Key relationships, allies, and adversaries
John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser turned critic, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully retaining classified information — the first conviction in Trump's stated campaign of retribution, prosecuted under the same statute Trump himself was indicted under in 2023 before his case was dismissed.
The Senate voted 50-48 to direct Trump to halt military action against Iran without congressional authorization — the first time a war powers resolution has cleared both chambers of Congress in the 53-year history of the statute. Four Republicans crossed the aisle to rebuke the president after his unauthorized strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
On the eve of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's first Vatican meeting with Pope Leo XIV, Trump publicly attacked the American-born pope as 'endangering' Catholics and falsely claimed Leo wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The attacks extend a year-long campaign by Trump to discredit the first U.S.-born pope, who has emerged as one of the most prominent religious critics of the Iran war.
Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025. On May 8, the conclave elected Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost — the first U.S. pope in history — who took the name Leo XIV. Within weeks, Trump began the year-long campaign of public attacks on the new pope that would still be ongoing in May 2026.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to Washington to sign a U.S.-Ukraine critical minerals agreement. Instead, an Oval Office press appearance descended into a shouting match with Trump and Vice President JD Vance accusing him of ingratitude, of 'gambling with World War III,' and of disrespecting them on television. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz then walked into a side room and told Zelensky to leave. The deal was scrapped, the joint press conference was canceled, and the visiting head of a wartime democracy was sent home without lunch.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report documented a 'sweeping and systematic' Russian interference operation that the Trump campaign 'expected to benefit from,' identified ten separate episodes in which Trump may have obstructed justice, and explicitly stated it did 'not exonerate' him. Attorney General William Barr spent the morning of its release publicly mischaracterizing it before Congress and the public could read it.
In the weeks following the Access Hollywood tape, more than a dozen women came forward publicly to accuse Trump of unwanted kissing, groping, and sexual assault, directly contradicting his claim that the tape was mere 'locker room talk.'
The Washington Post published a 2005 recording in which Trump bragged about kissing and groping women without consent, saying 'when you're a star, they let you do it,' triggering the most severe crisis of his campaign.
During a visit to the set of 'Days of Our Lives,' a hot microphone captured Donald Trump making vulgar and predatory remarks about women to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, a recording that would surface eleven years later during the 2016 campaign.
Donald Trump married Slovenian model Melania Knauss at his Mar-a-Lago estate in a lavish ceremony attended by celebrities and political figures including Hillary and Bill Clinton.
The Trump divorce from Ivana became the biggest tabloid story in New York, fueled by revelations of Trump's affair with Marla Maples and a public confrontation in Aspen, consuming months of front-page coverage.
Roy Cohn — Joseph McCarthy's henchman turned New York mob fixer — became Trump's mentor in the 1970s, teaching him the tactics that still define him: attack relentlessly, admit nothing, deny everything, counter-sue, weaponize the media, and never, ever apologize.
