During the fourth week of the October 2025 government shutdown affecting over 700,000 federal employees, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that approximately 70,000 Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officers—including ICE deportation officers, CBP border patrol agents, Secret Service …
Kristi NoemDepartment of Homeland SecurityImmigration and Customs EnforcementCustoms and Border ProtectionSecret Service+2 moregovernment-shutdowninstitutional-captureimmigration-enforcementaccountability-crisisbudget-reconciliation+1 more
President Trump commuted the 87-month federal prison sentence of former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after Santos served only three months of his sentence. Santos pleaded guilty in August 2024 to multiple counts of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, campaign finance violations, and financial crimes …
Donald TrumpWhite HouseGeorge Santosexecutive-powerpardonsabuse-of-powercorruptionaccountability-crisis
On Sunday evening, October 4, 2020, President Trump—still infected with COVID-19 and hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center—left his hospital suite to drive past supporters gathered outside in a black Chevrolet Suburban SUV, forcing at least two Secret Service agents to …
Donald TrumpJames PhillipsSean ConleyCOVID-19Public HealthSecret ServiceAccountability Crisis
President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on October 2, 2020, and was flown by Marine One helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that evening, where he received an experimental monoclonal antibody cocktail developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals under “compassionate …
Donald TrumpMelania TrumpSean ConleyMike PenceHope HicksCOVID-19Public HealthHealthcareAccountability Crisis
On September 26, 2020, President Trump held a Rose Garden ceremony announcing Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court that became what Dr. Anthony Fauci would later call a “superspreader event,” with more than 150 attendees packed together without masks for both an …
President Trump held a campaign-style rally at Mount Rushmore on July 3-4, 2020, with approximately 7,500 ticketed attendees packed close together and mostly maskless, despite the United States setting a pandemic record on that same day with 57,497 confirmed COVID-19 cases. South Dakota Governor …
Donald TrumpKristi NoemKimberly GuilfoyleCOVID-19Public HealthSuperspreader EventAccountability Crisis
During a White House coronavirus briefing on April 23, 2020, President Trump publicly speculated about treating COVID-19 by injecting disinfectant into the human body or inserting ultraviolet light internally, asking “is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a …
Donald TrumpWilliam BryanCOVID-19Public HealthDisinformationAccountability Crisis
President Trump removed Glenn Fine from his position as acting inspector general for the Defense Department on April 7, 2020, just one week after Fine was selected to chair the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee tasked with overseeing the $2.2 trillion CARES Act stimulus spending. The …
Donald TrumpGlenn FineCarolyn MaloneyMitt RomneyStephen LynchInspector GeneralWhistleblower RetaliationObstruction of JusticeAccountability CrisisCOVID-19+1 more
Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services released a report on April 6, 2020, documenting “severe shortages” of COVID-19 testing supplies and “widespread shortages” of personal protective equipment at hospitals nationwide. …
Christi GrimmDonald TrumpJason WeidaDepartment of Health and Human ServicesInspector GeneralWhistleblower RetaliationObstruction of JusticeAccountability CrisisCOVID-19+1 more
President Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency on March 13, 2020—approximately six weeks after Health Secretary Alex Azar had declared it a public health emergency—finally acknowledging the severity of a pandemic he had spent weeks downplaying and dismissing as a Democratic …
Donald TrumpAlex AzarMike PenceCOVID-19Public HealthAccountability CrisisFederal Response
President Trump visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta on March 6, 2020, wearing his red “Keep America Great” campaign hat and delivering a chaotic, politically charged performance that included false claims about testing availability, attacks on …
Donald TrumpRobert RedfieldAlex AzarMike PenceJay InsleeCOVID-19Public HealthHatch ActDisinformationAccountability Crisis
At a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina on February 28, 2020, President Trump dismissed Democratic criticism of his administration’s coronavirus response by declaring “this is their new hoax,” comparing it to impeachment and other perceived attacks against him. The …
Donald TrumpCOVID-19Public HealthDisinformationAccountability Crisis
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
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
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
Jeffrey Epstein is found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, with the death ruled suicide by hanging. The death occurs despite Epstein being on suicide watch previously, and amid failures in prison protocols including guards falling asleep and security cameras …
Jeffrey EpsteinWilliam BarrBureau of PrisonsFBIDOJ Inspector Generalinstitutional-failureprison-systemaccountability-crisisgovernment-oversighttransparency
President Trump announced via Twitter on July 28, 2019, that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats would resign effective August 15, ending a tumultuous two-year tenure marked by fundamental conflicts over Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and ongoing threats to American …
Dan CoatsDonald TrumpJohn RatcliffeVladimir PutinInspector GeneralWhistleblower RetaliationObstruction of JusticeAccountability CrisisIntelligence Community+1 more
President Trump ordered the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from her post in Ukraine on April 24, 2019, with her recall becoming public on May 7, following a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, …
Marie YovanovitchDonald TrumpRudy GiulianiYuriy LutsenkoLev Parnas+2 moreInspector GeneralWhistleblower RetaliationObstruction of JusticeAccountability CrisisUkraine+1 more
Attorney General William Barr released a four-page letter to Congress purporting to summarize the 448-page Mueller Report’s “principal conclusions” just 48 hours after receiving it. Barr’s summary fundamentally mischaracterized the report’s findings on obstruction of …
William BarrRobert MuellerDonald TrumpRod RosensteinMueller InvestigationObstruction of JusticeAttorney General CorruptionDisinformationAccountability Crisis+1 more
On October 6, 2018, the Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court by a vote of 50-48, making him the first justice in modern history confirmed with credible sexual assault allegations pending and despite obvious temperament problems that raised serious questions about his fitness for the …
On September 27, 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her at a house party in 1982 when she was 15 and he was 17. Ford delivered four hours of credible, detailed, emotionally raw testimony …
Academi (the entity formerly known as Blackwater, then Xe Services) merged with rival private military contractor Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings, representing the third major corporate transformation of the Blackwater organization in seven years. The merger consolidated multiple private …
Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) was acquired by a group of private investors and renamed Academi, with Erik Prince exiting the company he founded. The acquisition and rebranding represented the second major corporate transformation designed to distance the entity from Blackwater’s documented …
Erik PrinceXe ServicesAcademiJohn AshcroftJack Quinn+2 moreprivate-militarycorporate-impunityconflicts-of-interestreputation-launderingaccountability-crisis
The United States Senate passed the Franken Amendment by a 68-30 vote on October 6, 2009, prohibiting defense contractors receiving more than $1 million in Department of Defense funds from requiring employees to resolve sexual assault, battery, or harassment claims through mandatory arbitration. The …
Al FrankenJamie Leigh JonesKBRHalliburtonSenate+1 moreaccountability-crisiscorporate-impunitysexual-assaultmandatory-arbitrationprivate-military+1 more
Blackwater Worldwide officially changed its name to Xe Services LLC in a strategic rebranding effort to distance the company from its toxic reputation following the 2007 Nisour Square massacre, congressional investigations documenting 195 shooting incidents in Iraq, and widespread accusations of war …
Erik PrinceBlackwaterXe Servicesprivate-militarycorporate-impunityaccountability-crisisreputation-launderingwar-crimes
Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, was electrocuted in a shower at Radwaniyah Palace Complex near Baghdad on January 2, 2008, when an improperly grounded water pump installed by KBR short-circuited and sent electrical current through the shower water. Pentagon …
Ryan MasethKBRHalliburtonDepartment of DefenseDefense Contract Management Agency+2 moreprivate-militarycorporate-impunityaccountability-crisiswar-crimescorporate-negligence
Erik Prince testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for nearly four hours, defending Blackwater’s operations in Iraq despite overwhelming evidence of excessive force and lack of accountability. The hearing came weeks after the September 16, 2007 Nisour Square …
Erik PrinceBlackwaterHouse Oversight CommitteeHenry Waxmanprivate-militaryiraq-waraccountability-crisiscongressional-oversightcorporate-impunity
Halliburton announced the completion of its spin-off of KBR on April 5, 2007, separating the subsidiary that had generated most of its Iraq War controversies after 44 years of corporate integration. The separation followed KBR’s initial public offering on November 16, 2006, which raised $470 …
Halliburton announced on March 12, 2007, that it was relocating its corporate headquarters and CEO David Lesar from Houston, Texas, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, citing business opportunities in the Middle East where 38% of its $13 billion in oil field services revenue originated and 16,000 …
On July 28, 2005, KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones, then 22 years old and working her fourth day on the job in Baghdad, alleged she was drugged and gang-raped by KBR coworkers at Camp Hope in the Green Zone. Army doctors examined Jones and found evidence of sexual assault “both vaginally and …
Jamie Leigh JonesKBRHalliburtonTed PoeState Department+2 moreprivate-militarycorporate-impunityaccountability-crisissexual-assaultmandatory-arbitration+1 more
Four Blackwater contractors—Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Mike Teague—were ambushed and killed by Iraqi insurgents while conducting a delivery for food caterers ESS in Fallujah. The contractors’ bodies were beaten, burned, dragged through the city streets, and hung from a …
Erik PrinceBlackwaterScott HelvenstonJerry ZovkoWesley Batalona+2 moreprivate-militaryiraq-warwar-crimescorporate-negligenceaccountability-crisis