Institutional-Corruption

DOJ Whistleblower Reveals Officials Ordered Fabrication of Terrorist Claims in Deportation Case

| Importance: 9/10

Justice Department whistleblower Erez Reuveni, a 15-year DOJ attorney, revealed in October 2025 testimony that senior officials ordered him to fabricate terrorist claims in court briefs to justify the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. Reuveni was told to argue in legal …

Erez Reuveni Kilmar Abrego Garcia Department of Justice Trump Pam Bondi obstruction-of-justice false-evidence institutional-corruption abuse-of-power
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FBI Director Kash Patel's Krispy Kreme Stock Purchase Raises Conflict of Interest Concerns

| Importance: 8/10

FBI Director Kash Patel purchased $15,000 to $50,000 in Krispy Kreme stock on May 9, 2025, at a decade-low price of $3.17 per share, while the FBI was actively investigating the ransomware group ‘Play’ responsible for a major Krispy Kreme data breach that exposed personal data of over …

Kash Patel FBI Krispy Kreme Joe Neguse conflicts-of-interest ethics-violations institutional-corruption
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DOJ Moves to Conceal Names of Epstein Associates Who Received $100K and $250K Payments

| Importance: 9/10

The Department of Justice asked a federal judge to deny NBC News’ request to unseal the names of two associates who received large wire transfers from Jeffrey Epstein in 2018, totaling $100,000 and $250,000. The payments were made days after the Miami Herald began publishing investigative …

Department of Justice Jeffrey Epstein NBC News obstruction-of-justice institutional-corruption elite-impunity
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Mass Firing of Inspectors General Signals Systematic Government Oversight Erosion

| Importance: 8/10

In a significant escalation of institutional capture, President Trump fired 17 inspectors general across multiple federal agencies in late January 2025. The mass firings, done without the legally required 30-day congressional notice, targeted watchdogs investigating potential misconduct in agencies …

Donald Trump Trump Administration Paul Martin Michael Missal kleptocracy government-oversight executive-power institutional-corruption
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Systematic Coordination Emerges in Federal Worker Purge and Civil Service Dismantling

| Importance: 8/10

The Trump administration systematically dismantled federal civil service protections through Schedule F, an executive order enabling mass reclassification and termination of career civil servants. By October 2025, approximately 4,200 federal workers across at least 7 agencies received reduction in …

Trump Administration Heritage Foundation Office of Personnel Management Federal Employee Unions Project 2025 Coalition +3 more regulatory-capture institutional-corruption industry-influence systematic-coordination civil-service-reform +3 more
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Project 2025: Systematic Dismantling of Federal Civil Service Infrastructure

| Importance: 9/10

The Trump administration, through Project 2025 and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launches a comprehensive strategy to fundamentally transform the federal workforce by implementing Schedule F (renamed ‘Schedule Policy/Career’), which strips civil service protections from …

Heritage Foundation Kevin D. Roberts Donald Trump Elon Musk Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project-2025 schedule-f regulatory-capture institutional-corruption civil-service-transformation
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Patrizia Cavazzoni's FDA to Pfizer Move Epitomizes Regulatory Capture

| Importance: 9/10

Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, former head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), immediately transitioned to Pfizer as chief medical officer, reigniting intense debate about the pharmaceutical industry’s regulatory influence and the problematic ‘revolving …

Patrizia Cavazzoni FDA Pfizer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research +2 more regulatory-capture pharmaceutical-industry fda revolving-door institutional-corruption +2 more
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Dallas and Boston Fed Presidents Resign Over Trading Scandal

| Importance: 9/10

Robert Kaplan (Dallas Fed) and Eric Rosengren (Boston Fed) announce simultaneous resignations following massive public backlash over their 2020 trading activities. The scandal revealed deep ethical vulnerabilities in the Federal Reserve, where senior officials traded stocks during critical market …

Robert Kaplan Eric Rosengren Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Elizabeth Warren federal-reserve resignation trading-scandal robert-kaplan eric-rosengren +4 more
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Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett 52-48 Eight Days Before Election, Creating 6-3 Conservative Supermajority

| Importance: 10/10

On October 26, 2020, the Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by a vote of 52-48, installing her on the bench just eight days before the November 3 presidential election and while millions of Americans had already cast their ballots. Barrett’s confirmation created a 6-3 …

Amy Coney Barrett Mitch McConnell Donald Trump Susan Collins Lisa Murkowski +1 more Supreme Court Judicial Appointments Hypocrisy Institutional Corruption Abortion Rights
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Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court, Religious Conservative to Replace Liberal Icon Ginsburg

| Importance: 9/10

On September 26, 2020—just eight days after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death—President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett, a religious conservative from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, to fill Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. Barrett’s judicial record showed …

Donald Trump Amy Coney Barrett Mitch McConnell Ruth Bader Ginsburg Supreme Court Judicial Appointments Abortion Rights Religious Right Institutional Corruption
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies 46 Days Before Election, McConnell Immediately Vows to Confirm Replacement Despite 2016 Standard

| Importance: 9/10

On September 18, 2020, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at age 87 from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, creating a Supreme Court vacancy just 46 days before the November 3 presidential election and while early voting was already underway in some states. In her final days, …

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Mitch McConnell Donald Trump Clara Spera John Roberts Supreme Court Judicial Appointments Hypocrisy Institutional Corruption
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House Committee Report Documents Boeing-FAA Regulatory Capture That Killed 346 People

| Importance: 10/10

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure released its final 238-page report on the Boeing 737 MAX disasters, concluding that the crashes “were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of …

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Representative Peter DeFazio Representative Rick Larsen Federal Aviation Administration Boeing +1 more boeing faa regulatory-capture 737-max congressional-investigation +1 more
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Fed Vice Chair Clarida Trades Millions Before Rate Cuts

| Importance: 8/10

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida rotated between $1-5 million from Pimco bond funds into stock funds on February 27, 2020, just one day before Fed Chair Powell’s emergency statement about coronavirus risks. Clarida sold multiple ETFs during the market’s COVID-19 downturn and …

Richard Clarida Federal Reserve Board Jerome Powell Elizabeth Warren federal-reserve trading-scandal conflict-of-interest richard-clarida insider-trading +2 more
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McConnell Invokes Nuclear Option, Eliminates Filibuster for Supreme Court Nominees, Gorsuch Confirmed 54-45

| Importance: 9/10

On April 6, 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked the “nuclear option”—a parliamentary procedure to change Senate rules by simple majority vote—to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster requirement for Supreme Court nominations, lowering the threshold to a simple 51-vote …

Mitch McConnell Neil Gorsuch Chuck Schumer Harry Reid Donald Trump Supreme Court Judicial Appointments Senate Rules Institutional Corruption Nuclear Option
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Obama Nominates Merrick Garland to Supreme Court, McConnell and Senate Republicans Refuse to Hold Hearings or Vote

| Importance: 9/10

On March 16, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick B. Garland, the widely respected Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death one month earlier. Garland was considered a …

Barack Obama Merrick Garland Mitch McConnell Chuck Grassley Supreme Court Judicial Appointments Obstruction Institutional Corruption
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Justice Antonin Scalia Dies, McConnell Immediately Vows to Block Any Obama Nominee

| Importance: 9/10

On February 13, 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died of apparent natural causes at a luxury resort in West Texas, creating a vacancy on the Court with nearly 11 months remaining in President Obama’s term. Within hours of Scalia’s death being announced, Senate Majority Leader …

Antonin Scalia Mitch McConnell Barack Obama Supreme Court Judicial Appointments Obstruction Institutional Corruption
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Bush Administration Fires Seven U.S. Attorneys in Coordinated Purge

| Importance: 8/10

Bush administration Justice Department fires seven U.S. attorneys in coordinated operation later determined to be politically motivated retaliation. Fired prosecutors included David Iglesias (New Mexico), Carol Lam (California), Daniel Bogden (Nevada), Paul Charlton (Arizona), Margaret Chiara …

Karl Rove David Iglesias Carol Lam Alberto Gonzales Bush Administration +1 more doj-weaponization attorney-firings karl-rove political-prosecutions bush-administration +2 more
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Systematic Coordination Emerges in Corporate PAC Explosion Post-Buckley

| Importance: 9/10

By the year 2000, sophisticated legal strategies emerge revealing how corporate political action committees (PACs) systematically exploit legal loopholes from the Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court decision. Wealthy donors and industry actors develop intricate mechanisms to circumvent campaign finance …

Corporate PAC Strategists Campaign Finance Lawyers Political Fundraising Experts Supreme Court Justices regulatory-capture institutional-corruption campaign-finance supreme-court political-spending +1 more
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