Trump Action Archive

Supporting reports

• Trump housing chief investigated Attorney General Todd Blanche's mortgage to pressure him into investigating Trump opponents — In 2025, Trump administration housing chief Bill Pulte looked into the mortgages of prominent Trump opponents including New York Attorney General Letitia James. According to officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, Pulte also investigated Attorney General Todd Blanche's mortgage while Blanche was deputy AG, in order to pressure him into more aggressively investigating Trump's opponents.

Supporting reports

• David Ellison reportedly pledged to reshape CNN editorial direction to secure Trump administration support for merger — According to reporting in the article, David Ellison told Trump administration officials that "he'd make sweeping changes to CNN" as part of his campaign to win Trump's support for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. This statement, made prior to the settlement, indicates that editorial changes at CNN were explicitly tied to securing political backing for the transaction. The article also notes that since Ellison took over CBS News in August 2025, the network's news coverage has shifted to the right.
• Paramount-Warner Bros. merger consent decree establishes Editorial Independence Board with no independent authority — The settlement between state attorneys general and Paramount includes creation of an "Editorial Independence Board" tasked with monitoring editorial independence at CBS News and CNN. However, all five board members are selected by the combined entity's board of directors, which is fully controlled by David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison (77.5% voting shares). The board has no enforcement power and can only "resolve disputes" regarding alleged violations of editorial principles, with no mechanism specified for how such resolution occurs. The structure ensures that an Ellison-controlled board selects monitors of Ellison's editorial conduct.

Supporting reports

• ProPublica investigation reveals bribery scheme involving Sen. Susan Collins and defense contractor Navatek — ProPublica published an investigation detailing allegations that Sen. Susan Collins steered millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek in exchange for illegal campaign contributions funneled through shell companies. Navatek CEO Martin Kao was indicted in 2022 for making illegal campaign contributions after the FBI discovered the scheme. Kao told the FBI the arrangement involved a pay-to-play operation spanning dozens of politicians. The FBI had assembled evidence for a sweeping bribery probe by end of 2024, but the investigation was halted after Trump returned to the White House and dismantled specialized FBI and DOJ public corruption units.
• FBI investigation into Senator Susan Collins shut down — ProPublica reported that the FBI had evidence Senator Susan Collins participated in a pay-to-play scheme, and that the investigation was shut down after Trump took office. The closure of the investigation into a sitting senator suggests potential interference with law enforcement independence and selective application of accountability.
• FBI anti-corruption investigators fired after investigating Senator Collins for pay-to-play scheme — ProPublica reported that the FBI's anti-corruption group was investigating Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, for a pay-to-play scheme in which defense contractor Navatek made illegal donations to her 2020 campaign and later received multimillion-dollar government contracts. When Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he fired the investigators building the case and largely stopped investigating public corruption. Collins's office admitted the campaign disgorged illegal contributions but denied knowledge of the arrangement, though emails suggest otherwise.
• FBI investigation into Senator Susan Collins' steering of defense contracts was halted after Trump purged public corruption unit — In 2020, the FBI launched an investigation into the relationship between a former defense contractor CEO and Senator Susan Collins' staff, with ProPublica reporting that "the senator's office steered government contracts worth millions toward the company while her campaign was pumping [the CEO] and his network for donations." After Trump began his second term in 2025, he purged the FBI unit working on public corruption investigations, effectively halting the probe.