Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.
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ATROCITYKEY
– Constitutional Illegalities, Collusion, and/or Obstruction of Justice – Environment – Harassment, Bullying, Retribution, and/or Sexual Misconduct – Lies and Misinformation – Musk Madness – Policy – Public Statements and Social Media Posts – Trump Family Business Dealings – Trump Staff and Administration – White Supremacy, Racism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, and/or Xenophobia
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JULY 2025
– July 1, 2025 – Trump toured “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new immigration detention center surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Florida Everglades. Trump suggested it could be a model for future lockups as his administration raced to expand the necessary infrastructure for increasing deportations. He said, “Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.” During the tour, he endorsed having Florida National Guard forces serve as immigration judges. Immigrant advocates criticized the Trump administration’s move. Mark Fleming, the associate director of federal litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said it amounted to an “independent, unaccountable detention system.” Florida Republican Party (RPOF) Chair Evan Powers claimed the project had “immense public support,” and said they had sold thousands of “Alligator Alcatraz”–themed shirts, hats, and gear.
President Trump participates in a guided walking tour of Alligator Alcatraz (The White House)
– July 2, 2025 – Pardoned January 6 rioter Jared L. Wise was named as an advisor to counselor Ed Martin, leader of the “Weaponization Working Group” in Trump’s Justice Department. Martin was an outspoken supporter of the January 6 defendants. According to a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, the group’s mission includes investigating “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” tied to the insurrection. A source familiar with Martin’s thinking told The New York Times that Martin was “thrilled” to have Wise, even suggesting that if “we could genetically design an adviser,” he or she would look like Wise. During the January 6 insurrection, Wise allegedly shouted, “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!” at law enforcement officers.
– July 2, 2025 – Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes pre-election interview with then Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Trump’s legal team said the settlement was “another win for the American people,” who were holding “the fake news media accountable.” The move by Paramount, according to a statement by the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), smacked of favoritism and referenced Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media. First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who represented The New York Times during the Pentagon Papers case, told the FPF that “the agreement of Paramount to pay any settlement amount to Donald Trump based on a broadcast that was both journalistically responsible and fully protected by the First Amendment is an ominous blow to press freedom.”
– July 3, 2025 – Jewish advocacy groups slammed Trump for using the antisemitic term “Shylock” during a speech celebrating the passage of his spending bill. “No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and bar exam for, in some cases, a fine banker, and in some cases, Shylocks and bad people,” Trump said. Later, he told reporters he had “never heard” that the term was considered an offensive stereotype. “Shylock” refers to the villainous Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, condemned Trump’s comments and said in a statement that he had used one of “the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes.” Trump has made cracking down on antisemitism a priority. His administration said it is screening for antisemitic activity when granting immigration benefits, and its fight with Harvard University has centered on allegations that the school tolerated antisemitism.
– July 4, 2025 – After signing the spending and tax bill known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump declared, “I can say very proudly that our country is more proud right now than it has been in many, many years.” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the bill, “If you’re for common-sense fiscal responsibility and reducing the deficit, this bill is for you. If you’re for fairer and lower taxes, bigger paychecks, then this is the bill for you.” Economists have estimated that the bill’s greatest benefits would go to the wealthiest Americans. It would cost the poorest Americans an estimated $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that cuts to Medicaid could leave 11.8 million more people without health insurance by 2034. The budget office also reported the measure would swell the already soaring national debt by at least $3.4 trillion over a decade.
– July 5, 2025 – An email sent by the US Social Security Administration (SSA) claiming Trump’s new spending bill had eliminated taxes on benefits for most recipients was slammed by critics as misleading. The email claimed the new law “includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries” and “it provides an enhanced deduction for taxpayers aged 65 and older.” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said, “The SSA statement implies there is a direct tax cut on Social Security benefits, which there is not.” The legislation provides a temporary tax deduction of up to $6,000 for people aged sixty-five and older and $12,000 for married seniors. Jeff Nesbit, who served as a top SSA official under Republican and Democratic presidents, posted on X, “The agency has never issued such a blatant political statement. The fact that Trump and his minions running SSA have done this is unconscionable.”
– July 7, 2025 – Despite criticizing Democratic administrations over their handling of Hurricane Helene and the Los Angeles wildfires, President Trump sought to defuse blame over his own administration’s handling of the Texas floods, which killed over one hundred people, including many children. “This is a hundred-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch,” Trump told reporters at his golf course, while rescue teams in Texas continued to search for the missing. When asked whether the disaster was worsened by his administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service, Trump responded, “What a situation that all is. That was really a Biden setup. That was not our setup. But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either.”
– July 7, 2025 – US measles cases reached their highest total in thirty-three years, according to data published by Johns Hopkins showing at least 1,277 confirmed cases, 155 hospitalizations, and 3 deaths in 2025. According to the CDC, approximately 92 percent of measles cases this year were in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. The three individuals who died from measles this year, including two otherwise healthy children, were all unvaccinated. Although measles was officially eliminated from the US in 2000, public health experts warned that the country was on track to lose its elimination status. Earlier this year, anti-vaccine activist Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed concerns about measles, spread misinformation about the MMR vaccine’s safety, and recommended bogus treatments. “It’s not unusual,” Kennedy Jr. said of the West Texas measles outbreak, “We have measles outbreaks every year.”
– July 7, 2025 – According to a document written by the Salvadoran government in response to a UN inquiry, the US bears legal responsibility for Venezuelan men who were deported to El Salvador. “The actions of the state of El Salvador have been limited to the implementation of a bilateral cooperation mechanism with another state, through which it has facilitated the use of the Salvadoran prison infrastructure for the custody of persons detained within the scope of the justice system and law enforcement of that other state,” the document stated. “In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters.” For months, the Trump administration insisted in court filings and hearings that the US had no control over the deported Venezuelans and no authority to return them to the United States.
– July 7, 2025 – On an otherwise quiet Monday morning, heavily armed federal immigration agents and California National Guard troops stormed through MacArthur Park, an area of Los Angeles where many immigrants live. As the agents and troops marched through the park, some on horseback and many wearing masks and helmets, armored vehicles blocked the street; a federal helicopter also flew overhead. The widely criticized show of force came after Trump ordered National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles in June to quell protests against immigration raids. “What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “It’s the way a city looks before a coup.”
National Guard and federal agents descend on Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park (AP)
– July 7, 2025 – The Justice Department announced there was no evidence that accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was murdered or kept a client list. “This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” the Justice Department stated in an unsigned memo. “There was no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.” The memo’s conclusions contradicted prior statements made by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who for months hyped conspiracy theories and promised to release files related to the case. Back in February, Bondi told Fox News that a client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
– July 7, 2025 – President Trump posted letters on social media informing twelve countries that he planned to impose new tariffs on their exports beginning August 1 unless they reached new trade deals with the United States. By the end of the week, Trump had informed roughly two dozen countries and the European Union that they could face up to 50 percent export tariffs. The impacted trading partners included Mexico, Canada, Japan, and the European Union, which together account for over 50 percent of US imports.
– July 8, 2025 – In a wide-ranging and rancorous Cabinet meeting, Trump criticized the media, Vladimir Putin, and Jerome Powell, among other targets. “It’s hard to have a really successful country if you have a corrupt media,” Trump said, still upset over reporting that questioned the extent of the damage caused by his strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. He later fumed at reporters who questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi about the release of a Justice Department memo related to Jeffrey Epstein, and told them he didn’t know who in his administration had ordered a pause in weapons shipments to Ukraine. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” he said. Trump also stated that he liked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a rumored replacement for Federal Reserve chair, better than Jerome Powell, the current chair. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. After running through his laundry list of complaints, the president became fixated on White House decor, speaking excitedly about drapes, silverware, lighting fixtures, ceiling moldings, picture frames, and a grandfather clock.
– July 8, 2025 – The New York Times reported that the Energy Department hired three scientists who rejected the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change: Steven E. Koonin, a physicist who has called climate science “unsettled”; John Christy, an atmospheric scientist who has cast doubt on the relationship between human activity and global warming; and Roy Spencer, a meteorologist who has said that clouds impact global warming more than people do. “What this says is that the administration has no respect for the actual science, which overwhelmingly points in the direction of a growing crisis as we continue to warm the planet through fossil-fuel burning, the consequences of which we’ve seen play out in recent weeks in the form of deadly heat domes and floods here in the US,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, the Trump administration fired hundreds of scientists working on a climate change report, cut funds for global warming research, and removed mentions of climate change from government websites.
– July 9, 2025 – During a lunch in the State Dining Room with leaders from five African nations, President Trump asked Liberian President Joseph Boakai where he had learned to speak English. “Such good English,” Trump said, after hearing Boakai speak. “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where? Were you educated? Where?” English is the official language of Liberia.
Trump asks Liberian president where he learned English (Indian Times)
– July 9, 2025 – Recently unsealed court documents and testimony revealed that the Trump administration relied on the anonymous pro-Israel groups Canary Mission and Betar to help identify pro-Palestinian academics for possible deportation. According to the records, more than seventy-five of the approximately one hundred pro-Palestinian foreign students and scholars targeted by intelligence analysts were identified by Canary Mission, which has been criticized for doxxing pro-Palestinian activists and accusing them of antisemitism based on little evidence. “Many of the names or even most of the names came from that website,” acknowledged Peter Hatch, assistant director of the Homeland Security Investigations department within ICE.
– July 9, 2025 – In a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President Trump criticized the prosecution of his ally, the former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and pledged to implement a 50 percent import tariff against Brazil on August 1. “The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” wrote Trump, who has characterized the trial against Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt.” Bolsonaro is on trial for attempting to hold on to power after losing his election in 2022, a plight to which Trump can apparently relate, as captured in his social media post from earlier in the week: “Brazil is doing a terrible thing on [sic] their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro… He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE… This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent—Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World!”
– July 9, 2025 – Fox News reported that the FBI had launched criminal investigations into former CIA director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey. The investigations followed a referral from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who released a review criticizing the 2017 intelligence assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin had attempted to intervene in the 2016 US presidential election on Trump’s behalf. In his review, Ratcliffe argued that the intelligence community had rushed the investigation and that Brennan had “risked stifling analytic debate” by “signalling that agency heads had already reached consensus before the ICA was even coordinated.” Trump has long called for investigations into Comey and Brennan and referred to them as “dishonest people.” Comey, who Trump fired over his handling of an inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails, was previously brought in for Secret Service questioning after posting an image of shells spelling out “86 47,” a reference to Trump.
– July 10, 2025 – The Justice Department subpoenaed more than twenty doctors and hospitals for confidential patient information about gender-related treatment for minors. Subpoenas were also sent to drug manufacturers whose products are used in trans-related medical interventions. “Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. The subpoenas are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to ban pediatric gender-affirming health care, such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormones, and surgeries. “This politically motivated effort is a drastic overreach and a backhanded attempt to intimidate providers and institutions serving the transgender youth population,” said Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a pediatric psychiatrist who previously led a gender clinic.
– July 11, 2025 – The New York Times reported that thousands of calls from Texas flood survivors to FEMA went unanswered after hundreds of call center contractors’ contracts expired. On July 5, FEMA answered 99.7 percent of calls to its disaster assistance line. However, after the contracts expired that evening, only 35.8 percent of calls were answered on July 6; that number dropped to 15.9 percent the following day. Due to a new requirement implemented by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that requires her to personally approve expenses over $100,000, the contracts were not renewed until July 10. After facing criticism over her handling of the Texas floods, Noem later went on Meet the Press and denied that the policy requiring her personal approval on contracts larger than $100,000 had left FEMA understaffed. “False reporting, fake news. That report needs to be validified,” she said. “What is really unfortunate is we have a situation where so many individuals are playing politics with what happened in Texas.” Just a few weeks before the Texas floods, President Trump talked about his intention to eliminate FEMA entirely. The Texas floods killed more than 130 people.
– July 12, 2025 – A California farmworker, Jaime Garcia, died after falling thirty feet off a building during an ICE raid in Ventura. According to a family member, Garcia suffered a broken neck and skull from the fall. DHS denied that Garcia was being pursued by CBP or ICE. “Jaime was not just a farmworker; he was a provider and a human being who deserved dignity,” Garcia’s family posted on social media. “His death is not an isolated tragedy. It is the result of a targeted raid at Glass House Farms. Workers were met not with protection, but with chaos and fear. Some were detained. Others were traumatized. Jaime lost his life.” According to the family’s GoFundMe page, Garcia was his family’s sole provider.
– July 12, 2025 – Reviving a decades-long feud with Rosie O’Donnell, Trump announced that he was considering revoking the actress and comedian’s citizenship. “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” he wrote on Truth Social. “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GODBLESSAMERICA!” The post came after O’Donnell criticized the Trump administration’s response to the Texas floods. After Trump’s post, O’Donnell fired back, “You want to revoke my citizenship? Go ahead and try, King Joffrey, with a tangerine spray tan. I’m not yours to silence. I never was.” The feud between O’Donnell and Trump dates back to 2006, when O’Donnell called Trump a “snake-oil salesman on Little House on the Prairie” and mentioned his bankruptcies on The View. Experts have said Trump’s threat of “coercive expatriation” is unconstitutional.
– July 13, 2025 – In an interview with NBC, HHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration’s response to the Texas floods that killed over 130 people, calling it “the best response we’ve seen out of FEMA—the best response we’ve seen out of the federal government in many, many years.” Earlier, The New York Times reported that Noem, who implemented a new policy where she must personally sign off on contracts over $100,000, “did not renew the contracts until five days after they expired.” Approximately two thousand workers have either retired or resigned from FEMA since Trump’s inauguration.
Sec. Kristi Noem says she won’t resign after backlash over Texas flood response (Meet the Press)
– July 14, 2025 – The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to fire over one thousand Education Department employees. While the ruling was not the final word in the case, the move functionally eliminated the agency. The department manages federal college loans, tracks student achievement, and enforces civil rights laws in schools. The court’s order was unsigned, and no explanation was given regarding the decision. In a press release, US Education Secretary Linda McMahon said, “It is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities granted to him by the U.S. Constitution.” In the Court’s dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the decision was “indefensible” and that “it hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out.”
– July 14, 2025 – Trump responded to pushback from his base after defending his administration’s review of the so-called Epstein Files. His supporters and conspiracists do not believe the government’s narrative and think the sex trafficker’s death is proof that the government is run by shadowy figures who are potentially out to get Trump. On Truth Social, Trump declared, “They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTICJOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.” He went on to blame Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for writing the files and said to “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”
– July 16, 2025 – NPR reported that the Trump administration delayed and may cancel roughly $140 million in grants to fund fentanyl overdose response efforts, according to staff members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC staffers said it appeared the funding interruption was being caused by bureaucratic confusion involving the Trump administration’s DOGE cost-cutting efforts at the Office of Management and Budget. “These are lives at stake,” said one CDC staffer involved in administering the addiction grant program known as the Overdose Data to Action Program (OD2A). “OD2A funding has been a critical piece of the decrease we’ve seen in overdose deaths,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, an organization that includes thirty-five urban public health departments. She added, “Any changes to funding levels would be catastrophic.”
– July 17, 2025 – The Wall Street Journal reported that a collection of letters gifted to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein for his fiftieth birthday contained a note and signed drawing by Donald Trump. The drawing depicted an outline of a naked woman with Trump’s signature drawn across the woman’s waist, meant to mimic the appearance of pubic hair. The drawing included a note that read, “Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump denied writing the letter. “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” He later announced he was suing the Journal. The New York Times reported that, for years, Trump was a “high-profile doodler” and even sold his sketches at auctions.
– July 18, 2025 – Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law. The law is meant to set new regulations and consumer protections for cryptocurrency and to bolster consumer confidence in the industry. At the bill signing, Trump told crypto industry executives, “This signing is a massive validation of your hard work and your pioneering spirit. For years, you were mocked and dismissed and counted out.” He then added, “I also did it for the votes.” The crypto industry spent heavily to help Trump win the 2024 election. Critics of the law cited how the legislation will personally benefit Trump, who owns a majority stake in one of the largest stablecoins in the world. A report by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs said, “The bill will turbocharge President Trump’s ability to benefit from his crypto deals.”
– July 19, 2025 – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the visas of Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading the supposed persecution against Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven of his Supreme Court “allies.” In an X post, Rubio stated, “Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores to target Americans.” The Trump administration’s move was an attempt to help the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has ties to Trump’s MAGA movement, avoid jail time over his attempt to seize power with a military coup. In a statement, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s institutional relations minister, Gleisi Hoffmann, called the visa cancellations “an aggressive and petty retaliation” and “an affront to the Brazilian judiciary and national sovereignty.”
– July 20, 2025 – President Trump threatened to derail the Washington Commanders’ deal for a new stadium if they didn’t revert to their old name, which is widely viewed as racist. “The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians… Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen,” Trump posted on Truth Social, without evidence. Later, he added, “I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington.” Both the Commanders and the Guardians changed their names in 2020 and 2021 following pressure from Native American groups and corporate sponsors.
– July 20, 2025 – In an attempt to distract from the Epstein files controversy, Trump reposted a fake video from TikTok showing former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office. In the video, FBI agents push Obama to the floor and handcuff him as Trump looks on smiling, the Village People’s “YMCA” playing in the background. The video then cuts to footage of Obama behind bars in an orange jumpsuit. The post came as Trump administration officials continued to undermine intelligence assessments about Russian interference during the 2016 election and to accuse Obama administration officials of “treasonous conspiracy.”
– July 21, 2025 – Following The Wall Street Journal’s reporting that Trump had sent a lewd birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein and Trump’s subsequent lawsuit against the newspaper, the White House barred the Journal from its press pool covering Trump’s upcoming trip to Scotland. “As the appeals court confirmed, The Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Due to The Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board.” In response, Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said, “This attempt by the White House to punish a media outlet whose coverage it does not like is deeply troubling, and it defies the First Amendment. Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media.”
– July 21, 2025 – Referencing Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced that transgender women would be banned from competing in women’s sports. The new policy followed a similar move by the NCAA earlier this year. “As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations,” said USOPCCEO Sarah Hirshland and president Gene Sykes in an emailed letter. “Our revised policy emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women. All National Governing Bodies are required to update their amicable policies in alignment.” The announcement was met with immediate criticism. “By giving in to the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.
– July 21, 2025 – An analysis by The Washington Post found that Trump officials were accused of defying approximately one-third of judges who ruled against the administration. As part of their analysis, the Post found that judges ruled against the administration in 165 lawsuits and that the administration was accused of defying court orders in fifty-seven of those cases through noncompliance, giving false or misleading information, withholding evidence, and creating pretext to go around the court orders. “The judiciary is being put under siege,” said Robert J. Cindrich, a retired judge who helped form the Article III Coalition to push back on attacks against the courts.
– July 22, 2025 – During an Oval Office meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Trump accused former President Barack Obama of treason. “Look, he’s guilty,” Trump said of Obama, in response to a question from a White House reporter. “This was treason. This was every word you can think of. [Obama and his officials] tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election.” Later, Obama’s office, which typically refrains from commenting on the White House, issued a rare rebuke: “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
President Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the president of the Philippines (The White House)
– July 22, 2025 – Three Venezuelan men, who were deported from the US to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism and Confinement Center and then subsequently released, said they were repeatedly beaten, robbed, and denied access to lawyers, cleaning and sanitation products, and timely medical treatment. “I practically felt like an animal,” said Julio González Jr., who described his experience as “a horror movie.” “The officials treated us like we were the most dangerous criminals on Earth… They shaved our heads, they would insult us, they would take us around like dogs.” Added Angel Blanco Marin, “With time, we lost all our fear because we were practically dead people living. We felt dead.”
– July 23, 2025 – Maryland Governor Wes Moore revealed that the Trump administration denied his request for FEMA disaster relief after historic flooding in May damaged more than two hundred Maryland homes. “These communities demonstrated a clear need through FEMA’s own process, and Maryland will appeal the decision to seek all available resources to support the recovery efforts,” said Moore. The week before Moore’s statement, FEMA granted requests for disaster relief to West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan—all states that Trump won in the 2020 presidential election.
– July 23, 2025 – The Justice Department announced the formation of a task force to investigate unsubstantiated claims made by President Trump about former President Barack Obama’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Hours before the announcement, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a document that she claimed undermined the conclusion of the intelligence agencies that Russia favored Trump in 2016. Gabbard accused the Obama administration of a “yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy” against Trump. “The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly points to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment,” said Gabbard. “There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.” None of the documents released by Gabbard have shown any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
– July 23, 2025 – The Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that his name was in the Epstein files multiple times, directly contradicting Trump’s claim the week prior to the report that Bondi had never told him his name was in the files. Two days after the Journal article was published, when a reporter asked Trump whether he was briefed about his name appearing in the Epstein files, Trump again denied that Bondi had ever informed him: “No, I was never briefed. No.”
Trump asked if Pam Bondi told him his name was in the Epstein files (AP)
– July 24, 2025 – Michelle Obama’s official portrait painter Amy Sherald canceled her upcoming exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, citing censorship concerns related to the Trump administration’s increasing control over the Smithsonian. “I was informed by the National Portrait Gallery that concerns had been raised internally about the museum’s inclusion of a portrait of a trans woman titled Trans Forming Liberty,” said Sherold. “These concerns led to discussions about removing the work from the exhibition. While no single person is to blame, it’s clear that institutional fear shaped by a broader climate of political hostility toward trans lives played a role.” The cancellation followed Trump’s executive order in March calling for the removal of “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian and the ouster of the National Portrait Gallery’s director, Kim Sajet, in June.
– July 24, 2025 – Amid the Trump administration’s continued deportations of migrants who have not been criminally charged, the State Department secured the release of a convicted murderer from a Venezuelan prison. A Venezuelan court convicted Dahud Hanid Ortiz, a dual American-Venezuelan national, of murdering three people in Spain in 2016 and subsequently sentenced him to thirty years in prison. According to court documents, Ortiz’s three victims were killed with a large knife or machete and an iron bar at a law office. Ortiz then set the office on fire and fled to Germany, then eventually Venezuela. Juan Carlos Consuegra, the father of one of Ortiz’s victims, said he was shocked that the Trump administration had facilitated Ortiz’s release. “I don’t understand how it’s possible that this happens,” he said. “This guy is a delinquent. He’s an assassin.” A photo released by the State Department showed Ortiz smiling, holding an American flag, and wearing civilian clothes; he did not appear to be in custody.
– July 24, 2025 – Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair and a frequent target of President Trump, was forced to fact-check the president’s lies in real time. On a tour of the Federal Reserve, Trump incorrectly stated the cost of renovations to the Federal Reserve headquarters as part of an ongoing attempt to pressure Powell to lower interest rates by suggesting the renovation costs were fraudulently inflated. “So we’re taking a look, and it looks like it’s $3.1 billion. It went up a little bit—or a lot. So, the 2.7 is now 3.1,” said Trump, as Powell shook his head. When Powell said he had never heard that figure, Trump provided a document that he claimed detailed the costs. “You just added in a third building,” Powell informed Trump, who responded that the building was currently being built. “No, it was built five years ago,” Powell responded.
Trump clashes with Powell during renovation project tour (Bloomberg)
– July 25, 2025 – In a Newsmax interview, Trump refused to rule out a pardon for convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a twenty-year prison term. “I’m allowed to do it. But nobody’s asked me to do it. I know nothing about it. I don’t know anything about the case, but I have the right to do it. I have the right to give pardons,” Trump said. In 2021, Maxwell was convicted on charges of sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and conspiracy. In an effort to contain backlash over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche spent two days interviewing Maxwell, who was subsequently moved to a lower-security prison.
– July 25, 2025 – Darren Beattie, who was fired as a White House speechwriter during the first Trump administration after attending a gathering of white nationalists, was appointed the acting president of the US Institute of Peace. His responsibilities will include “messaging to counter terrorism and violent extremism.” In 2016, Beattie appeared on a panel with Peter Brimelow, founder of the anti-immigrant website VDare, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a “hate website,” and he has frequently promoted white nationalist views online. In a social media post last year, Beattie wrote, “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”
– July 26, 2025 – The Washington Post reported that DOGE was using a new AI tool to cut federal regulations with the goal of slashing 50 percent of regulatory mandates by the beginning of President Trump’s second year in office. The “DOGE AI Deregulation Decision Tool,” which was already used to analyze regulations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will reportedly analyze 200,000 federal regulations in a matter of weeks and determine which are no longer required by law. As the Post journalists noted, “It’s unclear whether a new, untested technology could make mistakes in its attempts to analyze federal regulations typically put in place for a reason.”
– July 27, 2025 – Trump played golf at his course on Scotland’s coast while protesters around the country took to the streets and denounced his visit. Trump and his son Eric played with the US ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the US Consulate in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital. Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the UK. One protester held Scottish bagpipes in one arm and a sign in the other. “At least this bag of hot air serves a purpose,” it read.
– July 28, 2025 – White House officials confirmed plans to destroy millions of dollars’ worth of taxpayer-funded contraceptives meant for women in low-income countries. A stockpile of family-planning products—including IUDs, implants, and pills—worth $9.7 million has been stuck at a warehouse in Belgium since the administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The contraceptives were intended for girls and women, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. “Destroying valuable medical items that were already paid for by US taxpayers does nothing to combat waste or improve efficiency,” said Avril Benoît, CEO of the US offices of Doctors Without Borders. “This administration is willing to burn birth control and let food supplies rot, risking people’s health and lives to push a political agenda.”
– July 29, 2025 – The Trump administration proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the basis for US action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule would rescind a 2009 declaration that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. Speaking at a car dealership in Indiana, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said, “Repealing the finding will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America.” In response, Christy Goldfuss, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, stated, “As Americans reel from deadly floods and heat waves, the Trump administration is trying to argue that the emissions turbocharging these disasters are not a threat. It boggles the mind and endangers the nation’s safety and welfare.”
– July 30, 2025 – Trump announced the launch of a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems with apps run by private tech companies. The president promised the new program would make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness. “The existing systems are often slow, costly, and incompatible with one another, but with today’s announcement, we take a major step to bring health care into the digital age.” Google, Amazon, and UnitedHealth Group have agreed to share patient data in the new system. The Trump administration has already shared highly personal data, including Medicaid information and home addresses to ICE. Patient advocates worry about how their health information could be used to harm them and their families. Jeffrey Chester, at the Center for Digital Democracy, said, “This scheme is an open door for the further use and monetization of sensitive and personal health information.”
– July 31, 2025 – The president signed an executive order imposing tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 41 percent on imports from dozens of US trading partners, including India, Taiwan, South Africa, and Switzerland. Brazil’s tariff rate was set at 10 percent, but a recent order signed by Trump placed a 40 percent tariff on some Brazilian goods, to punish the country for prosecuting its former president, Jair Bolsonaro. The new rates unleashed a fresh round of uncertainty for dozens of countries. It also raised fears of inflation. “There’s one person who can afford to be cavalier about the uncertainty that he’s creating, and that’s Donald Trump,” said Rachel West, a senior fellow on labor policy at the Century Foundation. “The rest of Americans are already paying the price for that uncertainty.”
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August 2025 (FORTHCOMING)
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– July 1, 2025 – Trump toured “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new immigration detention center surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Florida Everglades. Trump suggested it could be a model for future lockups as his administration raced to expand the necessary infrastructure for increasing deportations. He said, “Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.” During the tour, he endorsed having Florida National Guard forces serve as immigration judges. Immigrant advocates criticized the Trump administration’s move. Mark Fleming, the associate director of federal litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said it amounted to an “independent, unaccountable detention system.” Florida Republican Party (RPOF) Chair Evan Powers claimed the project had “immense public support,” and said they had sold thousands of “Alligator Alcatraz”–themed shirts, hats, and gear.
– July 2, 2025 – Pardoned January 6 rioter Jared L. Wise was named as an advisor to counselor Ed Martin, leader of the “Weaponization Working Group” in Trump’s Justice Department. Martin was an outspoken supporter of the January 6 defendants. According to a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, the group’s mission includes investigating “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” tied to the insurrection. A source familiar with Martin’s thinking told The New York Times that Martin was “thrilled” to have Wise, even suggesting that if “we could genetically design an adviser,” he or she would look like Wise. During the January 6 insurrection, Wise allegedly shouted, “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!” at law enforcement officers.
– July 2, 2025 – Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes pre-election interview with then Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Trump’s legal team said the settlement was “another win for the American people,” who were holding “the fake news media accountable.” The move by Paramount, according to a statement by the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), smacked of favoritism and referenced Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media. First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who represented The New York Times during the Pentagon Papers case, told the FPF that “the agreement of Paramount to pay any settlement amount to Donald Trump based on a broadcast that was both journalistically responsible and fully protected by the First Amendment is an ominous blow to press freedom.”
– July 4, 2025 – After signing the spending and tax bill known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump declared, “I can say very proudly that our country is more proud right now than it has been in many, many years.” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the bill, “If you’re for common-sense fiscal responsibility and reducing the deficit, this bill is for you. If you’re for fairer and lower taxes, bigger paychecks, then this is the bill for you.” Economists have estimated that the bill’s greatest benefits would go to the wealthiest Americans. It would cost the poorest Americans an estimated $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that cuts to Medicaid could leave 11.8 million more people without health insurance by 2034. The budget office also reported the measure would swell the already soaring national debt by at least $3.4 trillion over a decade.
– July 5, 2025 – An email sent by the US Social Security Administration (SSA) claiming Trump’s new spending bill had eliminated taxes on benefits for most recipients was slammed by critics as misleading. The email claimed the new law “includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries” and “it provides an enhanced deduction for taxpayers aged 65 and older.” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said, “The SSA statement implies there is a direct tax cut on Social Security benefits, which there is not.” The legislation provides a temporary tax deduction of up to $6,000 for people aged sixty-five and older and $12,000 for married seniors. Jeff Nesbit, who served as a top SSA official under Republican and Democratic presidents, posted on X, “The agency has never issued such a blatant political statement. The fact that Trump and his minions running SSA have done this is unconscionable.”
– July 13, 2025 – In an interview with NBC, HHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration’s response to the Texas floods that killed over 130 people, calling it “the best response we’ve seen out of FEMA—the best response we’ve seen out of the federal government in many, many years.” Earlier, The New York Times reported that Noem, who implemented a new policy where she must personally sign off on contracts over $100,000, “did not renew the contracts until five days after they expired.” Approximately two thousand workers have either retired or resigned from FEMA since Trump’s inauguration.
– July 16, 2025 – NPR reported that the Trump administration delayed and may cancel roughly $140 million in grants to fund fentanyl overdose response efforts, according to staff members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC staffers said it appeared the funding interruption was being caused by bureaucratic confusion involving the Trump administration’s DOGE cost-cutting efforts at the Office of Management and Budget. “These are lives at stake,” said one CDC staffer involved in administering the addiction grant program known as the Overdose Data to Action Program (OD2A). “OD2A funding has been a critical piece of the decrease we’ve seen in overdose deaths,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, an organization that includes thirty-five urban public health departments. She added, “Any changes to funding levels would be catastrophic.”
– July 18, 2025 – Congress approved a bill to cancel all federal funding for public broadcasting programs, including PBS and NPR. Passage of the bill was fueled by President Trump’s threat to support primary challenges to any Republicans who opposed the bill. Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, a longtime advocate of public media, said, “When Trump sets a loyalty test today, Republicans fall in line.” He added, “It’s all part of a plan to intimidate and control the media and how they cover his presidency.” PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger said that the Senate’s approval of the package “goes against the will of the American people.” NPR’s CEO Katherine Maher said, “Nearly three in four Americans say they rely on their public radio stations for alerts and news for their public safety.”
– July 19, 2025 – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the visas of Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading the supposed persecution against Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven of his Supreme Court “allies.” In an X post, Rubio stated, “Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores to target Americans.” The Trump administration’s move was an attempt to help the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has ties to Trump’s MAGA movement, avoid jail time over his attempt to seize power with a military coup. In a statement, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s institutional relations minister, Gleisi Hoffmann, called the visa cancellations “an aggressive and petty retaliation” and “an affront to the Brazilian judiciary and national sovereignty.”
– July 27, 2025 – Trump played golf at his course on Scotland’s coast while protesters around the country took to the streets and denounced his visit. Trump and his son Eric played with the US ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the US Consulate in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital. Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the UK. One protester held Scottish bagpipes in one arm and a sign in the other. “At least this bag of hot air serves a purpose,” it read.
