Politicization

28-year-old political operative appointed ICE Deputy Director despite lacking required experience

| Importance: 9/10

Madison Sheahan, a 28-year-old former aide to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with no law enforcement experience, was appointed ICE Deputy Director on March 9, 2025. Federal law requires the ICE Director to have “a minimum of 5 years professional experience in law enforcement, and a minimum of 5 …

Madison Sheahan Kristi Noem ICE Department of Homeland Security illegal-appointments qualifications-violation politicization federal-law-violation
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Bill Barr Intervenes to Reduce Sentences for Trump Allies Stone and Flynn

| Importance: 8/10

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 Barr Roger Stone Michael Flynn Donald Trump Department of Justice obstruction-of-justice abuse-of-power rule-of-law corruption politicization
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Steve Bannon Removed from National Security Council After Unprecedented Political Appointment Sparked Bipartisan Outrage

| Importance: 8/10

President Trump removed chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council Principals Committee on April 5, 2017, ending an unprecedented three-month period during which a political operative with no national security experience—and a background running Breitbart News, the platform for …

Steve Bannon Donald Trump H.R. McMaster Michael Flynn Dan Coats +1 more steve-bannon national-security-council politicization michael-flynn mcmaster
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