• Throughout his first year, Trump made no shortage of effort to fulfill the vow, though legal setbacks and scandals, sometimes of his own making, presented repeated challenges

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump began his second term one year ago, promising a radical transformation of nearly every aspect of government and American society.

Throughout his first year, he has made no shortage of effort to fulfill the vow, though legal setbacks and scandals, sometimes of his own making, have presented challenges for the US president.

January 2025

Trump pardons 1,500 people convicted or accused of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Most of the individuals are granted full pardons, while a handful of convicted individuals tied to the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups have their sentences commuted.

Trump begins his nationwide immigration crackdown, promising to carry out the most deportations in US history. He quickly moves to send 1,500 US troops to the Mexican border in a bid to deter illegal crossings, and begins to target Democratic-led cities, including Boston, Philadelphia and New York City, in his deportation campaign.

Trump guts the National Security Council, furloughing over 100 top aides, and foreshadowing a looming massive reduction of the federal workforce.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) then sends notifications to nearly all US federal government employees offering them a buyout through Sept. 30 if they resign from their posts. The messages mark the first step in what would become the loss of hundreds of thousands of federal jobs.

The Office of Management and Budget orders federal agencies to halt all federal assistance, including grants and loans, in what is called a “federal funding freeze” to ensure funds are being spent in accordance with the president’s priorities. The blanket order is quickly reversed following a legal challenge, but the White House maintains the review of programs will continue.

Trump partly blames Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives for the Jan. 29 fatal crash of American Airlines Flight 5342. The investigation remains ongoing, but Trump’s effort to blame DEI signaled what would become a larger effort to halt the initiative and punish organizations that do not comply.

Trump signs an executive order mandating the development of a nationwide missile defense program that he dubs the “Iron Dome for America.” It would later be named the “Golden Dome.” Testing has yet to begin, but federal delegate James Moylan told Fox News in January 2026 that it will debut in the US territory of Guam, which he represents.

February

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announces the newly established Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) access to the federal payments system. The Elon Musk-led initiative quickly moves to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as Secretary of State Marco Rubio is appointed to lead the targeted agency. Multiple legal challenges fail to halt the dismantling of the foreign aid agency, with nearly all personnel being fired.

Trump signs an executive order demanding that all federal agencies comply with DOGE.

March

The president signs an executive order designating English as the official language of the US. As with many of Trump’s efforts, the purported effect requires an act of Congress. Legislation to make the designation law stalls in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Pro-Palestinian Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil is detained by ICE agents at his Manhattan apartment in a bid to deport him from the US. Rubio claims Khalil’s pro-Palestinian activism undermines US foreign policy interests. Khalil was detained for over 100 days before he was released in June at the order of a federal judge who ruled his detainment was unconstitutional. Khalil sued the Trump administration for $20 million a month later. A federal appeals court ruled Jan. 15, 2026, that the judge who ordered Khalil’s release lacked jurisdiction. The decision may lead to his re-arrest.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issues an exceedingly rare rebuke from America’s top court after Trump calls for the impeachment of a sitting federal judge who temporarily halted the president’s deportations of alleged gang members to El Salvador. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said.

Trump signs an executive order seeking to assert federal authority over US elections. Under the Constitution, states are given the power to run elections. The order seeks to revise election laws nationwide, including by prohibiting the counting of mailed-in ballots received after Election Day, and requiring proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form. It has been blocked three times by federal judges, with the latest rejection coming in January 2026. The administration has said it will appeal.

Trump says he will consider seeking a third term in office, despite the Constitution’s two-term limit on US presidents.

April

Harvard University sues the Trump administration over its threats to withhold funding from the Ivy League school. The administration pointed to the 2024 student-led Gaza protests, which it alleged were antisemitic, as reasons for the decision to halt funding.

May

Trump proposes reopening the infamous federal prison-turned historic landmark on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay to house “the most ruthless and violent offenders.” Officials have visited the badly decaying facility after the president made the announcement, though little progress has been made on reopening it as a prison.

Musk leaves his DOGE initiative after his “special government employee” status lapsed. Despite firing thousands of government employees or starting the process to do so amid legal challenges, federal spending continued to climb. The Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project found that spending rose by nearly 6% or just short of half a trillion dollars.

June

Trump and Musk descend into a bitter online feud over the fiscal impacts of the former's signature spending bill, which he calls the One Big Beautiful Bill. Musk accuses Trump of engaging in a “cover up” to conceal government documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The two would go on to later minimize their disagreements.

Trump nationalizes the California National Guard and orders it be deployed to Los Angeles on June 7 amid protests against his immigration crackdown. The US president would go on to deploy hundreds of US Marines to the city, defying state and local leaders who insisted that his actions were only serving to inflame tensions.

July

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill clears Congress after Vice President JD Vance casts a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. Trump signs it into law three days later on Independence Day.

The Supreme Court allows the Education Department to carry out mass layoffs affecting roughly 1,300 employees, or about 40% of its workforce. The effort is part of Trump’s wider push to shutter the Education Department altogether, a longtime goal of conservatives.

Justice Department and FBI say that after an “exhaustive review” of government files on Epstein, “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” The announcement sparks furor in Trump’s MAGA base, which has long demanded answers on Epstein.

Trump unveils his AI action plan, which seeks to provide a framework for the acceleration of development of the technology to maintain the US' global lead.

Justice Department sits down with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Details on the interview remained scarce until August, when the agency released a redacted transcript of the conversation between Maxwell and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Maxwell told the official that a long-demanded Epstein “client list” does not exist.

August

Trump deploys the National Guard to Washington, DC amid what he alleged were high crime rates. Over 2,500 guardsmen remain deployed in the nation's capital, the majority being sent from Republican-led states. Two Guard members were shot, one fatally, in November, prompting Trump to deploy more troops. Legal challenges brought by DC’s attorney general remain ongoing.

September

Trump announces that he will posthumously award Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while delivering remarks at Utah Valley University.

Trump announces that he will deploy the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee.

Trump deploys the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, again overriding opposition from state and local leaders. A federal judge would block the deployment in October. After months of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s attempt to deploy the Guard to Chicago in December, saying he lacked the legal authority to do so. Trump announced on Dec. 31 that he would end the deployments to Portland and Los Angeles, and the attempted deployment to Chicago. The DC deployment remains ongoing amid a lack of state status for the nation’s capital.

October

The federal government shuts down after congressional negotiators and Trump fail to reach an agreement on funding. The shutdown becomes the longest in US history at 43 days after it ends on Nov. 13. Democrats failed to secure any meaningful concessions from Trump and Republicans. The spending bills fund the government through Jan. 30, setting up yet another potential showdown during the 2026 midterm election year.

Trump says he will not seek a third term in 2028.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is indicted after Trump said she should face prosecution.

November

Justice Department files complaint against California over Proposition 50, a voter-approved initiative which redrew the state’s congressional map in a bid to counter similar efforts demanded by Trump in Republican-led states. Proposition 50 was ultimately upheld by a three-judge panel for the US Central District Court of California on Jan. 15.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announces an investigation into Epstein’s alleged ties with Trump’s political rivals, including former President Bill Clinton, and continues to oppose the release of the “Epstein files.”

Trump ends his long-held opposition to the release of the government’s Epstein records as it becomes clear that enough Republicans support the publication for legislation to clear the federal legislature. Trump signs the bill on Nov. 20, giving the Justice Department 30 days to release the files with redactions to protect victims’ identities.

Federal judge dismisses cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, finding that Trump prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed.

Trump hosts New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House, fresh off Mamdani’s electoral victory that set him up to become the city’s first Muslim and South Asian leader. The meeting, by all accounts, was far more congenial than the two men’s history of acrimony would have suggested.

DOGE is dissolved with ostensible goals of ending government overspending, left unmet.

December

Justice Department fails to meet the Dec. 19 deadline to release the entirety of the “Epstein Files.” It instead only released a small portion of the documents. Bondi said in a Jan. 6 court filing that the agency has released just 125,575 of over 2 million pages in its possession, representing less than 1% of all materials.

January 2026

Trump vows to strip the citizenship of naturalized Americans who have engaged in fraud, pointing in particular to the Somali American community. The comments mark the latest attack on the Somali American community as Trump ramps up his deportation campaign in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a Midwestern city that is home to a large Somali community. The crackdown came after a right-wing influencer claimed without proof that the Somali residents of Minneapolis engaged in massive fraud related to publicly subsidized day care centers. Investigations into the claims remain ongoing, but the US president has nonetheless halted federal child care payments to five Democratic-led states.

Trump releases a health care framework he wants Congress to pass as federal subsidies under former President Barack Obama's signature health care law lapsed on Jan. 1 due to congressional inaction, spiking premium costs. It is unclear if they will be extended, or if there is any will among lawmakers to fulfill Trump’s proposal in a midterm election year.