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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AUGUST 2025
– August 1, 2025 – Trump removed Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported. In a post on his social media platform, Trump alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons and said that McEntarfer, whom former President Joe Biden appointed, should be fired. He provided no evidence for the charge. “I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote. “She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.” He later posted, “In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”
– August 2, 2025 – Trump called on top Federal Reserve officials to seize control from its chair, Jerome Powell, if he failed to cut interest rates. The move was a large-scale escalation of the attacks on the central bank’s independence. In a series of social media posts days after the Fed held rates steady for the fifth consecutive time, Trump said, “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW. IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THEBOARDSHOULDASSUMECONTROLAND DO WHATEVERYONEKNOWSHAS TO BE DONE!” Hours before, the federal government released data that underlined a significant deterioration in the US job market.
– August 2, 2025 – The Senate took its August recess without a deal to advance dozens of Trump’s nominees. After negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Trump broke down, Republicans said they may try to change Senate rules when they return in September to speed up the pace of confirmations. As negotiations faltered, Trump’s frustration boiled over in a Truth Social post: “Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL! Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country.” In response, Schumer said, “Trump tried to bully us, go around us, threaten us, call us names, but he got nothing.”
– August 3, 2025 – Following criticisms from Charlamagne tha God in his interview on My View with Lara Trump, Trump lashed out against the radio host on social media. In a rant riddled with numerous false and misleading claims, Trump called Charlamagne, who is Black, a “racist sleazebag,” “low IQ individual,” and “dope.” “Look, my fellow Americans,” Charlamagne responded. “We are in a strange time right now, a time we have never seen because authoritarian strategy is being used against anyone who speaks out against this administration.”
– August 4, 2025 – The National Park Service announced that a statue of Confederate army general Albert Pike, which was toppled and set on fire during a 2020 antiracism protest in Washington, DC, would be reinstalled. “The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and re-instate [sic] pre-existing statues,” said the statement. Before its removal, the statue of Pike was a frequent source of controversy; activists and government officials had long called for its removal, with some claiming Pike was the “chief founder of the post–Civil War Ku Klux Klan.” Since taking office, the Trump administration has also restored Confederate names to Army bases.
– August 5, 2025 – Health and Human Services secretary and antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled almost $500 million of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines. In a social media video posted the same day, Kennedy Jr. also falsely claimed the vaccines did not protect against respiratory illnesses like COVID and flu, causing scientists to push back. “By issuing this wildly incorrect statement, the secretary is demonstrating his commitment to his long-held goal of sowing doubts about vaccines,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. “Had we not used these lifesaving mRNA vaccines to protect against severe illnesses, we would have had millions of more COVID deaths.” “I can say unequivocally that this was the most dangerous public health decision I have ever seen made by a government body,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. First used during the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines are much faster to develop than traditional vaccines and can be quickly altered as viruses change. In 2023, the technology was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
BARDA and mRNA vaccines announcement. (US Department of Health and Human Services)
– August 5, 2025 – At the signing ceremony for his executive order establishing a security task force for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump did not rule out the possibility of sending the military to the Games. “We’ll do anything to keep the Olympics safe, including using our National Guard or military,” Trump said. “I will use the National Guard or military—this is going to be so safe—if I have to.” In a highly unusual and constitutionally questionable move in June, Trump deployed the Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles to quell protests against ongoing immigration raids, prompting California to sue. During the same signing ceremony, Trump also insisted there would be “some form” of sex testing at the Games to ensure trans women would not be allowed to compete in women’s sports. “The United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics,” said Trump.
– August 5, 2025 – Following the assault of former DOGE and current Social Security Administration employee Edward “Big Balls” Coristine in DC during an attempted carjacking, Trump threatened to federalize the nation’s capitol. The president shared a photo on Truth Social showing a bloodied, shirtless Coristine, writing, “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City.” In the same post, Trump claimed that crime was “totally out of control” despite falling crime rates, alleged that teenagers were “randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens,” and called for the teens to be prosecuted as adults. The next day, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he was considering taking over DC’s police force and bringing in the National Guard: “[Coristine] went through a bad situation to put it mildly, and there’s too much of it. We’re going to do something about it. That includes bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly too.” When asked whether he would overturn DC’s home rule, Trump added, “We’re going to look at that. In fact, the lawyers are already studying it.” On the campaign trail and since retaking office, Trump has repeatedly called for the federal government to take over DC.
– August 5, 2025 – In an internal email, ICE announced a thirty-day pilot program offering cash bonuses to agents for hastily deporting migrants. According to an initial memo, agents would receive two-hundred-dollar bonuses for deporting migrants within seven days of arrest and one hundred dollars for deporting migrants within two weeks of arrest. The agents were also encouraged to use expedited removals, which permit some migrants to be deported without court proceedings, a possible violation of due process rights. “This is so ungodly unethical,” said Scott Shuchart, a former senior Homeland Security official. “You can’t incentivize government agents to short-circuit people’s procedural rights. Would you pay a bonus to judges for wrapping up trials faster?” The program was abruptly canceled four hours after its announcement following an inquiry by The New York Times.
– August 6, 2025 – The Guardian reported that Vice President JD Vance’s security team raised the water level of the Little Miami River in Ohio for a family boating trip to celebrate the vice president’s forty-first birthday on August 2. According to a statement by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the request from the US Secret Service was made to “support safe navigation.” However, an anonymous source told The Guardian that the request was instead made to create “ideal kayaking conditions.” Regardless of the reason behind the request, Vance’s use of public resources came at a time when the Trump administration had made drastic cuts to the National Park Service. “While there may well be security-related explanations or justifications that come into analysis, my reaction is: I don’t care. We shouldn’t be utilizing government resources in this way. I never would have allowed it,” said Norm Eisen, a former White House special counsel for ethics and government reform during the Obama administration.
– August 7, 2025 – Following up on his unsubstantiated allegations earlier in the week that JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America had discriminated against him, President Trump signed an executive order directing regulators to punish banks that illegally discriminate against conservatives and to retroactively review whether financial institutions have in the past closed accounts for political or religious reasons. “The banks discriminated against me very badly,” Trump told CNBC earlier in the week. In the same interview, he also accused the Biden administration, without evidence, of instructing regulators to “do everything you can to destroy Trump.” In a Politico article, banking industry officials acknowledged that certain regulatory policies aimed at preventing illicit financial transactions and managing reputation risk can result in customers being cut off without explanation. However, they rejected the president’s claim that these accounts were closed for political reasons.
– August 7, 2025 – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted and praised a CNN video interview with Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson, who doesn’t believe women should vote. “All of Christ for All of Life,” Hegseth wrote in his post. During the interview, Wilson said that “women are the kind of people that people come out of,” adding, “The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three or four or five eternal souls.” In the same interview, Wilson defended previous comments he had made that there was mutual affection between slaves and their enslavers and also said that sodomy should be recriminalized. “The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told NPR in an emailed statement.
Douglas Wilson continues to gripe about women having the right to vote. (Right Wing Watch)
– August 8, 2025 – The Smithsonian altered its description of President Trump’s impeachment after the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The previous text referenced Trump’s incitement charge, which it said was based on Trump’s “repeated “false statements” challenging the 2020 election results” and his speech that “encouraged—and foreseeably resulted in—imminent lawless action at the Capitol.” The new description reads: “On Jan. 13, 2021, Donald Trump became the first president to be impeached twice. The charge was incitement of insurrection based on his challenge of the 2020 election results and on his speech on Jan. 6. Because Trump’s term ended on Jan. 20, he became the first former president tried by the Senate. He was acquitted on Feb. 13, 2021.” In addition, the word “alleged” was also added to a description of Trump’s first impeachment: “The charges focused on the president’s alleged solicitation of foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election and defiance of Congressional subpoenas.” The recent changes came after the museum took down a temporary addition to an exhibition about the American presidency that mentioned Trump’s two impeachments. “The resulting chilling effect seems clear. The Smithsonian curators and museum specialists are walking a tightrope, attempting to stick to factual interpretations about the recent past while experiencing pressure to minimize any bad information about the Trump administration,” said Samuel J. Redman, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
– August 8, 2025 – The Justice Department launched an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, who won a civil fraud case against President Trump and his companies in 2023. Trump began criticizing James as soon as the civil case was launched, accusing her of targeting him for political reasons and calling James, who is Black, a “racist.” “Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration’s carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign,” said Abbe Lowell, James’s attorney. “Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration.”
– August 8, 2025 – In a memo, the Air Force rescinded benefits to at least a dozen transgender service members who had applied for early retirement to avoid being kicked out of the service for their gender identity. The early-retirement applications were prompted after the Pentagon issued a memo in February declaring medical diagnoses of gender dysphoria incompatible with military service. According to lawyers, disqualifying medical conditions diagnosed during active service typically result in a medical retirement, which comes with benefits. However, according to the latest memo, the service members, who had each served between fifteen and eighteen years in the Air Force, will instead be forced to choose between a “voluntary” separation agreement or an involuntary removal, both of which will result in substantial losses of financial, medical, and other benefits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. “The first feeling I felt was betrayal,” said Master Sergeant Logan Ireland, who served multiple overseas tours over fifteen years, on learning the news. “I’ve given my life to the service.”
– August 9, 2025 – As he finalized the details for his upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin, Trump told reporters that a new peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine may involve Ukraine ceding territory to Russia. “You’re looking at territory that’s been fought over for three and a half years with—you know, a lot of Russians have died, a lot of Ukrainians have died. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” said Trump. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly pushed back on Trump’s statement. “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question is already in the constitution of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a video address. “No one will retreat from this, and no one can. Ukrainians will not give up their land to an occupier.”
– August 11, 2025 – Trump announced he was activating eight hundred members of the National Guard in an effort to bring down rising crime rates in Washington, DC. The move reflected an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. Flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi during a White House press conference, Trump declared, “We’re going to take our capital back.” A recent Department of Justice report showed that violent crime was down 35 percent since 2023 and that DC’s violent crime rate was at its lowest in thirty years. District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said, “The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful. There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia.”
Trump says he’s deploying National Guard across Washington and taking over city’s police. (AP)
– August 11, 2025 – Trump nominated E. J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a contributor to Project 2025, to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If approved by the Senate, Antoni would replace Biden appointee Erika McEntarfer. Trump fired McEntarfer on August 1, after the July jobs report showed hiring had slowed sharply in the spring, with lower job gains than initially estimated. “Our Economy is booming,” Trump crowed, “and E. J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE.” Antoni was quoted as calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” that “we need to sunset.” Criticism of Antoni’s nomination came from unexpected sources. Kyle Pomerleau, of the right-leaning Tax Foundation and the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote on X, “There are a lot of competent conservative economists that could do this job. E. J. is not one of them.”
– August 12, 2025 – The State Department released an annual collection of reports on human rights records in nearly two hundred nations but left out language on persistent abuses in nations that were included in prior reports. The omissions signaled the Trump administration’s clear move away from criticizing human rights offenses from countries that are viewed as key partners. Critical language in sections on El Salvador, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel was scaled back or excised. Earlier this year, NPR obtained an internal State Department memo instructing employees editing the reports to remove whole categories of violations, including gender-based violence and environmental harms. References to restrictions on political participation and government corruption, violence against minorities and LGBTQ people, and harassment of human rights organizations were also ordered to be removed.
– August 13, 2025 – As the new chairman of the Kennedy Center, Trump announced the 2025 honorees. He named country music star George Strait, actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, the rock band Kiss, and actor-singer Michael Crawford as the year’s recipients. The president has made revamping the Kennedy Center and its “woke” agenda the center of a push to overhaul the country’s cultural life. He also announced he would host the honors ceremony and might choose himself for a future award. “I wanted one,” he said. “I was never able to get one. I would have taken it if they would have called me. I waited and waited and waited, and I said: ‘To hell with it, I’ll become chairman, and I’ll give myself an honor.’”
Trump announces 2025 Kennedy Center honorees. (PBS)
– August 14, 2025 – A report from the VA’s Office of Inspector General found that Veterans Health Administration facilities had 4,434 staffing shortages, a 50 percent increase from fiscal year 2024. According to the report, 94 percent of the facilities reported severe shortages for medical officers, while 79 percent of the facilities reported severe shortages for nurses. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat who represents the veteran-dense state of Virginia, said the Trump administration has made it harder for public servants to do their jobs and for veterans to get care. “How do skyrocketing staffing shortages and declining applicant pools make it more ‘efficient’ for veterans to access the care and services they deserve?” Warner asked. “The answer is: they don’t.”
– August 14, 2025 – A federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s attempts to force the country’s school systems to comply with a conservative interpretation of federal antidiscrimination law. The ruling from Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, rebuffed an Education Department letter that stated federal law prohibits schools from using race in decisions about all aspects of education, with a demand for schools to certify they would comply with the administration’s views. In her ruling, Gallagher said, “The administration is entitled to express its viewpoints, but it must do so within the procedural bounds Congress has outlined. And it may not do so at the expense of constitutional rights.” In its lawsuit, the American Federation of Teachers said the government made teachers “choose between chilling their constitutionally protected speech and association or risk losing federal funds and being subject to prosecution.
– August 14, 2025 – Carlos Roberto Montoya, a Guatemalan national, died after he was struck by a vehicle on a freeway in Monrovia, California, while trying to flee an immigration raid at a Home Depot. Video footage viewed by the Los Angeles Times showed masked men in tactical gear detaining day laborers in the home-improvement store’s parking lot and taking them away in unmarked vehicles. As the operation was unfolding, Montoya ran off, crossing a street and then entering the eastbound lanes of Interstate 210. The Department of Homeland Security said Montoya was not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement. Robert Chao Romero, a UCLA professor of Chicano studies and Monrovia resident, said, “It just breaks my heart because it’s just so inhumane. These horrible, unjust ICE policies led to someone dying.”
– August 15, 2025 – Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at a high-profile summit meeting in Alaska to try and end Russia’s war with Ukraine. In a show of pomp, Trump applauded Putin during his red-carpet arrival. During their joint appearance, Trump laughed and said, “I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir.” During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly said that he’d end the Russia-Ukraine war within the first twenty-four hours of taking office. But since taking office, he has backtracked. “Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest, but it was also said that it will be ended.” After the summit, which ended without any agreements, three guests at Hotel Captain Cook, a four-star hotel located twenty minutes from where leaders from the US and Russia convened, found documents left behind in one of the hotel’s public printers.
President Trump and President Putin in Anchorage, Alaska (C-Span)
– August 16, 2025 – Three states deployed hundreds of members of the National Guard to Washington, DC, as part of the Trump administration’s effort to use the military for law enforcement. West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 Guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio 150 troops. The move marked an escalation of the federal intervention. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said that the state “is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital.” A White House official told Reuters that more National Guard troops were being called in to Washington to “protect federal assets, create a safe environment for law enforcement officials, and provide a visible presence to deter crime.” In response to Trump’s military escalation, Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote a letter to city residents that read, “We will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy—even when we don’t have full access to it.”
– August 18, 2025 – After years of opposing mail-in ballots, which he has baselessly claimed led to voter fraud and cost him the 2020 presidential election, Trump pledged to end mail-in voting. “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTINGMACHINES,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVEVOTERFRAUD ENCOUNTERED…” In the same post, Trump also promised to sign an executive order to “help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections,” though he did not provide any details about what the executive order would include. According to FactCheck.org, voter fraud with mail-in ballots is still relatively rare, there is no evidence that voter machines are inaccurate, and other countries do allow mail-in voting. The president also does not have the power to change voting laws, which are handled by states and may be overridden only by Congress.
– August 18, 2025 – Trump claimed to have “settled 6 Wars in 6 months.” Later, at his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House, he made a similar statement, referring to “six wars that I’ve settled.” The following day, Trump said he had “solved seven wars” during an interview on Fox and Friends. Since Trump’s second term began, the US has been involved in five ceasefires or peace agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Iran and Israel, India and Pakistan, and Cambodia and Thailand, though not all parties involved credit the US with brokering the deal, and fighting resumed after some of the settlements. Although the White House cited Ethiopia and Egypt as the sixth war, there was neither a war nor a peace agreement between the two countries; neither Trump nor the White House specified a seventh war.
– August 19, 2025 – In another attempt to minimize Black history, Trump said the Smithsonian focused too much on slavery. “The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE,’” he said on Truth Social. “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been—Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.” The comments came a week after the White House told the Smithsonian they must adjust content that the administration finds problematic.
– August 19, 2025 – DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the country’s southern border wall would be painted black, at the president’s request, to make it too hot to climb. “It’s tall, which makes it very, very difficult to climb, almost impossible. It also goes deep into the ground, which would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to dig under. And today we are also going to be painting it black,” Noem said at a news conference. “This is specifically at the request of the president, who understands that in the hot temperatures down here, when something is painted black, it gets even warmer, and it will make it even harder for people to climb.”
– August 19, 2025 – Although not known as a particularly devout or spiritual man, President Trump fretted about the fate of his immortal soul during an interview on Fox and Friends. When asked about his motivations for brokering an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump responded, “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.” In a 2019 article for National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters argued that Trump had committed all seven deadly sins.
– August 19, 2025 – The Trump administration revoked the security clearances of thirty-seven current and national security officials. Many of the officials had worked on Russia analyses and foreign threats to US elections. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the targeted individuals of engaging in “politicization or weaponization of intelligence” but did not provide any evidence. “These are unlawful and unconstitutional decisions that deviate from well-settled, decades-old laws and policies that sought to protect against this type of action,” said Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer whose clearance was revoked. Added Senator Mark Warner, “Gabbard’s move to yank clearances from a seemingly random list of national security officials is a reckless abuse of the security clearance process and nothing more than another sad attempt to distract from the administration’s failure to release the Epstein files.”
– August 20, 2025 – The Washington Postrevealed that the State Department fired Shahed Ghoreishi, the top press officer for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, just days after Ghoreishi recommended releasing a statement to the media opposing the forced displacement of Palestinians. Previously, Ghoreishi had recommended the department express condolences for slain Gaza journalists, including Al Jazeera’s Anas Al-Sharif, and replace a reference to “Judea and Samaria” with “West Bank.” “I’m concerned for the professionals in the building that are trying to do their job, and in that being seen as being a speed bump for specific idealogues,” said Ghoreishi, who also told reporters that he was not given a reason for his firing. Added Ghoreishi, “It seems like senior officials at Embassy Jerusalem are gaining more and more influence, to the point that now moving forward, they are sending a message to the rest of the press officers, to toe the line.”
– August 20, 2025 – President Trump demanded that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook resign, citing unconfirmed allegations that she had engaged in mortgage fraud. “Cook must resign, now!!!” Trump posted on social media. Later in the week, the president claimed to have fired Cook, although it is unclear whether he had the legal power to do so. Peter Conti-Brown, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said Cook’s removal would spell “the end of central bank independence as we know it” and warned that “the president will run riot over the Federal Reserve by using the formidable resources of the U.S. government against our own central bank.” Trump’s demands were just the latest attack on the Fed’s independence and came after Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said on social media that his office had investigated Cook and alleged that she appeared to have falsified bank documents to obtain favorable loan terms. Pulte previously made similar allegations against Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who served as the lead impeachment manager in Trump’s first impeachment, and Democratic New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who won a civil fraud trial against Trump. Cook, the first Black woman in her role, is an international economics specialist who has researched racial disparities in labor markets and advocated for diversity in economics.
– August 20, 2025 – A Justice Department subpoena published in court documents revealed that the Trump administration had demanded confidential patient information related to transgender children seeking care. The subpoena, sent in June to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, requested “every writing or record of whatever type” by doctors related to gender-affirming care, including emails, text messages, voicemails, and WhatsApp messages. The subpoena also demanded the birth dates, Social Security numbers, and addresses of patients who had received gender-affirming care.
– August 20, 2025 – As part of their ongoing attacks on the International Criminal Court, the State Department announced sanctions on four ICC officials for “transgressions against the United States and Israel.” “These individuals are foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The sanctions targeted an ICC judge who issued arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and another ICC judge who authorized an investigation into US military personnel at secret C.I.A. sites after the September 11 attacks. The ICC called the sanctions, which froze US assets held by the targeted individuals, a “flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution.”
– August 21, 2025 – President Trump threatened “harsh measures” if Tina Peters, a former election clerk convicted of breaching election data, was not released from prison: “FREE TINAPETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot who has been tortured by Crooked Colorado politicians, including the big Mail-In Ballot supporting the governor of the State,” he posted on Truth Social. “Let Tina Peters out of jail, RIGHTNOW. She did nothing wrong, except catching the Democrats cheat in the Election. She is an old woman, and very sick. If she is not released, I am going to take harsh measures!!!” After Peters allowed an outside election activist to access county voting equipment, materials and passwords were then published online. In 2024, she was convicted on seven counts related to misconduct, conspiracy, and impersonation, and she was sentenced to nine years in prison. During her sentencing, Judge Matthew Barrett noted that Peters hadn’t shown any remorse and was “as defiant a defendant as this court has ever seen.”
– August 21, 2025 – A New York appeals court upheld a fraud judgment against President Trump and denied his bid to throw out the case even as it eliminated a half-billion-dollar fine imposed by a lower court in 2024. “The First Department today affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “The court upheld the injunctive relief we won, limiting Donald Trump and the Trump Organization officers’ ability to do business in New York. It should not be lost to history: yet another court has ruled that the president violated the law, and that our case has merit.” The case will now move to the Court of Appeals.
– August 22, 2025 – The FBIsearched the home of Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton as part of an investigation into whether Bolton disclosed classified information. After Trump fired Bolton in 2019, Bolton published a memoir, The Room Where It Happened, which sharply criticized Trump’s foreign policy knowledge. In response, Trump threatened to jail Bolton over the book, and the Justice Department launched a probe into Bolton, which was eventually closed during the Biden administration. During Trump’s second term, Bolton has continued to criticize Trump’s foreign policy moves and deference to Vladimir Putin. When asked about the raid, Trump denied knowing aything about it. “I’m not a fan of John Boton,” he told reporters. “He’s a real… sort of a lowlife.”
Trump slams “lowlife” John Bolton, but says he doesn’t know about FBI raid. (AP)
– August 22, 2025 – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. In June, the DIA conducted a preliminary assessment on the US military’s strikes on Iran, which concluded that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had only been set back by a few months, a finding at odds with statements made by both Hegseth and Trump that Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated.” In response to Kruse’s firing, Representative Jim Hines, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called on the Trump administration to provide information. “Otherwise, we can only assume that this is another politically motivated decision intended to create an atmosphere of fear, something that chills the ability of the Intelligence Community to do its job and protect national security.”
– August 22, 2025 – The Justice Department released transcripts and audio of Todd Blanche’s July interviews with Jeffrey Epstein associate and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell. During the interviews, Maxwell claimed she never saw Trump engage in improper or illegal acts and downplayed the president’s long friendship with Epstein. “I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting. I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way,” said Maxwell, who went on to praise Trump as “very cordial and very kind” and “a gentleman in all respects.” Maxwell, who has a long history of lying, is currently seeking to overturn or reduce her sentence and thus has a strong incentive to flatter Trump. Following her interviews with Blanche, Maxwell was subsequently transferred to a cushier, lower-security prison.
– August 24, 2025 – National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, began carrying firearms, according to the federal task force managing the operation. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the authorization of two thousand National Guard troops in DC to begin carrying weapons. Previously, guard members had been unarmed when supporting DC law enforcement by assisting with community safety patrols and traffic control points. The task force said that Guard members will carry M17 pistols, while some troops will be armed with M4 rifles. The troops are authorized to use their weapons for self-protection in response to an “imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm,” the task force said. Democrats have bashed the deployment as partisan in nature, accusing Trump of trying to exert his presidential authority through scare tactics and noting that his primary targets have been cities with Black leadership.
JD Vance and Pete Hegseth visit National Guard troops in DC. (AP)
– August 25, 2025 – Kilmar Ábrego García was detained again by immigration authorities at the ICE offices in Baltimore, during what officials referred to as “an interview.” Ábrego García’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said, “Clearly, that was false.” Trump administration officials indicated that they planned to re-deport Ábrego García to Uganda. Ábrego García’s attorneys quickly filed a lawsuit to fight his deportation, stating that the US could not place him in a country where “his safety cannot be assured.” Maryland District Court Judge Paula Xinis said she planned to “move as fast as is just” in considering Ábrego García’s petition. In the meantime, she declared, the government was barred from re-expelling Ábrego García. Speaking to Justice Department lawyers, Xinis stated, “Your clients are absolutely forbidden at this juncture to remove Mr. Ábrego García from the continental United States.”
– August 26, 2025 – Trump held a lengthy, televised cabinet meeting that mainly consisted of cabinet members showering him with praise. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer begged Trump to visit her office so he could “see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor, because you are really the transformational president of the American worker.” A recent Bureau of Labor report slashed the number of jobs added in recent months to a combined 258,000 fewer jobs than was previously reported. Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff declared, “I was in Gaza—the first American diplomat on your behalf—and as we delivered food and aid, pursuant to your new aid initiative… the people were applauding you.” The World Health Organization reported in July that more than half a million people in Gaza were trapped in famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution, and preventable deaths.
Trump participates in a Cabinet meeting. (AP)
– August 27, 2025 – The president held an Oval Office meeting about the postwar future of the Gaza Strip with his son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Trump had previously mused about the Gaza Strip becoming a luxury resort. Last year, Kushner said that Gaza’s waterfront property “could be very valuable.” A recent Guardianreport showed that the Tony Blair Institute for Social Change worked on a project led by Israelis using financial models created by a US consulting firm Boston Consulting Group that supported Trump’s vision. Former State Department official Josh Paul said that the Trump administration and Israeli government were attempting to “transition from Israeli colonialism to corporate colonialism. The move would exploit incredible suffering for economic gain.”
– August 28, 2025 – The Trump administration appointed Jim O’Neill, a top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to temporarily lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. O’Neill replaced Susan Monarez, a longtime government scientist, after she was fired for conflicts over vaccine policy; Monarez had served just one month in the role. Her firing prompted the resignation of four other senior CDC officials. A former speechwriter for the health department during the Bush years, O’Neill went on to work for tech investor and conservative megadonor Peter Thiel. News of O’Neill’s appointment sparked criticism among health care professionals. Atul Gawande, a surgeon, author, and public health expert, asked, “Has America run out of actual health practitioners with demonstrated experience improving public health outcomes?” Gawande quickly added, “Or maybe, just ones willing to betray the tenets and beneficiaries of public health that Trump and RFK Jr. want them to do.”
– August 28, 2025 – President Trump signed an executive order in an effort to strip union protections from half a dozen government agencies. The order commanded the agencies to end their collective bargaining agreements with unions representing their employees. Agencies impacted by the order included NASA, the National Weather Service, and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. Trump declared that stripping federal workers of labor protections was a matter of protecting national security. However, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers, gave a different reason for Trump’s order. AFGE President Everett Kelley said, “This latest executive order is another clear example of retaliation against federal employee union members who have bravely stood up against his anti-worker, anti-American plan to dismantle the federal government.”
– August 29, 2025 – The Spectatorreported that E. J. Antoni, Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, had discussed a controversial theory on gender IQ with interns from the Heritage Foundation. During his remarks, Antoni claimed that women’s IQs generally clustered around average scores while men’s IQs varied more between “geniuses” and low-intelligence individuals, citing what is commonly referred to as the “greater male variability hypothesis.” In 2019, an analysis of an earlier study testing the hypothesis confirmed some gender-based variability in academic achievement, but also found that countries which actively incorporated women into the workforce and empowered women politically also had increased variability among women.
– August 29, 2025 – A federal appeals court ruled that President Trump had no legal right to impose his sweeping global tariffs. The appellate court upheld a late-May ruling that said Trump did not have the authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs. The appeals court ruling stated the Trump administration’s tariffs “assert an expansive authority that is … beyond the authority delegated to the President by IEEPA.” The court did not strike down the tariffs immediately, allowing the Trump administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court. On Truth Social, Trump said the ruling would “literally destroy the United States of America.” Neal Katyal, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the decision represented “a powerful reaffirmation of our nation’s core constitutional commitments from our nation’s Founders, especially the principle that Presidents must act within the rule of law.”
– August 31, 2025 – A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting dozens of Guatemalan minors, who were already boarded on planes in Texas waiting to take off. “I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising,” Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan commented. Although the Trump administration has suggested that the children, who were being held in US custody after crossing the southern border without adults present, wanted to be reunited with their parents and guardians in their home countries, a lawyer representing the children said that some of the children had not requested to return and that their immigration cases were still pending. Lawyers representing the children have argued that deporting the children would deny them due process and violate special protections for minors who cross the border alone. At least ten of the children have told judges they are afraid to return to Guatemala, according to a lawsuit filed by the National Immigration Law Center.
– August 31, 2025 – After recently denying Palestinian officials visas to attend the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York, the Trump administration suspended visas for other Palestinian passport holders. The new measures, which do not apply to Palestinians with dual nationalities using other passports or to those who have already obtained visas, restrict visas for medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives, and business travel. “It’s an open-ended refusal,” said Hala Rharrit, a former State Department employee. Earlier in the month, following statements by far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer describing Palestinians being brought to the US for medical treatment as “a national security threat,” the State Department also paused the approval of visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, closing a pathway for Palestinians, including child amputees, from seeking medical care in the US.
– August 31, 2025 – Illinois governor JB Pritzker called on “all to stand up” to Trump as the president prepared to launch a federal immigration crackdown in Chicago. Recently, the White House requested that a US military base on the outskirts of Chicago assist with immigration operations as an extension of the Trump administration’s broader takeover of Democratic-run “sanctuary cities.” Pritzker’s comments came the day after Trump took to Truth Social, writing, “JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME. He is CRAZY!!! Pritzker responded that the president’s move may be part of a plan to “stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections.” He added, “We could talk about lots of authoritarian regimes in the world, and I can tell you that the playbook is the same: It’s thwart the media, it’s create mayhem that requires military interdiction. These are things that happen throughout history, and Donald Trump is just following that playbook.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker tells Trump: “Do not come to Chicago.” (CBS)
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September 2025 (FORTHCOMING)
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– August 1, 2025 – Trump removed Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported. In a post on his social media platform, Trump alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons and said that McEntarfer, whom former President Joe Biden appointed, should be fired. He provided no evidence for the charge. “I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote. “She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.” He later posted, “In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”
– August 4, 2025 – The National Park Service announced that a statue of Confederate army general Albert Pike, which was toppled and set on fire during a 2020 antiracism protest in Washington, DC, would be reinstalled. “The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and re-instate [sic] pre-existing statues,” said the statement. Before its removal, the statue of Pike was a frequent source of controversy; activists and government officials had long called for its removal, with some claiming Pike was the “chief founder of the post–Civil War Ku Klux Klan.” Since taking office, the Trump administration has also restored Confederate names to Army bases.
– August 5, 2025 – Health and Human Services secretary and antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled almost $500 million of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines. In a social media video posted the same day, Kennedy Jr. also falsely claimed the vaccines did not protect against respiratory illnesses like COVID and flu, causing scientists to push back. “By issuing this wildly incorrect statement, the secretary is demonstrating his commitment to his long-held goal of sowing doubts about vaccines,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. “Had we not used these lifesaving mRNA vaccines to protect against severe illnesses, we would have had millions of more COVID deaths.” “I can say unequivocally that this was the most dangerous public health decision I have ever seen made by a government body,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. First used during the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines are much faster to develop than traditional vaccines and can be quickly altered as viruses change. In 2023, the technology was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
– August 5, 2025 – At the signing ceremony for his executive order establishing a security task force for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump did not rule out the possibility of sending the military to the Games. “We’ll do anything to keep the Olympics safe, including using our National Guard or military,” Trump said. “I will use the National Guard or military—this is going to be so safe—if I have to.” In a highly unusual and constitutionally questionable move in June, Trump deployed the Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles to quell protests against ongoing immigration raids, prompting California to sue. During the same signing ceremony, Trump also insisted there would be “some form” of sex testing at the Games to ensure trans women would not be allowed to compete in women’s sports. “The United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics,” said Trump.
– August 5, 2025 – In an internal email, ICE announced a thirty-day pilot program offering cash bonuses to agents for hastily deporting migrants. According to an initial memo, agents would receive two-hundred-dollar bonuses for deporting migrants within seven days of arrest and one hundred dollars for deporting migrants within two weeks of arrest. The agents were also encouraged to use expedited removals, which permit some migrants to be deported without court proceedings, a possible violation of due process rights. “This is so ungodly unethical,” said Scott Shuchart, a former senior Homeland Security official. “You can’t incentivize government agents to short-circuit people’s procedural rights. Would you pay a bonus to judges for wrapping up trials faster?” The program was abruptly canceled four hours after its announcement following an inquiry by The New York Times.
– August 6, 2025 – The Guardian reported that Vice President JD Vance’s security team raised the water level of the Little Miami River in Ohio for a family boating trip to celebrate the vice president’s forty-first birthday on August 2. According to a statement by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the request from the US Secret Service was made to “support safe navigation.” However, an anonymous source told The Guardian that the request was instead made to create “ideal kayaking conditions.” Regardless of the reason behind the request, Vance’s use of public resources came at a time when the Trump administration had made drastic cuts to the National Park Service. “While there may well be security-related explanations or justifications that come into analysis, my reaction is: I don’t care. We shouldn’t be utilizing government resources in this way. I never would have allowed it,” said Norm Eisen, a former White House special counsel for ethics and government reform during the Obama administration.
– August 8, 2025 – In a memo, the Air Force rescinded benefits to at least a dozen transgender service members who had applied for early retirement to avoid being kicked out of the service for their gender identity. The early-retirement applications were prompted after the Pentagon issued a memo in February declaring medical diagnoses of gender dysphoria incompatible with military service. According to lawyers, disqualifying medical conditions diagnosed during active service typically result in a medical retirement, which comes with benefits. However, according to the latest memo, the service members, who had each served between fifteen and eighteen years in the Air Force, will instead be forced to choose between a “voluntary” separation agreement or an involuntary removal, both of which will result in substantial losses of financial, medical, and other benefits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. “The first feeling I felt was betrayal,” said Master Sergeant Logan Ireland, who served multiple overseas tours over fifteen years, on learning the news. “I’ve given my life to the service.”
