Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 64’ – the week Donald Trump threatened to commit war crimes.

He, of course, pulled back on his threat. And while his announced ceasefire (if it holds) is incredibly welcomed, the leader of the supposed free world explicitly threatening to blow up a “whole civilization” in a country of 90 million people itself underscores Trump’s disregard for humanity and the rule of law. This week could be one of the darkest weeks since we began documenting the rise of authoritarianism in Trump’s America last year.

Of course, Trump’s threats of escalation in a war he had no mandate for from the start weren’t the only things he and his cronies were up to this week.

From genocidal threats to wanting to jail journalists to investigating another perceived enemy, here’s just a taste of what Trump and his allies did this week that undermines the Constitution, harms democracy, and makes the world less safe:

Saturday, April 4 – Rubio’s New Target

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that federal agents arrested those he claimed were the niece and great-niece of the late Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the Trump administration in 2020. But in a statement, Soleimani’s daughter said the two “have no connection whatsoever” to her father “and the claims made by the US State Department are false.”

The pair, who were taken into ICE custody and awaiting deportation proceedings, were arrested after Rubio revoked their green cards.

Rubio later quietly deleted a tweet announcing the pair’s arrest.

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Sunday, April 5 – Trump Threatens War Crimes

On Truth Social, Trump marked the Easter holiday with an unhinged, expletive-laden post escalating his threats against Iran.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump wrote, adding, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

Trump’s post was slammed by several politicians, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called Trump’s post “evil,” adding that the president “has gone insane” and everyone in his administration is “complicit” in his “madness.”

Monday, April 6 – Trump Escalates War on Journalists

During a White House press conference, Trump threatened to jail journalists of an unnamed media outlet if they don’t identify their source who revealed that a second US airman was missing after Iran shot down a US fighter jet last week.

“[Iran] didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information,” Trump said. “So whoever it was, we think we’ll be able to find it out because we’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘national security, give it up or go to jail.’”

Tuesday, April 7 – A ‘Highly Unusual’ Investigation

The New York Times reported that the civil rights division of Trump’s Justice Department is investigating former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who implicated Trump in the Jan. 6 insurrection while testifying before Congress in 2022.

The Times described the decision to assign the probe, which is focused on whether Hutchinson lied to Congress, to the civil rights division as “highly unusual,” considering its focus is on enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination.

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Wednesday, April 8 – Bondi Backs Out of Deposition

The Republican-led House Oversight and Reform Committee announced that former Attorney General Pam Bondi will no longer appear for a deposition next week to provide testimony about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files – testimony the White House wanted to avoid.

In a statement, Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) warned that if Bondi defies her subpoena to testify, the committee “will begin contempt charges in the Congress.”

Thursday, April 9 – Final Order of Removal for Mahmoud Khalil

The Board of Immigration Appeals, which Trump has cut in half and stacked with his own appointees, issued a final order of removal for Mahmoud Khalil, bringing him one step closer to being deported.

In a statement, Khalil called the ruling “biased and politically motivated.”

“The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine – and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it,” he added.

Friday, April 10 – Everybody Gets a Pardon!

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has already promised mass presidential pardons to his staff before he leaves office, saying in a private meeting that he’d “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval.”

The White House didn’t deny Trump had made the promise, but claimed the president wasn’t being serious.

“The Wall Street Journal should learn to take a joke, however, the president’s pardon power is absolute,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

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Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 63.’

First, the good: At least some levers of our democracy are still working, as shown by the millions who exercised their right to protest by marching against King Donald last weekend. Plus, the Supreme Court signaled it may rule against Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship (though we’re not giving too much credit to a court that has repeatedly given more power to the president).

Now, the bad, and as per usual, there was a lot of it: Trump’s incoherent address to the nation did little to clear up why the US is fighting a war that is costing us billions, killing thousands, and wreaking havoc on the global economy. The president continued his efforts to seize control of elections. And he reminded us, it’s ridiculous to think a nation at war (even if it’s a war the nation does not want) should pay for… day care.

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Here’s just a taste of what Trump and his cronies did this week that harmed democracy, undermined the Constitution, and hurt societies worldwide:

Saturday, March 28 – ‘No Kings’ Protests Break Record

More than 8 million people in all 50 states and across more than a dozen countries participated in the third series of “No Kings” protests, in opposition to the Trump administration’s executive overreach.

With more than 3,300 rallies across the country, the demonstrations marked the largest number of protests in a single day in US history, according to one of its organizers.

Sunday, March 29 – Suspicious Trading on Trump’s Policies

Reuters reported that unknown traders have netted millions of dollars in profits through well-timed trades anticipating some of Trump’s biggest policy shifts, a pattern that suggests investors may have been tipped off in advance and one that some legal experts believe should be investigated.

The lucrative policy shifts include options traders making millions just minutes before Trump announced he would pause his “Liberation Day tariffs” last April, which caused the stock market to spike. Six people generated a combined $1.2 million in profits from Polymarket bets hours before the US and Israel attacked Iran.

Monday, March 30 – DOJ Watchdog MIA During ‘Epidemic of Misconduct’

In a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary committee leaders, lawyers for a DOJ whistleblower accused the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General of failing to investigate “any of the serious allegations of misconduct” made by him and others, including complaints from members of Congress.

The letter warns that the inaction “comes at a time when the amount of governmental misconduct and violation of court orders by DOJ lawyers around the country have reached epic and unprecedented proportions.”

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Tuesday, March 31 – Trump (Who Votes By Mail) Targets Mail-In Voting

In his latest effort to take control of elections, Trump signed an executive order to restrict mail-in voting by creating a list of eligible US citizen voters in every state and prohibiting the US Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to any voter who isn’t on a state’s approved list.

The order, which is being challenged by states including Oregon and Arizona, who argue it violates the Constitution, also threatens to withhold federal funding from states that refuse to comply.

Wednesday, April 1 – Even Red States Aren’t Safe

Trump’s Justice Department sued Idaho for refusing to turn over sensitive data from its voter rolls.

The DOJ has now sued at least 30 states and DC to obtain unredacted voter rolls, including other red states such as Utah, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

Thursday, April 2 – Trump Fires Bondi

After trying (and failing) to prosecute Trump’s perceived political enemies and botching the release of the Epstein files, Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that Bondi’s upcoming deposition about the Epstein files played a role in the timing of her firing “because the White House wanted to avoid it.” She’s the second woman in Trump’s Cabinet to be fired.

Trump appointed Deputy AG Todd Blanche, who was Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, to replace Bondi in an acting capacity.

Friday, April 3 – White House Wants Historic Military Budget. Sorry Healthcare!

The Trump administration asked Congress to approve roughly $1.5 trillion in defense spending, up nearly 40% from the current level and the highest in US history.

To pay for the additional warfare funds, the proposal calls for a 10% cut in non-defense spending, including cutting $73 billion from domestic programs involving healthcare, housing, and education.

The cuts could have devastating impacts on Americans nationwide. But hey, at least Trump asked for enough money – $152 million – to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz as an active prison. 🤬

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The US is at war, and possibly about to launch what will undoubtedly be a deadly ground invasion in Iran, and the president is busy, talking about… how “glad” he is that one of his perceived enemies is dead. Priorities!

Tomorrow, Americans in thousands of cities nationwide will take to the streets to protest Mad King Trump and his ongoing decimation of democracy. They will protest against the very things we highlight each week – the ways in which Trump and his cronies undermine the Constitution, harm Americans, and hurt societies worldwide.

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This week, of course, was no exception. From Trump sending ICE to airports to his administration admitting there was no evidence against Jerome Powell, here’s ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 62’:

Saturday, March 21 – ‘I’m Glad He’s Dead’

On Truth Social, Trump gloated about the death of former FBI Director and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated the president during his first term in relation to Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” Trump wrote.

Sunday, March 22 – ‘Test Run’ for ICE at the Polls

Trump confirmed that his administration would send ICE agents to major airports across the country on Monday to “help” TSA agents who have been working without pay for over a month due to the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown. At least one person has been violently arrested by ICE in an airport since Trump’s announcement.

Later, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said on his podcast that the move can be used “as a test run…to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterms,” calling it “perfect training.”

Monday, March 23 – Judge Rules Against Trump

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new policy authorizing the arrest and detention of refugees if they didn’t obtain a green card within one year of being in the US – a policy that could have put more than 100,000 refugees at risk of being arrested.

Meanwhile, ProPublica reported that Trump immigration authorities detained the parents of at least 11,000 US citizen children in the first seven months of his second term, leaving an average of 50 kids per day with a parent in detention.

Tuesday, March 24 – A Big Admission Contradicts Trump in Powell Case

The Washington Post reported that a top deputy to US Attorney Jeanine Pirro admitted during a closed-door hearing that Trump’s Justice Department didn’t have any evidence of misconduct in its investigation of the Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome Powell.

The admission contradicted Trump’s claims that there was “criminality” in the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.

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Wednesday, March 25 – Trump Admin Goes After Letitia James Again

Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte issued two new criminal referrals to the Justice Department against New York Attorney General Letitia James over “suspected homeowners insurance fraud,” in a renewed effort to target one of Trump’s perceived political enemies.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department reached a settlement with a pardoned former Trump official, handing over what AP reported as $1.2 million in taxpayer funds to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the US. He was later pardoned by Trump.

Thursday, March 26 – Trump Admin Nears Deal on Voter Rolls

CBS News reported that Trump’s Justice Department is close to securing a deal to turn over voter roll data it has collected from states to the Department of Homeland Security, which could then be used for immigration and criminal investigations.

The data-sharing arrangement could result in a system that would allow officials to match voter registration data with DHS databases to determine whether non-citizens are registered to vote or have voted in the past, which is already illegal and extremely rare.

Friday, March 27 – Hegseth Nixes Two Black Officers and Two Women from Promotion List

The New York Times reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked four Army officers – two of whom are Black and the other two are women – from receiving promotions to one-star generals, a move that the outlet called “highly unusual” and has led senior military officials questioning if the decision was rooted in racial and gender bias.

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Threats. Tirades. And tantrums. King Trump’s America on repeat.

As thousands die and oil prices soar in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran, Donald Trump and his cronies at home are busy berating and threatening the free press, going on racist rants, and joking about…Pearl Harbor?!

Needless to say, Trump and his allies are still undermining the Constitution, hurting democracy, and harming free societies in the US and worldwide. Here’s ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 61’:

Saturday, March 14 – Brendan Carr’s Newest Threat

After Trump complained about Iran war coverage, FCC chair Brendan Carr warned broadcasters that they could have their licenses revoked, baselessly accusing them of “running hoaxes and news distortions.”

Broadcasters “have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” he said in a tweet.

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In response, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Carr’s threat “straight out of the authoritarian playbook.”

Sunday, March 15 – Trump Tries to Shush Woman Reporter

Trump shushed ABC News’s Mariam Khan during a gaggle on Air Force One and called her a “very obnoxious person” after she asked why his administration was sending thousands of marines and sailors to the Middle East.

Earlier in the gaggle, he called ABC News “one of the worst, most fake, most corrupt … news organizations on the planet,” and said he wouldn’t take any more questions from the network after she asked about whether it was “appropriate” to include a photo of the president attending a dignified transfer in a recent fundraising email by his Never Surrender PAC.

Monday, March 16 – Another Racist Tirade Against Ilhan Omar

In the Oval Office, Trump went on his latest racist tirade against Somalia, calling the country “maybe a fourth-world nation” where they “shoot people all over the place” and accused Somalis of coming to the US to “steal” billions of dollars.

He also continued to peddle ridiculous claims about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a US citizen, being in the country illegally and encouraged his new White House anti-fraud task force to look into Omar, whom he baselessly called a “ringleader.”

Tuesday, March 17 – Bondi Subpoenaed Over Epstein Files

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates, as well as the DOJ’s compliance (or lack thereof) with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Later, Democrats on the committee walked out of a private briefing with Bondi about the Epstein files after she refused to commit to a deposition in accordance with the subpoena.

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Wednesday, March 18 – The FBI Is Buying Your Location Data

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel admitted under oath that his agency is buying Americans’ location data.

His comments drew ire from even Republican lawmakers, with Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) calling the practice “a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment” and pushing for the passage of the Government Surveillance Reform Act “to close the data broker loophole that allows intelligence agencies to buy Americans’ private data.”

Thursday, March 19 – DHS Wrongfully Deported Over 100 Asylum Seekers

During a court hearing, a US Citizenship and Immigration Services asylum officer revealed that the Trump administration has wrongfully deported more than 100 asylum seekers, violating a court-ordered settlement agreement prohibiting their removals.

Friday, March 20 – Prosectors Investigate Colombian President Gustavo Petro

The New York Times reported that two US attorney’s offices are conducting criminal investigations into Colombian President Gustavo Petro, led by prosecutors focused on international narcotics trafficking.

The investigations have been probing whether Petro and drug traffickers had any meetings, as well as whether his presidential campaign sought donations from traffickers. The Times says there is no indication that the White House was involved in launching either of the investigations. Trump has attacked Petro in the past, calling him a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

Don’t forget, it was less than four months ago, that Trump pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted on drug trafficking charges.

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Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 60.’ We wish we could tell you things were looking better than last week, but alas… Donald Trump and his cronies are still at it: bombing the hell out of Iran, lying to the American public, and destroying democracy.

From pushing a voter suppression bill in Congress to banning press photographers over “unflattering” photos, here’s just a taste of what Trump and his allies did this week that hurt free societies around the world, harm US democracy, and undermine the Constitution:

Saturday, March 7 – DOJ Pressures Federal Prosecutors

An investigation by the Wall Street Journal painted a frightening picture of the Trump administration’s targeting of US citizens as part of its mass immigration crackdown.

Federal prosecutors in cities where large immigration operations are taking place say they’ve faced pressure from top Justice Department officials to pursue charges against citizens for allegedly assaulting federal officers, pulling them away from cases related to public corruption, as well as drug and gun-related crimes. None of the 181 citizens accused of assault by government officials on Twitter have been convicted at trial.

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Sunday, March 8 – Trump Pushes for Voter Suppression

On Truth Social, Trump continued his push to get the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the Save America Act, which could disenfranchise tens of millions of voters.

He warned that he won’t sign any other bills until it passes, and supported using a “talking filibuster” to get the bill through the Senate – a move that’s drawn skepticism from Republican senators.

Monday, March 9 – Another Pointless 2020 Election Probe

The Trump administration expanded its pointless investigation of the 2020 presidential election, with the Republican leader of Arizona’s state Senate confirming he turned over records to the FBI related to an audit of Maricopa County – which concluded that Trump lost the state – as part of a “federal grand jury subpoena.”

Later, The Atlantic reported that the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative branch of ICE is conducting its own investigation into Arizona’s 2020 election results.

Tuesday, March 10 – Ed Martin Faces Disciplinary Proceedings

Multiple news outlets reported that the DC Bar filed an ethics complaint against DOJ Pardon Attorney Ed Martin over threats he made to the Georgetown University Law Center in February 2025, when he was Trump’s interim US attorney for DC.

According to the complaint, Martin “used coercion to punish or suppress… the teaching and promotion of DEI” by warning the dean that his office wouldn’t hire anyone associated with the school if it didn’t change its apparent policies.

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Wednesday, March 11 – Hegseth Bans Photographers Over ‘Unflattering’ Photos

The Washington Post reported that the Defense Department banned press photographers from attending briefings on the war in Iran after photos were published of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that his staff considered “unflattering.”

In a statement, the Pentagon’s press secretary suggested that if the move “hurts the business model for certain news outlets,” they should apply for the highly restrictive Pentagon press credential.

Thursday, March 12 – More Efforts to Suppress the Vote

CBS News reported that the Trump administration is considering cutting federal funding for a civil rights election program authorized under the Voting Rights Act to protect the right to vote and prevent discrimination at the polls.

Friday, March 13 – ’This Is What Authoritarianism Looks Like’

Attacking CNN for its Iran reporting, Hegseth said, “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.” He was referring to the Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO, whose company is on track to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN.

As Mehdi put it:

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We didn’t need Donald Trump to launch an illegal war to show that he’s wrecked American democracy – but if there was any doubt about just how much damage he’s done, this week certainly has cleared things up.

Americans didn’t vote for Trump’s illegal war with Iran – nor do they support it today. Their representatives in Congress didn’t authorize it. But that doesn’t matter to a man who cares about no one but himself, nor to the cronies who do his bidding.

Hey, at least there was one small piece of good news: Trump finally got rid of puppy-killer Kristi Noem… only to replace her with another crony: Senator Markwayne Mullin.

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From launching an illegal war with no clear strategy to obstructing a DHS inspector general, here’s what Trump and his allies did this week that harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt societies worldwide:

Saturday, Feb. 28 – Trump’s Illegal Regime Change War

Trump, with Israel, launched an illegal war with Iran, carrying out massive airstrikes across the country, killing hundreds, and assassinating Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In a video posted to Truth Social, Trump attempted to justify the war by saying Iran posed an imminent threat – despite previously claiming that the US obliterated Iran’s nuclear program last year.

He also told the Iranian people to “take over your government” when the war is finished. “This will be probably your only chance for generations,” he added.

Sunday, March 1 – A Pentagon Admission

During closed-door briefings with Congress, the Pentagon admitted that it had no intelligence to suggest Iran was planning to attack US forces first.

Meanwhile, Trump told the New York Times that US involvement in the Iran war could last “four to five weeks,” and said in a video that there will “likely be more” deaths of US troops before the war ends.

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Monday, March 2 – Bovino Investigated

A Minnesota county attorney’s office launched an investigation into former top Border Patrol official Greg Bovino in relation to an incident during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota when he tossed a canister of tear gas at protesters in a park.

Bovino’s incident is just one of 17 being investigated for criminal charges by the office as part of a project to probe “potentially unlawful behavior” by federal agents.

Tuesday, March 3 – Homeland Security’s ‘Egregious’ Obstruction

The Wall Street Journal reported that the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter to Congress detailing nearly a dozen instances of DHS “systematically obstruct[ing]” him from accessing records and information, including a “particularly egregious” refusal to cooperate in a federal criminal investigation with national security implications.

Wednesday, March 4 – Trump’s Autopen Obsession

The New York Times reported that, due to pressure from Trump, his Justice Department investigated former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen – which Trump has admitted to using himself – to sign presidential documents.

While the Times said the DOJ ultimately failed to build a criminal case against Biden and his aides, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro suggested the case isn’t completely closed, tweeting, “We cannot comment on ongoing investigations.”

Thursday, March 5 – Trump Axes Puppy-Killer

Following a disastrous pair of congressional hearings, Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, replacing her with Senator Markwayne Mullin.

Mullin, a staunch defender of Trump’s policies, has said the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Good “had the right to defend” himself, called for “no amnesty for illegal aliens,” and argued that babies born in the US to undocumented parents should “go with” them if they are deported.

Friday, March 6 – Republicans Go After Key Witness in Jan. 6 Probe

CNN reported that Republican lawmakers are pushing the Justice Department to bring charges against former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who gave explosive testimony against her former boss over the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) recently made a criminal referral of Hutchinson, accusing her of lying to Congress in 2022 when she testified about Trump’s role in the insurrection.

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One hour and 47 minutes of lies. Another seven days in fascist America. Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy’ – or should we start calling it, ‘This Week in Fascism’?!

While Trump gave perhaps one of the most boring State of the Union addresses ever – it was certainly the longest(!), his allies and cronies were continuing to destroy American democracy, undermine the Constitution, and harm free societies worldwide.

From taxpayers paying for Kash Patel to party, to Trump’s fascist rally, to DHS making up a story about a missing child to detain a Columbia University student, here’s just a taste of the actions Trump and his cronies took this week that underscore the growth of authoritarianism in the country:

Saturday, Feb. 21 – Trump Threatens Netflix

On Truth Social, Trump warned Netflix that if it doesn’t fire board member and former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, who had warned corporations, news organizations and law firms against “ben[d]ing the knee” to the current administration, the streaming service will “pay the consequences.” At the time, Netflix had been in talks to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery – a move that would have required approval by the FCC.

(Later in the week, Netflix walked away from the deal after refusing to match a last-minute higher offer from Paramount Skydance, saying it wouldn’t be “financially attractive.” Paramount is owned by Trump friend David Ellison.)

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Sunday, Feb. 22 – Kash Patel Parties on Taxpayers’ Dime

FBI Director Kash Patel celebrated the US men’s hockey team’s Olympic win in Milan – with taxpayers footing the bill. Videos on social media showed Patel in the team’s locker room, where he chugged and splashed a beer while the hockey players cheered around him, in a scene reminiscent of a frat party.

Monday, Feb. 23 – ICE Whistleblower Confirms What We Already Knew

While testifying before Congress, an ICE whistleblower sounded the alarm on the agency’s “deficient, defective, and broken” training program for new deportation officers.

Ryan Schwank, who previously worked as an ICE lawyer in the department’s training academy, noted the standard 584-hour training program had been cut by 240 hours, and he received “secretive orders” to teach new recruits “to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant.”

Tuesday, Feb. 24 – Dem Gets Thrown Out During Trump’s Fascist Speech

During his record-length State of the Union address, Trump lied about “rampant” cheating in American elections, falsely claimed that eliminating fraud in federal programs would balance the federal budget, and wrongly stated the man charged with killing a Ukrainian refugee last year in North Carolina “came in through open borders.” (The man was born in Charlotte.) That’s just a small handful of his many lies he told.

At the same time, Democratic Rep. Al Green was kicked out of the chamber for holding up a sign that read “BLACK PEOPLE AREN’T APES,” and Rep. Ilhan Omar’s guest, a disabled woman who went viral after video surfaced of her being dragged from her car by ICE agents last month, was forcibly removed and arrested by Capitol Police for “unlawful conduct” … for standing.

Wednesday, Feb. 25 – Trump’s Racism…on Repeat

On Truth Social, Trump launched his latest racist attack against Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, over their remarks during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Trump said the US should send Tlaib, who was born in Michigan, and Omar, who is a naturalized citizen, “back from where they came – as fast as possible.”

Later, as part of his new role combating the so-called “war on fraud,” Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration will withhold $259 million in Medicaid payments for Minnesota – another move driven by anti-Somali racism.

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Thursday, Feb. 26 – DHS Lies to Abduct Student

DHS agents lied their way into a Columbia University off-campus residence building and arrested student Ellie Aghayeva, according to the school’s president, after “misrepresenting themselves” by claiming to be “police searching for a missing child.”

Hours later, Aghayeva was released from federal custody following an apparent intervention from Trump after he met with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Friday, Feb. 27 - Another Illegal Invasion?

Speaking to reporters, Trump suggested that the US “could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.” The country, which Trump says is “in a big deal of trouble,” is suffering a humanitarian crisis, according to the UN’s top official for Cuba, as the Trump administration continues a fuel blockade.

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Isn’t it something when democracy works the way it’s supposed to? In Donald Trump’s America, that has become increasingly rare, especially when it comes to the Supreme Court, but on Friday, a majority of justices broke with the president and ruled he cannot use emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs.

Trump, of course, had a full-blown meltdown about the decision, and has already said he will use other authorities to circumvent it.

And while this Supreme Court ruling is a win for democracy, there were still a whole host of things Trump and his cronies did this week that harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt free societies worldwide.

From unlawful arrests to one state getting closer to requiring ICE to be at the polls, here’s a quick look at just some of the harmful actions the president and his allies took this week:

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Saturday, Feb. 14 – Thousands of Illegal Detentions

The Trump administration has been found to have unlawfully detained immigrants more than 4,400 times by hundreds of judges since October alone, according to Reuters, as part of a policy that’s resulted in the total number of people in ICE detention reaching a record high and more than 20,000 lawsuits.

Sunday, Feb. 15 – Deportation Czar’s Crusade Continues

On CBS’ ‘Face the Nation,’ Trump administration border czar Tom Homan balked at demands by Democratic lawmakers for changes to ICE policies, arguing that while he doesn’t “like the masks,” he believes they are necessary for agents to “protect themselves,” even though police officers don’t wear them.

Homan also ludicrously claimed that federal agents aren’t engaging in racial profiling and that stops are only made based on “reasonable suspicion,” despite the fact that the Supreme Court opened the door for ICE to engage in racial profiling last year.

Monday, Feb. 16 – Colbert Fights Back

Late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert said that CBS refused to air an interview he filmed with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico out of fear after FCC chair Brendan Carr issued regulatory guidance last month requiring daytime and late-night talk shows to give equal time to political candidates, even though they have historically been covered by an exemption.

On the following night’s show, Colbert noted that his team couldn’t “find one example” of the equal-time ruling being enforced for any interview on a late-night talk show dating back to the 1960s.

CBS claimed that the program “was not prohibited” from airing the interview, which was instead uploaded to YouTube, but said the network provided “legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger” the rule.

Tuesday, Feb. 17 – ICE at the Polls?

Senate Republicans in Arizona advanced legislation in an effort to require ICE agents to have a presence at voting locations in the state – a move that could violate federal law.

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Wednesday, Feb. 18 – Violating Court Orders

Politico reported that the Trump administration admitted in a court filing to violating court orders by federal judges in New Jersey more than 50 times in the past 10 weeks, including deporting someone to Peru in violation of an injunction, and missing three deadlines to release people detained by ICE.

Additionally, the administration missed six deadlines to respond to court orders, along with a dozen others to provide bond hearings to people in ICE detention, and 10 instances of failing to produce evidence ordered by judges.

Thursday, Feb. 19 - Kicking People Out of Housing

Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a new proposed rule that could ban families with at least one undocumented immigrant in the household from living in public housing, a move that could result in tens of thousands of people being evicted from their homes, including nearly 37,000 US citizen children, or face possible family separation.

The rule would also require local housing authorities to report any tenant who isn’t eligible for rental aid to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. While undocumented immigrants don’t receive federal rental aid, they may live with family members who do, including children born in the US.

Friday, Feb. 20 - King Trump Melts Down

In its most significant rebuke of the Trump administration since the president returned to office, the Supreme Court ruled that he cannot use emergency powers to unilaterally impose tariffs.

Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas dissented. In their opinion, it’s apparently okay to let Trump impose sweeping tariffs with emergency powers granted to presidents under a law – the International Emergency Economic Powers Act – that doesn’t even use the word “tariff” one time.

And guess what… After the ruling, Trump called the Supreme Court justices who ruled against him “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution”; suggested – without elaborating or evidence – that they are being swayed by “foreign interests”; and claimed he will impose a 10% “global tariff” under a different act – one that has a statute limiting tariffs to 150 days unless authorized by Congress.

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Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:

Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 56.’ Where do we even begin?!

It was a week full of presidential tantrums: Donald Trump called American freeski Olympian Hunter Hess “a real Loser” for saying he had “mixed emotions” about representing the US. The president then called Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance – an epic and historic show by an American about the unity of the Americas – an “affront to the Greatness of America.”

Later in the week, we were treated to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s finger-wagging, screaming, and unhinged accusations, as she testified about the Epstein files before the House Judiciary Committee.

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Speaking of which, there were so many terrifying things revealed about the DOJ’s handling of the files this week – clearly unnecessary redactions, mishandling of victims’ names, the “burn book” of Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s search history of the unredacted files that Bondi brought with her to the hearing – that we don’t have space to document them all in ‘This Week in Democracy.’

So instead, below, we chose to focus on the worrying actions Trump and his cronies took that you may have missed amid the president’s tantrums and the Epstein revelations.

From a new Trump pay-to-play scheme to the House passage of an election overhaul bill to the administration’s latest assault on immigrants, here’s just a small taste of what the president and his allies did this week that harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt free societies worldwide:

Saturday, Feb. 7 – Patel Blocks ICE Killing Probe

The New York Times reported that senior FBI officials, including Director Kash Patel, ordered agents to stop carrying out a warrant to search the vehicle of Renee Good, as part of what would typically be a standard civil rights investigation into the use of force, days after the 37-year-old mother was killed by an ICE agent as she pulled away in her vehicle.

Patel and other officials were concerned that such an investigation would crumble Trump’s narrative that Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” the agent, which was disputed by footage of the incident, the Times reported, citing several unnamed sources.

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Sunday, Feb. 8 – Only Costs $1 Million to See Trump

In what appears to be the latest pay-to-play scheme involving the president, Trump’s allies involved with an organization assisting the White House in planning celebrations for the country’s 250th birthday are offering access to Trump and other perks to donors who cough up at least $1 million.

The solicitations are being made by Freedom 250, which claims that those who donate $1 million or more will receive an invitation to a private “thank you reception” hosted by Trump. Meanwhile, a contribution of at least $2.5 million will secure donors a speaking role at an event in DC on July 4.

A spokesperson for Freedom 250 laughably told the Times that Trump “can’t be bought by anyone.”

Monday, Feb. 9 – Way Beyond the ‘Worst of the Worst’

The Trump administration loves to tout that its mass immigration crackdown targets the “worst of the worst,” but CBS News reports that less than 14% of the nearly 400,000 immigrants ICE arrested during the first year of Trump’s second term had been charged or convicted of violent criminal offenses.

Less than 2% of people arrested by ICE during that time period had been the subject of charges or convictions related to homicides or sexual assaults, with just another 2% accused of being gang members.

A total of 40% of those arrested had no criminal record at all, and had only been accused of civil immigration offenses, like overstaying their visas or being undocumented.

One immigrant without a criminal record who ICE arrested was Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, whose lawyers revealed separately on Monday that an immigration court terminated removal proceedings against her last month after the Department of Homeland Security failed to meet its burden of proving removability.

Tuesday, Feb. 10 - Flashing ‘Master Alarm’

In another blow to Trump’s efforts to go after his perceived enemies, a grand jury rejected an effort by his administration to indict six Democratic lawmakers over their involvement in a viral video urging members of the military to refuse illegal orders. NBC News reported that not a single grand juror found that the Justice Department met the probable cause threshold in the case.

While the rejection of the Trump administration’s persecution of the lawmakers is a win, the fact that it happened at all represents a nearly unprecedented threat to Constitutional rights under the First Amendment.

“This is not a ‘good news’ story,” Senator Mark Kelly, one of the six lawmakers who faced a possible indictment, told reporters. “This is the master alarm flashing for our democracy.”

Wednesday, Feb. 11 – House Passes Terrifying Election Bill

As part of Trump’s bid to overhaul elections in the US, the Republican-controlled House passed legislation that would disenfranchise millions of Americans.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act would require proof of citizenship, like passports and birth certificates, for voters to cast their ballot in elections. But, as the Center for American Progress notes, about half of Americans don’t have a valid passport, and 69 million women in the US wouldn’t be able to use a birth certificate to prove their citizenship because they changed their last name when they got married.

The bill, which would also eliminate mail-only registration, require photo ID in every state, and make it mandatory for states to conduct voter roll purges every 30 days, now moves to the Senate.

Thankfully, it faces an uphill battle there.

Thursday, Feb. 12 – Judge Rebukes Trump

A federal judge admonished the Trump administration for effectively blocking ICE detainees in Minnesota from accessing their attorneys.

“It appears that in planning for Operation Metro Surge, the government failed to plan for the constitutional rights of its civil detainees,” the ruling reads. “The government suggests – with minimal explanation and even less evidence – that doing so would result in ‘chaos.’”

“The Constitution does not permit the government to arrest thousands of individuals and then disregard their constitutional rights because it would be too challenging to honor those rights.”

Friday, Feb. 13 – Another Assault on Migrants

In the latest front of her war on Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced her department will terminate TPS for Yemen, leaving Yemenis with the status 60 days to leave the country or risk being arrested and deported.

Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:

Just when you thought the vile, racist rhetoric coming out of the White House couldn’t get any worse, Donald Trump simply outdoes himself.

Just take Thursday: In the morning, Trump, at the National Prayer Breakfast – the National Prayer Breakfast – went on a racist tirade against immigrants. By Thursday night, his racism reached new levels – if that was even possible – when he posted on Truth Social a disgusting AI-generated video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes (of course the White House blamed a “staffer,” despite the fact that, as Zeteo’s politics team pointed out, Trump’s posts often go through levels of approval, including from the president himself).

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Trump’s racism, his sexism, his denialism, his utter hate for Americans who are unlike him, isn’t distraction; it’s the point. As ‘This Week in Democracy’ shows every week, especially this week, it seeps through his policy decisions, his attacks, his cronies’ actions.

From suggesting Republicans should “take over” and run elections in states he lost to lashing out at yet another woman journalist, here’s just a taste of the actions Trump and his allies took this week that hurt democracy, undermine the Constitution, and harm free societies worldwide:

Saturday, Jan. 31 – ’Corruption, Plain and Simple’

In a bombshell article, the Wall Street Journal reported that Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan reached a secret $500 million deal with the Trump family just four days before Trump was inaugurated for his second term.

As part of the deal, Tahnoon, also known as a “spy sheikh,” bought a 49% stake in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial, just two months before the United Arab Emirates secured a deal of its own with the Trump administration to access enough American AI chips to build one of the largest AI data center clusters in the world.

“This is corruption, plain and simple,” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said, demanding Trump reverse chip deal and administration officials testify before lawmakers. “Congress needs to grow a spine and put a stop to Trump’s crypto corruption.”

Sunday, Feb. 1 – Trump Unilaterally Closes Kennedy Center for 2 Years

On Truth Social, Trump abruptly announced that the Kennedy Center will temporarily close on July 4 for two years to undergo “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding.”

Coincidentally, the move comes after dozens of performers canceled their appearances following Trump’s takeover of the center and his decision to put his name on the building. The closure still must be approved by the Kennedy Center Board, which, fortunately for Trump, is made up of members he handpicked.

Monday, Feb. 2 – What States’ Rights?

In a stunning escalation of his assault on democracy, Trump encouraged Republicans to “nationalize” elections and “take over” voting in at least 15 “places” that he falsely claims to have won but didn’t.

Trump’s remarks during an interview on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast come less than one week after his FBI raided an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, and seized ballots from the 2020 election.

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Asked later about his comments, Trump claimed that “states are an agent of the federal government in elections,” and referred, without evidence, to “horrible corruption” in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta — adding that the “federal government should get involved” and “take over.”

So much for states’ rights.

Tuesday, Feb. 3 – Trump Attacks a Woman Journalist – Again

In yet another disgusting on-camera attack on women journalists, Trump lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlin Collins for asking what he would say to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein “who feel like they haven’t gotten justice.”

“You are the worst reporter,” Trump said. “No wonder CNN has no ratings because of people like you…. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile.”

Disappointingly, none of Collins’s colleagues in the White House Press Corps stood up for her as the president attacked her or repeated her question, which he clearly never answered.

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Wednesday, Feb. 4 – Democracy Dies in Darkness…or at the Washington Post

In a move by billionaire Jeff Bezos described as a “murder,” an “absolute bloodbath,” and an effort to “ingratiate himself with Donald Trump,” the owner of the Washington Post took a blowtorch to his outlet and laid off one-third of its workforce.

It’s apparently being described as a “strategic reset” by editor-in-chief Matt Murray, but the decision to effectively gut the Post’s sports, local news, and international coverage threatens to tank one of the country’s most well-known outlets for nearly 150 years.

Thursday, Feb. 5 – ICE at the Polls?

During a briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she couldn’t guarantee that ICE wouldn’t be at voting sites in November during the midterm elections but claimed Trump doesn’t currently have any “formal plans” to send federal immigration agents to polling locations.

Leavitt called the question “very silly,” “hypothetical,” and “disingenuous,” but it followed comments from former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who said on his podcast Tuesday, “You’re damn right we’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” and added, “We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again.”

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Friday, Feb. 6 – Fast-Tracking Deportations

It’s about to get even more difficult for immigrants to receive due process in the US, thanks to a new interim final rule that makes sweeping changes to the procedures of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

The new rule restricts the amount of time immigrants can file for an appeal after receiving a deportation order from 30 days to just 10 days. Even worse, the rule mandates the dismissal of all cases within 15 days unless the majority of BIA members vote in favor of an appeal.

Craig Relles, an immigration lawyer in the New York City area, told NOTUS that the rule will “flood the federal courts,” and warned that it will result in more immigrants being detained by ICE.

Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:

Another week. Another insane – and terrifying – seven days in Donald Trump’s America. It’s as if the worst of Donald Trump and his cronies is playing on repeat: another murder of a US citizen by federal agents; more attacks on the First Amendment; and another week of Trump’s allies fueling his obsession with the 2020 election.

Plus, two Democratic lawmakers were physically assaulted, and Tulsi Gabbard made a strange appearance. Here’s just a taste of what Trump and his allies did this week that harmed democracy, undermined the Constitution, and hurt people in the US and worldwide:

Saturday, Jan. 24 – DHS Murders Another American

Border Patrol agents murdered 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, marking the third shooting by federal agents in the area in recent weeks and the second fatality. The agents fired at least 10 shots at Pretti, who had been recording them with his phone, after they pepper-sprayed and tackled him to the ground.

In true Trumpian fashion, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller cruelly and falsely labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” spreading blatant lies that he was holding a gun and trying to “assassinate law enforcement.”

Just hours later, a Trump-appointed federal judge felt compelled enough to issue a late-night order, directly telling the administration not to destroy or alter evidence in the case.

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Sunday, Jan. 25 – Bondi’s ‘Extortion’ Letter

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz rejected the Trump administration’s request to turn over voter data to the Justice Department and repeal sanctuary policies to “bring an end to the chaos” in Minnesota, a move lawmakers said amounted to “extortion” and “blackmail.”

The request, which was made by Attorney General Pam Bondi in a ridiculously-written letter sent hours after Pretti’s killing, drew widespread condemnation among Minnesota Democrats, including Secretary of State Steve Simon, who called it “an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of US Citizens in violation of state and federal law.”

Monday, Jan. 26 – What First Amendment?

While appearing on right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson’s show, FBI Director Kash Patel said he launched an investigation into Signal group chats used by protesters in Minnesota to share information about federal immigration agents, including their locations and license plate numbers.

The move flies in the face of the First Amendment, which protects those who share legally obtained information, as well as the act of recording law enforcement officials.

Tuesday, Jan. 27 – Ilhan Omar Attacked

Just hours after Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked at a Minneapolis town hall, Trump baselessly called the Minnesota lawmaker a “fraud,” and accused her of having set up the assault, in which she was sprayed with a substance by a man with a syringe.

It is Trump and his Republican Party, of course, who have repeatedly put Omar in danger through years of spreading hateful and racist rhetoric about the lawmaker.

This comes just days after Rep. Maxwell Frost was attacked at the Sundance Film Festival. On Twitter, Frost said a man told him Trump was going to deport him before punching the lawmaker in the face and screaming racist remarks.

Wednesday, Jan. 28 – Why Was Tulsi Gabbard in Fulton County?

Trump’s FBI raided an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of a search warrant authorizing agents to seize all “physical ballots from the 2020 general election” along with all ballot images and voter rolls from that year.

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It wasn’t just FBI agents who descended on the election office – Reuters snapped a photo of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard lurking in the building. The Wall Street Journal later reported that Gabbard, whose job is to oversee the country’s intelligence agencies and advise the president on national security matters, has instead been spending months investigating Trump’s long-debunked claims of the 2020 presidential election being stolen.

Thursday, Jan. 29 – A New Escalation Against the Free Press

In a dramatic escalation of Trump’s attacks on the First Amendment, federal agents arrested Don Lemon and three other journalists in relation to their coverage of a recent anti-ICE protest inside a St. Paul, Minnesota, church. The arrests come one week after a federal magistrate judge rejected the Justice Department's initial request to bring charges.

Reuters reported that Lemon has been charged with conspiring to deprive others of their civil rights, as well as violating the FACE Act by allegedly obstructing access to a house of worship.

In a statement, Lemon’s lawyer Abbe Lowell called the move an “unprecedented attack on the First Amendment” and a “transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration.”

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Friday, Jan. 30 – Trump’s Fed Pick

After a year of attacking Jerome Powell and chipping away at the independence of the Federal Reserve, Trump named Kevin Warsh as the new Fed chair. Warsh, who, if confirmed, would replace Powell when his term ends in May, previously served as a member of the Fed’s board from 2006 to 2011.

After Trump’s repeated attacks on Powell, the Justice Department earlier this month opened a criminal investigation into the Fed chair over whether he lied to Congress about the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters. Powell called the probe “unprecedented,” saying he has always carried out his duties at the Fed “without political fear or favor.”

Warsh’s Senate confirmation could already be in jeopardy as Republican Senator Thom Tillis said he will oppose the nomination until the Justice Department’s investigation into Powell is “adjudicated or withdrawn.”

Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s coverage from this week below:

Plus - ICYMI:

Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 53’ – the first edition of our new abridged format, highlighting Donald Trump and his cronies’ biggest attacks on democracy on each day of the week. We had so much to choose from that Trump’s deranged Tuesday press conference and his even more insane Davos speech on Wednesday didn’t even make the cut.

From attacks on the press to Trump’s personal paramilitary invading Maine, here’s just a taste of what Trump and his allies did this week that harmed democracy, undermined the Constitution, and hurt people in the US and worldwide:

Saturday, Jan. 17 – ‘We’ll Sue Your Ass Off’

The New York Times reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil and his colleagues that Trump would sue the network again if there were any edits made to the president’s 13-minute interview that aired on the Jan. 13 edition of the show.

“Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,” Leavitt said, according to a recording, adding, “If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.”

In a statement, CBS News noted that “The moment we booked this interview, we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety.”

Sunday, Jan. 18 - Readies the Troops

Roughly 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska have been ordered by the Pentagon to get ready for a potential deployment to Minnesota, days after Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military to the state, Reuters reported.

The Trump administration has already sent 3,000 federal agents to the state, in what the Department of Homeland Security described as its “largest enforcement operation” ever.

Monday, Jan. 19 – Honors MLK by Threatening a Black Journalist

The Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon, threatened to invoke the Ku Klux Klan Act to bring a conspiracy charge against a Black journalist on MLK Day after the reporter, Don Lemon, covered an anti-ICE protest inside a St. Paul, Minnesota, church.

Later in the week, a federal magistrate judge rejected the Justice Department’s initial attempt to bring charges against Lemon.

Tuesday, Jan. 20 – Bullies Dems in Minnesota

Trump’s Justice Department subpoenaed several Minnesota officials, including Democratic Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, as part of a federal investigation into whether they obstructed or impeded federal agents conducting a mass immigration crackdown through their public statements.

Frey, who has described the probe as a bullying tactic to quash political opposition, said: “We shouldn’t have to live in a country where people fear that federal law enforcement will be used to play politics or crack down on local voices they disagree with.”

Wednesday, Jan. 21 – A Day of Terrifying ICE News

AP reported that an internal ICE memo from May 2025 authorizes agents to use force to enter people’s homes without a warrant from a judge. Legal experts say such guidance flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable search and seizure by the government.

That’s not all: The Department of Homeland Security launched an immigration crackdown operation in Maine, disgustingly dubbed “Catch of the Day”; a Texas medical examiner ruled that the death of a 55-year-old man in ICE custody, who died after guards held him down, was officially a homicide due to asphyxia; and a federal appeals court decision paved the way for federal officers to continue using tear gas and pepper spray against peaceful protesters in Minnesota.

(Guess how senior US Border Patrol official Greg Bovino celebrated that ruling? Yep, by throwing tear gas at protesters in Minneapolis.)

Thursday, Jan. 22 – Attacks Jack Smith – Again

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee embarrassed themselves by trying – and failing – to create a “gotcha” moment during former special counsel Jack Smith’s public testimony about his investigations into Trump. They spent much of the time either repeating their go-to political attacks or focusing on his procedure during the probe, not his findings.

During the hearing, Smith said he believes Trump administration officials will “do everything in their power” to indict him “because they’ve been ordered to by the president,” but added that he “will not be intimidated.” He also noted that he doesn’t understand why Trump would “mass pardon people who assaulted police officers.”

“I think all of us, if we’re reasonable, know that there’s going to be more crimes committed by these people in the future,” Smith said.

On Truth Social, Trump responded to Smith’s testimony by calling for him to “be prosecuted for his actions,” arguing that, “At a minimum, he committed large scale perjury!”

Friday, Jan. 23 – Patel Fires FBI Agents for Doing Their Job

FBI Director Kash Patel ramped up his purge of senior agents and field office leaders who were involved in investigations into Trump, MS Now reported.

Among those fired by Patel were as many as six agents in Miami who had done work related to the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents. Others were forced out for their involvement in the “Arctic Frost” investigation that focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

It’s unclear how many officials were fired by Patel, but the outlet called the turnover “unheard of at the FBI.”

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Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s coverage from this week below:

52 Weeks. 52 weeks of Donald Trump’s assault on democracy. 52 weeks of attacking Americans, immigrants, and people worldwide. 52 weeks of assailing free speech, due process, and a free press. 52 weeks of making the world less safe.

When we at Zeteo started this project a year ago, we promised to keep track of all of the attacks Trump and his cronies made on the US democratic and constitutional order, despite the president’s attempt to distract, to “flood the zone,” to overwhelm. It wasn’t easy. Our small team worked tirelessly to ensure we didn’t miss a day. Our producers, editors, and fact checkers scoured government websites, officials’ social media, news reports, and court records, to not only document the attacks on democracy that made the front page, but also to highlight the actions that didn’t get the coverage it would have received under any other president.

Our goal: To ensure there would be a historical record of this dark time; to not normalize Trump and his administration’s extreme rhetoric and actions; and to provide a resource for anyone struggling to keep track of many, many ways the administration is threatening their rights.

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While we wish there was no need for this project, we are incredibly proud of this work. What we produced is unlike any other piece of journalism published by mainstream and independent media alike. If you put the 52 weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’ together, it would include more than 3,740 items totalling over 168,000 words. Each week averaged more than 73 bullet points. Week 10 – the week of Signalgate and when Rümeysa Öztürk was detained by plainclothes ICE agents over an op-ed – had the longest list, nearly 100 items.

Moving forward, ‘This Week in Democracy’ will look different. Starting next week, we will highlight only the single worst attack on democracy for each day. It will hit your inbox on Fridays, not Saturdays. Zeteo, however, remains committed to documenting, in detail, the growth of authoritarianism in the US – through the important reporting of our politics team, Mehdi’s hard-hitting interviews, the smart analysis of our contributors, and via our new morning newsletter, ‘First Draft’ (have you signed up for that yet?).

If you’re not already a paid subscriber, subscribe today to ensure you get all of Zeteo’s content in your inbox without a paywall. If you are already a paid subscriber, we thank you for supporting our journalism and projects like ‘This Week in Democracy.’ You can always further that support with a donation.

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That said, below is the last ‘This Week of Democracy’ of the first year of Trump’s second term; the last in this current extended format.

From saying the US ‘shouldn’t even have an election’ this year, to declaring war on Minneapolis, to escalating threats against Iran, Greenland, and Cuba, to pausing immigrant visa processing in 75 nations, to giving an autoworker the middle finger, here’s what Trump and his allies did this week to harm democracy and undermine the Constitution:

Saturday, January 10

• The Trump administration refused to allow Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar to conduct an oversight visit at an ICE detention facility in Minneapolis, two days after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quietly signed a new policy memo restricting congressional visits. Speaking to reporters, including Zeteo’s Prem Thakker, after being denied entry, Omar said, “What happened today is a blatant attempt to obstruct members of Congress from doing their oversight duties.”

Sunday, January 11

• The New York Times reported that during an interview with Trump last week, the president said he regretted not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in swing states after he lost the 2020 presidential election to find evidence of fraud. Trump also said he believes “white people were very badly treated” as a result of civil rights-era protections and claimed it resulted in “reverse discrimination.”

• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore $12 million in grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for projects, including efforts to reduce sudden infant death, address fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and identify autism early.

• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced that the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into his June 2025 testimony to Congress about renovations of the Fed’s headquarters. Powell said the threat of criminal charges “is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.”

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• Asked by a reporter on Air Force One whether deadly force was necessary in the shooting of Renee Good, Trump said Good and her widow were “highly disrespectful of law enforcement,” falsely claimed they were “professional agitators,” and argued that “law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff.”

• On Fox, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her department will deploy “hundreds more” federal agents to Minneapolis, joining more than 2,000 agents already in the city in what DHS has described as its largest operation in history.

• The Guardian reported that ICE deported a man in a vegetative state after his health deteriorated rapidly while in custody. Randall Gamboa Esquivel, a 52-year old from Costa Rica, was deported in an air ambulance after spending nearly 10 months in detention, and died in October 2025 after arriving in his home country.

• On Truth Social, Trump continued to threaten Cuba, saying “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA” and adding, “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Monday, January 12

• At least six leaders of the criminal section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division resigned in protest after the DOJ decided not to investigate the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis last week, a process that usually takes place after any fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer.

• Minnesota and Illinois sued the Trump administration in separate lawsuits that argued the president’s immigrant crackdown operations in the Minneapolis and Chicago areas violated state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. Illinois’s lawsuit urged a judge to block US Customs and Border Protection from “conducting civil immigration enforcement” in the state without “express congressional authorization.”

• MS NOW reported that the Justice Department fired a federal prosecutor who served as first assistant to the now-disqualified US Attorney Lindsey Halligan after he declined to lead the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey.

• Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon to block their efforts to punish him for a video he participated in last year with other Democratic lawmakers calling on military members to refuse illegal orders, asking a federal judge to find the move “unlawful and unconstitutional.”

• Meanwhile, Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said in an interview that federal prosecutors are investigating her for participating in the same video as Kelly.

• A dozen House Democrats asked a federal judge to compel the Department of Homeland Security to explain how its new policy requiring a seven-day notice for congressional oversight visits to immigration detention facilities doesn’t violate a December 2025 court order blocking DHS from implementing a virtually identical policy.

• In a court filing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Judge James Boasberg that it’s impossible for the Trump administration to return or facilitate due process hearings for 137 Venezuelan men who were illegally deported in March 2025 under the Alien Enemies Act because the move may “risk material damage to US foreign policy interest in Venezuela” with interim President Delcy Rodríguez.

• The ACLU dropped its lawsuit against the Trump administration to restore tens of millions in Title X family planning funds that had been withheld from health clinics, including Planned Parenthood, after the Department of Health and Human Services quietly issued the funds in December.

• The New York Times reported that the Environmental Protection Agency is planning to roll back a decades-long policy for calculating the health benefits of reducing air pollution when setting regulations, a move that could make it easier to repeal limits on coal-burning power plants and oil refineries.

• The Times also reported that the Pentagon used a secret aircraft designed to appear like a civilian plane in its first strike on a boat in September that killed 11 people, a move that could be considered a potential war crime called “perfidy” under the laws of armed conflict.

• On Truth Social, Trump continued escalating tensions with Iran, announcing that any country doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff “on any and all business” with the US, effectively immediately.

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Tuesday, January 13

• Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said he would take steps to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt after the couple refused to testify as part of the House’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. In a letter to Comer, the Clintons wrote, “Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles, and its people, no matter the consequences. For us, now is that time.”

• Zeteo reported that federal investigators assigned to the killing of Renee Good are set to look into possible connections Good and her widow have to legal-observer and racial-justice groups in the Minneapolis area, including any organizations that have received funding or grants linked to George Soros.

• In another racist move against Somalis in the US, the Trump administration announced that it was terminating the Temporary Protected Status of Somali immigrants living in the US, claiming that conditions in the country have improved.

• In an interview with USA Today, Trump’s Arctic commissioner Thomas Dans said the US could take action towards annexing Greenland within “weeks or months.”

• The Trump administration filed a motion to dismiss its appeal of a November 2025 court decision that blocked it from withholding federal transportation funding from states that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement.

• Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned over efforts from the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Renee Good’s widow rather than investigating the shooter responsible for killing Good.

• While speaking at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said his administration would suspend all federal funding for sanctuary cities and states, beginning Feb. 1. He also said the US will “revoke the citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens.”

• In an interview with CBS News, Trump warned that his administration would “take strong action” against Iran if it starts hanging protesters.

• Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed two new members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices who have questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and the use of antidepressants by pregnant people.

• CNN reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Pentagon to select judge advocate general officers who could be selected to serve as special assistant US attorneys in Minneapolis to assist in federal prosecutions related to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the city. One official told CNN that the move, which Hegseth has done before, is “bleeding legal resources from the military.”

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• The Trump administration designated the Lebanese, Jordanian, and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations and imposed sanctions on them and their members.

• On Truth Social, Trump went on an unhinged rant about Minnesota, and ominously warned that the “DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”

• Video footage showed Trump giving the middle finger and appearing to mouth the words “fuck you” to an autoworker who appeared to yell “pedophile protector” at him while the president toured a Ford factory in Michigan.

Wednesday, January 14

• The FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who has spent the last year covering the Trump administration, in connection with an investigation into a government contractor accused of unlawfully retaining classified materials. In an email, the Post’s executive editor Matt Murray called the move an “extraordinary, aggressive action” that is “deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work.” Natanson has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

• On Twitter, the State Department announced that the Trump administration will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Brazil, and Somalia, starting next week, claiming immigrants from those countries “take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.” The tweet added that the suspension “will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.”

• The Republican-controlled Senate voted against a war powers resolution designed to limit Trump’s ability to conduct further strikes on Venezuela after two Republican senators who joined with Democrats last week to advance the resolution flipped under pressure from Trump.

• A federal court allowed California to move forward with its new congressional maps, which could net Democrats as many as five extra seats in the House in the 2026 midterm elections, rejecting claims from California Republicans that the new maps were unconstitutional.

• NBC News reported that if Trump were somehow actually able to buy Greenland, it could cost American taxpayers as much as $700 billion.

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• Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) introduced three articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, which were backed by nearly 70 other House Democrats. The first article accuses Noem of obstruction of Congress by implementing policies limiting lawmakers from conducting oversight visits at ICE detention facilities. The second accuses her of violating public trust by directing DHS agents to arrest people without warrants, use tear gas against citizens, and ignore due process. The third accuses Noem of self-dealing by steering a federal contract to a firm run by her friend.

• Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein sent a letter to the Justice Department’s Inspector General requesting a review of the Epstein files released by the DOJ and oversight for future releases to “ensure full compliance with US law and basic standards of survivor protection,” adding that “the manner in which these materials were released reflects serious failures in redaction practices, survivor protection, and oversight.”

• The Justice Department sued Minnesota over its so-called affirmative action “regime,” accusing the state of using diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in its hiring practices at state agencies. On Twitter, Attorney General Pam Bondi called the practices “discriminatory DEI codified into bad state policy” and added that the Trump administration “will not stand for it.”

• Four additional Democratic lawmakers said they are being investigated by the US attorney for the District of Columbia over their participation in a viral video calling on military members to refuse illegal orders.

• E. Jean Carroll asked the Supreme Court to dismiss Trump’s petition calling for the court to review her successful $5 million defamation case against him, in which the president was found liable for sexually abusing her in the dressing room of a department store in the 1990s and then defaming her by claiming it never happened.

• Trump’s Education Department launched Title IX investigations into 15 school districts and three colleges over their policies allowing trans athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports. The targets of the investigations include the New York City Department of Education, the largest public school system in the country.

• The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s rebranding of the Defense Department to the “Department of War” could cost taxpayers as much as $125 million, with the number growing to “hundreds of millions” if Congress officially changed the department’s name.

• Immigrant rights lawyers urged a federal appeals court to reinstate the Temporary Protected Status of 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants living in the US, which had been terminated by the Trump administration last year.

• The Trump administration restored nearly $2 billion in federal funding for more than 2,000 addiction services and mental health programs across the country, less than 24 hours after it told the program’s that their funding would be terminated immediately.

• The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked a federal judge to unseal all judicial records related to the search warrant used by the FBI to raid the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson.

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Thursday, January 15

• A federal appeals court reversed a lower court’s ruling that allowed Mahmoud Khalil to be released from ICE custody, finding that the federal district court in New Jersey that issued the ruling did not have jurisdiction over his habeas corpus petition. In a statement, Khalil said, “The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability.”

• CNN reported that the Trump administration is planning to use private military contractors in Venezuela to protect oil and energy assets instead of deporting US troops.

• Reuters reported that the US seized another oil tanker linked to Venezuela in the Caribbean, with the US Southern Command saying the tanker was “operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

• In an interview with Reuters, Trump argued that the US “shouldn’t even have an election,” referring to the 2026 midterm elections.

• During a White House meeting, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute said last week that “once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others,” adding, “The decision is final and stands for all time.”

• On Truth Social, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota if the “corrupt politicians” don’t stop the “professional agitators and insurrectionists” from “attacking” ICE officers.

• The Washington Post reported that the El Paso County Medical Examiner is expected to classify the death of 55-year-old Cuban immigrant Geraldo Lunas Campos in ICE custody as a homicide, with a witness saying he saw Campos choked to death by detention staff.

• The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration to end the warrantless arrests and racial profiling of Latino and Somali residents in Minnesota by ICE and other federal agents.

• A group of House Democrats sent a letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanding an investigation into the Justice Department’s probe of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, which they called a “blatant abuse of DOJ’s prosecutorial power.” The lawmakers said the investigation is necessary to “ensure that the DOJ is not being used to coerce” the Federal Reserve “into artificially juicing the economy to benefit the President and his party ahead of the midterm elections.”

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• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is pressuring Mexico to allow US military forces, either Special Operation troops or CIA officers, to conduct joint operations in the country to fight cartels producing fentanyl and smuggling it into the US.

• During a press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at The Hill reporter Niall Stanage after he said Renee Good was killed “because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably.” Leavitt responded by calling Stanage a “left-wing hack” who is “posing” as a journalist and said he “shouldn’t even be sitting in” the briefing room.

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from trying to obtain sensitive data from California’s voter rolls, including driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers. In his ruling, the judge wrote that “the centralization of this information by the federal government would have a chilling effect on voter registration which would inevitably lead to decreasing voter turnout as voters fear that their information is being used for some inappropriate or unlawful purpose.”

• During a court hearing, the federal judge who issued a scathing ruling against the Trump administration last year over its efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists called the move “an unconstitutional conspiracy to pick off certain people.” He also said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution” by infringing on the First Amendment rights of pro-Palestinian activists.

• ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan announced she would resign from her position to run for Congress in Ohio.

Friday, January 16

• During a roundtable at the White House, Trump said he may impose tariffs on countries “if they don’t go along with” the US annexing Greenland.

• CBS News reported that Trump is set to pardon Puerto Rico’s former governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, who pleaded guilty last year in a federal public corruption case related to her 2020 campaign, with one White House official arguing her prosecution was “politically motivated.”

• On Truth Social, Trump continued to rage against those protesting ICE in Minnesota, calling them “Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists” who he claimed, without evidence, are “in many cases, highly paid professionals.” He added that “If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY!”

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We knew Donald Trump would be busy harming democracy, Americans, immigrants, and the world during the holidays and start of the new year, but we never imagined it would be this horrific.

Just since Christmas, the president and his cronies have bombed Nigeria, invaded Venezuela and kidnapped its president, seriously threatened Greenland, Mexico, and Colombia, killed a US citizen in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon, and spewed some of the most vile lies, rants, and disinformation yet (and that says a lot if you’ve read the last 49 weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’).

That’s not even mentioning Trump’s rewriting of the history of the Jan. 6 insurrection on the White House website, his administration’s latest efforts to cover up the Epstein files, and the additional likely illegal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.

Welcome to Trump’s America.

Brace yourself for a long list this week, as we picked up from where we left off before the holiday break. Here’s ‘This Week in Democracy – Weeks 50 and 51’:

Wednesday, December 24

• A dozen senators sent a letter to the Justice Department’s Inspector General calling for an investigation into the DOJ’s failure to release the entirety of the Epstein files by the Dec. 19 deadline, accusing the department of withholding files, releasing documents that were largely already available to the public, heavily redacting documents, and removing files after releasing them.

• Meanwhile, the DOJ tweeted that the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI have “uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to” Jeffrey Epstein and claimed the department has “lawyers working around the clock” to review the documents and make necessary redactions, a process the DOJ says “may take a few more weeks.”

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• The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has drawn up draft solicitations for contractors to help massively overhaul the country’s immigration detention system, with plans to renovate seven large-scale industrial warehouses to hold more than 80,000 people at a time. As part of the overhaul, ICE is expected to detain people in processing sites for a few weeks before transferring them to one of the warehouses, which are expected to hold between 5,000 and 10,000 each, while awaiting deportation.

• On Truth Social, Trump called late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert a “pathetic trainwreck,” adding he’s “running on hatred and fumes,” and is a “dead man walking!”

• In another ridiculous post, Trump continued to call for the revocation of broadcast licenses for networks he claims are “almost 100% Negative” to him, MAGA, and the Republican Party.

• Reuters reported that the Trump administration ordered the US military to spend at least the next two months enforcing a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil, with one official saying that the White House’s belief is that, by late January, “Venezuela will be facing an economic calamity unless it agrees to make significant concessions to the US.”

• A federal judge issued a ruling prohibiting ICE and the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review from conducting “sweeping” arrests at immigration courthouses in Northern California.

Thursday, December 25

• On Truth Social, Trump announced that, at his direction, the US launched a deadly strike against “ISIS Terrorist Scum” in Nigeria, who he claims have been “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” He also warned there will be “many more” dead “Terrorists” if the “slaughter of Christians continues.” Zeteo reported that Nigerian officials and those monitoring political violence in the country have accused the Trump administration of spreading misinformation, noting that Christians make up a smaller percentage of the death toll attacks in the country than Muslims.

• Also on Truth Social, Trump wished a Merry Christmas to “the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein,” before “falsely claim[ing] they had nothing to do with him,” as well as those involved in the “ongoing Radical Left Witch Hunt” against the president, warning that “this time so many of their friends, mostly innocent, will be badly hurt and reputationally tarnished,” and adding, “Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas!”

• A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from detaining Imran Ahmed, the CEO and founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, two days after the State Department imposed visa bans on Ahmed and four Europeans accused of working to censor freedom of speech in the US.

Friday, December 26

• AP reported that a federal judge canceled Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s trial for human smuggling charges and instead ordered a hearing to determine whether Abrego Garcia’s prosecution was sought vindictively in an effort to selectively target him. If prosecutors fail to explain their reasoning for charging Abrego Garcia, the charges against him could be dismissed.

• In an interview with Politico, Trump claimed the original plan to launch strikes in Nigeria was slated to take place earlier, but he directed them to “give them a Christmas present,” adding, “They didn’t think that was coming, but we hit them hard.”

• During another interview, Trump potentially leaked new information by claiming that, on Wednesday, his administration “knocked out” what he described as a “big plant or big facility” in Venezuela, “where the ships come from.” It wasn’t clear what the president was talking about at the time, even to some Trump administration officials, as Zeteo reported.

• On Truth Social, Trump lashed out about the one million additional documents found by the Justice Department related to Epstein, complaining that the DOJ “is being forced to spend all of its time on this Democrat inspired Hoax,” and asking, “When do they say NO MORE, and work on Election Fraud etc.”

Saturday, December 27

• The BBC reported that Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell sent a letter to jazz musician Chuck Redd threatening to file a $1 million lawsuit against him after Redd canceled a Christmas Eve performance at the venue following the addition of Trump’s name to the building.

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Sunday, December 28

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is using a novel interpretation of the False Claims Act, which is normally used to probe government contractors committing fraud, to investigate US companies over the use of DEI initiatives in hiring and promotion, including Google and Verizon.

Monday, December 29

• The Trump administration made another significant cut to the amount of money the US has traditionally pledged to the UN, saying it would only contribute $2 billion, a massive drop from contributions in recent years that reached as high as $17 billion. Additionally, the administration warned UN agencies to “adapt, shrink, or die,” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeting that “this new model…will require the UN to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability, and oversight mechanisms.”

• A federal judge allowed the Trump administration to move forward with sharing information about Medicaid recipients, including their “basic biographical, location, and contact information” with ICE, but blocked the administration from sharing additional information beyond that.

• The New York Times interviewed outgoing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who said that after she threatened to expose the names of men who had abused survivors of Epstein, Trump yelled at her during a phone call and warned that “my friends will get hurt,” and that the victims had done nothing to merit a meeting in the Oval Office.

• The Times also reported that the only drug that washed ashore following a Nov. 6 lethal strike by the Trump administration against a boat in the Gulf of Venezuela was traces of a substance that looked and smelled like cannabis.

• On Twitter, the US Southern Command announced that, at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction, the US military conducted a lethal strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two people.

• The Trump administration sued Virginia over its policies allowing some undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, arguing the laws discriminate against US citizens. It marks the seventh state the Trump administration has sued over in-state tuition policies for eligible undocumented students.

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• CNN reported that the mysterious Venezuela strike Trump referred to last week was conducted by the CIA on a dock where US officials claim Tren de Aragua was storing and planning to transfer narcotics onto boats. Those briefed on the strike say no one was on the dock at the time and there were no fatalities. Asked about whether the CIA conducted the strike, Trump said, “I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was.”

• Trump said he would support an attack by Israel on Iran if it rebuilds its nuclear missile program, warning that “We will knock the hell out of them.”

• Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Mar-a-Lago, marking Netanyahu’s fifth visit to the US since Trump’s second term began in January. During the visit, Trump said he spoke to Israeli President Isaac Herzog and suggested a pardon is “on its way” for Netanyahu, who he called a “war-time prime minister.” He also claimed without evidence that “more than half” of Gaza’s population would leave the territory if given the opportunity, something he called “common sense.” Netanyahu also awarded Trump the Israel Prize, making him its first non-Israeli recipient.

Tuesday, December 30

• MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) reported that then-top Trump transition official Emil Bove was alerted by a Justice Department lawyer days before Trump was inaugurated that Tom Homan was being investigated for bribery after accepting $50,000 from undercover agents in exchange for help securing lucrative contracts if Trump became president. Homan later received a security clearance despite career DOJ officials believing he wouldn’t be able to get one due to evidence gathered in the bribery probe.

• A federal judge ruled the Trump administration can’t move forward with efforts to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which is responsible for enforcing consumer financial laws and taking action against companies that violate those laws. The judge found the administration’s legal argument to do so is “an unsupported and transparent attempt to starve the CFPB of funding and yet another attempt to achieve the very end the Court’s injunction was put in place to prevent.”

• On Twitter, Deputy Health Secretary Jim O’Neill announced that the Trump administration will freeze federal childcare funds to Minnesota in response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant” in the state and across the country, citing a right-wing influencer who claimed Somali residents operating daycares in Minneapolis committed up to $100 million in fraud. In response, Governor Tim Walz said the move was “Trump’s long game,” and that it’s “been his plan all along.” (Watch Mehdi’s 60-second rant about the right’s blatant racism towards Somalis here.)

• A federal judge released excerpts of emails as part of a newly unsealed order that showed senior Justice Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, were involved in the decision to charge Kilmar Abrego Garcia with human smuggling, disputing claims from DOJ lawyers that the move was made solely by local prosecutors.

• Reuters reported that the Justice Department is still reviewing more than 5 million Epstein files and needs 400 lawyers to help review them, a process that is expected to extend into late January.

• At the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the US military conducted strikes against three boats, though it’s unclear where the strikes took place. Later on Twitter, the US Southern Command said three people were killed in the first strike, while other targets “abandoned the other two vessels.” (The Intercept later reported that the US military actually killed 11 people in the boat strikes, bringing the total number of people killed in US strikes to 123.)

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Wednesday, December 31

• The House Judiciary Committee released the transcript of former special counsel Jack Smith’s testimony delivered earlier this month, during which he noted that “there is no historical analog for what President Trump did” in his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Smith also said he was still considering indicting some of Trump’s co-conspirators when he won the 2024 presidential election, and repeatedly denied there was any political interference in his investigation by the Biden administration to charge Trump.

• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a man to the US after he was deported in violation of a court order.

• A federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to return control of hundreds of California National Guard troops to Governor Gavin Newsom. Meanwhile, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would be removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, following a Supreme Court ruling the week earlier that said he couldn’t deploy troops to Chicago. However, Trump signaled he would be open to redeploying troops again, saying, “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!”

• Also on Truth Social, Trump continued to call for the freeing of Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who was convicted of tampering with voting machines following the 2020 presidential election, and said he wishes “only the worst” for the state’s governor and district attorney, adding, “May they rot in Hell.”

• Trump went on another racist rant against Somalis and Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, saying on Truth Social that “Lowlifes like this can only be a liability to our Country’s greatness,” and added, “Send them back where they came from.”

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending the Temporary Protected Status of nearly 90,000 immigrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, and noted that statements by Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “reflect a stereotyping of the immigrants…as criminal invaders and perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population.”

• On Twitter, the US Southern Command announced that, at the direction of Hegseth, the US military conducted lethal strikes on two boats. Five people were killed in the strikes, though the tweet did not specify where they took place.

• The Washington Post reported that the Kennedy Center changed its bylaws earlier in May to limit voting to presidentially appointed trustees, a move legal experts say could conflict with the institution’s charter.

• The Post also reported that ICE is planning to spend $100 million for a year-long recruitment campaign specifically targeting gun rights supporters and military enthusiasts to join the agency as deportation officers as part of a “wartime recruitment” strategy.

Thursday, January 1

• Zohran Mamdani was inaugurated as mayor of New York City. Mamdani is the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century, and its first Muslim mayor, first South Asian mayor, and first mayor born in Africa. (Read more of Zeteo’s coverage of Mamdani’s inauguration here.)

• A group of employees affected by the Trump administration’s new policy eliminating coverage for gender-affirming care from federal health insurance programs filed a legal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, arguing the move is sex-based discrimination and should be rescinded.

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• The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new memo suspending immigration applications for people from 20 additional countries included in Trump’s expanded travel ban, including Nigeria, South Sudan, and Syria. The memo also directs USCIS employees to review cases that were approved during the Biden administration for people from those countries.

• In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump claimed that he actually got a CT scan back in October, contradicting his earlier assertions that he received an MRI. His doctor told the Journal that the CT scan was done to “definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues” and the results showed no abnormalities. Trump also said he takes a higher dosage of daily aspirin than his doctors recommend, which causes him to bruise easily.

Friday, January 2

• On Truth Social, Trump threatened to take military action against Iran if the country “shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters,” saying the US “will come to their rescue” and that the military is “locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Saturday, January 3

• In the middle of the night, Trump authorized a series of strikes in Venezuela, as well as the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by the US military. The illegal strikes took place without congressional authority. Maduro and Flores were transported to New York, where they face drug and weapons charges. Venezuela’s Vice President ​​Delcy Rodriguez was subsequently sworn in as interim president following Maduro’s kidnapping.

• During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump referred to the operation as an “assault like people have not seen since World War II,” said the US will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” and warned that the US military is “ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so.”

• Trump also threatened Colombian President Gustavo Petro, claiming without evidence that he “has factories where he makes cocaine,” and adding, “he does have to watch his ass.”

• Semafor reported that the New York Times and the Washington Post learned about the Trump administration’s plan to invade Venezuela ahead of time but held off on reporting about it in an effort to avoid endangering US troops.

• Wisconsin circuit judge Hannah Dugan resigned from her post following threats from state Republicans to impeach her after she was found guilty last month of obstruction after being accused of misdirecting federal agents to help an immigrant evade arrest in her courthouse. In her resignation letter to Governor Tony Evers, Dugan warned that the “unprecedented federal legal proceedings” against her “threaten the independence of our judiciary.”

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• On Truth Social, Trump shared a conspiracy video that ludicrously claimed that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was behind the assassinations of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband. In response, Walz called the post “dangerous, depraved behavior” that is “going to get more innocent people killed.” The Hortmans’ children also published a statement asking Trump to delete the post and apologize for spreading misinformation about their parents’ murders. (A conservative, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was indicted in July on six federal charges in connection with the stalking and murders of the Hortmans.)

• The Justice Department missed a statutory deadline set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act to explain which documents had been redacted or withheld within 15 days after the files were mandated to be released on Dec. 19.

Sunday, January 4

• The Cuban government said 32 of its citizens were killed during the Trump administration’s raid on Venezuela to capture the country’s president and first lady.

• On ‘Meet the Press,’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that congressional approval wasn’t required for the administration’s attack on Venezuela, saying, “This was not an invasion or an extended military action.” Asked whether Cuba is the next target of the Trump administration, Rubio responded, “I think they are in a lot of trouble.”

• Aboard Air Force One, Trump threatened to strike Venezuela again if the country “doesn’t behave.” He also admitted that he had notified oil companies before attacking Venezuela, despite deciding not to notify Congress. Asked about taking US action in Cuba, Trump said he thinks the country “is going to fall.” Senator Lindsey Graham took a stronger stance, saying Cuba’s “days are numbered.”

• Zeteo reported that Trump is still “very interested” in secret plans drawn up last year to send US Special Forces into Mexico to capture or kill cartel figures, according to one administration official.

Monday, January 5

• The CDC cut the number of vaccines recommended for every child from the childhood immunization schedule, including the removal of vaccines for the flu, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and RSV.

• Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and weapons charges during their arraignment in a Manhattan courthouse. Maduro called himself a “kidnapped president” who is a “prisoner of war.” During the hearing, Flores’s attorney told the judge that his client “sustained significant injuries” during her abduction and added that “there’s belief she may have a fracture or a severe bruising on her ribs.”

• Politico reported that more than 300 federal judges, including some appointed by Trump, have ruled against the administration’s “mandatory detention” policy. In more than 1,600 cases, judges have either ordered the release of immigrants or a bond hearing.

• On Twitter, Hegseth announced that his department is moving forward with administrative action against Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), including censuring and reducing his retirement grade from a Navy captain to a lower rank, over a viral video where he and other Democratic lawmakers called on military service members to refuse illegal orders. Hegseth called Kelly’s remarks “seditious statements” that were part of a “pattern of reckless misconduct,” and warned that “further violations could result in further action.”

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• In an interview with NBC News, Trump claimed the US is not at war with Venezuela but “with people that sell drugs” and added that the country will not have new elections within the next 30 days, saying, “We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote.”

• The Washington Post reported that the Department of Homeland Security has outlined plans to cut the FEMA workforce by thousands in 2026, including firing 85% of standby workers who are typically the first on the ground during a disaster, along with a 41% reduction in the Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery staffers, who often spend years helping communities recover from disasters.

• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration has stopped claiming that Cartel de los Soles, which it accused Maduro of leading, is an actual organization. The old indictment mentions the “organization” 32 times, but the revised indictment only refers to it twice, calling it a “patronage system” and a “culture of corruption.” (Cartel de los Soles is a figure of speech used in Venezuela since the 1990s to describe military officials corrupted by drug money.)

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the CIA conducted a classified intelligence assessment ahead of Trump’s invasion of Venezuela, which concluded that top officials of the Maduro government, including Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, would be the best to lead a temporary government in the country if Maduro lost power.

• In an update to a federal judge, Justice Department officials revealed that they have released less than 1% of the total documents it possesses as part of the Epstein Files, with more than 2 million documents “remain[ing] in various phases of review and redaction.”

• On CNN, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller refused to rule out the Trump administration using military force to take over Greenland, saying, “Nobody is going to fight the US militarily over the future of Greenland.”

• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s (CPB) board voted to dissolve the organization after 58 years as a result of Trump’s move to defund it. The organization’s president and CEO said in a press release that its “final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”

• CBS News reported that the Trump administration deployed 2,000 federal agents to Minneapolis as part of its immigration crackdown.

Tuesday, January 6

• In an effort to rewrite history, the White House published its own “timeline” of the Jan. 6 insurrection, falsely claiming Trump invited those who participated in the riots to DC for “a peaceful and historic protest,” blaming the Capitol Police for turning a “peaceful demonstration into chaos,” referring to then-Vice President Mike Pence’s decision to certify the election an “act of cowardice and sabotage,” and accusing Democrats of manufacturing a “gaslighting narrative” about the insurrection in an attempt to certify “a fraud-ridden election” and to “persecute innocent Americans.”

• On Truth Social, Trump announced that the “Interim Authorities” in Venezuela will turn over between 30 and 50 million barrels of “Sanctioned” oil to the US, with the funds generated being controlled by his administration.

• Also on Truth Social, Trump said a “Fraud Investigation” of California is underway, but he didn’t give any specifics about the probe.

• In a statement to Reuters, the White House said Trump and his administration are “discussing a range of options” to acquire Greenland, noting that “utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.”

• Reuters also reported that the Trump administration put Venezuela’s interior minister, a Maduro loyalist who controls security forces, on notice as a potential target unless he assists Interim President Delcy Rodriguez with meeting US demands and maintaining order in the country following Maduro’s ouster.

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• ABC News reported that the Trump administration warned Rodriguez that the Venezuelan government must meet the White House’s demands before it’s allowed to pump more oil, including severing economic ties with China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba, and agreeing to partner exclusively with the US on oil production.

• The New York Times reported that the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel declared that Trump’s decision to attack Venezuela and kidnap the country’s president was lawful in a signed memo.

• The Justice Department sued Arizona and Connecticut for failing to turn over their unredacted voter lists, which include information like birthdates and full or partial Social Security numbers.

• NPR reported that the Pentagon is set to conduct a six-month review to measure the “effectiveness” of women serving in ground combat, according to a memo that also seeks to collect any internal research and studies on the “integration of women in combat.”

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the state’s Attorney General is “looking very seriously” at bringing state charges against captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Unlike his federal indictment, which focuses on drug trafficking and weapons, the case would likely include immigration charges. DeSantis also claimed that Maduro “was obviously very involved with bringing drugs, particularly to Florida.”

• A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from banning words it associates with diversity, equity, and inclusion from grant applications for Head Start, an early education and family support program that serves hundreds of thousands of vulnerable youth. The judge also prohibited the administration from laying off additional federal employees in the Office of Head Start.

• The Trump administration froze $10 billion in funding for child care subsidies, social services, and cash support for low-income families in five states controlled by Democrats — Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois, and Colorado — claiming, without evidence, widespread fraud in those states.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers during a closed briefing on Monday that Trump aims to purchase Greenland rather than invade it.

• Trump border czar Tom Homan and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem both made threats to expand the federal crackdown on fraud in Minnesota’s social safety net programs to other Democratic-controlled states, including New York and California.

Wednesday, January 7

• An ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old US citizen Renee Nicole Good, a legal observer, in Minneapolis. Horrific footage of the incident showed Good in her vehicle, apparently attempting to leave the scene as an agent aimed his gun and shot her in the head.

• On Truth Social, Trump falsely called Good a “professional agitator” who was driving “very disorderly, obstructing and resisting.” He also falsely claimed that she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer,” arguing the agent shot Good in self-defense.

• During an interview with the New York Times, Trump once again falsely claimed that Renee Nicole Good “ran over” the ICE agent who shot and killed her in Minneapolis. After being pressed on the matter, Trump insisted on watching a slow-motion video of the incident, which Times reporters pointed out did not appear to show Good running over the ICE agent.

• Trump also said the US may be running Venezuela and extracting oil from its reserves for years. When asked how long his administration would demand direct oversight of the country, Trump said, “Only time will tell.”

• Trump filed a court motion seeking more than $6.2 million in legal fees and costs from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office following the dismissal of the election interference case brought against him and his political allies.

• Trump announced the US is pulling out of the foundational climate treaty known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was established in 1992, along with a number of other major international climate organizations.

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• Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the US will sell Venezuelan oil “indefinitely” and that profits from the sales would be “deposited into accounts controlled by the US government” and then “flow back into Venezuela.”

• Officials announced the US military had seized two Venezuela-linked oil tankers in the North Atlantic and Caribbean.

• Florida Governor DeSantis said he plans to call a special session to draw new mid-decade congressional districts in the state, but noted that he will wait until April to do so, in order to see whether the Supreme Court will strike down an anti-discrimination provision of the Voting Rights Act, which he says could affect “at least one or two” districts.

• On Truth Social, Trump announced that, due to “very troubled and dangerous times,” he would call for the US defense budget to be increased by a whopping 66% in 2027, from $901 billion to $1.5 trillion.

• Also on Truth Social, Trump said that Venezuela will be exclusively purchasing US-made products with the funds the country receives from its new “Oil Deal.”

• CNBC reported that more than 100 people were killed during the US military raid in Venezuela that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, according to Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who added that a similar number of people were injured.

Thursday, January 8

• The New York Times reported that documents suggest at least 100 more federal agents are being deployed to Minnesota following the killing of Renee Good.

• During a White House press briefing, Vice President JD Vance disgustingly blamed Renee Good, the victim, for her killing by an ICE agent.

• The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors are conducting a new investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James’s financial transactions with her longtime hairdresser, who was charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges last month.

• A federal judge ruled that Acting US Attorney John Sarcone III for the Northern District of New York was unlawfully serving in the position, marking the fifth federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi to be disqualified from their post. The ruling also invalidated the grand jury subpoenas he issued last year to the New York attorney general’s office, which were part of an investigation into potential violations of constitutional rights during the state’s probes into Trump and the NRA.

• Zeteo reported that the Trump administration has been planning how to respond if Democrats, or state or local prosecutors, ever tried to arrest or prosecute an ICE officer or federal agent, with the goal of protecting the accused agents “no matter what.” Two administration sources said that Trump has privately said that he could retaliate by refusing to hand over the agent, bringing federal “obstructing” charges, or threaten to further cut off federal funding to a state where an agent is arrested or prosecuted.

• The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has jailed multiple unaccompanied migrant boys, including some with no pending charges, in a juvenile detention facility in Pennsylvania known for its history of physical and sexual abuse against minors. Conditions at the facility were so bad that the state revoked one of its licenses, saying it committed “gross incompetence, negligence, and misconduct.”

• The Republican-led House passed a bill to extend expired health care subsidies for millions of recipients who receive coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Seventeen Republicans voted alongside Democrats to pass the legislation, despite objections from Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. The bill now moves to the Senate.

• Bloomberg reported that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was left out of months of planning by the White House to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro due to her past opposition to taking military action in the country.

• Reuters reported that US officials, including White House aides, discussed sending individual payments ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 to Greenland residents as part of an effort to convince them to secede from Denmark and join the US.

• The Senate voted to advance a bipartisan resolution to prevent Trump from using military force “within or against Venezuela” without prior approval from Congress. Five Republicans voted with all 47 Democrats to advance the motion —Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Todd Young (R-Pa.). In response, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Republicans “should be ashamed” of the senators who voted for the bill and claimed the War Powers Act is “Unconstitutional” and violates Article II of the Constitution.

• Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) sent a letter to a federal judge suggesting a Special Master and Independent Monitor should be appointed to ensure the Justice Department released the entirety of the Epstein files, arguing that the DOJ “cannot be trusted” to do so after failing to meet its statutory deadlines.

• US Border Patrol agents shot two people in Portland, Oregon, during a “targeted vehicle stop.”

Friday, January 9

• On Twitter, the US Southern Command announced it seized a fifth oil tanker linked to Venezuela.

• On Truth Social, Trump said he has “cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks” against Venezuela, saying it “looks like it will not be needed” because of the country’s cooperation with the US.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the Trump administration is launching an investigation of money services businesses in Minnesota.

• Speaking to reporters, Trump said he “can’t think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel [Peace] Prize more than me,” less than one week after invading Venezuela and just two weeks after striking Nigeria.

• Trump continued to threaten Greenland, telling reporters that while he’d like to make a deal to acquire the territory, “If we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”

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Don’t Miss It: If you’ll be in the DC area later this month, Zeteo is hosting a special LIVE in-person event you won’t want to miss: Join Mehdi, Swin, Rep. Ro Khanna, Joy Reid, Jim Acosta, Sarah Matthews, and Miles Taylor for a powerful evening at the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026!

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More Epstein files – though still not all of them, as legally mandated. Another likely illegal strike on an alleged drug boat. And more turmoil at CBS News under “editor in chief” Bari Weiss. We’ve only documented the last four days, and ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 49’ is already one for the history books.

From the ongoing Epstein cover-up to ramping up tensions with Greenland to seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, Donald Trump and his cronies were busy yet again, harming democracy, hurting Americans and free societies worldwide, and undermining the Constitution.

There was unexpected good news, however: A Supreme Court that has let Trump get away with just about anything finally handed the president a major loss, ruling that, at least for now, he cannot send hundreds of National Guard members to Chicago over the objections of Illinois officials.

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We’re sending ‘This Week in Democracy’ a bit early this week, so Team Zeteo can take some time away for the holidays. But we won’t stop documenting all the undemocratic things that Trump and his allies do while we’re away. We’ll include the days we missed in our first ‘This Week in Democracy’ in the new year.

Until then, here’s our last edition of 2025, a year that, when looking at the last 49 weeks, was quite possibly worse than we all could have imagined. It’s on the record:

Saturday, December 20

• On Twitter, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted footage of the US Coast Guard and the Defense Department apprehending an oil tanker she said was last docked in Venezuela. Noem noted that the US “will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” adding, “We will find you, and we will stop you.” In a statement, the Venezuelan government described the apprehension as theft and hijacking, and accused the US of forcibly disappearing the crew on board the tanker.

• The Justice Department removed at least 16 Epstein-related files from its website, including a photo that showed an image of Trump alongside his wife, Melania, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. The DOJ later reposted the image after “further review.”

Sunday, December 21

• CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulled a ‘60 Minutes’ segment on the Trump administration sending immigrants to El Salvador’s megaprison, CECOT, where they were held in what Human Rights Watch has described as “inhumane conditions” and subjected to torture and sexual violence, without due process and in violation of a court order. (Read more about the move in Zeteo’s First Draft.)

• AP reported that the US Coast Guard pursued another oil tanker in the Caribbean, with one US official saying the pursuit involved “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”

• Asked on ‘Meet the Press’ about why Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to a lower-security prison facility days after he interviewed her, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche seemingly acknowledged he approved Maxwell’s transfer, noting that “every decision” made by the Bureau of Prisons “lands on my desk.”

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• On Truth Social, Trump named Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as what appears to be the first-ever US special envoy to Greenland, noting that Landry “understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security.” Later, the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland issued a joint statement responding to Landry’s appointment, saying, “You cannot annex other countries,” and the US “must not take over Greenland.”

Monday, December 22

• On Fox, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration would triple the “bonus” her department is offering undocumented immigrants to “self-deport” using the CBP Home App to $3,000 through the end of the year.

• MS Now (formerly MSNBC) reported that FBI Director Kash Patel is being driven around in armored luxury BMWs at the expense of taxpayers, after requesting the agency purchase a small fleet of them, which he claimed would help him be more “covert” than the bulkier Chevrolet Suburbans normally used by the FBI.

• NOTUS reported that inspectors general are seeing a dramatic increase in complaints and reports, specifically surrounding alleged retaliation against whistleblowers, with the Energy Department’s IG opening nine times as many whistleblower retaliation cases this year compared to 2024, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s IG opening about six times as many.

• In a statement, a group of 19 survivors of Jeffrey Epstein-related abuse accused the Justice Department of breaking the law by failing to release the entirety of the Epstein files by the mandated deadline, and for redacting information unrelated to his victims, but failing to redact the identities of numerous victims in portions of the files, “causing real and immediate harm.”

• Meanwhile, in a statement, a spokesperson for former President Bill Clinton called on Trump to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to release any remaining material in the Epstein files “referring to, mentioning, or containing a photograph” of Clinton, accusing the Justice Department of trying to “protect” someone or something, and that Clinton “need[s] no such protection.”

• The New York Times reported that, of 346 donors who in total contributed more than $500 million to Trump-backed groups since the 2024 election, more than half of the donors have either personally benefited or are in industries that have benefited from the Trump administration’s policies or actions, including pardons, legal cases being dropped, regulatory decisions that favored the companies, access to the president, jobs in the administration, and government contracts.

• The Justice Department sued DC and its Metropolitan Police Department, arguing its gun laws that ban AR-15 style weapons, which have been used in the deadliest mass shootings in the US, are “unconstitutional” and violate the Second Amendment.

• A federal judge ruled that ICE is prohibited from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia through the Christmas holiday. During the hearing, the judge pressed government lawyers about whether they plan to pursue removal proceedings against Abrego Garcia and questioned whether Trump administration officials would follow court orders, saying, “This is an extremely irregular and extraordinary situation.”

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• Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to either help facilitate the return of 137 Venezuelan men who were deported to El Salvador’s megaprison in March before being sent back to their home country or allow them to challenge their removals in US courts. Boasberg ruled that their deportations, carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, were illegal and violated the men’s due process rights.

• At Mar-a-Lago, Trump announced his latest vanity project, a new class of US battleships named after himself, which are expected to have nuclear capabilities.

• The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration will start garnishing the wages of people in default on their student loans early next year for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, sued the Trump administration to block the Center’s name change, calling the move a “flagrant violation of the rule of law.”

• ProPublica reported that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche still held more than $150,000 in crypto investments when he issued a memo one month into his tenure to end investigations into crypto companies, dealers, and exchanges that were initiated during the Biden administration, a move one former White House ethics lawyer called “an obvious conflict of interest.”

• On Twitter, the US Southern Command announced that, at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the US military conducted a strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing one person.

• Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding an investigation into the Sept. 2 double-tap strike that killed two survivors in the Caribbean, arguing the order to conduct the strike constituted either a war crime or premeditated murder. In the letter, the Democratic lawmakers wrote that giving and carrying out a general order to kill any survivors constitutes a war crime, and that outside of war, “the killing of unarmed, helpless men clinging to wreckage in open water is simply murder.”

• The Department of Veterans Affairs issued a memo announcing it will no longer provide abortion or abortion counseling. Additionally, the memo notes that employees can request to opt out of providing “any aspect of clinical care based on their sincerely held moral and religious beliefs, observances, practices, or exercises.”

• In a letter to the chief judge of Florida’s Southern District Court, former CIA Director John Brennan’s lawyer accused Trump’s Justice Department of leaking grand jury information and possible judge shopping in an effort to ensure a future prosecution against Brennan will be overseen by the same judge who issued favorable rulings to Trump in his classified documents case. Brennan appears to be the target of a grand jury investigation into a 2017 intelligence assessment about Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

• In a late-night post on Truth Social, Trump called the New York Times a “serious threat to the National Security of our Nation,” and added, “Their Radical Left, Unhinged Behavior, writing FAKE Articles and Opinions in a never ending way, must be dealt with and stopped.”

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Tuesday, December 23

• The Justice Department released its third batch of Epstein files, which included a January 2020 email from a federal prosecutor in New York who claimed that flight logs showed Trump flew on Epstein’s plane at least eight times in the 1990s, “including during the period we would expect to charge in a [Ghislaine] Maxwell case.” On Twitter, the DOJ claimed that some of the documents “contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” adding, “To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

• Meanwhile, the DOJ said it was investigating the validity of a 2019 letter signed by “J. Epstein” to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar included in the latest batch of the Epstein files, which read in part, “Our President also shares our love of young, nubile girls.” Just two hours later, the DOJ said the letter had been confirmed to be fake, and added in a tweet that it “serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the [DOJ] does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual.”

• On Twitter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department will impose visa restrictions on “leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex” from entering the US. A press release from the State Department noted that the Department of Homeland Security can also initiate removal proceedings against individuals already in the US.

• The Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in Illinois as part of his mass immigration crackdown, ruling that the government “failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.”

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On the one hand, it’s hard not to look at the many harmful things Donald Trump and his cronies did this week in the context of Friday’s deadline for his administration to release the Epstein files. He escalated tensions with Venezuela; his angry primetime address reeked of not only lies but pure desperation; and the “renaming” of the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center was just embarrassing. Heard of the saying, ‘Wag the dog’?!

On the other hand, it was, after all, another pretty standard – and troubling – week for the US under Trump 2.0. Trump lied, made racist edicts, challenged laws, and attacked press freedom. Republicans ensured millions of Americans would go into the new year with astronomically higher health insurance premiums. And while the DOJ did release thousands of Epstein documents, as Zeteo’s political team noted, in not releasing all the files, Trump is continuing his Epstein cover-up.

From moving to ban gender-affirming care for minors to dramatically increasing efforts to strip citizenship of naturalized Americans to filing a ridiculous $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC, here’s what Trump and his allies did this week to harm democracy, hurt Americans and free societies worldwide, and undermine the Constitution:

Saturday, December 13

• A gunman killed two people and injured nine others in a mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. On Truth Social, Trump falsely claimed that the alleged shooter was in custody, which he walked back in a subsequent post less than 20 minutes later.

• The Washington Post reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expected to eliminate up to 35,000 unfilled healthcare positions, including doctors and nurses. The eliminated positions come after the VA already lost nearly 30,000 employees this year.

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Sunday, December 14

• The Guardian reported that the White House’s task force on Gaza, which includes two former officials of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, is making detailed plans about humanitarian assistance and a postwar reconstruction of Gaza, with the contractor that won a $33 million bid to help run the notorious Florida immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz reportedly having an “inside track” to secure a lucrative contract. (The company’s founder told The Guardian that they pulled out of a possible bid due to security concerns.)

• In a court filing, Justice Department lawyers argued that Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be re-detained after a new removal order was issued by an immigration judge. The lawyers also claimed Abrego Garcia could seek a bond hearing, despite the Trump administration’s position that immigrants with removal orders are subject to mandatory detention and ineligible for bond.

• Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said her adult son was pulled over by ICE agents in Minnesota and asked to provide proof of citizenship. While the agents let him go after he showed them his passport, Omar argued that ICE is “racially profiling” her community by “looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented.” ICE’s Acting Director Todd Lyons claimed there was “absolutely zero record” of the incident. Omar’s office later pushed back, saying it’s “no surprise that an agency known for disappearing people also can’t keep its records straight,” and adding that they would “welcome the opportunity” to review ICE records of their stops.

• During a Christmas reception, Trump continued to peddle false claims about the 2024 presidential election results in California being “rigged.”

Monday, December 15

• Axios reported that the White House sent a private message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of violating its ceasefire agreement with Gaza after killing a top Hamas military commander. One senior US official said the message was: “If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you don’t abide by agreements, be our guest, but we won’t allow you to ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal in Gaza.” Palestinian officials have documented at least 738 Israeli violations of the so-called ceasefire agreement since it took effect in October.

• ProPublica reported that the Trump administration’s gutting of USAID exacerbated a growing cholera epidemic in South Sudan, the worst in the country’s history.

• A Wisconsin judge ruled that two Trump aides must face trial in a felony forgery case related to their role in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election by attempting to present a slate of fake Republican electors to Congress who would falsely claim Trump won in Wisconsin that year.

• A federal judge rejected a bid by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for a new libel trial against the New York Times, and also refused Palin’s request that he recuse himself.

• NOTUS reported that the Trump administration will pause new funding for National Institutes of Health grants focused on terms like “health equity” and “structural racism” while it conducts a review to determine whether the grants “may potentially be associated with misalignment with the administration’s priorities.”

• Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, accusing it of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction” of him when it edited parts of his Jan. 6 speech at the Ellipse during a recent documentary that the lawsuit claims was meant to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning” of what Trump said.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, pulled out of a plan to develop a Trump hotel in Serbia after a special prosecutor indicted a cabinet member and three other officials in the country in relation to the project.

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• Speaking to reporters, Trump baselessly called Colorado Governor Jared Polis “a weak and pathetic man who was run by Tren de Aragua” for refusing to release Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who was convicted of tampering with voting machines following the 2020 presidential election, from prison.

• USA Today reported that a senior Education Department official is hanging a flag linked to Christian nationalism and the Jan. 6 insurrection outside his office, raising concerns about the separation of church and state. In a statement, the president of the union for Education Department employees said the agency “has no place for symbols that were carried by insurrectionists.”

• The Defense Department said it was “escalating” its review into Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) to “an official Command investigation” probing his role in a recent viral video with other Democratic lawmakers calling on members of the military to refuse illegal orders. In a letter to Navy Secretary John Phelan, Kelly’s lawyers said “there is no legitimate basis for any type of proceeding” against Kelly, and that “any such effort would be unconstitutional and an extraordinary abuse of power.”

• Trump signed an executive order designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. The order directs the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute groups that are trafficking fentanyl. It also orders the Defense Department to determine if military resources are needed to help the DOJ conduct federal law enforcement to combat the threat of fentanyl.

• On Truth Social, Trump disgustingly wrote that Rob Reiner, who was stabbed to death alongside his wife on Sunday, was killed “due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” Later, in the Oval Office, Trump said he was “not a fan” of Reiner, whom he called “deranged” and claimed “was very bad for our country.” (The Reiners’ son has since been charged with murdering his parents.)

• On Twitter, the US Southern Command announced that, at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the US military conducted lethal strikes on three boats in the Eastern Pacific, killing a total of eight people. (Read more of Zeteo’s coverage of the Trump administration’s boat strikes here.)

• The US Coast Guard moved forward with a new policy that downgraded the definition of swastikas and nooses from hate symbols to “potentially divisive” symbols, after Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called the move “unequivocally false” last month, and the Coast Guard told the Washington Post it wouldn’t downgrade them after all.

Tuesday, December 16

• Vanity Fair published a bombshell interview with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who told the magazine that Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality” and Vice President JD Vance has been a “conspiracy theorist for a decade.” Wiles also asserted there was no Epstein client list, and said Attorney General Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” the Epstein files.

• Speaking to reporters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shut down any possibility of the Pentagon releasing the footage from the Sept. 2 boat strikes, saying, “Of course, we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public.”

• The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is restricting the number of federal workers who can receive top ratings in their annual performance reviews, a move that experts warn is illegal and could make it easier to fire federal employees.

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• NBC News reported that a report compiled by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) concluded that 85% of the people Trump pardoned or granted clemency to since returning to the White House are white.

• The CDC approved a recommendation from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to end the guidance for newborns to receive a hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, a practice that has been in place since 1991.

• On Truth Social, Trump declared a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE” on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or departing Venezuela. Trump also warned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that the US “will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States IMMEDIATELY.”

• Also on Truth Social, Trump said the Jan. 6 Select Committee that investigated his role in the insurrection, which he called “Political Hacks and Thugs,” must “be held accountable, and pay A VERY STEEP PRICE!” He also shared a response to a post that said former FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Attorney General Merrick Garland should be arrested, adding, “And many others!!!”

• The Trump administration announced it will expand its travel ban to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, along with fully restricting travel to the US for people with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents. Another 15 countries were also added to a list of countries with partial travel restrictions, including Angola, Nigeria, and Senegal.

• CNN reported that the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee is expanding its investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith by demanding interviews with four current and former Justice Department officials involved in subpoenaing phone records for several members of Congress around the Jan. 6 insurrection.

• A federal judge allowed Trump to move forward with the construction of his new White House ballroom for now. Later, Trump said the price tag of the ballroom would be $400 million, up from his last estimate of $300 million and double the White House’s initial estimate.

• Wired reported that Dr. Harvey Risch, the epidemiologist Trump appointed as chair of the President’s Cancer Panel, works at a company that sells ivermectin to treat cancer and has spread unfounded claims about a connection between COVID-19 vaccines and “turbo cancer” in young people.

• On Twitter, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced that the Trump administration is dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which he falsely claimed was “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” He also noted that a “comprehensive review is underway & any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.”

• During a White House Hanukkah Party, billionaire megadonor Miriam Adelson urged Trump to run for an unconstitutional third term in 2028. Trump noted that Adelson said she’d give him “another $250 million” if he did so.

• Jared Kushner’s investment firm withdrew its financial backing of a proposal for Paramount Skydance Corp. to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

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• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration transferred 22 Cuban immigrants to Guantánamo Bay, marking the first transfers to the Navy base in two months.

Wednesday, December 17

• Former Special Counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers during a closed-door hearing before the House Judiciary Committee that his team “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump “engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.” He also said he would prosecute a former president again “based on the same facts today,” no matter which party the president belongs to.

• The Washington Post reported that, during the first nearly seven months of Trump’s second term, the Environmental Protection Agency spent over $86.5 million to pay more than 2,600 employees the agency had placed on administrative leave.

• On Twitter, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced he would resign in January but didn’t specify why he was stepping down less than a year into his tenure.

• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) removed language from its website that described the agency as “independent” shortly after its chair, Brendan Carr, testified before the Senate Commerce Committee that the FCC “is not an independent agency, formally speaking.”

• The White House installed ridiculous plaques criticizing former presidents under Trump’s new “Presidential Walk of Fame.” Joe Biden’s plaque reads that he was “by far, the worst President,” and Barack Obama’s reads, “One of the most divisive political figures in American History,” and blamed him for creating the “Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax.”

• At least two US senators – Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) – put holds on the nomination of Admiral Kevin Lunday to lead the US Coast Guard after it downgraded swastikas and nooses from hate symbols to “potentially divisive.”

• In a shocking feature, ProPublica reported that thousands of people in Kenya have starved, and many have died due to their inability to fight off infections due to malnutrition after the Trump administration’s USAID cuts exacerbated the hunger crisis in the country. Pregnant women with anemia who were starving resorted to eating mud, and mothers were forced to choose which of their children to feed.

• A federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to continue its deployment of National Guard troops to DC for now, staying a lower court order that blocked the deployment.

• Four House Republicans joined Democratic members of Congress to sign a petition forcing a vote on a three-year extension of tax credits under the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire on Dec. 31. It’s unclear when Speaker Mike Johnson will bring the vote to the House floor.

• The Washington Post reported that the Department of Health and Human Services canceled seven grants worth millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has fiercely criticized Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s federal vaccine policy changes. The grants were used for projects to reduce sudden infant death, prevent fetal alcohol syndrome, and identify autism early. The administration claimed the funding cuts were partially due to the AAP’s use of “identity-based language,” like the term “pregnant people” and references to racial disparities.

• The Post also reported that DHS expedited a nearly $1 billion contract to a company led by a donor to the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute, and that one of the DHS officials overseeing the deal had previously worked for the nonprofit.

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s new policy that limited the ability of members of Congress to conduct oversight visits at ICE detention facilities. The policy required lawmakers to provide seven days’ notice before visiting the facilities and prohibited them from visiting field offices that are being used to detain immigrants.

• NBC News reported that, as a result of the Trump administration’s push to reopen immigration cases that had been paused by an immigration judge, more than 117,000 immigrants are at risk of potential deportation. At least half of the immigrants have lived in the US for a decade or more.

• Trump delivered a nearly 20-minute, angry, falsehood-filled address on primetime television, where he repeated his usual lies about bringing prices down, ending eight wars in a year, and that 25 million people entered the US illegally during the Biden administration. (Read more of Zeteo’s coverage of Trump’s address here.)

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• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration issued new guidance to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices to dramatically increase the number of naturalized Americans the agency will seek to strip of their citizenship in 2026. The guidance calls for USCIS to provide the Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases each month. Since 2017, just over 120 such cases have been filed.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump privately spoke with his former impeachment attorney, Alan Dershowitz, about the prospects of the president seeking an unconstitutional third term, with Dershowitz telling Trump the constitutionality of a third term is unclear, despite the 22nd Amendment clearly stating that a president can only serve two terms.

• On Twitter, the US Southern Command announced that, at Hegseth’s direction, the US military conducted another lethal strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people.

• The Republican-controlled House passed a bill to criminalize doctors for providing gender-affirming care to minors, with the penalty for doctors who do so up to 10 years in prison. Civil rights groups, including the ACLU, called the bill “the most extreme anti-trans legislation ever considered by Congress.” The bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate.

• Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell filed a habeas petition in an effort to overturn her sex trafficking conviction. The petition, which she seemingly filed on her own without an attorney, argues that “substantial new evidence has emerged” that she didn’t receive a fair trial, alleging juror misconduct and suppression of evidence.

• Politico reported that federal prosecutors sought to include a third felony charge, an additional count of making a false statement to a financial institution, in their failed re-indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James. The prosecutors also asked a judge to keep records of the proposed indictment sealed after all three charges were rejected by grand jurors – a request the judge denied.

• The Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) demanding a hearing on the Trump administration’s military strikes against boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, writing, “The American people want real solutions to crime and the drug epidemic – not extrajudicial killings committed in their name.”

• Reuters reported that over the past eight weeks, the DC US Attorney’s office, led by Jeanine Pirro, has seen a 21% dismissal rate of criminal complaints, compared to a 0.5% dismissal rate over the last 10 years.

Thursday, December 18

• Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the new proposed rules designed to ban gender-affirming care for minors, including blocking Medicaid funds from being used to cover gender-affirming care and preventing hospitals that provide puberty blockers, hormone treatments, or surgical procedures to minors from participating in Medicare or Medicaid, a move that could effectively shut down hospitals that don’t comply.

• The State Department sanctioned two International Criminal Court judges, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing them of engaging in “the illegitimate targeting of Israel,” and bringing the total number of sanctioned ICC judges to 11.

• On Twitter, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s handpicked Board of the Kennedy Center voted to rename it to the Trump-Kennedy Center, despite the fact that only Congress has the authority to change the name.

• The US Coast Guard removed language from its new workplace discrimination policy that downgraded swastikas and nooses to “potentially divisive” symbols. On Twitter, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the move was made “so no press outlet, entity, or elected official may misrepresent the Coast Guard to politicize their policies and lie about their position on divisive and hate symbols.”

• CNN reported that the Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a new childhood immunization schedule that would recommend fewer vaccines to be more in line, if not identical to, recommendations in Denmark, a country that doesn’t recommend childhood vaccines for the flu, chickenpox, or RSV, which is the leading cause of hospitalization in infants.

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• Wisconsin circuit judge Hannah Dugan, who was accused of misdirecting federal agents trying to detain an immigrant in an effort to help him evade arrest in her courthouse, was found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding, a felony. Dugan was acquitted of a second charge, concealing a person from arrest. She is no longer able to continue as a judge in Wisconsin and faces up to five years in prison. In a statement, her lawyers said their defense of Dugan is “just beginning.”

• Trump’s Justice Department sued three additional states – Wisconsin, Illinois, and Georgia – along with DC for failing to turn over detailed voting data.

• CBS News reported that the Trump administration expanded its pause on immigration applications to people from the 20 additional countries the president added to his “travel ban.”

• A federal judge issued a scathing ruling threatening to hold the Department of Homeland Security in contempt for failing to turn over photos of a “putrid and cramped” holding room in Long Island, New York, where an undocumented immigrant was held in custody for several nights. The judge noted that “ICE has been deploying its ‘holding rooms’ in a matter that shocks the conscience,” which he said lack access to “bunks, bedding, soap, showers, toothbrushes, or clean clothes.”

• On Twitter, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that, at Trump’s direction, she directed USCIS to pause the diversity lottery immigrant visa program after she claimed the alleged Brown University shooter entered the US through the program and was subsequently granted a green card.

• Also on Twitter, the US Southern Command announced that, at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction, the US military conducted strikes on two additional boats in the Eastern Pacific, killing five people.

Friday, December 19

• Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed on Fox that the Justice Department won’t meet the congressionally-mandated deadline to release the entirety of the Epstein files, saying that the DOJ would “release several hundred thousand documents today” but adding that he expects the department will “release more documents over the next couple of weeks.”

• Trump’s name was added to the Kennedy Center sign despite opposition from members of the Kennedy family and several lawmakers.

• CNN reported that the top lawyer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine in November that military members who receive an illegal order should request to retire rather than resign in protest.

• Republicans in Wisconsin threatened to impeach state circuit judge Hannah Dugan if she didn’t immediately resign from her post after she was convicted of obstruction. Under Wisconsin law, Dugan’s seat wouldn’t officially become vacant until she is sentenced.

• The Trump administration moved to appeal a federal judge’s September ruling to restore more than $2 billion in research grants to Harvard University. The judge found that the move to freeze and cancel the funding violated the First Amendment.

• The Trump administration began releasing its documents on Jeffrey Epstein, but it refused to release all of the files, despite being legally mandated to do so. Read more of Zeteo’s review of them.

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Welcome to Week 47 of ‘This Week in Democracy.’ We’ve almost made it a year.

The good news: From lower court rulings to grand juries refusing to get on the president’s retribution train to members of his own party breaking rank, Donald Trump appears to be losing a lot more than he is winning these days.

The bad news: Trump and his cronies are still managing to do a lot of harm to the country and free societies worldwide.

From continuing to escalate tensions with Venezuela to a litany of lies and racist comments to failing to ensure millions of Americans won’t experience a spike in healthcare subsidies, here’s what Trump and his allies did this week that underscore the growth of authoritarianism during Trump’s second term.

Saturday, December 6

• A federal judge blocked the Justice Department from using communication records between James Comey and Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman as evidence to re-indict the former FBI director.

• On Truth Social, Trump attacked CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, calling her “Stupid and Nasty” over what he claimed was a question about the increasing cost of his new White House ballroom. Later, Collins responded that her question was actually about Venezuela.

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Sunday, December 7

• The Washington Post spoke with Bruna Ferreira, the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, who was detained by ICE last month for being in the US illegally (a civil violation) after overstaying a visa while she was a child. Ferreira disputed a White House statement claiming she hadn’t spoken to Leavitt in years, saying she asked Leavitt to be the child’s godmother, signed off on her son’s visit to the White House for the Easter egg hunt, and “moved mountains” to make sure he could attend Leavitt’s wedding in January.

• In the final draft of their annual defense policy bill, congressional leaders included an amendment to withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon provides the House and Senate Armed Services Committees with “unedited video of strikes” conducted against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

• On Truth Social, Trump lashed out at Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, whom he pardoned last week, for announcing he would seek re-election as a Democrat rather than switching parties. Trump called the move “such a lack of LOYALTY,” and added, “next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”

• NBC News reported that more than one-third of the approximately 220,000 people arrested by ICE agents from Jan. 20 to Oct. 15 had no criminal histories.

Monday, December 8

• ProPublica reported that Trump has engaged in the same practice of “mortgage fraud” he has accused his political enemies of doing illegally. In 1993-94, he signed mortgages for two homes he attested would be his principal residence, despite the fact that it doesn’t appear he ever lived in either home, which were instead used as investment properties and rented out. A White House spokesperson said “there was no defraudation” and claimed that Trump “has never, or will ever, break the law.”

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) temporarily paused a policy change that would significantly cut federal funding for permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness less than two hours before a court hearing challenging the move, which would also put new conditions on the program, including giving HUD the authority to eliminate funding for organizations that acknowledge the existence of trans and nonbinary people.

• Trump continued his attacks against women journalists, this time calling ABC News reporter Rachel Scott “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place” and “actually a terrible reporter” after she pushed back against Trump’s denial that he had said five days prior that he would have “no problem” releasing the footage of the second boat strike in the Caribbean that killed two survivors on Sept. 2.

• An immigration judge ordered the release of Bruna Ferreira, the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, while she challenges her potential deportation to Brazil.

• An appeals court paused a federal judge’s order blocking the Trump administration from implementing a provision in the president’s tax and spending bill to cut federal Medicaid funding from affiliates of Planned Parenthood.

• Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal lawyer whom he maneuvered to keep as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, said in a statement that she would step down from her post after an appeals court ruled last week that she was disqualified from the position. Habba said she would continue at the Justice Department in what appears to be a new position – a senior adviser to the attorney general for US attorneys. Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted that the DOJ “will seek further review” of the “flawed” decision to disqualify Habba, who she said “intends to return” to the position if the ruling is overturned.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that as part of his efforts to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount chief executive David Ellison told Trump earlier this month that he would make sweeping changes to CNN. Additionally, Trump has privately said that he wants new ownership of the network and changes to its programming.

• On Twitter, Honduras’s attorney general ordered local authorities and asked Interpol to execute an existing warrant against the country’s former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, on charges of money laundering and fraud. Hernández was pardoned by Trump and released from a US prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence for conspiring to import cocaine to the US.

• On Truth Social, Trump lashed out at outgoing Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after she appeared on ‘60 Minutes.’ He also attacked the show’s correspondent, Lesley Stahl, and slammed the “new ownership” of Paramount for “allow[ing] a show like this to air.”

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• A dozen former FBI agents who were fired under Director Kash Patel’s leadership for kneeling during a racial justice protest in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd sued Patel and the bureau in an effort to have their jobs reinstated. The agents received termination letters in September that cited “unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government.” The lawsuit argues the agents were “employing reasonable de-escalation to prevent a potentially deadly confrontation with American citizens.”

• The Washington Post reported that the ACLU sent a letter to ICE alleging that the Trump administration tried to illegally coerce immigrants being held at a makeshift detention center in Texas to leave the country for Mexico, without written warning or hearings with an ICE officer, a move it says violates the government’s guidance for “third country” deportations. The letter claims four Cuban immigrants were driven to the border and told to cross it or be beaten and imprisoned. Two of them said they were beaten after they initially refused to be transported to the border.

• The developer of the app ICEBlock, which tracks ICE agents and alerts people when they are in their area, sued the Trump administration over its removal from Apple’s App Store, arguing that the government violated the First Amendment by threatening the company.

• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the SEVIS record of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish national who had been studying at Tufts University before being arrested by masked immigration agents in March over an op-ed she wrote calling for the school to disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel. The move will allow Öztürk to resume her research and teaching while she continues to challenge her arrest and detention.

• During a softball interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns, Trump continued to spread lies claiming the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” adding that “it’s going to come out over the next couple months too, loud and clear, because we have all the information.” (Read Mehdi’s fact-check of the interview here.)

Tuesday, December 9

• On Truth Social, Trump posted an unhinged rant about the New York Times’ November article that detailed his signs of aging and increasing fatigue, saying, “The best thing that could happen to this Country would be if the New York Times would cease publication because they are a horrible, biased, and untruthful ‘source’ of information.” He also noted that he believes that unfavorable reporting about his health is “seditious,” and “perhaps even treasonous.”

• US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) proposed a new policy change that would require travelers entering the US from the 42 countries participating in the visa waiver program, including Australia, South Korea, and many European countries, to undergo a review of up to five years of their social media history. Travelers would also need to provide any email addresses used in the past 10 years, along with the names, birth dates, residences, and birthplaces of spouses, children, parents, and siblings.

• After years of denying he ever uttered the term “shithole countries” in 2018 to describe Haiti and African nations, Trump bragged during a rally in Pennsylvania that he had said, “Why is it we only take people from shithole countries,” and added, “Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden?” He then described Somalia as “filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.” Trump also made Islamophobic and racist remarks about Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, referring to her hijab as a “little turban,” falsely claiming she illegally immigrated to the US, and saying, “throw her the hell out” of the US.

• The New York Times reported that Pentagon lawyers raised the prospect of sending survivors of a mid-October boat strike in the Caribbean to El Salvador’s megaprison in an effort to ensure they don’t end up in the US court system, where the Trump administration could be forced to present evidence justifying their strikes in the region.

• The Education Department moved to eliminate a Biden-era student loan forgiveness plan, which lowered the monthly payments of millions of borrowers, and included $0 payments for borrowers making $16 or less per hour.

• A federal appeals court allowed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to move forward with his ban on trans people serving in the military. In a dissent, an Obama-appointed judge said the policy was rooted in “denigration and vitriol,” and warned the move will make it “all but inevitable that thousands of qualified servicemembers will lose careers they have built over decades.”

• Senate Democrats published a report examining the Trump administration’s extrajudicial immigration detentions of US citizens. Congressional investigators interviewed nearly two dozen Americans, who said immigration officers had dragged them from cars, made up assault claims, and used excessive force. Some of them were detained for days and denied access to medical care. Agents also “treated children with reckless disregard for their safety and wellbeing.”

• A federal judge declined to order the release of Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was convicted of several charges after using someone’s security badge to allow an associate of Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to access county election equipment following the 2020 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly called for Peters, who is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence, to be released, calling her an “innocent political prisoner.”

• The Washington Post reported that the Environmental Protection Agency has scrubbed references to human-caused climate change from its website, including a statement from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that said, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.” While some pages still include mentions of the “natural causes” of climate change, other pages have been completely removed.

• CBS News reported that Trump plans to name Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to serve as the US ambassador to El Salvador, one of the leading countries involved in Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

• The Justice Department moved to eliminate a key provision of the Civil Rights Act by reinterpreting regulations that allowed the use of statistical disparities as evidence of racial discrimination.

• AP reported that hundreds of children were held in ICE custody for more than the 20-day limit from August to September, with at least five children being held for 168 days. Some children were held in unsafe conditions and went days without access to medical care.

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• The Atlantic reported that Mike Benz, a right-wing influencer who spread conspiracy theories about the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and once wrote under a pseudonym, “I want white identity politics to grow like wildfire,” has been hired by the agency as a special government employee tasked with substantiating his allegations of USAID suppressing free speech, promoting “state-sponsored hit pieces” and playing a role in foreign regime change.

• A federal judge granted a request from the Justice Department to release grand jury materials from Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s case, but noted that the documents “would not reveal new information of any consequence,” added that much of the evidence presented to the grand juries were already public and that the panels only heard “summary testimony from two law enforcement officials.”

• HuffPost reported that the Trump administration is planning “Operation Irish Goodbye,” which will involve sending immigration agents to the US-Mexico border to apprehend undocumented immigrants trying to return to their home country voluntarily for the holidays.

• CNN reported that families being held in an ICE detention facility in Texas are being subjected to conditions including being denied access to urgent medical care, worms and mold in the food, and threats of family separation by staff, with some children becoming weak, faint, and pale due to malnutrition.

• Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a new law limiting immigration enforcement outside state courthouses. The law also makes it easier for residents to sue immigration agents for violating their rights, and limits the information that hospitals, daycare centers, and colleges in the state can provide to immigration agents.

• DHS launched a new database named the “Dictionary of Depravity,” which lists the “worst of the worst” of the undocumented immigrants who have been arrested during Trump’s second term. The database includes the names of the individuals, along with their charges and convictions, as well as where they were arrested.

• A coalition of advocacy groups sued the Trump administration in an effort to force it to turn over the DOJ’s Office of Special Counsel’s memo justifying the legal justification for US military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific.

• Senate Democrats on the Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Navy Secretary John Phelan calling the Pentagon’s investigation into Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over a viral video where he and other Democratic lawmakers urged military members to refuse illegal orders “an outright, brazen abuse of power,” and added that the review “amount[s] to a purely political exercise seeking to threaten legitimate and lawful actions…and politicize our military justice system.”

Wednesday, December 10

• A federal judge ordered the release of more files related to Jeffrey Epstein, including the unsealing of grand jury materials and investigative records from the Justice Department’s 2019 investigation into the convicted sex offender.

• Reuters reported that the Trump administration is threatening new sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and penalties to ICC officials if it doesn’t meet new demands, including changing its founding document to ensure it doesn’t investigate Trump or his administration officials, dropping investigations against Israeli leaders for its genocide in Gaza, and formally ending an investigation into the actions of US troops in Afghanistan.

• The Washington Post reported that the Department of Homeland Security recently signed a nearly $140 million contract to create its own fleet of Boeing 737 planes to be used for deportations. ICE currently uses charter planes for deportation flights.

• A federal judge blocked Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles and ordered them to be returned to the control of California Governor Gavin Newsom. In his ruling, the judge wrote, “The founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. [The Trump administration], however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one.”

• The Trump administration continued to escalate tensions with Venezuela by intercepting and seizing a sanctioned oil tanker off the country’s coast in a move an official called a “judicial enforcement action on a stateless vessel.” Trump, in confirming the seizure, said that “other things are happening.”

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• The New York Times reported that prosecutors in Romania lifted travel restrictions for Andrew and Tristan Tate, who were under investigation for rape and human trafficking, back in February because the country’s prime minister believed the move would appease the Trump administration, which, according to a text message from Andrew Tate, “was on top of things.”

• An ethics complaint was filed against federal appeals court Judge Emil Bove, who previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer before the president appointed him to the federal bench, after he attended Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. The complaint noted, “It should have been obvious to Judge Bove…that this was a highly charged, highly political event that no federal judge should have been within shouting distance of.”

• Speaking to reporters, Trump escalated his threats against Colombia, saying that the country is “producing a lot of drugs” and warning that its president, Gustavo Petro, “better wise up or he’ll be next.”

• Trump also called for CNN to be sold, saying, “I think the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent,” and adding, “I don’t think they should be entrusted with running CNN any longer.”

• Bloomberg reported that a lawyer filed claims for roughly 400 people who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection and were subsequently pardoned or granted clemency by Trump, with most of them seeking between $1 million and $10 million in payouts from the federal government.

• The Trump administration named Gregg Phillips, who spread conspiracy theories that millions of people illegally voted in the 2016 presidential election, to serve as the head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery. In his new role, Phillips will be responsible for overseeing billions of dollars in recovery funding and issuing recommendations to the agency’s administrator about disaster declarations.

Thursday, December 11

• MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) reported that the Trump administration is trying to get the Senate to confirm his former lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, whom a federal judge recently disqualified, as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told MS Now in a statement that Halligan is “the president’s nominee” and “it is our hope that she is confirmed.”

• A federal judge granted Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s habeas petition, ordering his immediate release from ICE custody and ruling that since his wrongful detention in El Salvador, “he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.” In her ruling, she noted that “the history of Abrego Garcia’s case is as well known as it is extraordinary.”

• Navy Secretary John Phelan submitted a report to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reviewing Senator Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) conduct in relation to the viral video he participated in telling military members to refuse unlawful orders. It’s unclear whether Phelan’s report, which is now being reviewed by the Defense Department’s Office of General Counsel, found any evidence of wrongdoing against Kelly.

• On Truth Social, Trump announced that he granted a pardon to Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who was convicted of tampering with voting machines following the 2020 presidential election. The pardon, which Trump said was “for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud,” is largely symbolic as the president can’t pardon individuals of state charges. Peters will continue to serve her nine-year prison sentence.

• Also on Truth Social, Trump renewed his calls to eliminate the so-called “blue slip” policy, which allows home state senators to effectively veto the president’s nominees for district court judges and US attorneys’ offices in their state, a rule that Trump called a “scam” and claimed is “making it impossible to get great Republican Judges and US Attorneys approved.”

• Zeteo reported that the Trump administration is in high-level talks to revoke the visas of two European green card holders who are prominent critics of Twitter.

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• The Republican-controlled Senate blocked a bill to extend the Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year, rejecting the Democrats’ months-long campaign to prevent premium hikes for millions of Americans. The Senate also rejected a Republican bill to give Americans up to $1,500 to spend on healthcare, a move designed as an alternative to extending the subsidies.

• Trump ally and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who was a prominent promoter of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, officially entered the race to become the Republican nominee to challenge Governor Tim Walz in 2026.

• A grand jury declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges for the second time. In a statement, James’s lawyer said that any further attempts to revive the charges against his client “would be a mockery of our system of justice.”

• The Indiana Senate voted to reject a proposal to redraw the state’s congressional map designed to help Republicans sweep all nine House seats in the state during the 2026 midterm elections.

• A federal appeals court blocked the immediate release of hundreds of immigrants detained as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. However, the court allowed the extension of a consent decree, which, in part, limits warrantless arrests by ICE.

• Reuters reported that the Trump administration is planning to intercept and seize more tankers carrying Venezuelan oil in the coming weeks.

• A TSA agent sued the Trump administration for damages in relation to the Department of Homeland Security withholding his and his colleagues’ paychecks during the record-long government shutdown while continuing to pay ICE and Border Patrol agents.

• Trump signed an executive order designed to limit the ability of states to regulate artificial intelligence and allow the attorney general to sue states in an effort to overturn existing AI laws. The move has raised concerns that companies could avoid accountability if their products harm consumers.

Friday, December 12

• A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia following his release from an ICE detention facility.

• The Justice Department sued four additional states – Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada – in an effort to force them to turn over voter registration lists. The DOJ also sued Fulton County, Georgia, for records related to the 2020 election.

• DHS announced it’s ending Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopians, along with terminating a family reunification parole program for immigrants from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras.

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• The Guardian reported that more than 50 members of Congress signed a group letter demanding answers from the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and DHS officials about a database the VA is compiling documenting all non-citizens “employed by or affiliated with” the department. The lawmakers warn the database, which is expected to be shared with immigration authorities, will “seed fear in non-citizens who perform duties in service to our nation’s veterans.”

• In a court filing, the Trump administration asked an appeals court to block Judge James Boasberg from holding hearings to determine whether officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, were in contempt of court by deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s megaprison in March in violation of Boasberg’s court order, arguing he has no constitutional authority to move forward with the hearings.

• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is giving immigration agents air passenger data in an effort to locate people with deportation orders, with the Transportation Security Administration providing ICE with lists multiple times per week.

• A coalition of Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration to block its implementation of a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas.

• The nonprofit organization National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration in an effort to stop the president’s construction of a new White House ballroom that involved demolishing the East Wing, arguing in the lawsuit that “no president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever.”

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Just when you thought things in the US couldn’t get more insane, Week 46 of Donald Trump’s presidency happened.

It was a week of passing the buck on potential (likely) war crimes, racist rants against the Somali community, tirades against women journalists, and sweeping changes to immigration policy. But it was also another week that exposed further cracks in Trump’s MAGA movement and delivered humiliating blows to the president’s efforts to go after his perceived political enemies.

It was such a busy few days, even Trump couldn’t stay awake for his own Cabinet meeting (or perhaps that’s just because of his age?!).

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Brace yourself, this week’s list is long, and it’s not just because we, as promised, included the days we missed last week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

From pardoning a convicted drug trafficker to fresh threats against Democratic-led states to dangerously rolling back the long-standing hepatitis B vaccine guidelines for newborns, here’s how Trump and his cronies harmed democracy, undermined the Constitution, and hurt free societies worldwide:

Thursday, November 27

• On Truth Social, Trump announced, without giving details, that his administration will “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries,” and added that the US will “remove anyone who is not a net asset” to the country, as well as “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

• In another post, Trump ridiculously claimed that “hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia” are “completely taking over” Minnesota, used the r-word to describe Governor Tim Walz, and attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, whom he falsely said “probably came into the U.S.A. illegally.”

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• On Twitter, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow announced that, at Trump’s direction, his agency will launch a “full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card” for holders from countries “of concern,” which USCIS later told NBC News are the 19 countries listed in Trump’s June presidential proclamation restricting entry into the US, including Afghanistan, Haiti, and Venezuela.

• While speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Trump continued his attacks against women journalists, asking CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes, “Are you a stupid person?” after she pushed back against Trump’s claim that there was “no vetting” of Afghan citizens who were brought to the US under Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome” program.

• While giving Thanksgiving remarks to US troops, Trump suggested that the US could “very soon” expand operations and launch military action on land to target alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers, saying that “It’s about 85% stopped by sea” because of military strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and adding, “We’ll be starting to stop them by land,” which he said is “easier.” The strikes have been widely condemned as violations of international law.

Friday, November 28

• On Twitter, Trump said the US will “stop all payments and subsidies” to South Africa, “effectively immediately,” days after he announced he would not invite the country to the G20 in 2026, which is slated to take place at his golf resort in Doral, Florida. Trump said South Africa “has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere,” and he continued to baselessly claim the country is committing a “genocide” against white people. Later, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country “is and will remain a full, active, and constructive member of the G20,” and called Trump’s claims about genocide “blatant misinformation.”

• On Truth Social, Trump claimed that he will nullify any executive order from the Biden administration that was signed with an autopen and “anything else that was not directly signed” by Biden himself. He warned that Biden “will be brought up on charges of perjury” if he says he was involved in “the Autopen process.” While the president has the power to revoke executive orders issued by their predecessors, Trump, who has admitted to using the autopen himself, has no legal authority to nullify pardons issued by Biden, which included his son and members of the Jan. 6 House select committee that investigated Trump’s involvement in the Capitol insurrection.

• The Trump administration reached an agreement with Northwestern University to restore more than $790 million in federal research funding and end an investigation into alleged discrimination against Jewish students at the school. As part of the agreement, the school will pay $75 million to the federal government, develop training materials to “socialize international students,” overhaul its policies on campus demonstrations, and comply with federal anti-discrimination laws.

• The State Department announced that it would immediately suspend issuing visas for travelers with Afghan passports.

• On Twitter, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow announced that the agency has halted all asylum decisions until it can ensure that every applicant “is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

• Politico reported that at least 225 judges have ruled in more than 700 cases that the Trump administration’s mass detention policy, which sees ICE arrest and detain nearly all immigrants facing deportation proceedings even if they haven’t committed a crime, likely violates the law and the right to due process. Meanwhile, only eight judges have sided with the policy.

• The Washington Post reported that the US military conducted a follow-up strike to kill survivors on a boat in the Caribbean in early September after an initial strike didn’t kill everyone on board. Before the strike, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given an order that a source described to the Post as a directive “to kill everybody.” In response, Hegseth tweeted that the reporting was “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory” and argued that the operations “are lawful under both US and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict.” However, legal experts have said the killing of the survivors in the second strike would likely be considered extrajudicial killings under international law.

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• On Truth Social, Trump announced he would grant a pardon to former Honduran President and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández, who he claims was “treated very harshly and unfairly.” Hernandez, who served two terms, was sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2024 for conspiring to import cocaine to the US, as part of what then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said was “one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.”

• Costco Wholesale sued the Trump administration before the Court of International Trade in an effort to get a “full refund” of all tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which the company argues are unlawful.

• The White House added a “Media Bias Tracker” to its website that named the Boston Globe, CBS News, and the Independent as “media offenders of the week,” and featured the Washington Post, CBS News, CNN, and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) in its “Offender Hall of Shame.” The page includes a database of articles, along with their corresponding publications and reporters, with ridiculous categories including “bias,” “lie,” and “left-wing lunacy” to describe their coverage.

Saturday, November 29

• The New York Times reported that Trump granted a commutation to David Gentile, a private equity executive who was convicted in 2024 of securities and wire fraud charges in a case prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of investors. Gentile had served less than two weeks of a seven-year prison sentence. It’s unclear whether he had connections to Trump or any of his allies.

• The Washington Post reported that the country’s top vaccine regulator told officials in an email without offering evidence that “at least 10 children have died after and because of receiving” a COVID-19 vaccine. He added that the Food and Drug Administration will take a stricter approach to approving federal vaccines, including “revis[ing] the annual flu vaccine framework” and reviewing whether people should receive multiple vaccines at the same time.

• On Truth Social, Trump declared that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” In response, the Venezuelan government said it “forcefully rejects” Trump’s claim, calling it a “colonial threat” designed to undermine the country’s “territorial integrity, aeronautical security, and full sovereignty.” The Foreign Ministry added that “such declarations constitute a hostile, unilateral, and arbitrary act.”

• A group of ex-military attorneys said Hegseth’s reported orders to “kill everyone” in the Sept. 2 boat strike in the Caribbean, and the execution of the orders, would constitute “war crimes, murder, or both.” They also noted that international law not only prohibits targeting survivors, but requires the attacking group to protect and rescue them.

Sunday, November 30

• The Washington Post reported that of the more than 4,000 people who officials say were arrested by immigration officers in Chicago over the past two months, only roughly 120 of them had a criminal record. Additionally, of more than 600 people arrested who have their detentions reviewed by a court, ICE identified fewer than 70 as posing a “high public safety risk.”

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Monday, December 1

• The New York Times reported that five US officials confirmed that Hegseth ordered the lethal Sept. 2 attack on a vessel in the Caribbean, but the officials also claimed that it was Special Operations commander Admiral Frank Bradley who directed the initial missile strike, followed by several additional strikes that killed the survivors and sank the boat. The narrative matched what White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing that afternoon.

• The White House published a letter from Trump’s physician that included details about the MRI he received during his physical exam in October. The letter said the advanced imaging was performed “because men in his age group benefit from a thorough evaluation of cardiovascular and abdominal health.” Additionally, the physician said the MRI was “preventative,” and said both Trump’s cardiovascular and abdominal imaging are “perfectly normal.”

• NBC News reported that at least 11 Republican lawmakers in Indiana have faced swatting attacks and other threats since Trump’s Nov. 16 Truth Social post pressuring state legislators to approve a new congressional map that would benefit Republicans.

• Reuters reported that during a 15-minute phone call on Nov. 21, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro told Trump he was willing to leave the country on conditions that included he and his family members receiving full legal amnesty, as well as the removal of sanctions for over 100 Venezuelan government officials, and that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez lead an interim government until elections take place. Trump rejected most of Maduro’s requests and told him he had a week to leave Venezuela. That deadline expired on Nov. 28.

• In a racist tweet, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she met with Trump and is “recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leaches, and entitlement junkies,” adding, “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.”

• The Trump administration fired eight immigration judges in New York City, who worked out of the immigration court’s offices at 26 Federal Plaza, a building that has become the main ICE holding facility for immigrants in the city and has been the scene of violent arrests by immigration officials. Among those fired was the assistant chief immigration judge, who supervised other judges at 26 Federal Plaza.

• A federal appeals court ruled that Trump’s efforts to keep Alina Habba, his former personal attorney, as the top prosecutor in New Jersey were unlawful, upholding a lower court’s decision that disqualified Habba from her post.

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Tuesday, December 2

• Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández’s lawyer said his client was released from prison after Trump formally pardoned him on Monday evening. Axios reported that Trump’s plan to pardon Hernandez came hours after ally Roger Stone, who wrote three Substack posts following the president’s inauguration calling for a pardon for Hernandez, reached out to the president to lobby for the move. Stone also said on his radio show that he sent Trump an October letter Hernandez wrote to the president, where he referred to him as “Your Excellency” and noted, “I have found strength from you.”

• Axios also reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Trump to continue pushing for him to secure a pardon from Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

• During a Cabinet meeting where Trump struggled to stay awake, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins threatened to withhold Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding to Democratic-led states beginning next week if they refuse to provide the Trump administration with data about recipients, including their names and immigration status.

• Trump ended the Cabinet meeting by going on a racist rant attacking Somalis, claiming without evidence that they “ripped off” the state of Minnesota “for billions of dollars,” and said “they contribute nothing.” Trump went on to say, “I don’t want them in our country…Somebody said, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care.” He noted that Somalia is “no good for a reason” and said “their country stinks.” He also called Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar “garbage,” and said “we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

• USCIS issued a policy memo suspending all immigration applications filed by people from the 19 countries included in Trump’s travel ban, including green card and US citizenship processing. The memo also directed agency staffers to conduct a “comprehensive re-review” of approved benefit requests for immigrants from the 19 countries who entered the US since Biden was inaugurated in 2021.​

• In a court filing, Trump urged a federal judge to extend her order prohibiting the Justice Department from releasing former special counsel Jack Smith’s full final report, which details the criminal case against the president for mishandling classified documents at his home in Mar-a-Lago. His lawyer claimed that the failure to block the report’s release would “perpetuate Jack Smith’s unlawful criminal investigations and proceedings.”

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continued to distance himself from the second strike carried out on a boat in the Caribbean to kill two survivors in September, saying he watched the first strike he authorized live but “a couple of hours passed” before he was informed of the follow-up strike. Hegseth claimed he “did not personally see survivors…because that thing was on fire and was exploded,” and added, “this is called the fog of war.”

• Meanwhile, Zeteo reported that Trump administration lawyers have been warning senior colleagues that if the Washington Post’s reporting on the second strike is true, it would be blatantly illegal, with one administration official saying, “There’s defending the homeland, and then there’s criminal behavior.”

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• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is targeting Afghan immigrants who had previously been ordered to leave the US following the shooting of two National Guard troops in DC last week, with an ICE official telling agency field offices in a Saturday email that “it has become vital to review the population of Afghanistan citizens,” and directed agents to locate and apprehend more than 1,860 Afghans who have received final deportation orders but aren’t currently in detention.

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from implementing a provision in the president’s tax and spending bill to cut federal Medicaid funding from affiliates of Planned Parenthood, ruling that the ban appears to violate the Constitution.

• NBC News reported that officials in Illinois told national rental car companies that federal immigration agents using their vehicles for enforcement operations are prohibited from switching out the license plate in an effort to disguise the vehicle, and warned that the companies could be held liable if agents do so.

• A federal judge blocked immigration officers from making arrests without a warrant unless they can prove the individual is a flight risk, finding that the failure to consider an escape risk “directly violates the clear statutory requirements” for arrests.

• On Truth Social, Trump doubled down on his plan to terminate all of Biden’s executive orders signed by autopen, but expanded the list to documents, proclamations, memorandums, and contracts.

• The Atlantic reported that approximately 35,000 people have used the Customs and Border Patrol’s app CBP Home to “self-deport,” according to data from DHS. The department started a $200 million advertising campaign promoting the app in the spring and promising that immigrants who use it to “self-deport” would get a free plane ticket and $1,000 in cash. The Atlantic determined that each self-deportation cost about $7,500.

• The family of a Colombian fisherman who was killed in a Sept. 15 boat strike by the US military filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, arguing he was murdered. Any ruling made by the commission wouldn’t be legally binding in the US.

• The Justice Department sued six more states (Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington), arguing they have violated federal voting laws by failing to turn over statewide voter registration lists. The DOJ has now sued at least 14 states, and AP says the department has requested voter data from at least 26 states.

• “I’m a very smart man,” Trump said, bragging about the results from a cognitive exam for dementia he took in April. Zeteo published the test so you can see just how smart a US president, who thought Haitian immigrants eat cats and wind turbines kill whales, really is.

Wednesday, December 3

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was launching a new immigration enforcement operation in New Orleans, Louisiana, named “Operation Catahoula Crunch.”

• On Truth Social, Trump said he would issue a “full and unconditional” pardon of Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was charged alongside his wife in 2024 with bribery and acting as a foreign agent after allegedly accepting roughly $600,000 from Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company and a Mexican bank in exchange for official acts as a member of Congress (Cuellar denied any wrongdoing). Trump claimed that Biden “used the FBI and DOJ to ‘take out’ a member of his own party” for speaking out “against Open Borders.”

• The Guardian reported that a leaked memo showed that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been building a massive internal database of non-US citizens who are “employed or affiliated” with the department. Asked whether the data would be shared with ICE, a spokesperson for the department said the VA “will share any adverse findings with the appropriate agencies to ensure anyone who is not authorized to be in the US is dealt with accordingly.”

• House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who investigated Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his handling of classified documents, for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 17.

• CNN reported that a Pentagon watchdog concluded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss sensitive attack plans in Yemen could have endangered US troops. It also determined that Hegseth has the authority to declassify information, but there is no documentation supporting him making a decision to properly declassify the attack plans before sharing them in a Signal group chat with senior Trump administration officials and the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly added to the group. Hegseth refused an interview with the inspector general and instead provided a written account of his version of events.

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• The State Department announced it would expand a new requirement for online presence reviews to include all H-1B applicants and their dependents, and instructed applicants to ensure their social media profiles are set to “public.”

• The Hill reported that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sent a letter to CBS News ombudsperson Ken Weinstein demanding answers about its editing of a ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Trump that aired Nov. 2. Raskin wrote that Trump “increasingly appears to be exercising direct control over CBS’s editorial decisions, destroying CBS’s ‘journalistic integrity’ while violating its right to be free from governmental coercion and manipulation.”

• The New York Times reported that Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, worked with consultants assisting the campaign of right-wing Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Asfura, who Trump endorsed last week in the same Truth Social post where he announced a pardon for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. Pascale confirmed to the Times that he advised the Asfura campaign, but claimed he “had no contact at all with the administration, including the president, about the election in Honduras or the pardon.”

• The Times also reported that Hegseth had approved contingency plans for how the military should respond if there were survivors of an initial strike on a boat before the Trump administration began its barrage of attacks in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. The plans stated that the military would only conduct follow-up strikes to kill survivors if they engaged in what the US would consider hostile action, including communicating with suspected cartel members. Otherwise, the military would attempt to rescue survivors.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the October resignation of the military commander overseeing the Pentagon’s attacks against boats in the Caribbean was a de facto ouster following months of conflict with Hegseth, including disagreements about whether the lethal strikes were lawful.

• Bloomberg reported that the FBI headquarters has been pressuring its domestic terrorism agents to launch a seditious conspiracy probe into six Democratic lawmakers over their viral video urging military service members to refuse illegal orders, though career leaders at the bureau’s Washington Field Office have pushed back on that request due to a lack of legal or factual basis to launch a criminal investigation against the lawmakers.

• In a court hearing, Justice Department lawyers said Trump has asserted executive privilege in a lawsuit brought by police officers who were injured while responding to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, though it’s unclear what specific records Trump is trying to claim are “clearly constitutionally protected.”

• Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump ramped up his racist attacks against Somali immigrants, saying Somalia is “not even a nation, it’s just people walking around killing each other.” He added that “those Somalians should be out of here, they’ve destroyed our country.” He claimed that “Somalia is considered by many to be one of the worst countries on Earth.” He also continued to attack Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, saying she “should be thrown the hell out of our country” and adding that her “friends shouldn’t even be allowed to be congresspeople because they don’t represent the interests of our country.”

• Trump pardoned a real estate developer who was indicted by a federal grand jury in July and accused of orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process to ensure his own company would secure a contract to build an arena at the University of Texas. While Trump has claimed many of the people he has pardoned were victims of a weaponized Biden-era Justice Department, the real estate developer was indicted under Trump’s own DOJ.

• Nearly a dozen Democratic officials sent major tech companies, including Apple, Meta, and Nvidia, letters that raised concerns about possible “quid-pro-quo exchange[s]” and “significant tax break[s]” in return for their donations to Trump’s $300 million ballroom. Several of these companies are currently facing DOJ antitrust investigations. Officials warn the federal government should enforce “antitrust laws based on the merits rather than political favors.”

• On Truth Social, Trump called Colorado Governor Jared Polis a “SLEAZEBAG” and said he “should be ashamed of himself” for not releasing Tina Peters from jail. Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado, was convicted of several charges after using someone’s security badge to allow an associate of Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to access county election equipment following the 2020 presidential election.

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Thursday, December 4

• A federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to continue its deployment of National Guard troops in DC, pausing a lower court order that found the move was probably illegal and directed the troops to leave by Dec. 11.

• USCIS announced it would reduce the length of time Employment Authorization Documents are valid for certain groups of immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, from five years to 18 months, in an effort to vet these immigrants more frequently.

• After military officials showed lawmakers video footage of the second strike that killed survivors during the Sept. 2 military operation in the Caribbean, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told reporters, “What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.” Himes added that the survivors were in “clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel” when they were killed by the US military.

• Meanwhile, CNN reported that Admiral Frank Bradley told lawmakers that the survivors who were killed by a second military strike didn’t appear to have radio or other communication devices, directly contradicting claims made by defense officials in at least one briefing to congressional staff that the survivors were legitimate targets because they appeared to be radioing for help or backup.

• Amnesty International released a report on conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz” and the Krome ICE detention facility in the Everglades following a September visit. The organization noted that individuals are being held in conditions at both facilities that amount to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” They also said the use of a small cage-like structure at “Alligator Alcatraz” known as the “box,” where people are put in punishment with their feet attached to restraints on the ground, amounts to “torture or other ill-treatment,” along with prolonged solitary confinement at Krome.

• The New York Times sued the Pentagon, arguing its new policy restricting reporting on the military “violates the Constitution’s guarantees of due process, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.”

• A federal grand jury declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges, less than two weeks after the original criminal case against her was dismissed. In a statement, James noted, “As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop.”

• The US military, at the direction of Hegseth, conducted a strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people. On Twitter, Hegseth responded to a tweet from Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet, who said he wants to see “another narco boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean” for every new “attack” against Hegseth, saying, “Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat.”

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• The Supreme Court allowed Texas to move forward with its new congressional map, which was designed to net Republicans up to five additional House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the order “disrespects the work” of the district court that ruled the map was unconstitutional and “disserves millions of Texans.”

• The Government Accountability Office confirmed it is opening an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte to determine whether he misused his authority and agency resources in his decisions to refer New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), and Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to the Justice Department on allegations of mortgage fraud.

• On Fox, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration will expand its travel ban to more than 30 countries and added that Trump is considering which countries to include in the ban.

• The Trump administration released its National Security Strategy, which, among other things, railed against America’s long-standing European allies, claiming Europe faced “civilizational erasure” due to its immigration policies, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition,” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.” It noted, however, that the rise of far-right “patriotic European parties” gives “cause for great optimism.”

Friday, December 5

• The New York Times reported that video footage of the two survivors of the US military’s Sept. 2 boat strike in the Caribbean showed them climbing on top of the overturned vessel and waving, a move that has been interpreted differently by people who have seen the footage, with some believing the waving could have been an effort to surrender or signaling for a rescue.

• Meanwhile, CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported the alleged drug boat hit on Sept. 2 was not heading to the US, but it was going to hook up with a larger vessel bound for Suriname, Admiral Frank Bradley told lawmakers.

• The Supreme Court agreed to review a case challenging Trump’s executive order to ban birthright citizenship. A ruling in the case is expected by the end of June 2026.

• Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to eliminate the recommendation for all newborns to receive a hepatitis B vaccine, which has been in place since 1991. The panel said the vaccine isn’t necessary for babies whose mothers have tested negative for hepatitis B, and suggested parents delay the first dose for at least two months. The recommendation now moves to the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for approval.

• MS Now (formerly MSNBC) reported that FBI Director Kash Patel has ordered the security detail responsible for protecting his girlfriend to escort one of her allegedly intoxicated friends home after partying in Nashville, Tennessee, on more than one occasion.

• A federal judge granted a request by the Justice Department to release grand jury records from investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, finding that the new law passed by Congress to release the Epstein files “trumps” the regulations that prevent grand jury material from being publicly released.

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Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 45’ – an abbreviated week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. But don’t worry, we’ll continue to track all the undemocratic actions Donald Trump and his allies take over the next couple of days and include them in next week’s edition.

Until then, we’ve still got a long list of things Trump and his cronies did that undermine democratic values and the Constitution and harm free societies around the world.

From the Trump administration launching investigations into lawmakers the president baselessly accused of sedition to the DOJ suffering a humiliating blow to Trump’s effort to punish his political opponents to a judge dismissing the criminal case against Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, here’s ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 45’:

Saturday, November 22

• The Washington Post reported that Costa Rica’s security minister said Friday that the country is still willing to accept Kilmar Abrego García on humanitarian grounds and grant him legal residency if he is deported from the US, despite the Trump administration’s lawyers arguing in recent court filings that the Central American country wouldn’t accept him and that the only country that would is Liberia.

• On Twitter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the 28-point peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, which would force Kyiv to make major concessions, was “authored” by the US after a Republican senator claimed that Rubio distanced himself from the plan during a phone call with lawmakers earlier that day and said the proposal came from Russia.

• Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the peace plan was the result of a meeting between Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and a Russian envoy who is a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and was sanctioned by the US in 2022.

• Reuters also reported that the Trump administration is set to launch a new phase of operations related to Venezuela in a mounting pressure campaign against President Nicolás Maduro.

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• On Truth Social, Trump continued to target six Democratic lawmakers who recently published a video telling members of the military to refuse illegal orders, accusing them of sedition “AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL” and saying they “SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW.”

• A federal appeals court ruled the Trump administration can’t expand a border-specific rapid deportations policy to immigrants the government believed had been living anywhere in the US for less than two years, agreeing with a lower-court judge who found that the move would violate the due process rights of immigrants.

Sunday, November 23

• On Truth Social, Trump once again called for the release of Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was convicted of several charges after using someone’s security badge to allow an associate of Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to access county election equipment following the 2020 presidential election. Trump claimed that she is in prison “FOR ATTEMPTING TO EXPOSE VOTER FRAUD.”

• He also shared a post that said the Democrats he has accused of sedition are “traitorous sons of bitches” who should be “impeached and prosecuted.”

• In a court filing, Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued that the Washington Post’s reporting about Costa Rica being willing to accept their client makes “crystal clear that the government is willing to mislead the courts and defy court orders intended to shed light on its conduct.” They added that it’s further evidence that the Trump administration’s prosecution of him is vindictive.

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her office would evaluate whether to terminate the Temporary Protected Status of roughly 700 Somalis living in the US. Last week, Trump vowed on Truth Social to end the designation for Somalis in Minnesota.

Monday, November 24

• A federal judge dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after ruling that the prosecutor who brought charges against them, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed as the interim US Attorney of Eastern Virginia. Later, Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters that the Justice Department “will be taking all available legal action, including an immediate appeal” to hold James and Comey “accountable for their unlawful conduct.”

• The executive director of the disastrous US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced it will close after it suspended its operations following the so-called ceasefire agreement. The UN reported that more than 800 Palestinians were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites.

• The Pentagon launched an investigation into Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) for “serious allegations of misconduct” in response to the viral video that Trump has ridiculously called seditious. On Twitter, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the video, which urged military members to refuse illegal orders, “despicable, reckless and false.” In response, Kelly tweeted that “If this is meant to intimidate me…it won’t work,” adding, “I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.”

• The Trump administration announced it would terminate the Temporary Protected Status of nearly 4,000 immigrants from Myanmar, making them deportable in 60 days to a country currently involved in a bloody civil war and ruled by a brutal military dictatorship.

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• ProPublica reported that ICE has sent more than 600 immigrant children to federal shelters so far this year, which is more than the past four years combined. Roughly 150 of the children were placed in federal shelters, and often separated from their families, after a traffic stop. The length of stays in the shelter system has also increased from one month under the Biden administration to six months under the Trump administration.

• CBS News reported that fewer than one-third of the people arrested by Border Patrol during “Operation Charlotte’s Web” in Charlotte, North Carolina, were classified as criminals, and it’s unclear whether their records include convictions.

• A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to expedite the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests by nonprofit organization Democracy Forward related to the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein Files, except for the search terms “whistleblower” and “flight logs,” which the judge concluded were “overbroad.”

• The Justice Department again asked a federal court to publish sealed grand jury materials from investigations into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, arguing that the recently passed legislation requiring the DOJ to release the Epstein files “override some of the underlying bases for grand jury secrecy.”

• The Trump administration ordered a review of all refugees who entered the US during the Biden administration. The move, which will apply to roughly 233,000 people, could result in the termination of their refugee status if they are now determined to have not met refugee criteria. Additionally, the order suspended all processing of applications for permanent residence for those refugees.

Tuesday, November 25

• The FBI’s counterterrorism division launched an investigation into the six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in the viral video calling on members of the military to refuse illegal orders, with four House members saying in a statement that the FBI contacted the House and Senate sergeant at arms to set up interviews with them. They noted that Trump is “using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress” and added that they “will not be bullied.”

• MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) reported that Trump is considering firing FBI Director Kash Patel in the coming months due to the negative press he has received, including his girlfriend’s security detail and use of a government jet, and his feuds with other Trump administration officials. Sources said Trump may replace Patel with co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, who had no previous FBI experience before Trump named him to his senior position. Trump can only install Bailey as acting director after he serves in his current position for 90 days, leaving him eligible to succeed Patel after Dec. 15. Later, Trump told reporters he’s not firing Patel, and added, “He’s doing a great job.”

• Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) filed a civil lawsuit against Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, claiming he abused his position by “scouring databases and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” for private mortgage records of Trump’s Democratic opponents, including Swalwell. The lawsuit, which asks the court to direct Pulte to withdraw his criminal referral to the Justice Department, adds that Pulte’s targeting of Swalwell was “a gross abuse of power that violated the law.”

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• The Washington Post reported that FEMA and Illinois officials pulled dozens of its employees from surveying neighborhoods in Chicago that were damaged by floods because immigration agents were conducting crackdown operations nearby.

• Twenty states and Washington, DC, sued the Trump administration to block its policy changes for the funding of a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program meant to provide permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness. The changes would significantly cut the funding and put new conditions on the program, including giving HUD the authority to eliminate funding for organizations that acknowledge the existence of trans and nonbinary people.

• Trump adviser Steve Witkoff was accused of “favoring Russia” after Bloomberg reported the transcript of a leaked October call that revealed he coached Putin’s top foreign policy aide on how to approach Trump regarding talks on ending the war in Ukraine. Asked about the call, Trump told reporters he heard it was a “standard negotiation,” and added, “He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s going to sell Ukraine to Russia. That’s what a dealmaker does.”

• On Twitter, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared a memo directing the Navy secretary to review Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) for “potentially unlawful conduct” in relation to the viral video where he and five other Democratic lawmakers urged military members to resist illegal orders. The memo requested that the Navy review be completed and briefed to Hegseth by Dec. 10.

• Multiple news outlets reported that the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s 11-year-old nephew was arrested by ICE agents earlier this month and is in custody at an immigration detention facility in Louisiana. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the woman had a “previous arrest for battery” (though no battery charges were found in Massachusetts’s online court records) and has been in the US since her tourist visa expired in 1999. A Trump administration official said Leavitt “had no involvement whatsoever in this matter.”

• In a court filing, Justice Department lawyers disclosed for the first time that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was the one who directed the deportations of 100 Venezuelan men to El Salvador’s mega-prison in March, despite Judge James Boasberg’s court order for them to remain in US custody.

• A class of immigrants detained in a holding facility in Manhattan filed a motion to sanction the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and hold its secretary, Kristi Noem, in civil contempt for failing to improve conditions there, noting that “certain conditions appeared to worsen” after a judge’s August order. The motion noted that Noem and DHS “appear never to have implemented many of the required procedures, particularly those regarding attorney access, hygiene, and the provision of the Notice of Rights to all detained individuals.”

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• A federal judge blocked a DHS policy implemented in July that eliminated bond hearings for immigrants who entered the US without inspection while they go through deportation proceedings, a move that could allow the release of thousands of migrants.

• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration has committed more than $10 billion in taxpayer funds to buy shares of private companies deemed essential to national security, including US Steel and Intel, raising concerns of corruption and market distortion. Additionally, Trump personally purchased up to $5 million worth of Intel’s corporate debt shortly after the government took a 10% stake in the company.

• A federal judge ruled that immigration officers in Colorado can no longer arrest people without a warrant unless they have cause to believe the individual is in the country illegally and is likely to flee before an arrest warrant is obtained. As part of the ruling, the immigration officers must also document their reasons for arresting someone.

• Inside Medicine reported that the CDC quietly named Dr. Ralph Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, as the agency’s principal deputy director. Abraham has called COVID-19 vaccines “dangerous,” backed the drugs hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as alternatives to the COVID-19 vaccine, and ended the state health department’s mass vaccination campaigns.

Wednesday, November 26

• A Georgia prosecutor dropped the racketeering case against Trump and his allies for their efforts to conspire to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The prosecutor wrote: “Given the complexity of the legal issues at hand – ranging from constitutional questions and the Supremacy Clause to immunity, jurisdiction, venue, speedy-trial concerns, and access to federal records – and even assuming each of these issues were resolved in the State’s favor, bringing this case before a jury in 2029, 2030, or even 2031 would be nothing short of a remarkable feat.”

• On Truth Social, Trump lashed out at the New York Times over its reporting on his growing fatigue, fewer public appearances, and shorter workdays. Trump called the article a “hit piece,” and the outlet a “RAG” that is “truly an ‘ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.’” He also attacked reporter Katie Rogers, who co-wrote the piece, calling her “a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out.”

• A federal appeals court affirmed a nearly $1 million penalty against Trump and lawyer Alina Habba, finding their lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey was “sanctionable conduct,” and that many of their legal arguments “were indeed frivolous.” The court also rejected an effort by Trump to revive a 2022 lawsuit that targeted his political enemies, including Clinton and Comey, which alleged a racketeering conspiracy to tie Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with Russia.

• A coalition of 21 states and DC sued the Trump administration to block a recent guidance that they argue prohibits some legal immigrants, including people who came to the US as refugees and asylum seekers, from being eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

• Two members of the National Guard were shot near the White House. On Truth Social, Trump, who was not in DC at the time, called the alleged shooter an “animal” who will “pay a very steep price,” and added they were also “severely wounded.” At least one person was in custody. Hegseth later announced that he will ask the Army secretary to deploy an additional 500 National Guard troops to DC.

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• The Justice Department asked a judge to lift a protective order in order to publicly release evidence and material obtained while investigating Epstein and Maxwell, including search warrants, financial records, flight logs, arrest reports, depositions from civil investigations, and materials from Epstein’s estate.

• Trump announced that the US will not invite South Africa to the G20 summit in Florida next year, following the US’s own boycott of the summit in Johannesburg this past month. Trump’s announcement also came after this year’s summit in South Africa ended with a joint declaration covering climate change and economic inequality.

• The New York Times reported that the White House is finalizing a deal with Northwestern University that would see the school pay a $75 million fine in exchange for the Trump administration restoring hundreds of millions in federal funds and closing a federal investigation into the university.

• The Times also reported that immigration lawyers have seen a surge in the arrests of foreign spouses of US citizens during interviews at US Citizenship and Immigration Services offices, with agents telling them they overstayed their tourist or business visas, making them removable from the country.

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This week, Donald Trump hosted – and defended – a world leader who, according to US intelligence, ordered the murder of a US-based journalist.

He capped off a day in which he also accused six Democrats of sedition, “punishable by DEATH,” by resharing a post calling for them to be “hanged.”

And he viciously berated journalists, especially women reporters, for simply doing their job: asking important questions.

Needless to say, Trump reached new lows this week – who knew that was even possible?! Perhaps, he was steaming from the pure humiliation of losing on the Epstein vote in Congress, but his words, his actions, continue to have real consequences for US democracy, the free press, and the American people.

From Trump dismissing US intel on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to his administration carrying out another “extrajudicial execution” on a boat in the Pacific to the US Coast Guard (briefly) saying swastikas wouldn’t be considered hate symbols anymore, here’s what president and his allies did this week that go against democratic values, undermine the Constitution, and hurt free societies worldwide – and what some lower courts did to push back:

Saturday, November 15

• On Truth Social, Trump called on NBC to fire late-night talk show host Seth Meyers “IMMEDIATELY!,” ridiculously claiming that Meyers is “suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

• The New York Times reported that the Trump Organization is involved in negotiations to develop a Trump-branded property at one of Saudi Arabia’s largest government-owned real estate developments.

• Reuters reported that Trump bought over $80 million in corporate and municipal bonds from late August to early October, with many of the investments in sectors that profit from his administration’s agenda, including Intel, which the federal government acquired a stake in earlier this year.

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Sunday, November 16

• The New York Times spoke to more than 60 attorneys who resigned or were fired from the Justice Department since Trump took office about the administration’s weaponization of the DOJ. One former prosecutor said, “If we’re indicting people because the president hates them, that’s counter to the whole point of doing my job.” Another lawyer noted that, “Our job wasn’t to engage in fact-finding investigations; our job was to find the facts that would fit the narrative.

• On Twitter, the US Southern Command announced that the Defense Department, at Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction, conducted a strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people. It marked the 21st known strike by the Pentagon, which human rights groups have described as “extrajudicial executions.”

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles will be designated as a foreign terrorist organization. But Cartel de los Soles isn’t a literal organization but a figure of speech used in Venezuela since the 1990s to describe military officials corrupted by drug money. The announcement came just hours after a major US aircraft carrier entered the Caribbean Sea.

• On Truth Social, Trump reversed course and said House Republicans “should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide,” adding that “it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.”

Monday, November 17

• The newly rebranded MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) reported that FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend has a security detail comprised of agents usually assigned to a SWAT team in an effort to shield her from potential threats, an unusual move that has raised concerns about possible delays in law enforcement responding to other incidents. One former senior FBI agent said there is “no legitimate justification” for the security detail, calling it “a clear abuse of position and misuse of government resources.”

• The acting head of FEMA, who once told staff he was unaware the US has a hurricane season and was notably unreachable during the July Texas floods that killed more than 130 people, resigned after six months. CNN reported that there were already plans in the works to remove him from his position before he resigned.

• A lawyer for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Ed Martin, a Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud, arguing that the allegations made by Trump and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that Cook engaged in mortgage fraud “fail on even the most cursory look at the facts,” and that the alleged contradictions in her loan applications “were cherry-picked, incomplete snippets of the full documents submitted” by Cook.

• A federal judge ruled that prosecutors in former FBI Director James Comey’s criminal case must turn over grand jury materials from his indictment. In his ruling, which was paused after the Justice Department appealed it, the judge wrote that “the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” by Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s handpicked interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, that could “undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.” The judge also found “genuine issues of misconduct” in the case and said that Halligan may have returned an indictment that was never presented to the grand jury.

• Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he would be “OK” with launching strikes on Mexico, purportedly to stop drug trafficking into the US.

• The Trump administration proposed restoring a rule from his first term that was rescinded by Biden in 2022, which would make it harder for immigrants who use Medicaid and other public benefits to get a green card, arguing that “government benefits should not incentivize immigration” and that immigrants should be “self-reliant.”

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• The UN Security Council approved a US-backed resolution in a 13-0 vote, with China and Russia abstaining, that establishes an “International Stabilization Force” in Gaza, moving forward with Trump’s plan to demilitarize the Palestinian enclave. Hamas rejected the resolution, saying it imposes an “international guardianship mechanism” over Gaza.

• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting agreed to restore a $36 million, multi-year contract with NPR as part of a court settlement in a legal dispute in which NPR said the funding was cut off due to pressure from the Trump White House.

• A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump administration challenging policies in New York that prohibit immigration officials from arresting people at state courthouses. Justice Department lawyers argued the policies violated the Constitution, but the judge said the federal government can’t force states to cooperate with immigration enforcement.

• A federal judge temporarily blocked Tennessee Governor Bill Lee from deploying National Guard troops to Memphis, a move he directed as part of the Trump administration’s operations to combat crime. In her ruling, the judge wrote that the governor’s power “is not unfettered” and that the case “raises important questions concerning the use of the state’s military forces for domestic law enforcement purposes.”

• A senior State Department official told reporters that the US will not be providing doses of the HIV prevention drug lenacapavir to South Africa as part of a new plan to provide the drug to countries most affected by HIV/AIDS. The official said that the Trump administration instead would encourage countries like South Africa, which has the world’s largest HIV-positive population and has historically received the largest share of US funding for HIV prevention, to fund the doses on its own.

• A trans woman from Mexico sued the Trump administration after she was deported to her home country last week in a move that violated a court order by an immigration judge who found that she would likely face torture there. A Justice Department lawyer also acknowledged that her deportation was “inadvertent” and the Trump administration is working to return her back to the US while it looks for another country to deport her to.

Tuesday, November 18

• ProPublica reported that the White House intervened in an investigation against Andrew Tate, who has been accused of sex trafficking women in three countries, when Tate and his brother, Tristan, visited the US back in February. After CBP officials seized their phones upon arrival, then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS) liaison Paul Ingrassia, who once served as a lawyer representing the brothers, told DHS officials to return the seized phones, and “chided authorities for taking the action, saying the seizure of the Tates’ devices was not a good use of time or resources.”

• Trump welcomed Mohammed bin Salman to the White House, marking the Saudi Crown Prince’s first visit since the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Speaking to reporters alongside MBS, Trump claimed the crown prince “knew nothing about” Khashoggi’s killing, despite US intelligence concluding MBS ordered the killing. Trump added that “things happen,” called Khashoggi “extremely controversial,” and claimed that “a lot of people didn’t like” him. Trump also ridiculed the reporter who asked about Khashoggi, saying, “You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

• Asked by ABC News reporter Mary Bruce about why the House needs to vote on releasing the Epstein files when he could order the release himself, Trump lashed out and called on Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr to “take a look at” revoking the network’s broadcast license.

• At a White House dinner, Trump invited Saudi Arabia to join his Gaza Board of Peace, which he claimed would be made up of “the heads of every major country.”

• A video emerged of President Trump on Air Force One last Friday reacting to a question by Bloomberg’s White House Correspondent Catherine Lucey by saying “Quiet. Quiet piggy”. The female journalist had asked about the Epstein scandal.

• The Department of Education announced that it reached agreements to transfer some of its offices to other federal agencies in an effort to continue dismantling the department, including shifting the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s programs, as well as sections of the Office of Postsecondary Education, to be co-managed by the Labor Department.

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• A federal appeals court declined to revive Trump’s defamation lawsuit against CNN over its use of the term “Big Lie” to describe his lies about the 2020 presidential election being “stolen,” calling the lawsuit “meritless” and finding that the network’s use of the phrase is protected under the First Amendment.

• The Senate passed legislation to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein Files within 30 days by unanimous consent after only one House lawmaker voted against it earlier in the day, moving the bill to Trump’s desk. One administration official told Zeteo, “We lost this one badly.”

• A panel of federal judges blocked Texas from implementing its new congressional map, which could net Republicans as many as five additional House seats in the 2026 midterm elections, ruling that the map was “racially gerrymandered” and ordering that the state use the congressional map introduced in 2021.

• AP reported that the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to deploy roughly 250 federal border agents to New Orleans, Louisiana, on Dec. 1, for a massive two-month immigration crackdown operation that seeks to arrest about 5,000 people.

• The New York Times reported that Trump’s presidential library foundation is set to raise about $50 million this year, far outpacing his predecessors, with most of the funds coming from donations pledged by media companies as part of settlements with the president. But in a regulatory filing, the foundation offered no details about its biggest expense of the year — a $6.2 million budget item that makes up roughly 90% of its spending, describing it only as “other.”

• Axios reported that the Trump administration is working on a new plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The plan would force Ukraine to cede parts of its territory to Russia, which it doesn’t currently control, and also require Ukraine to limit its military far below its current levels. One US official said that Ukraine would likely lose the territory if the war continues, and “therefore it is in Ukraine’s interest to reach a deal now.”

Wednesday, November 19

• During a court hearing, a federal judge questioned Trump’s former lawyer and handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, about the validity of her grand jury indictment against former FBI Director James Comey. Halligan confirmed that the grand jury had never seen the final indictment that was returned against Comey, a move that could jeopardize the case. Another prosecutor in the case told the judge that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office ordered them not to disclose whether a memo was written that recommended against indicting Comey before Halligan moved forward with the grand jury.

• In a rant on Truth Social, Trump announced that he signed the bill forcing the Justice Department to release the Epstein files into law. It’s unclear how many of the files will be released by the DOJ, considering the legislation notes that the attorney general can withhold or redact any information that names victims or could interfere with a current federal investigation.

• The CDC updated its website to replace language that stated that studies have shown there is “no link” between vaccines and autism to say, “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” The site also claims that studies linking vaccines and autism “have been ignored by health authorities.” Demetre Daskalakis, the former head of the agency’s center responsible for respiratory viruses and immunizations, told the Washington Post that the changes show that the CDC “cannot currently be trusted as a scientific voice.” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. later admitted he ordered the changes.

• Judge James Boasberg began moving ahead with proceedings to determine whether Trump administration officials violated his March court order prohibiting the deportation flights of Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from terminating the Temporary Protected Status of more than 6,100 Syrians, finding that the move was likely illegal.

• While giving remarks at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center, Trump continued to spread lies that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” and falsely claimed that “it’s been proven and continues to be proven.”

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• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to resume a deferred action program designed to protect young undocumented immigrants who have been abused or neglected by a parent.

• A former FBI employee sued the FBI and its director, Kash Patel, after he was fired for displaying a pride flag at his workstation, something Patel said in a letter was an inappropriate display of political signage. However, the flag had previously been flown by the FBI and was later gifted to the employee by the agency. The lawsuit argues the termination violated the employee’s First Amendment and equal protection rights, and calls for his reinstatement.

• NBC News reported that a senior military lawyer, who serves as the senior judge advocate general at US Southern Command in Miami, disagreed with the Trump administration’s position that its military strikes on boats near Venezuela were lawful, but his opinion was overruled by more senior government officials.

Thursday, November 20

• The Guardian reported that a White House official has had discussions with Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount, about possibly firing CNN hosts Trump hates, including Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, if Paramount ends up acquiring Warner Bros Discovery.

• On Truth Social, Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of sedition, which he said is “punishable by DEATH!,” after they published a video telling members of the military to refuse illegal orders. Trump also ”re-Truthed” another post that called for the lawmakers to be hanged. In response, House Democratic leaders contacted the US Capitol Police and the House sergeant-at-arms to protect the lawmakers, and in a statement, said Trump should “immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and recant his violent rhetoric before he gets someone killed.”

• Also on Truth Social, Trump once again took aim at late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, calling for ABC to “Get the bum off the air!!!” and asking, “Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it?”

• The Trump administration walked back its plan to require millions of people to reapply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and instead will continue to use its current verification processes for those receiving benefits to ensure they’re still eligible.

• ABC News reported that the Justice Department and the FBI are investigating Trump’s pardon attorney Ed Martin and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte over their conduct in their criminal probes of Trump’s political enemies, including Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

• A federal appeals court temporarily blocked a judge’s order to release hundreds of people who were arrested by immigration agents in the Chicago area as part of the Trump’s administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration crackdown.

• CNN reported that top Border Patrol official Greg Bovino and agents with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are leaving Charlotte, North Carolina, following the week-long “Operation Charlotte’s Web” immigration crackdown, which resulted in businesses temporarily closing, children being kept out of school, and hundreds of people being arrested. While the CBP operation is ending, ICE will continue its enforcement measures in the city.

• The Washington Post reported that the US Coast Guard would no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols. Under the new guidelines, which would have taken effect on Dec. 15, their classification would be downgraded to “potentially divisive.” In response, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed the story was fabricated, despite the policy being published on the Pentagon’s own website. Hours later, the Coast Guard re-established swastikas and nooses as hate symbols.

• The Trump administration issued new guidelines for the State Department’s annual reports on global human rights, directing all US embassies and consulates to begin collecting data on gender-affirming care for youth, which it falsely refers to as “the chemical or surgical mutilation of children,” the estimated number of abortions performed in a country each year, and other governments’ affirmative action policies.

• In a court filing, the Justice Department claimed the full grand jury in James Comey’s criminal case reviewed the final indictment against the former FBI director, contradicting prosecutor Lindsey Halligan’s testimony.

• Zeteo reported that Mahmoud Khalil sued the Trump administration over its refusal to release its communications with anti-Palestinian organizations and individuals in the lead-up to when he was arrested in March. Khalil’s lawsuit seeks to compel the administration to reveal all communications between the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, the Department of Justice, and the State Department, and groups like Canary Mission, Betar US, and Columbia Alumni for Israel.

• Zeteo also reported that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order that would shield his donors from state laws seeking to protect their residents from “algorithmic discrimination” and “catastrophic risk” posed by advanced artificial-intelligence models. The order would direct the Justice Department to sue states that pass laws to regulate artificial intelligence, and direct the commerce secretary to withhold federal funds for broadband internet from states that have AI regulation laws in place.

• During a court hearing, a federal judge noted that the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be jeopardized because of a 2019 order by an immigration judge that said he couldn’t be deported to El Salvador but didn’t explicitly order him to be deported. The federal judge noted, “You can’t fake it ‘til you make it … You have to have the order. It’s got to be an order memorialized somewhere and I don’t have it.” If the judge rules Abrego Garcia was never formally ordered to be deported, it opens the door for him to make a new asylum claim.

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• A federal judge issued a 233-page opinion sharply rebuking the actions of the DHS during its immigration crackdown in Chicago, noting that the “inconsistencies and incredible representations” in testimony from officials makes it “difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything that Defendants represent.” She also concluded that top Border Patrol official Greg Bovino’s testimony was “not credible,” adding that he “appeared evasive over the three days of his deposition, either providing ‘cute’ responses … or outright lying.”

• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in DC, finding that the move was illegal. The judge also placed a three-week hold on the order to allow for an appeal.

• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump after he called Bloomberg’s White House correspondent Catherine Lucey “piggy” on Air Force One last week, telling reporters, “I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near-daily basis.”

Friday, November 21

• During a court hearing, a Justice Department attorney said that the agency is still reviewing all of the documents it seized from former national security adviser John Bolton’s home and suggested prosecutors may consider additional charges against him. In response, the judge noted that “most of this probably should have been done before the indictment.”

• House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told Politico that Ghislaine Maxwell would plead the 5th if she was interviewed by congressional investigators, which would make it unlikely for his staff or lawmakers to sit down with her, despite the committee issuing a subpoena for her testimony back in July.

• The Guardian reported that ICE arrested and detained approximately 54,000 people and deported about 56,000 people during the federal government shutdown.

• The Guardian also reported that the FBI spied on a group of immigrant rights activists who organized efforts to monitor public proceedings at federal immigration courts in New York by gaining access to their private Signal group chat. An August report from the FBI and New York Police Department described the group as “anarchist violent extremist actors.”

• A federal judge said that a Venezuelan man who was improperly deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March despite a pending asylum claim is now missing after being sent back to his home country as part of a prisoner swap. The judge suggested the man may have been “the victim of the anticipated violence that caused him to seek asylum in the United States.”

• After spending months slamming New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as a “communist” and interfering in the mayoral election by threatening to withhold federal funds if Mamdani was elected, Trump held a surprisingly friendly presser alongside Mamdani in the Oval Office, where he said, “I expect to be helping him, not hurting him.”

• Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito temporarily paused a lower court ruling barring Texas from using newly-drawn congressional maps while the Court considers the case.

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally whom the president recently branded a “traitor,” announced she would resign in January, blaming Trump for blowing a “dog whistle to dangerous radicals that could lead to serious attacks on me and my family.” Greene, who is known for her own vile rhetoric, was among the most vocal Republicans splitting with the president over their support for the effort to release the Epstein files. “Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for,” Greene said.

• Senator Elissa Slotkin’s office said Michigan State Police responded to a bomb threat at the lawmaker’s home. Slotkin, who was among the six Democrats Trump accused of “seditious behavior” that was “punishable by death,” was not home at the time.

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