The sourced, cited record of Donald Trump's corruption, fraud, and authoritarian rule — from the 1970s to today.
For over a decade, Donald Trump maintained a close personal friendship with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. They partied together, flew together, and praised each other publicly — until it became politically inconvenient.
"I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy," Trump told New York Magazine in 2002. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."
The relationship spanned from at least 1992 to the mid-2000s. Epstein had 14 phone numbers for Trump and his staff in his personal contacts. Flight logs, party footage, and a trail of photographs document a friendship Trump has desperately tried to rewrite.
After Epstein's 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump claimed he was "not a fan" and had cut ties years earlier. Epstein died in federal custody under circumstances that remain disputed — while Trump's Attorney General, William Barr, oversaw the Bureau of Prisons.
Trump fired USAID Inspector General Paul Martin one day after his office reported nearly $500 million in food aid was at risk of spoiling due to the administration's gutting of the agency.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) launched aggressive efforts to slash federal spending and reduce the government workforce, generating controversy over its access to sensitive government systems and the legality of its actions.
Trump imposed or threatened sweeping tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, roiling global markets and sparking fears of a trade war, before pausing some tariffs after last-minute negotiations with neighboring countries.
The Trump administration launched an unprecedented effort to drastically reduce the federal workforce, firing probationary employees en masse, offering buyout packages, and reclassifying civil servants to strip employment protections.
As devastating wildfires raged across the Los Angeles area, Trump threatened to withhold federal disaster aid from California unless the state complied with his demands on water policy and immigration, drawing sharp criticism from local officials and disaster experts.
Within hours of taking office, Trump signed dozens of executive orders targeting immigration, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, ending federal DEI programs, and declaring a national emergency at the southern border.