Transparency

Bondi Announces New Epstein Investigation Days Before House Vote, Creating Cover for Redactions

| Importance: 8/10

On Friday, November 15, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced via X (formerly Twitter) that she had ordered a new federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political opponents, assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe. The announcement came just …

Pam Bondi Jay Clayton Donald Trump Thomas Massie Bill Clinton +3 more epstein cover-up doj-weaponization pam-bondi strategic-timing +3 more
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Trump Calls Own Supporters "Weaklings" and "Selfish People" After Demanding Epstein File Transparency

| Importance: 8/10

On July 12, 2025, five days after the Department of Justice released a memo stating no Jeffrey Epstein “client list” existed—contradicting Attorney General Pam Bondi’s February claim that the list was “sitting on my desk”—President Donald Trump attacked his own …

Donald Trump Tucker Carlson Laura Loomer Marjorie Taylor Greene Thomas Massie +4 more donald-trump jeffrey-epstein transparency tucker-carlson laura-loomer +6 more
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Attorney General Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files, Initiating Multi-Phase Document Releases Through November 2025

| Importance: 8/10

On February 27, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi released the first phase of declassified files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his sexual exploitation of over 250 underage girls at residences in New York, Florida, and other locations. This initial release marked the …

Pamela Bondi Jeffrey Epstein Department of Justice Donald Trump House Oversight Committee epstein doj sexual abuse transparency trump administration
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White House will not release visitor logs during Trump's second term

| Importance: 7/10

The Trump White House announced it will continue its policy of not releasing visitor logs, effectively preventing public and press access to information about who is meeting with the president. This approach, first implemented during Trump’s first term and challenged by transparency advocates …

Donald Trump Trump Administration Tom Blanton National Security Archive regulatory-capture transparency executive-power government-secrecy
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Axon Releases Draft One AI System to Automate Police Report Writing from Body Camera Audio

| Importance: 9/10

On April 23, 2024, Axon released Draft One, an AI-powered system that automatically generates police report narratives from body-worn camera audio using OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo model built on Microsoft Azure infrastructure. The system transcribes audio from Axon Body 3 and 4 cameras uploaded over …

Axon OpenAI Microsoft Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) axon draft-one ai gpt-4 police-reports +8 more
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House Oversight minority report: at least $7.8M from 20 foreign governments to Trump businesses (partial records)

| Importance: 9/10

A staff report by House Oversight Committee Democrats, based on Mazars-produced records for limited years and entities, found that Trump businesses received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments while he was president—likely an undercount. Watchdogs report higher estimates when …

U.S. House Committee on Oversight (Minority Staff) Donald J. Trump / Trump Organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) emoluments foreign-influence transparency
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Anonymous Whistleblower Leaks 1.7 TB of Cellebrite Data Including Full Software Suite

| Importance: 8/10

An anonymous whistleblower provides 1.7 terabytes of stolen Cellebrite data to hacktivist collective Enlace Hacktivista, representing one of the largest breaches in the surveillance technology industry. The massive leak includes the entire Cellebrite suite of programs, including the company’s …

Cellebrite Anonymous Enlace Hacktivista surveillance mobile-forensics cybersecurity data-breach transparency
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Federal Court Orders Unsealing of Jeffrey Epstein Case Documents

| Importance: 8/10

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska orders the unsealing of documents from Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell, including depositions and court filings that had been sealed for years. The order affects approximately 180 individuals mentioned in the documents, …

Loretta Preska Virginia Giuffre Ghislaine Maxwell Miami Herald Julie Brown document-unsealing transparency media-litigation public-interest judicial-oversight
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Federal Judge Rules Epstein Plea Deal Violated Crime Victims' Rights Act

| Importance: 8/10

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra rules that federal prosecutors violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by failing to inform victims about the 2008 non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein. The ruling found that prosecutors deliberately concealed the agreement from victims and their …

Kenneth Marra Bradley Edwards Paul Cassell Alexander Acosta Jeffrey Epstein judicial-oversight victim-rights-violations prosecutorial-misconduct transparency rule-of-law
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Tech Companies Launch Transparency Reports After NSA Revelations

| Importance: 7/10

Following Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA surveillance, major tech companies began publishing transparency reports disclosing limited information about government data requests, marking the first time companies could publicly acknowledge FISA court orders. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, …

Google Microsoft Yahoo Facebook LinkedIn +2 more nsa-surveillance transparency tech-resistance fisa-requests privacy-rights
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Microsoft and Google Challenge NSA Gag Orders in Federal Court

| Importance: 7/10

Microsoft and Google filed federal lawsuits challenging government gag orders that prohibited them from disclosing details about Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests and National Security Letters (NSLs) they receive for customer data. The companies argued these blanket nondisclosure …

Microsoft Google Brad Smith Department of Justice NSA nsa-surveillance transparency tech-resistance fisa-requests first-amendment +1 more
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DISCLOSE Act Passes House But GOP Blocks Senate Vote on Citizens United Response

| Importance: 7/10

House passes Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act requiring disclosure of corporate political spending, but Republican leadership blocks Senate consideration to protect dark money donors

Chuck Schumer Chris Van Hollen Mitch McConnell Barack Obama House of Representatives +1 more legislative-response campaign-finance-reform corporate-disclosure political-obstruction transparency +2 more
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Senate Watergate Committee Begins Televised Hearings, Exposing Presidential Crimes to Public

| Importance: 9/10

On May 17, 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities—commonly known as the Senate Watergate Committee—opened televised public hearings into the Watergate scandal. Chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, with Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee as vice chairman, the …

Sam Ervin Howard Baker Senate Watergate Committee Richard Nixon watergate congressional-oversight institutional-corruption abuse-of-power transparency
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