Newsletter: An Executive Assault on Democracy

Donald Trump returned to the White House — and to attacking core pillars of our democracy, signing executive orders that roll back civil rights protections and DEI initiatives, unleash draconian anti-immigration actions, and set the stage for an overhaul of the federal government.

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Since his return to the White House this week, President Donald Trump has issued sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 rioters and signed a flurry of executive orders attacking LGBTQ+ rights, unleashing draconian anti-immigration actions, ending federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, and setting the stage for a federal workforce populated by political loyalists.

The Trump administration’s week-one actions reflect many of the goals laid out in Project 2025, including its targeting of immigrants through mass deportation and detention policies.

Trump’s executive orders on immigration block people from seeking asylum or protection and enlists the U.S. military for supporting border security.
Attorneys general from states across the country sued to block Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, arguing that it violates the 14th Amendment. On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the order, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that it has begun deploying 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and is prepared to send more if asked.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy White House chief of staff, reportedly crafted many of Trump’s anti-immigration policies, a continuation of the same influence he exerted during Trump’s first term.

American Oversight previously obtained records showing that Miller spearheaded the first administration’s use of Title 42 to expel undocumented migrants at the border under the guise of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Other records we obtained showed how Miller worked with officials to push anti-immigrant messaging and to craft and spread narratives that served his hard-line immigration agenda.

Trump also moved to roll back protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, signing an order declaring that the U.S. government recognizes only two biological sexes, ignoring the identities of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.

Trump also ordered U.S. prisons to house incarcerated transgender women in men’s facilities, and to stop providing gender-affirming medical treatments to incarcerated individuals.
The order opens the door for abuse and violence against LGBTQ+ people in prisons and limits workplace and governmental protections for transgender people.
American Oversight has been investigating efforts to criminalize the provision of gender-affirming health care as part of the alarming national rise in anti-LGBTQ+ measures.

On his first day in office, the president also ordered a sweeping dismantling of federal DEI initiatives, followed by a move to end affirmative action in federal contracting, rescinding an executive order President Lyndon B. Johnson signed in 1965.

In a Tuesday memo, the Office of Personnel Management directed government agencies to place all employees working in DEI on leave and to take down all public DEI-focused webpages by Wednesday.
Federal employees were told Wednesday that within 10 days they must report colleagues working in DEI-related positions that could have gone unnoticed by supervisors or face “adverse consequences.”
Trump also revived his “Schedule F” executive order, making it easier to fire career federal employees and replace them with loyalists. Read about our related lawsuit here.
Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), established through a day-one executive order and headed by Elon Musk, will search for ways to cut federal spending — and some of its first targets are federal DEI programs.

American Oversight Warns Musk and Federal Agencies to Retain Public Records

We sent letters to Elon Musk and multiple federal agencies on Wednesday reminding them of their duty to preserve government records, following news reports that members of DOGE had been secretly communicating via Signal, which has an auto-delete feature.

The notices — sent to Elon Musk, the “U.S. DOGE Service,” and the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Archives and Records Administration — warn the agencies that failure to preserve and recover records related to DOGE could lead to litigation.
Trump established DOGE within the Executive Office of the President, which is generally exempt from many Freedom of Information Act requirements. This could make it easier for DOGE to operate behind closed doors, without proper transparency or accountability to the public.

The Federal Records Act requires agencies to preserve government records about their activities, decisions, and policies to help ensure transparency and accountability. The Presidential Records Act also requires the preservation of White House records.

During Trump’s first administration, we obtained records showing that key officials repeatedly used private communications channels for government business.
“Transparency and accountability are non-negotiable,” American Oversight’s Chioma Chukwu said. “That is why we have put the administration on notice: comply with your obligation to preserve all DOGE-related records, or defend that secrecy in court.”

On the Records

Trump announced this week that L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the conservative Media Research Center, is his pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Last year, Bozell wrote a letter defending the character of his son, a convicted Jan. 6 rioter who had been sentenced to 45 months in prison.

Trump previously announced that Kari Lake was his pick for director of Voice of America (VOA), the government-funded news broadcasting channel that USAGM oversees.
VOA journalists have expressed serious concern about whether Lake — who falsely claimed fraud in both Trump’s 2020 loss and her defeat in Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial race — will seek to use the outlet to promote Trump and his political goals.
Bozell’s and Lake’s appointments prompt serious concerns about the news agency’s work as an unbiased and reliable media source and raise fears about USAGM journalists’ roles during the second Trump administration.

Trump appointed Michael Pack to lead USAGM during his first administration. During less than eight months as head of the agency, Pack took a number of actions that threatened to undermine the agency’s work and to turn it into a pro-Trump political operation.

Records we obtained shed light on internal turmoil at USAGM thanks to Pack’s controversial personnel decisions and his and other Trump allies’ efforts to delay the J-1 visa renewal process for USAGM journalists.

Newsletter: An Executive Assault on Democracy

On the Records

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