Medetis Long — the career federal prosecutor heading the national-security section at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami and leading the federal criminal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan — after she resisted pressure from senior DOJ leadership to file charges career prosecutors had told the Department the evidence did not support. U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones had earlier told DOJ leadership that charges could still be months away. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, seeking to retain the job after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier in April over dissatisfaction at the slow pace of cases against Trump's political adversaries, has been pressing to deliver indictments on the president's priority targets.
Ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi defies bipartisan House subpoena, skipping Epstein-files deposition
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to appear on April 14, 2026 for her subpoenaed closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee in its Jeffrey Epstein files investigation. The Justice Department had announced on April 8 that she would not appear, asserting the subpoena — issued after a bipartisan committee vote and naming "the Honorable Pamela Jo Bondi" personally — lapsed when President Trump removed her as Attorney General on April 2. Oversight Democrats introduced a civil-contempt resolution in response.
DOJ demands Wayne County, Michigan turn over all ~865,000 ballots from the 2024 election
On April 14, 2026, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sent a demand letter to Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett invoking the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to require turnover of all ballots, receipts, and envelopes — roughly 865,000 — cast in the November 2024 federal election in Michigan's most populous county, where Kamala Harris won by a margin of about a quarter-million votes. The letter cited a long-dismissed 2020 civil suit and three 2020-era voter-fraud convictions as its predicate, gave the clerk 14 days to comply, and threatened a court order. Michigan's governor, secretary of state, and attorney general publicly rejected the demand and refused to comply.
DOJ fires six immigration judges, including two who blocked deportations of Öztürk and Mahdawi
The Justice Department on April 10, 2026 fired six immigration judges, among them Boston judge Roopal Patel, who ruled in January that the government had no grounds to deport Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, and Chelmsford, Massachusetts judge Nina Froes, who in February dismissed deportation proceedings against Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi. Both judges were dismissed by email mid-hearing near the end of their probationary periods, in a purge in which the National Association of Immigration Judges says at least 113 of roughly 750 immigration judges have been fired since January 2025.
CDC paused more than two dozen lab tests after downsizing gutted its reference labs
In the week of April 1, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a list of more than two dozen diagnostic tests it had paused — the largest set the agency has ever halted at once — including testing for rabies, mpox, Epstein-Barr, and varicella-zoster, as well as rare imported pathogens. Reporting tied the pause directly to the agency's downsizing: staffing fell an estimated 20-25%, with the poxvirus and rabies labs losing about half their staff and the malaria branch gutted further. HHS called the pause a "routine review," a framing the reporting on staffing losses contradicts.
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.
DOJ sues Minnesota to force transgender athletes out of girls' sports
The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League, alleging that the state's trans-inclusive athletics policies violate Title IX by allowing transgender girls to compete in girls' sports and use girls' locker rooms and bathrooms. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring transgender girls from female-designated sports, sex-separated locker rooms and bathrooms, compensation for female athletes, and "correction" of past athletic records — with roughly $2.98 billion in annual federal education funding at stake.
Deputy AG Blanche boasts every DOJ and FBI employee who investigated Trump is gone
At a CPAC fireside chat on March 26, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declared that every Justice Department and FBI employee who worked on the criminal investigations into President Trump had been fired, resigned, or taken early retirement — "not a single man or woman" remained — putting the DOJ figure at "over 200." His public confirmation marked the completion of a systematic purge of the career personnel who had investigated the president, with termination letters citing employees' prosecution work as the reason they could not be "trusted."
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 47th strike, ~163 campaign deaths
On March 25, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 47th lethal kinetic strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people. SOUTHCOM identified the vessel as engaged in narco-trafficking but provided no public evidence against those killed and no identification of the victims. The strike drew international condemnation — UN special rapporteur Ben Saul had 13 days earlier called the campaign "serial extrajudicial killings" with "no justification under international law."
DOJ opens Title VI probes into Stanford, Ohio State, and UC San Diego medical schools
On March 25, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened Title VI compliance-review investigations into the medical schools of Stanford University, the Ohio State University, and the University of California, San Diego, over alleged race discrimination in admissions. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon announced the probes, and the Division sent letters demanding seven years of applicant data — MCAT scores, GPAs, ZIP codes, family ties to alumni or donors, internal DEI communications, and correspondence with pharmaceutical companies — by an April 24, 2026 deadline, citing the schools' federal funding.
DOJ agrees to pay Trump ally Michael Flynn $1.25M to settle malicious-prosecution suit
On March 25, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay $1.25 million to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, to settle his lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution over his 2017 criminal case. Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was later pardoned by Trump; he originally sued for $50 million in 2023 and revived the case after Trump returned to office. The settlement was reached under DOJ leadership Flynn publicly thanked by name.
State Department declares wartime emergency to bypass Congress on $23B in Mideast arms sales
On March 20, 2026, the State Department declared a national-security "wartime emergency" to bypass Congress and force through more than $23 billion in arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked emergency-certification authority under the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review window across 11 weapons packages — some still under review on Capitol Hill, others never formally submitted to Congress. Coverage described it as the administration's second use of emergency authority to circumvent congressional approval of arms transfers since the war with Iran began.
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.
FBI obtains Arizona Senate's 2020 Maricopa election audit records via grand-jury subpoena
In early March 2026 the FBI served the Arizona Senate a federal grand-jury subpoena for digital records from the chamber's discredited 2021 "audit" of Maricopa County's 2020 presidential election; Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, disclosed on March 9 that he had received and complied with it. The 2021 review — run by the Trump-allied firm Cyber Ninjas — had itself confirmed that Joe Biden won the county. State election officials condemned the subpoena as part of a federal campaign to relitigate an election that President Trump lost.
State Department declares emergency to bypass Congress on $151.8M Israel bomb sale
On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of State approved an emergency Foreign Military Sale to Israel of 12,000 BLU-110A/B 1,000-pound bomb bodies and related support, valued at about $151.8 million. Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally determined that an emergency existed requiring the immediate sale, invoking Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review period. It was the administration's first AECA emergency declaration to bypass Congress on an arms sale to Israel, coming roughly a week into the joint U.S.-Israel air war against Iran.
DOJ stands up working group to fast-track indictments of Cuban Communist Party leaders
In early March 2026, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones stood up a multi-agency working group, including the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, directed to pursue rapid criminal indictments of Cuban Communist Party and military leadership on drug, economic, immigration, and violent-crime charges. Reporting framed the initiative as a politically driven effort deliberately modeled on the DOJ's earlier narco-terrorism case against Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, whose indictment was used to justify his removal. The working group produced an April 23, 2026 grand-jury indictment of 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro and other senior figures, announced May 20, 2026.
DOJ proposes rule letting the Attorney General halt state bar discipline of its attorneys
On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice published a proposed rule (RIN 1105-AB82; 28 CFR Part 77) granting the Attorney General authority to review any state, territorial, or D.C. bar disciplinary complaint against a current or former DOJ attorney for conduct in their federal duties, and to demand that the bar suspend its investigation pending that review. The rule states that if a bar refuses, "the Department shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering." It followed bar inquiries into DOJ lawyers such as Lindsey Halligan, whose prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James were dismissed after a judge found her appointment unlawful.
DHS systematically obstructed its inspector general; Noem sought list of OIG probes to weigh ending
In a March 2 letter released to Congress and first reported on March 3, 2026, DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari said the Department of Homeland Security had "systematically obstructed" his office's work, citing at least 10 oversight matters in which DHS denied or delayed access to records and revoked OIG access to critical databases including BorderStat, TECS, Secure Flight, and the Unified Immigration Portal. Cuffari also disclosed that Secretary Kristi Noem had requested a list of all pending OIG matters, including criminal investigations, so she could weigh whether any should be terminated. The disclosure prompted Sen. Gary Peters, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to open an investigation into potential obstruction of the inspector general's oversight and communications to Congress.
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.
DOJ sues five more states for full voter rolls, bringing nationwide campaign to 29 states
On February 26, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced federal lawsuits against Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Jersey for failing to produce their full statewide voter registration lists, bringing the Department's nationwide total to 29 states and the District of Columbia. DOJ asserted authority under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to compel production, inspection, and analysis of complete voter rolls — data that can include names, addresses, dates of birth, and partial Social Security or driver's license numbers — to cross-check for "improper registrations." The filings came after federal courts had dismissed several earlier DOJ voter-roll suits.
Miami prosecutor expands 'grand conspiracy' probe of Trump's investigators to 2016 Russia inquiry
On February 26, 2026, The New York Times reported that Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, had expanded a criminal "grand conspiracy" inquiry into former law-enforcement and intelligence officials who investigated Donald Trump, with subpoenas issued in recent weeks now reaching the FBI's 2016 investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and FBI interviews probing the 2020 false-electors case. The expansion built on subpoenas the Miami office issued in November 2025 — which went to figures including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — and a broadened late-January 2026 round seeking documents about the January 2017 intelligence-community assessment on Russian election interference. The Times noted there is no evidence the separate inquiries were a single plot, and that tying the Washington-based Russia and false-electors matters to the Florida classified-documents case lets prosecutors use a Miami grand jury drawn from a less Democratic jury pool.
FBI fires about 10 employees who worked on Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified-documents case
Around February 25, 2026, the FBI dismissed roughly 10 employees who had worked on the criminal investigation into President Trump's retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The firings came hours after FBI Director Kash Patel publicly characterized the inquiry — under which his and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles's phone records had been subpoenaed — as Biden-era overreach, and followed reporting that those subpoenas had surfaced. The bureau dismissed additional personnel the next day, bringing the total to roughly a dozen.
Trump administration halts $259.5M in Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota
On February 25, 2026, Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration would temporarily halt $259.5 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota, citing alleged fraud in the state's social programs and giving the state 60 days to overhaul its systems. Vance said Minnesota — where roughly 1.3 million residents rely on Medicaid — was the first of several states the administration expected to target this way. Minnesota sued, with Attorney General Keith Ellison arguing the withholding violates Fifth Amendment due process and the Administrative Procedure Act's bar on arbitrary and capricious agency action.
DOJ sues UCLA over antisemitism, escalating a pressure campaign nine of its own career attorneys resigned over
On February 24, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sued the University of California under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging UCLA maintained an antisemitic "hostile work environment" for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff. The suit was the latest step in a federal pressure campaign rooted in UCLA's tolerance of a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment: the administration had already suspended $584 million in UC research grants and sought a $1.2 billion fine, which a federal judge blocked in November 2025 as unconstitutional. Nine career Justice Department attorneys assigned to the underlying antisemitism investigation had resigned, describing pressure to reach a preordained conclusion on a 30-day timetable. It was the first of two 2026 DOJ antisemitism suits against the university.
DOJ logged members of Congress's search histories as they reviewed unredacted Epstein files
It emerged that the Department of Justice had logged and tracked the searches members of Congress ran while reviewing unredacted Epstein files on DOJ systems, and a printout titled "Jayapal Pramila Search History" was photographed in Attorney General Pam Bondi's materials at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Rep. Pramila Jayapal confirmed the listed searches were hers; the DOJ said it "logs all searches made on its systems," framing the practice as protecting victim information. Speaker Mike Johnson called the tracking not "appropriate," and Democratic lawmakers demanded the department end what they described as surveillance of the legislative branch.
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."
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.
FBI opens criminal probe of Minneapolis anti-ICE activists' Signal chats
On Monday, January 26, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had opened a criminal investigation into encrypted Signal group chats used by Minneapolis anti-ICE activists to share descriptions and license plates of suspected immigration-enforcement vehicles. Patel disclosed the probe in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, saying it was prompted by a viral X thread from influencer Cam Higby, who claimed to have "infiltrated" the chats, and that the FBI was examining whether the activity crossed legal thresholds such as "doxxing" agents. Free-speech advocates noted that observing and documenting on-duty law enforcement is generally lawful and warned the investigation could chill protected organizing.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 36th strike, ~117 campaign deaths
On January 23, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear, operating at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people and leaving one survivor. The strike was characterized by SOUTHCOM as targeting "Designated Terrorist Organizations" engaged in narco-trafficking, yet no public evidence was provided identifying the victims or their alleged activities. This was the 36th strike in the Southern Spear campaign since September 2025, resuming after a three-week gap following the January 3 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
DOJ and FBI arrest anti-ICE church-protest organizers under FACE Act and conspiracy statute
On January 22, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced federal charges against Minneapolis civil-rights organizer Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school-board member Chauntyll Allen, and others over a January 18 anti-ICE demonstration inside Cities Church in St. Paul, where one pastor also directs the local ICE field office. The activists were charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and 18 U.S.C. § 241 (conspiracy against rights); Levy Armstrong was processed and released the same day after a federal magistrate found insufficient evidence to detain her. These were the first arrests in a prosecution that a February 27 superseding indictment would expand to 39 defendants.
DOJ opens criminal investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey over their anti-ICE statements
On January 16, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents during Operation Metro Surge, the roughly 3,000-agent ICE and Border Patrol deployment to the Twin Cities. Sources told CBS News the inquiry rests on 18 U.S.C. Section 372 and stems from the officials' public criticism of the operation, which had intensified after an ICE agent killed Minnesota resident Renee Good on January 7. Subpoenas to Walz, Frey, Attorney General Keith Ellison, the St. Paul mayor's office, and two counties followed the next week.
2025
HHS freezes all federal child-care (CCDF) funding nationwide, citing amplified fraud claims
On Dec. 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) money to every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories "effective immediately," saying it would release the funds only after each state supplied unspecified "administrative data." The freeze followed a Dec. 30 announcement by HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill and was publicly justified by unverified fraud allegations amplified from a Dec. 26 viral video targeting Somali-American-run day cares in Minnesota. Child-care advocates noted that states already run longstanding, annually updated anti-fraud controls and warned that even a month without funding could force thin-margin providers to close, harming families regardless of whether they receive subsidies.
HHS freezes all federal child-care payments to Minnesota over anti-Somali fraud claims
On December 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal child-care funding to Minnesota, with Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill announcing the move on X and crediting a viral video by conservative activist Nick Shirley that alleged fraud at Somali-run day-care centers. HHS — which sends roughly $185 million a year in child-care funds to the state, supporting day care for tens of thousands of children from low-income families — simultaneously imposed a new nationwide condition requiring states to submit a justification plus a receipt or photo evidence before receiving Administration for Children and Families payments. The freeze landed amid the administration's Operation Metro Surge ICE deployment targeting Minnesota's Somali community and was expanded the next day into a freeze of child-care funding to all 50 states.
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."
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.
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.
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."
Interior Department issued memo barring all bureaus from confirming deaths or injuries on public lands
In December 2025, the Department of the Interior issued an internal memo directing all bureaus and offices — including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — not to confirm deaths, serious injuries, or "emotionally sensitive incidents" on federal public lands. The memo, obtained by The Washington Post and reported June 24, 2026, states "Interior shall not confirm a death" and routes all fatality information through the department's Office of Communications. Former NPS officials said the change reversed longstanding practice of quickly informing the public about fatal incidents to prevent further harm.
EPA used litigation to circumvent Clean Air Act rulemaking, seeking to vacate Biden PM2.5 soot standard
On November 25, 2025, the Trump EPA filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asking the court to vacate the Biden-era National Ambient Air Quality Standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5)—tightened from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter—by "confessing error" rather than following the Clean Air Act's required notice-and-comment rulemaking process. The move would eliminate a standard projected to prevent 4,500 annual premature deaths, 2,000 hospital visits, and 800,000 asthma cases by 2032. By requesting court vacatur instead of formal rulemaking, the EPA avoids the statutory requirement to publish reasoned explanations and allow public comment on the rollback.
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.
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.
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.
Speaker Johnson withholds swearing-in of Rep.-elect Grijalva, conditioning seating on unrelated shutdown vote
House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to swear in Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who had won Arizona's 7th Congressional District special election in late September 2025, conditioning her seating on Senate Democrats agreeing to reopen the government during a shutdown. Johnson's demand was unrelated to Grijalva's election — the conditioning denied 813,000 Arizona constituents their elected representative and transformed a ministerial constitutional duty into political leverage. On October 21, 2025, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Grijalva filed a federal lawsuit demanding Johnson immediately fulfill his duty to seat her.
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.
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, ~18 campaign deaths
On October 17, 2025, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) conducted a military strike in the Caribbean Sea targeting a vessel that the U.S. claimed was affiliated with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), Colombia's largest remaining guerrilla organization. The strike killed three people. The ELN publicly denied that the targeted vessel was engaged in drug-boat trafficking in international waters. No survivors were reported.
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.
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.
DOJ brings first terrorism charges under Trump's Antifa designation; two indicted for July 4 attack on Fort Worth ICE facility
The Justice Department unsealed its first federal terrorism indictment on October 16, 2025, under President Trump's executive order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, charging Zachary Evetts and Cameron Arnold with providing material support for terrorism and attempting to murder federal law enforcement officers. Prosecutors alleged the two belonged to an "Antifa cell" that orchestrated a July 4, 2025, attack on an ICE detention facility near Fort Worth, Texas. Attorney General Pam Bondi declared, "Antifa is a left-wing terrorist organization. They will be prosecuted as such," while FBI Director Kash Patel announced over 20 arrests tied to the case and "related Antifa networks."
DOJ indicts former national security adviser Bolton on 18 classified-document counts; third Trump adversary charged in a month
A federal grand jury in Maryland indicted former National Security Adviser John Bolton on October 16, 2025, on 18 counts of mishandling classified national defense information — eight counts of transmitting and ten counts of unlawfully retaining material emailed via personal accounts without security clearances. Bolton became the third prominent Trump critic charged within roughly three weeks, following former FBI Director James Comey (September 25) and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Biden-era Justice Department had previously reviewed the same conduct and declined to bring 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.
OMB Director Vought announces 10,000+ federal shutdown layoffs, vowing to use budget lapse for permanent workforce cuts
On October 15, 2025, White House OMB Director Russell Vought publicly announced the Trump administration intended to lay off "probably north of 10,000" federal workers through reduction-in-force notices during the government shutdown, explicitly framing the budget lapse as an opportunity for permanent workforce reduction. Vought vowed to "keep those RIFs rolling throughout this shutdown, because we think it's important."
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.
OMB Director Vought froze $18 billion in congressionally-appropriated NYC infrastructure funds, citing pretextual DEI review
On October 1, 2025, the first day of the government shutdown, OMB Director Russell Vought announced a freeze of approximately $18 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds earmarked for two major New York City projects — the Gateway Hudson River Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway extension — claiming a review was needed to ensure funds were not "flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles." The freeze blocked reimbursements already owed, including an immediately due $300 million disbursement, and targeted projects in districts represented by Senate and House Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Critics and legal experts said the DEI rationale was pretextual and that the Impoundment Control Act prohibits such unilateral executive withholding of appropriated funds.
Trump administration forces 15+ federal agencies to replace employees' out-of-office emails with partisan shutdown messaging without worker consent
On October 1, 2025, the first day of the FY2026 government shutdown, the Trump administration directed more than 15 federal agencies to replace furloughed employees' personal out-of-office email auto-replies with partisan messaging blaming Democratic senators for the shutdown, without employee knowledge or consent. At the Education Department, the deputy chief of staff for operations directly overrode personal messages with text reading "Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate."
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."
DOJ sued six states including Pennsylvania to force disclosure of sensitive voter data
On September 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania — demanding they turn over sensitive personal voter data including full names, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The DOJ invoked the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, claiming the states were violating federal law by refusing to produce unredacted voter registration rolls. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, characterized the demand as a "concerning attempt" to consolidate federal control over state election administration, emphasizing that "in the United States of America, it's the states who run elections, not the federal government."
Hegseth disbands 74-year-old Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, citing 'divisive feminist agenda'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally disbanded the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) on September 23, 2025, ending a Pentagon advisory panel established in 1951. A Pentagon spokesperson justified the termination by stating the committee "is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness." The disbanding was carried out pursuant to a disestablishment memo Hegseth signed on September 17.
FEMA opened investigation into employees who wrote Congress warning of leadership risks; ordered non-disclosure agreements
On September 23, 2025, at least seven FEMA employees who had signed the Katrina Declaration — a letter warning Congress that the agency's political leadership threatened effective emergency management — received emails from the DHS Office of Professional Responsibility ordering them to sign non-disclosure agreements and submit to investigative interviews. The employees had already been placed on paid administrative leave in August after the letter became public. Attorneys for the employees characterized the investigation as illegal retaliation for protected whistleblower disclosures and protected congressional communications.
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.
FBI Director Patel and Deputy AG Blanche confirmed closure of Homan bribery sting probe, called it 'baseless investigation'
On September 21, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche jointly confirmed to ABC News that the Department of Justice had closed a federal bribery probe into Tom Homan, the White House's border enforcement czar. The investigation, inherited from the Biden administration, had been predicated on undercover FBI recordings of Homan allegedly accepting $50,000 in cash from agents posing as contractors seeking government contracts. Patel and Blanche publicly labeled the probe a "baseless investigation," stating it had found "no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing."
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.
GAO found FEMA illegally withheld food, shelter, and detention housing funds; sixth ICA violation in 2025
On September 16, 2025, the Government Accountability Office published its sixth finding that the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act, concluding that FEMA illegally withheld or delayed congressionally- appropriated funds for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program — which supplements food and shelter services for homeless people — and the Shelter and Services Program, which funds temporary housing to relieve overcrowding in immigration detention. GAO determined that FEMA's delay in issuing a funding notice for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program constituted an "impermissible withholding," and that FEMA's complete failure to issue any notice for the Shelter and Services Program established "intent to impermissibly defer or preclude the obligation of budget authority." The Trump administration did not comply with the GAO's findings; the funds remained withheld.
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.
DHS final rule granted USCIS arrest authority and deadly force, transforming civilian benefits agency into armed law enforcement arm
On September 4, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule giving U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sweeping new law enforcement powers, including the authority to carry firearms, use deadly force, make arrests, and execute warrants. USCIS will employ 1811-classified special agents — the same designation as FBI and DEA agents — despite being created by Congress exclusively as a civilian benefits-processing agency. The rule takes effect 30 days from publication, creating parallel enforcement infrastructure alongside ICE and CBP without congressional authorization.
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.
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.
Rubio halted all new worker visas for commercial truck drivers via social media post, citing undocumented driver accident
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on August 21, 2025, via a post on X that the State Department was immediately pausing all new worker visa issuances for commercial truck drivers across all nationalities and visa categories, including H-2B, E-2, and EB-3. Rubio cited the August 12 fatal crash on Florida's Turnpike, in which the driver accused of causing three deaths was identified as undocumented — not a visa holder — as justification for suspending the legal immigration pathway. The pause was announced with no advance notice, no rulemaking, and no defined end date, affecting an industry already experiencing a significant labor shortage.
AG Bondi installed DEA administrator as DC 'emergency police commissioner' with authority over MPD chief; administration retreated after lawsuit
On August 14, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive naming DEA Administrator Terry Cole as Washington D.C.'s "emergency police commissioner," ordering that the Metropolitan Police Department must receive Cole's approval before issuing any operational orders—effectively placing a federal official with no local jurisdiction above the elected city government's police chief. The DC Attorney General filed suit, and within 24 hours the Trump administration backed down, revising Cole's role to Bondi's "designee" and restoring the MPD chief's operational authority. No statute authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to appoint a police commissioner for the District of Columbia.
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.
AG Bondi opened DOJ investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff and NY AG Letitia James, appointing Trump ally Ed Martin as special attorney for both probes
On August 8, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi formally opened Department of Justice investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James — both prominent Trump critics — appointing conservative activist and former interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin as special attorney to lead both probes. The referrals came exclusively from FHFA Director Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no prosecutorial background, who alleged mortgage fraud by each official. Prosecutors subsequently found insufficient evidence to bring charges and the Schiff probe stalled.
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."
VA Secretary Collins terminated collective bargaining for 80% of VA's 400,000-person workforce
On August 6, 2025, VA Secretary Doug Collins terminated the Department of Veterans Affairs' collective bargaining agreements with most of its federal unions — including AFGE, NAGE, NFFE, NNOC/NNU, and SEIU — stripping roughly 80% of the agency's 400,000-person workforce of collectively bargained workplace protections. The VA acted under a Trump executive order declaring union contracts a national security threat, and did so while appearing to disregard OPM's own guidance on implementation.
AG Bondi filed judicial misconduct complaint against Chief Judge Boasberg, seeking removal from deportation cases
Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice to file a formal judicial misconduct complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 29, 2025, alleging he made "improper" remarks at a closed judicial conference where he reportedly expressed concern the Trump administration would defy court orders and trigger a "constitutional crisis." The complaint, filed with D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, explicitly requested Boasberg's reassignment from deportation cases and a special-committee investigation. Boasberg had presided over multiple rulings blocking Trump administration deportation flights prior to the complaint.
AG Pamela Bondi issued guidance classifying DEI programs as unlawful discrimination, threatening federal grant revocation
On July 29, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a formal DOJ guidance memorandum directing all recipients of federal funds — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — to treat diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as potentially unlawful under federal antidiscrimination statutes. The guidance defined prohibited practices including race-based scholarships, DEI training programs, and mentorship programs limited to specific groups, with violations subject to grant revocation and False Claims Act liability. The DOJ simultaneously activated its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative to prosecute non-compliant funding recipients.
EPA eliminated Office of Research and Development, laid off up to 1,155 scientists in 23% workforce cut
On July 18, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the elimination of the agency's Office of Research and Development — the scientific foundation underlying every federal air, water, and chemical safety standard for 55 years — and a reduction of more than 3,700 total EPA positions (nearly 23%). As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, and toxicologists received reduction-in-force notices. The administration said it would replace ORD with an "Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions" subordinated to deregulatory program offices.
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."
Defense Secretary Hegseth told Senate he would follow appellate court but defy district court order blocking Los Angeles military deployment
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 18, 2025, stating he would respect the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling allowing the Los Angeles National Guard deployment to continue, but would not comply with U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's temporary restraining order blocking it. Hegseth also asserted that deployed troops could "temporarily detain" protesters and hand them to ICE for immigration processing. Senator Elizabeth Warren extracted a commitment from Hegseth to follow Supreme Court orders—a response that itself implied he would not necessarily obey lower courts.
DHS agents forcibly removed and handcuffed Senator Alex Padilla at Noem press conference in Los Angeles
On June 12, 2025, FBI police officers and U.S. Secret Service agents physically seized California Senator Alex Padilla, dragged him from the room, and handcuffed him face-down outside after he stood to question Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem about immigration enforcement operations at her press conference at the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. Padilla was not arrested and no charges were filed; video showed him identifying himself as a senator before agents removed him. The incident drew bipartisan condemnation, with Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski calling it "disturbing," and Senate Democrats demanding a congressional investigation.
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 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.
HHS directed NIAID to terminate Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development funding, ending $258M federal HIV vaccine program
On May 30, 2025, NIAID verbally notified researchers at Scripps Research and Duke University that the Trump administration was terminating the Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD), a $258 million, seven-year NIH-funded program representing the largest single federal investment in HIV vaccine research. NIAID also ended funding for three monkey-model vaccine research groups. The termination came as CHAVD researchers were preparing to begin clinical trials on a broadly neutralizing antibody approach that scientists described as the most promising HIV vaccine lead in decades. An HHS spokesperson cited "complex and duplicative health programs" as justification.
Deputy AG Blanche directed DOJ to weaponize False Claims Act against federal grantees maintaining DEI and trans-inclusive policies
On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum establishing the DOJ Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, directing attorneys across the Civil Division's Fraud Section and the Civil Rights Division to pursue False Claims Act cases against any federal grantee — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — that maintains DEI programs or transgender-inclusive policies while certifying compliance with federal civil rights laws. The initiative identifies diversity programs, single-sex bathroom policies, and women's sports participation standards as triggering FCA liability, and invites private whistleblower lawsuits seeking treble damages. It converts a procurement-fraud statute into an ideological enforcement mechanism against institutions dependent on federal funding.
FBI Director Patel ordered 2,000 agents permanently shifted to immigration enforcement, gutting counterterrorism capacity
FBI Director Kash Patel directed field offices nationwide to permanently shift approximately 2,000 special agents — roughly 45% of agents in the 25 largest field offices — to full-time immigration enforcement operations during the week of May 12–14, 2025. The directive siphoned resources from counterterrorism, counterintelligence, organized crime, and fraud investigations; individual field offices lost half or more of their agents to immigration work, and the Justice Department simultaneously deprioritized white-collar and corporate crime investigation.
ICE Acting Director Lyons issued classified memo authorizing warrantless home entry for immigration arrests
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons issued an internal memo on May 12, 2025, directing agents to forcibly enter private homes using administrative warrants signed by ICE supervisors rather than judges, departing from longstanding Fourth Amendment practice and prior DHS policy requiring judicial warrants for home entry. The memo was classified for restricted internal distribution—agents were required to return it and take no notes—and was reportedly used to train new ICE agents. Whistleblowers disclosed the memo to Senator Blumenthal in January 2026; NBC News published the full account.
NSF eliminated Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM, fired all 65 staff in reduction-in-force
On May 9, 2025, NSF Chief Management Officer Micah Cheatham circulated an internal memo announcing the full elimination of NSF's Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM by July 12 via a reduction-in-force, firing all 65 permanent EES staff. Simultaneously, 84 of NSF's 143 Senior Executive Service positions were eliminated and the temporary workforce was cut from 368 to 70, reducing NSF's workforce by roughly 37 percent. The division housed congressionally mandated programs serving underrepresented minorities and disabled students in STEM.
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."
AG Bondi issued memo directing FBI and DOJ to investigate and prosecute gender-affirming care providers for minors
On April 22, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum titled "Preventing the Mutilation of American Children" directing the FBI to investigate gender-affirming care providers for criminal violations and directing DOJ's Consumer Protection Branch and Civil Division Fraud Section to pursue misbranding and False Claims Act cases against manufacturers and medical providers. The memo simultaneously announced the "Attorney General's Coalition Against Child Mutilation," a formal partnership with state attorneys general to coordinate criminal and civil enforcement against hospitals and practitioners. Gender-affirming care for minors was legal under federal law at the time the memo was issued.
EPA sent reduction-in-force notices eliminating 280 environmental justice and civil rights staff, shutting down the OEJECR
On April 21, 2025, EPA Assistant Deputy Administrator Travis Voyles sent reduction-in-force notices to 280 employees in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) and regional environmental justice divisions, with terminations effective July 31, 2025. An additional 175 employees performing statutory functions were reassigned within the agency. The action effectively closed the OEJECR — founded in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush and the primary federal enforcer of Title VI civil rights protections in environmental permitting — framed by EPA as terminating "Biden's environmental justice, DEI arms of the agency."
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 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.
Rubio issued APA determination exempting all immigration and border regulations from notice-and-comment rulemaking
On March 14, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a determination in the Federal Register declaring that all federal efforts to control the entry and exit of people and goods at U.S. borders constitute a "foreign affairs function" under the Administrative Procedure Act. The determination invoked a narrow APA exception — historically limited to diplomatic agreements — to categorically exempt all immigration and border-control rulemaking by any federal agency from notice-and-comment requirements. The action eliminated the public's statutory right to review and challenge a broad category of federal regulations before they took effect.
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.
Secretary McMahon eliminated nearly half the Department of Education workforce, cutting ~1,950 positions across all major divisions
On March 11, 2025, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced a reduction in force eliminating nearly half the Department of Education workforce, cutting from approximately 4,133 to about 2,183 employees. The cuts eliminated staff across all major divisions including the Office for Civil Rights, the Institute of Education Sciences, Federal Student Aid, and the Office of Special Education Programs. The Department of Education's Inspector General subsequently found that some reductions appeared to impair the department's ability to carry out its statutory responsibilities.
Secretary Rubio cancelled 83% of USAID programs, eliminating 5,200 congressionally-appropriated contracts
On March 10, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration had completed a DOGE-led six-week review and was cancelling 83% of USAID's programs — 5,200 of approximately 6,200 contracts — that had been congressionally appropriated. The remaining roughly 1,000 programs were to be folded into the State Department. The affected programs included HIV/AIDS treatment, malaria prevention, TB care, humanitarian food aid, and democratic governance work across dozens of countries.
VA Chief of Staff Syrek issued internal memo ordering elimination of ~83,000 positions to return to pre-PACT Act staffing levels
On March 4, 2025, Department of Veterans Affairs Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek issued an internal memo directing the VA to return to 2019 staffing levels of approximately 399,957 employees — roughly 83,000 fewer than its current workforce. The memo, developed in coordination with DOGE, set a May 9 internal review deadline, a June reorganization plan, and layoffs beginning in August. The planned reduction would functionally reverse the VA's congressionally-directed hiring expansion undertaken to implement the PACT Act, the 2022 law expanding healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances.
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.
GSA eliminated 18F, firing all ~90 employees of the federal technology unit, under DOGE direction
On February 28, 2025, the General Services Administration eliminated 18F, its internal technology consulting unit, firing all approximately 90 employees at the direction of DOGE. GSA Deputy Administrator Thomas Shedd announced the closure in an internal email; 18F's website was taken offline the same day. 18F was a congressionally-funded team of engineers and designers that helped federal agencies modernize digital services and largely paid for itself through interagency billing.
SSA Acting Commissioner Dudek dissolved the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, placing 140 employees on administrative leave
On February 25, 2025, the Social Security Administration dissolved its Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity and placed all 140 of its employees on administrative leave. Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek announced the closure, saying it "advances the President's goal to make all of government more efficient," while claiming statutorily required EEO and reasonable-accommodation functions would be moved elsewhere within the agency. SSA also shuttered its Office of Transformation on the same day.
OPM demanded weekly work reports from 2 million federal employees under DOGE direction; Musk threatened mass resignation for non-response
On February 22, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management sent a government-wide email to approximately 2 million federal employees directing them to submit five bullets summarizing their weekly work accomplishments and copy their managers, with a deadline of the following Monday at 11:59 PM ET. The email was sent at the direction of Elon Musk, a White House special government employee leading DOGE, who simultaneously posted on X that failure to respond would be taken as a resignation. OPM's own February 5 privacy impact assessment, published in response to ongoing litigation, had explicitly stated seven times that responses to government-wide emails are voluntary.
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.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Senate his 2019 Samoa trip was unrelated to vaccines; colleague emails described it as a vaccine mission
During his January 29, 2025 Senate confirmation hearings for HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified that his 2019 trip to Samoa "had nothing to do with vaccines." FOIA-released State Department emails, reported in June 2026, show that his then-colleague Dr. Michael Graven—chief information officer of Kennedy's anti-vaccine nonprofit Children's Health Defense—explicitly described the trip as a "mission" to study vaccine discontinuance outcomes and stated that Kennedy personally asked him to join. Two Democratic senators and a House member had previously stated that earlier documentary evidence showed Kennedy lied to the Senate.
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.