Hiding the record

Justice Department declared the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional; a judge ordered compliance

On April 1, 2026, at the White House counsel’s request, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion that the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which makes a president’s official records public property, is unconstitutional; the next day White House Counsel David Warrington issued substitute records guidance for staff. On May 20, 2026, Judge John Bates ruled the law “likely constitutional”, found a “substantial risk that the government is no longer fully complying” with it (messages on personal devices, records created by the president and vice president themselves, and records the president discards), and granted a preliminary injunction against White House offices, though not against the president or vice president. He refused to pause the order; the government appealed, and the D.C. Circuit is due to hear argument on Oct. 16, 2026.

Their response: The Office of Legal Counsel’s position, as summarized in the court’s opinion, is that the act “exceeds Congress’s powers and violates the separation of powers.” Warrington’s memo told staff that “[e]ven in the absence of the [Act], EOP staff should preserve any material related to the performance of their duties.” The judge noted that every president, “including President Trump in his first term”, had complied with the act for nearly 50 years.

Sources: Memorandum opinion, American Historical Association v. Trump, No. 26-1169, D.D.C. (May 20, 2026) · CourtListener docket, American Historical Association v. Trump, D.D.C. No. 1:26-cv-01169 · CourtListener docket, D.C. Circuit No. 26-5185 (appeal; argument set for Oct. 16, 2026)

Signalgate: strike plans in an auto-deleting chat; watchdog found Hegseth broke Pentagon rules

In March 2025 senior officials discussed imminent strikes in Yemen in a Signal group chat to which national security adviser Mike Waltz had mistakenly added a journalist; a judge ordered the agencies to preserve the messages after a watchdog sued under the Federal Records Act. The Defense Department inspector general reported on Dec. 4, 2025 that Hegseth’s use of his personal phone and Signal “did not comply” with department policy and “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots”; Hegseth declined an interview and had also shared strike details in a second chat of 13 people that included his wife and brother. Waltz left the White House post on May 1, 2025 and was nominated as U.N. ambassador; Hegseth stayed. The records lawsuit ended by joint stipulation of dismissal on April 30, 2026.

Their response: Hegseth wrote of the inspector general’s report: “No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission.” The report found he had the authority to declassify the material; in a written statement to investigators he said there “was nothing classified in this text.” A Pentagon spokesperson had earlier called the inquiry “a witch hunt and a total sham.”

Sources: CNN (Dec. 4, 2025) · Associated Press (Dec. 4, 2025) · CNN (March 27, 2025) · CBS News (May 1, 2025) · CourtListener docket, American Oversight v. Hegseth, D.D.C. No. 1:25-cv-00883

Trump fired the Archivist of the United States; Rubio held the job and its end date is disputed

On Feb. 7, 2025 Trump fired Archivist Colleen Shogan, head of the agency that takes custody of presidential records and whose 2022 referral to the Justice Department led to the classified-documents case against him; she said no reason was given. The deputy archivist, the agency’s inspector general and other senior staff then left, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was made acting archivist with a Trump aide, Jim Byron, as senior adviser. The Boston Globe reported in March 2026 that the Archives says Rubio gave up the role on Dec. 4, 2025, just inside the 300-day legal limit, but the vacancy was not reported until Jan. 23, 2026, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate possible backdating. A nominee was named only in March 2026, and Byron announced he would leave on April 3, 2026.

Their response: White House personnel director Sergio Gor posted: “At the direction of @realDonaldTrump the Archivist of the United States has been dismissed tonight. We thank Colleen Shogan for her service.” A National Archives spokesperson told the Globe the dates of Rubio’s service are in a public government database, called an outside expert’s conclusions “inaccurate”, and said the administration has “prioritized the work and functions of the National Archives more than any administration in recent history.”

Sources: CNN (Feb. 7, 2025) · Associated Press (Feb. 26, 2025) · Boston Globe (March 30, 2026)

Budget office took down the legally required spending-plan website; a court ordered it restored

On March 24, 2025 the Office of Management and Budget deactivated the public website where the law requires it to post apportionments, the legally binding documents that show when and how agencies may spend money Congress approved. The Government Accountability Office told OMB on April 8 that apportionments “are legally binding decisions on agencies” and “by definition, cannot be predecisional or deliberative.” On July 21, 2025 a federal district court ruled that OMB had violated the law and ordered the site reinstated; the D.C. Circuit refused to pause the order and it took effect Aug. 15, 2025. The site was online with fiscal 2027 documents when checked on Oct. 5, 2026.

Their response: OMB Director Russell Vought wrote to Rep. Rosa DeLauro on March 29, 2025 that OMB would no longer post apportionments because they contain “sensitive, predecisional, and deliberative information.”

Sources: Congressional Research Service, IN12538 (updated Aug. 21, 2025) · OMB approved apportionments website (checked Oct. 5, 2026)

Intelligence officials were fired after their assessments contradicted the president

On May 13, 2025 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired the two career officials leading the National Intelligence Council, Mike Collins and Maria Langan-Riekhof, shortly after a declassified council assessment of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua undercut the administration’s main argument for using the Alien Enemies Act. On Aug. 22, 2025 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, whose agency’s preliminary assessment had found that U.S. strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back only a few months, contradicting Trump’s statement that it was “completely and fully obliterated.” The firings and their timing are reported; that they were punishment for the assessments is an inference, since no official tied the dismissals to them.

Their response: An Office of the Director of National Intelligence spokesman said: “The Director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the Intelligence Community.” No public reason was given for Kruse’s removal; Hegseth had said of the Iran strikes in June: “This was an historically successful attack.”

Sources: CNN (May 14, 2025) · Associated Press via CNN (Aug. 22, 2025)

National Security Agency director fired a day after activist Laura Loomer met Trump

On April 3, 2025 the administration fired Gen. Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command, and his civilian deputy, and dismissed at least four National Security Council staff members. CNN reported that the council firings followed an Oval Office meeting the day before in which far-right activist Laura Loomer urged Trump to remove officials she called disloyal, bringing a list of about a dozen names. No reason was given publicly for removing the head of the country’s largest intelligence agency; the link to Loomer rests on unnamed sources and her own public claims, and Trump denied it.

Their response: Trump told reporters the administration would always let go of “people that we don’t like, or people that we don’t think can do the job, or people that may have loyalties to someone else.” He said Loomer was not involved in the firings and called her “a very good patriot.” The council’s spokesman said: “NSC doesn’t comment on personnel matters.”

Sources: CNN (April 3, 2025) · The Independent (Sept. 1, 2026)

State Department’s human rights reports cut to a third of their length after months of deletions

The annual country human rights reports released on Aug. 12, 2025 were about one-third the length of the previous year’s, by NPR’s analysis, with the El Salvador and Moldova reports more than 75% shorter. The El Salvador report dropped its references to prison conditions and stated: “There were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses.” NPR obtained an internal memo instructing editors to remove whole categories of violations not “explicitly required by statute”, and reported that release was delayed for months while violations documented in drafts by foreign service officers were deleted. The United States had sent deportees to an El Salvador prison earlier that year.

Their response: State Department officials described the changes, according to NPR, as an effort to conform to administration policies and make the reports “more readable.”

Sources: NPR (Aug. 12, 2025)

The roughly 400 authors of the congressionally required climate report were dismissed; site went dark

About 400 authors dismissed (NPR)

In late April 2025 the roughly 400 volunteer scientists and experts writing the sixth National Climate Assessment, a report Congress requires every four years and that was due in late 2027, received an email releasing them from their roles. The federal staff who coordinate the report had been let go that month, and on June 30, 2025 the government website hosting all previous editions stopped working. NPR reported that the White House did not answer questions about why the authors were dismissed or whether the next edition would be produced.

Their response: The email to authors said “the scope of the [National Climate Assessment] is currently being reevaluated.” The White House did not respond to NPR’s questions. NPR noted the report has slipped before: the George W. Bush administration released one edition four years late, after a lawsuit.

Sources: NPR (April 29, 2025) · NPR (July 1, 2025)

Health pages, the Jan. 6 case database and Justice Department studies were taken offline

After Trump’s first-week orders, the CDC and FDA removed web pages and data sets including guidance on treating sexually transmitted infections and adult immunization; on Feb. 11, 2025 Judge John Bates ordered them restored to their state on Jan. 30. The Justice Department removed its public database of January 6 prosecutions after the pardons, which a watchdog group told the Archivist appeared to violate a records law. The department later removed a page on a study finding undocumented immigrants in Texas were arrested at lower rates than citizens (March 2025) and, within two days of Charlie Kirk’s killing in September 2025, a study that began: “Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.”

Their response: Where the domestic terrorism study had been, the Justice Department posted a notice that it was “reviewing its websites and materials in accordance with recent executive orders”, according to 404 Media as cited by the Guardian. The Independent said it had asked the department for comment on the immigration study; no reply was reported.

Sources: The Guardian (Feb. 11, 2025) · Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, letter (Jan. 30, 2025) · The Guardian (Sept. 17, 2025) · The Independent (March 11, 2025)

Agriculture Department ended the annual survey that measures hunger in America

On Sept. 20, 2025 the Department of Agriculture announced it would end its long-running annual household food security survey, which tracks how many Americans struggle to get enough food. The most recent report had counted 47.4 million people in food-insecure households in 2023, nearly 14 million of them children. The decision followed a law Trump signed that summer expanding work requirements for food aid, which is estimated to leave about 2.4 million people without benefits.

Their response: The department called the survey “redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous.”

Sources: NPR (Sept. 22, 2025)

Pentagon required central approval before any staff contact with Congress, after ordering polygraphs

An Oct. 15, 2025 memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his deputy requires all Defense Department personnel, except the inspector general’s office, to route every interaction with Congress and state officials through the Pentagon’s central legislative affairs office, ending the long practice of the services and commands dealing with lawmakers directly. The memo states: “Unauthorized engagements with Congress by DoW personnel acting in their official capacity, no matter how well-intentioned, may undermine Department-wide priorities.” In March 2025 the department had announced a leak investigation that would use polygraph tests, and the Homeland Security secretary said her department would keep using them to find leakers.

Their response: Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the memo a “pragmatic step” to internally review the department’s processes for communicating with Congress. The polygraph memo said their use “will be in accordance with applicable law and policy.”

Sources: Breaking Defense (Oct. 21, 2025) · CNN (March 22, 2025)