President Trump pushed aside Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire on February 20, 2020, after his election security chief Shelby Pierson briefed the House Intelligence Committee on February 13 that Russia was interfering in the 2020 election to aid Trump’s re-election. Trump …
Joseph MaguireDonald TrumpShelby PiersonRichard GrenellAdam SchiffInspector GeneralWhistleblower RetaliationObstruction of JusticeAccountability CrisisIntelligence Community+2 more
On February 20, 2020, federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Roger Stone, longtime Trump adviser and political operative, to 40 months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. The sentencing came at the conclusion of an unprecedented political controversy …
Roger StoneDonald TrumpWilliam BarrAaron ZelinskyJonathan Kravis+3 moreDOJ CorruptionMueller InvestigationRoger StoneSentencingBarr Obstruction+2 more
On February 20, 2020, Axon announced the launch of Axon Air, an end-to-end drone surveillance platform that livestreams aerial footage directly into the company’s Evidence.com cloud storage system. The system integrated with DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise and Matrice 200 series drones, enabling law …
AxonEscondido Police DepartmentDJIaxondronessurveillanceaxon-airpolice-technology+2 more
Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison hosted President Donald Trump at his Rancho Mirage, California estate on February 19, 2020, for a high-dollar campaign fundraiser that raised approximately $7 million for Trump’s reelection campaign. Attendees paid $100,000 for a golf outing and photo opportunity …
Larry EllisonDonald TrumpOracleRepublican Partypolitical-donationscorruptionconflicts-of-interestcronyismoracle
YouTube permanently terminated white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ channel for violating its hate speech policies, marking the beginning of widespread deplatforming across major tech platforms. Fuentes had built a significant following through his “America First” livestream show, which …
Nick FuentesDeplatformingWhite NationalismTech Policy
On February 13, 2020, several U.S. senators were investigated for potentially violating the STOCK Act by selling stock after receiving private briefings about the COVID-19 pandemic, but before the market crash on February 20, 2020. Senator Richard Burr and his wife sold between $628,000 and $1.72 …
Richard BurrKelly LoefflerJames InhofeDianne FeinsteinJeffrey Sprechercongressional-corruptioninsider-tradingcovid-19market-manipulationsenate-ethics
Attorney General Bill Barr personally intervened to reduce sentencing recommendations for Trump allies Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, causing four career prosecutors to withdraw from Stone’s case in protest and one to resign from DOJ entirely. After prosecutors recommended 7-9 years for …
Bill BarrRoger StoneMichael FlynnDonald TrumpDepartment of Justiceobstruction-of-justiceabuse-of-powerrule-of-lawcorruptionpoliticization
Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified in Trump’s impeachment proceedings, is escorted out of the White House and removed from his NSC position just days after Trump’s Senate acquittal. This unprecedented retaliation follows …
Donald TrumpLt. Col. Alexander VindmanLt. Col. Yevgeny VindmanNational Security CouncilU.S. Army+2 morevindmanretaliationimpeachmentnscmilitary-politicization+3 more
President Trump orchestrated a coordinated purge of impeachment witnesses on February 7, 2020, just two days after his Senate acquittal, firing both Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland in unmistakable retaliation for their truthful congressional testimony. Vindman, the …
Donald TrumpAlexander VindmanYevgeny VindmanGordon SondlandDavid Pressman+1 moreInspector GeneralWhistleblower RetaliationObstruction of JusticeAccountability CrisisImpeachment+1 more
The Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump on both impeachment articles on February 5, 2020, despite overwhelming evidence that he abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to announce investigations into Joe Biden while withholding military aid. On Article I (Abuse of Power), the vote was …
The Senate voted 51-49 on January 31, 2020 to block witness testimony and document production in President Trump’s impeachment trial, making it the first Senate impeachment trial in American history conducted without witnesses or new evidence. Only two Republicans—Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan …
The New York Times obtained portions of former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s unpublished book manuscript on January 26, 2020, revealing that President Trump explicitly told Bolton in August 2019 that he wanted to continue freezing military aid to Ukraine until Ukrainian officials …
John BoltonDonald TrumpMitch McConnellSenate RepublicansFirst ImpeachmentUkraineQuid Pro QuoBoltonSenate Trial
On January 30, 2020, Raytheon reported better-than-expected quarterly profits driven by surging international weapons demand, with company executives explicitly citing US-Iran tensions as a growth driver. The earnings announcement came just weeks after the January 3, 2020 US drone strike killing …
RaytheonGreg HayesSaudi ArabiaIranDonald Trumpraytheonwar-profiteeringiranpatriot-missilessaudi-arabia+1 more
New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill published a groundbreaking exposé titled “The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy As We Know It,” revealing that Clearview AI had scraped 3 billion faces from Facebook, YouTube, Venmo, and millions of other websites without anyone’s …
Kashmir HillClearview AIHoan Ton-ThatNew York Timessurveillance-stateprivacy-violationsinvestigative-journalismauthoritarian-infrastructure
Former U.S. Representative Chris Collins (R-NY) was sentenced to 26 months in federal prison, one year of supervised release, and a $200,000 fine by Judge Vernon S. Broderick for insider trading and making false statements to the FBI. Collins, who was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald …
Chris CollinsCameron CollinsDonald TrumpVernon S. BroderickCongressional CorruptionInsider TradingRepublican PartyNew YorkSecurities Fraud+2 more
Speaker Nancy Pelosi transmitted the articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate on January 16, 2020, ending a 28-day delay strategy designed to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to establish fair trial procedures. In a solemn ceremony in the Speaker’s office, …
Boeing released hundreds of internal messages to Congressional investigators and the FAA on January 9, 2020, revealing that employees knew the 737 MAX was unsafe, mocked regulators, and conspired to deceive certification authorities. In one April 2017 exchange, just before the aircraft’s first …
Boeing employeesFederal Aviation AdministrationDepartment of JusticeHouse Transportation CommitteeSenator Richard Blumenthalboeing737-maxinternal-communicationsregulatory-capturefraud+1 more
By 2020, OECD analysis of multinational corporate tax avoidance identified Google among the most aggressive tax avoiders globally, with the company systematically avoiding an estimated $7+ billion annually in taxes through profit shifting to tax havens—maintaining an effective global tax rate under …
OECDGoogleAlphabetTax Justice NetworkOECD member countriesgoogletax-avoidanceoecdoffshoreglobal-tax+2 more
Documents released in late 2020 in federal bankruptcy court revealed that elite management consulting firm McKinsey & Company worked closely with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, developing detailed plans to “turbocharge” OxyContin sales at a time when opioid abuse had already …
Boeing’s Board of Directors fired CEO Dennis Muilenburg on December 23, 2019, over his handling of the 737 MAX crisis that killed 346 people in two crashes. Despite presiding over the deadliest corporate safety scandal in aviation history, Muilenburg departed with approximately $62 million in …
Dennis MuilenburgBoeing Board of DirectorsDavid Calhoun346 crash victimsVictims' familiesboeingexecutive-compensationimpunity737-maxcorporate-crime+1 more
President Trump signed the $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act on December 20, 2019, which established the United States Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. military. The new military service, first created since the Air Force in 1947, will initially comprise 16,000 active-duty …
Donald TrumpJay RaymondTodd Harrisonmilitarytrump-administrationspace-forcedefense-policynational-security
The House of Representatives voted on December 18, 2019 to impeach President Donald Trump on two articles: Abuse of Power (230-197-1) and Obstruction of Congress (229-198-1), making Trump only the third president in American history to be impeached. Article I charged that Trump “solicited the …
Donald TrumpNancy PelosiAdam SchiffHouse DemocratsFirst ImpeachmentAbuse of PowerObstruction of CongressConstitutional CrisisUkraine
A Wisconsin judge orders the state Elections Commission to immediately remove over 200,000 voters from registration rolls following a lawsuit by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL). The purge targets voters flagged as potential “movers” based on data …
Wisconsin Institute for Law and LibertyWisconsin Elections Commissionvoter-suppressionwisconsinvoter-purgerepublican-party2020-election
On December 10, 2019, Justice Barry Ostrager of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that New York Attorney General Letitia James “failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that ExxonMobil made any material misrepresentations” regarding climate change risks to investors. The …
Barry OstragerLetitia JamesExxonMobilNew York Supreme CourtEric Schneidermanclimate-denialexxonknewcorporate-accountability-failurelegal-systemfossil-fuels
U.S. Representative Duncan D. Hunter pleaded guilty in federal court in San Diego to one count of conspiracy to misuse campaign funds, admitting that he and his wife knowingly and willfully stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to maintain their lifestyle. The guilty plea …
Duncan HunterMargaret HunterDonald TrumpCongressional CorruptionCampaign Finance ViolationsRepublican PartyCaliforniaPolitical Accountability+1 more
Former National Security Council Russia expert Dr. Fiona Hill delivered searing testimony on November 21, 2019, exposing how Rudy Giuliani ran a shadow Ukraine policy for Trump’s “domestic political errand” that undermined U.S. national security and advanced Russian interests. …
Fiona HillRudy GiulianiJohn BoltonGordon SondlandDonald TrumpFirst ImpeachmentUkraineShadow DiplomacyRussiaNSC+1 more
EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland delivered blockbuster testimony on November 20, 2019, explicitly confirming the quid pro quo at the heart of Trump’s first impeachment and implicating the highest levels of the administration. In opening remarks that devastated Trump’s defense, Sondland …
Gordon SondlandMike PompeoMike PenceMick MulvaneyJohn Bolton+1 moreFirst ImpeachmentUkraineQuid Pro QuoState DepartmentAbuse of Power
Mark Sandy, a career Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official serving as deputy associate director for national security programs, testified to House impeachment investigators on November 16, 2019, revealing that two of his OMB colleagues resigned in protest over concerns that Trump’s …
Mark SandyMichael DuffeyDonald TrumpOffice of Management and BudgetInspector GeneralWhistleblower RetaliationObstruction of JusticeAccountability CrisisUkraine+1 more
A federal jury convicted longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone on all seven counts: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. The conviction stemmed from Stone’s efforts to obstruct the House …
Roger StoneDonald TrumpJerome CorsiRandy CredicoWikiLeaks+1 moreMueller InvestigationWikiLeaksObstruction of JusticeWitness TamperingCongressional Lies+2 more
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch delivered powerful public testimony on November 15, 2019, describing a systematic smear campaign orchestrated by Rudy Giuliani and corrupt Ukrainian prosecutors to remove her from her post because she refused to assist with investigations targeting …
Marie YovanovitchRudy GiulianiDonald TrumpLev ParnasIgor FrumanFirst ImpeachmentUkraineState DepartmentWitness IntimidationSmear Campaign
The Southern Poverty Law Center published a devastating exposé revealing over 900 emails Stephen Miller sent to Breitbart News editors between March 2015 and June 2016, showing Miller systematically promoted white nationalist literature, racist conspiracy theories, and content from hate sites to …
Stephen MillerStephen MillerWhite NationalismBreitbart
Nick Fuentes and his “Groyper Army” followers disrupted a Turning Point USA promotional event for Donald Trump Jr.’s book “Triggered” at UCLA, forcing the event to end after just 30 minutes instead of the planned two hours. The event, featuring Trump Jr., Charlie Kirk, …
Nick FuentesDonald Trump Jr.Charlie KirkWhite NationalismExtremismConservative Movement
New York State Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million in damages to eight legitimate charities for systematically misusing the Trump Foundation for personal, business, and political purposes. The judgment found that Trump had “breached his …
The Interior Department Inspector General opened an investigation into Secretary David Bernhardt’s California water policy decisions that benefited Westlands Water District, his former lobbying client. The investigation examined whether Bernhardt violated ethics agreements by influencing new …
David BernhardtWestlands Water DistrictDavid MurilloCabinet CorruptionEthics ViolationsDavid BernhardtInterior DepartmentInspector General+2 more
Meta-owned WhatsApp files a federal lawsuit against NSO Group in the US District Court for Northern California, alleging that NSO exploited a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2019-3568, CVSS score 9.8) in WhatsApp’s voice calling feature to install Pegasus spyware on approximately 1,400 devices …
WhatsAppMetaNSO GroupUS District Court Northern Californianso-grouppegasus-spywarewhatsappfacebook-metazero-day-exploits+1 more
National Security Council Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, testified to House impeachment investigators on October 29, 2019 that he listened to President Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Zelensky in real-time and …
Alexander VindmanDonald TrumpFiona HillFirst ImpeachmentUkraineNSCMilitaryWhistleblower+1 more
The Pentagon awards the $10 billion, 10-year Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract to Microsoft, stunning observers who widely expected Amazon Web Services to win based on its established relationship with the intelligence community through the CIA’s C2S contract. Under …
PentagonMicrosoftAmazon Web ServicesDonald TrumpJeff Bezosmilitary-contractscloud-computingpolitical-interferencegovernment-contractscorruption+2 more
Maria Butina was released from the Tallahassee Federal Correction Institution on October 25, 2019 after serving more than 15 months in federal custody. She was immediately taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Russia the same day, departing on a direct …
Maria ButinaICEFederal Bureau of PrisonsRussian Governmentdeportationsrussian-influenceforeign-agentsnramaria-butina
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in civil contempt of court on October 24, 2019, for violating a preliminary injunction barring the Department of Education from collecting on loans from 16,000 former Corinthian Colleges students and fined the Department $100,000. …
Betsy DeVosSallie KimDepartment of Educationcontempt-of-courtbetsy-devosstudent-debtcorinthian-collegesrule-of-law
Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William “Bill” Taylor delivered devastating closed-door testimony to House impeachment investigators on October 22, 2019, providing a detailed timeline of how President Trump conditioned military aid and a White House meeting on Ukraine announcing …
Bill TaylorGordon SondlandRudy GiulianiDonald TrumpFirst ImpeachmentUkraineQuid Pro QuoState DepartmentCongressional Testimony
Mark Zuckerberg delivers major policy speech at Georgetown University announcing that Facebook will not fact-check political advertisements, effectively licensing the Trump campaign and other political actors to spread unlimited disinformation through paid advertising on the platform. The policy …
Mark ZuckerbergFacebookDonald TrumpJoe BidenTrump Campaignfacebookpolitical-adsmisinformationfree-speech-abusetrump-campaign+3 more
The Trump administration blocked EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland from testifying before House impeachment investigators just hours before his scheduled deposition on October 8, 2019, inaugurating a pattern of complete non-cooperation with Congress that would form the basis for the obstruction of …
Donald TrumpGordon SondlandMike PompeoAdam SchiffFirst ImpeachmentObstruction of CongressUkraineState DepartmentGordon Sondland
Mark Zuckerberg conducts secret, unreported meetings with Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and Facebook board member Peter Thiel at the White House to negotiate content moderation policies and regulatory pressure. According to later reporting, Zuckerberg promises to avoid fact-checking political speech …
Mark ZuckerbergDonald TrumpJared KushnerPeter ThielFacebook+1 morefacebooktrump-administrationregulatory-capturepolitical-influencewhite-house+3 more
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden released findings on September 27, 2019 from an 18-month investigation into the National Rifle Association’s relationship with Russia and potential violations of U.S. tax and sanctions laws. The report revealed new evidence that the 2015 NRA …
Senate Finance CommitteeRon WydenNational Rifle AssociationMaria ButinaAlexander Torshincongressional-investigationsnrarussian-influencesanctions-violationsforeign-agents+2 more
President Trump orchestrated a multi-month campaign to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter, using $391 million in congressionally approved military aid as leverage. In a July 25 phone call with President Zelensky, Trump explicitly demanded ‘I would like you to do …
Donald TrumpVolodymyr ZelenskyRudy GiulianiWilliam BarrJoe Biden+3 moreukraineimpeachmentquid-pro-quoabuse-of-powerelection-interference+1 more
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump on September 24, 2019, marking a historic turning point after revelations that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden while withholding military aid. In a solemn address from the Speaker’s Balcony …
Nancy PelosiDonald TrumpAdam SchiffHouse DemocratsFirst ImpeachmentCongressional OversightUkraineAbuse of PowerNancy Pelosi
Edward Snowden published his memoir “Permanent Record” on September 17, 2019 (Constitution Day), through Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company. The book provided Snowden’s first-person account of his life, his work in the intelligence community, his decision to …
Edward SnowdenDepartment of JusticeACLUedward-snowdenwhistleblowingmemoirdoj-lawsuitnsa-surveillance+1 more
On September 15, 2019, Purdue Pharma filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after facing thousands of lawsuits from states, local governments, Native American tribes, and victims related to the opioid crisis. The bankruptcy filing was a strategic maneuver designed to shield the billionaire …
On September 14, 2019, swarms of drones and cruise missiles evaded six battalions of Raytheon-manufactured Patriot missile defense systems to strike Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities, temporarily disrupting 5.7 million barrels of daily oil production—approximately 5% of global …
RaytheonSaudi ArabiaIranMohammed bin SalmanHouthi forcesraytheonpatriot-missilessaudi-arabiadefense-contractorsweapons-failures+1 more
An Air Force internal review reported that about 6% (39 of 659) of aircrew overnights near Prestwick Airport were at Trump Turnberry; most crews stayed closer to the airfield or in Glasgow. Separately, DHS OIG reported about $9,662 in Secret Service payments to Turnberry for rooms, golf carts, and …
U.S. Air ForceU.S. Secret ServiceDHS Office of Inspector GeneralTrump Turnberrytravel-spendingconflictsoversight