Executive-Power

Project 2025: Trump Administration Launches Massive Federal Civil Service Restructuring

| Importance: 9/10

On January 20, 2025, the Trump administration implements Schedule F executive order, enabling systematic purge of federal civil service workforce by stripping job protections from approximately 50,000 nonpartisan public servants. This restructuring, developed by the Heritage Foundation, allows …

Donald Trump Heritage Foundation Kevin Roberts Paul Dans Career Civil Servants regulatory-capture institutional-transformation civil-service-reform executive-power political-loyalty +1 more
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Trump Declares Total War on Congressional Oversight: "We're Fighting All the Subpoenas"

| Importance: 9/10

President Donald Trump explicitly declares blanket resistance to congressional oversight, stating “We’re fighting all the subpoenas” and dismissing House Democrats as not “impartial people.” This systematic escalation represents an unprecedented challenge to legislative …

Donald Trump White House House Democrats Congressional Investigators Don McGahn +2 more trump-administration congressional-obstruction subpoena-defiance constitutional-crisis systematic-corruption +2 more
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Trump Claims Absolute Immunity from Congressional Oversight

| Importance: 8/10

The Trump administration claimed ‘absolute immunity’ to block all congressional oversight, with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone declaring Congress had no ’legitimate legislative purpose’ for investigations. Don McGahn defied House subpoenas despite federal judges ruling …

Donald Trump Pat Cipollone Don McGahn John Bolton Mike Pompeo +1 more obstruction absolute-immunity congressional-oversight constitutional-crisis executive-power
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New York Times Exposes Obama's Kill List and Terror Tuesday Assassination Meetings

| Importance: 9/10

The New York Times publishes an explosive investigation revealing that President Obama personally approves every name on a secret “kill list” for drone strikes during regular Tuesday National Security Council meetings dubbed “Terror Tuesdays.” The article exposes how the …

Barack Obama John Brennan CIA JSOC Tom Donilon drones obama targeted-killing kill-list cia +2 more
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ABA Condemns Bush 800+ Signing Statements Nullifying Oversight

| Importance: 8/10

The American Bar Association Task Force condemned President Bush’s unprecedented use of signing statements to nullify congressional oversight, issuing more than 800 constitutional challenges by 2006 versus fewer than 600 by all previous presidents combined. Bush produced 150 signing statements …

George W. Bush American Bar Association Dick Cheney David Addington John Yoo signing-statements executive-power constitutional-crisis unitary-executive aba
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Dubai Ports World Abandons US Port Takeover Under Congressional Pressure

| Importance: 9/10

On March 9, 2006, Dubai Ports World (DPW) announced it would abandon its controversial plan to control US port operations, marking a pivotal moment in the Bush presidency’s foreign investment strategy. The decision came after the House Appropriations Committee voted 62-2 to block the $6.8 …

Dubai Ports World House Appropriations Committee Charles Schumer Dennis Hastert Bill Frist +4 more corporate-defeat congressional-oversight foreign-investment national-security port-security +1 more
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Hospital Confrontation Over NSA Surveillance Program

| Importance: 9/10

Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andy Card went to George Washington Hospital ICU to pressure hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft to reauthorize the NSA surveillance program that the Department of Justice had deemed illegal. Acting Attorney General James Comey raced to the hospital with …

John Ashcroft James Comey Alberto Gonzales Andy Card Robert Mueller rule-of-law executive-power surveillance stellarwind constitutional-crisis +5 more
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WHIG Achieves Systematic Bypass of Constitutional Separation of Powers Through Congressional Deception

| Importance: 9/10

President Bush signs the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, marking the successful culmination of WHIG’s systematic campaign to bypass constitutional separation of powers through coordinated congressional deception. The signed authorization represents not …

George W. Bush White House Iraq Group U.S. Congress Constitutional Framework Andrew Card +4 more whig constitutional-crisis separation-of-powers executive-power congressional-manipulation +4 more
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White House Iraq Group Formed to Coordinate WMD Propaganda Campaign

| Importance: 9/10

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card forms the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) to coordinate the Bush administration’s public relations campaign for the Iraq invasion. Chaired by Karl Rove and meeting weekly in the Situation Room, WHIG included National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, her …

Andrew Card Karl Rove Condoleezza Rice Stephen Hadley Scooter Libby +3 more whig iraq-war intelligence-manipulation propaganda karl-rove +1 more
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Kenneth Lay Meets with Dick Cheney Energy Task Force

| Importance: 9/10

On April 17, 2001, Enron CEO Kenneth Lay met with Vice President Dick Cheney and his National Energy Policy Development Group (Energy Task Force), presenting a three-page “wish list” of corporate energy policy recommendations. This meeting was one of at least six interactions between …

Kenneth Lay Dick Cheney Enron National Energy Policy Development Group George W. Bush +1 more enron cheney energy-task-force corporate-capture corruption +2 more
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