General Services Administration issues Request for Information to create AI-driven procurement ecosystem, seeking private industry control over GSA…
Democracy Forward filed the first FOIA lawsuit against the Trump administration on August 8, 2025, seeking release of the Epstein files through legal action after the administration’s reversal on transparency promises.
House Speaker Mike Johnson abruptly sends Congress into early summer recess on July 23, 2025, specifically to prevent a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act discharge petition led by Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). The petition had gained bipartisan momentum …
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 …
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued preliminary injunction finding DOGE likely subject to FOIA despite Trump administration claims of Executive Office exemption. Cooper cited DOGE’s “operations thus far have been marked by unusual secrecy” and “substantial …
President Trump missed the February 19 deadline to disclose private donors for his presidential transition, breaking a long-standing transparency practice. By declining federal funding of $19.4 million, Trump avoided requirements to cap donations at $5,000 per person and publicly list donor details.
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 …
In Trump’s second term, tariff policy became increasingly opaque, with exemptions granted through a non-transparent process heavily influenced by lobbyists and political connections. The administration replaced the previous public application process with closed-door negotiations, raising …
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 …
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 …
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, …
The ICIJ/BuzzFeed ‘FinCEN Files’ exposed a massive global banking corruption investigation, revealing over $2 trillion in suspicious financial transactions across 200+ banks between 1999-2017. The leaked 2,657 documents, including 2,121 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), showed systemic …
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 …
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 …
FOIA-released records compiled by watchdogs show the Secret Service spent nearly $2 million at Trump-owned properties while protecting the president and his family. A 2020 DHS OIG report on the Scotland trip documented specific Turnberry payments but noted incomplete cost capture due to system …
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, …
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 …
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