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Timeline › 2025 › September › 18

September 18, 2025

5 entries on this date.

DOJ filed emergency SCOTUS petition to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, challenging independent-agency firing protections

On September 18, 2025, Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to lift lower-court injunctions blocking President Trump's August 25 firing of Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. Two courts had found Cook likely to succeed on the merits, ruling that the Federal Reserve Act's "for cause" removal protection shielded her position. The DOJ argued the injunctions were "untenable" and asked the Court to intervene before the Federal Open Market Committee's scheduled September meeting.

Trump threatened TV broadcast license revocations; FCC chair targeted The View's news-program status

On September 18, 2025, President Trump publicly threatened to revoke broadcast licenses of television networks he deemed biased, and FCC Chair Brendan Carr questioned whether ABC's daytime talk show The View still qualified as a "bona fide news program" — a reclassification that would subject ABC affiliates to the FCC's equal-opportunity rule, requiring equal airtime for any political candidate appearing on the show. Trump explicitly deferred to Carr to determine whether licenses "should be taken away," and the FCC's lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, characterized the agency's conduct as a "campaign of censorship and control."

RFK Jr.-appointed ACIP panel voted 8-3 to delay routine MMRV childhood vaccine, first change to immunization schedule

On September 18, 2025, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — its entire prior membership of 17 independent scientific experts having been dismissed and replaced by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — voted 8-3 to delay routine administration of the MMRV combination vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella) from the standard 12–15 months to age 4. It was the first change to the childhood immunization schedule under Kennedy's HHS and the first ACIP meeting of his hand-picked panel, which observers and STAT News described as "rocky" amid procedural irregularities, complaints about insufficient review time, and a postponed hepatitis B vote.

SEC dismissed civil fraud cases against Trump clemency recipients Devon Archer and Carlos Watson

On September 18, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved to dismiss with prejudice its civil fraud enforcement actions against Devon Archer and Carlos Watson (and Ozy Media, Inc.), two men President Trump had granted clemency for related criminal fraud convictions. The dismissals, entered by separate joint stipulations filed the same day, ended years of SEC efforts to recover funds tied to their conduct. The Commission issued no public explanation, stating in each filing only that it had "exercised its discretion."

World Liberty Financial sold crypto tokens to buyers linked to sanctioned Iranian and Russian networks, prompting a Senate probe request

Watchdog group Accountable.US reported on September 18, 2025 that World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family's crypto venture, sold tokens to wallets with prior ties to Iran's largest crypto exchange and a Treasury-sanctioned ruble token; a separate North Korea link the report alleged was later disputed by independent researchers as a false positive. Senate Democrats Warren and Reed cited the report in a November 2025 letter asking Treasury and DOJ to investigate WLFI's compliance and national-security exposure.