Second Trump administration controversies

On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran targeting military and government sites and assassinating several Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The surprise attacks were launched during negotiations between Iran and the US regarding Iran's nuclear program. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes against Israel, US bases, and US-allied Arab countries in the Middle East, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global trade.

Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American financier and child sex offender. He began his career as a math teacher at the Dalton School, before entering the banking and finance sector. Over several decades, he made much of his fortune providing tax and estate services to billionaires, and cultivated an elite social circle of prominent individuals. In 2008, he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution, and was indicted in 2019 for sex trafficking minors in the 2000s. He died in custody awaiting his trial; his death was ruled a suicide.

On 3 January 2026, the United States launched a military strike in Venezuela and captured incumbent Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The US operation, codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve, began around 2 a.m. local time, when explosions were observed. The US Armed Forces bombed infrastructure across northern Venezuela to suppress air defenses as an apprehension force attacked Maduro's compound in Caracas. Maduro and Flores were transported to New York City by US forces to face their trial there. If the operation is considered a military conflict, at 2 hours and 28 minutes it would qualify as one of the shortest wars in history.

The Epstein files are a partially released collection of millions of documents, images, videos, and emails detailing the activities of American financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including his social circle of public figures, politicians, and celebrities. The files include documents collected as evidence in the criminal cases against Epstein and his associates, stored as over 300 gigabytes of data, alongside other media, in the FBI's Sentinel case management system. They include Epstein's contact book, flight logs of his planes, and court documents. Many of the records and files belong to Epstein's estate, which is run by lawyer Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn.

The Board of Peace (BoP), or the Peace Board, is an international organization with the stated purpose of promoting peacekeeping around the world. Established by President Donald Trump and led by the government of the United States, the board is named in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 as a body tasked with overseeing the processes of the Gaza peace plan. The Board of Peace was proposed in September 2025 and formally established on the side-lines of the 56th World Economic Forum in January 2026.

Bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States (2025)

On 28 February 2026, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was assassinated in Tehran as part of a series of Israeli airstrikes aimed at high-ranking Iranian officials. Khamenei's death was confirmed by the Iranian government on 1 March. His death occurred as part of a wider joint operation by the United States and Israel, using strategic locations intelligence from the US's Central Intelligence Agency to determine the whereabouts of several leaders. Satellite imagery suggested that Khamenei's residence in the city was severely damaged during the attack.

Palantir Technologies Inc. () is an American publicly traded company that develops data integration and analytics platforms enabling government agencies, militaries, and corporations to combine and analyze data from multiple sources. Its flagship products—Gotham (for intelligence and defense) and Foundry (for commercial and civil use)—connect previously siloed databases to support intelligence operations, counterterrorism analysis, law enforcement, and enterprise analytics. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, it was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, Alex Karp, and Natha

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing political activist, was assassinated at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, while speaking at an outdoor campus debate planned by Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization he co-founded and led. Kirk, aged 31, was a close ally of US president Donald Trump and a highly influential figure in the MAGA movement.

Project 2025 is a political initiative published in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation with the goal of reshaping the U.S. federal government by consolidating executive power in favor of right-wing policies. It constitutes a policy document that suggests specific changes to the federal government, a personnel database for recommending vetting loyal staff in the federal government, and a set of proposed executive orders for the U.S. president to implement those policies.

tariffs imposed by Donald Trump in his second term as president of the United States

US government organization and initiative

Renée Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old American woman, was fatally shot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross, on January 7, 2026. Good was in her car, stopped sideways in the street, which led Ross to circle her vehicle on foot. Other agents approached, and one ordered her to get out of the car while reaching through her open window. Good briefly reversed, then began moving forward and to the right, into the direction of traffic. At this point, Ross was standing at the front-left of the vehicle and fired three shots, killing her, as her vehicle passed him, turning away from him. The killing sparked national protests and multiple investigations.

series of protests in the United States against immigration raids

bilateral meeting between USA and Ukraine on February 28, 2025

On 28 February 2026, the first day of the 2026 Iran war, the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School, providing co-located single-gender education, of the Shahrak-e Al-Mahdi neighbourhood in Minab, Hormozgan province in southern Iran was destroyed by a missile strike. According to witness accounts corroborated by satellite-based analyses, the area of the school was hit by multiple strikes. The roof of the school collapsed on students. 156 civilians were killed, including 120 schoolchildren. As of 15 March 2026, the attack was the deadliest strike in terms of civilian casualties in the ongoing war. Multiple independent investigations concluded that the United States was responsible for the strike.

2025–2026 US military anti-drug trafficking operation

The United States has discussed obtaining Greenland from Denmark since the 19th century. There were talks within the US federal government about purchasing Greenland in 1867, advocated by secretary of state William H. Seward, and again in 1910. However, in 1916, the United States proclaimed their recognition of Danish sovereignty over all Greenland as a condition for their purchase of the Virgin Islands in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies. Since World War II, the US has had at least one military base in Greenland. In 1946, the US secretly offered to buy Greenland, but it was rejected by Denmark. Since 1949, Greenland has been under the protection of NATO, of which the US and Denmark are both members. Nevertheless, the Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed acquiring the island in 1955. In the 21st century, Donald Trump proposed acquisition of Greenland during his presidency.

prison in El Salvador

From October 1 to November 12, 2025, the federal government of the United States was shut down as Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives advanced a continuing resolution, but Senate Democrats repeatedly blocked it. The legislation failed 14 times before a revised appropriations bill was passed on November 10. The House of Representatives passed the Senate's revised bill on November 12, which President Donald Trump signed that day. The shutdown was the 11th government shutdown that resulted in federal employees being furloughed and the longest full government shutdown in U.S. history, lasting 43 days.

March 2025 United States national security controversy

trade war between the United States, Canada, and Mexico

Melania is a 2026 American film directed and produced by Brett Ratner. It revolves around the experiences of Melania Trump, the first lady of the United States, in the 20 days before her husband Donald's second presidential inauguration. It was released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios on January 30, 2026.

series of Acts of Congress

2025 United States budget reconciliation law

United States Navy attacks on alleged Venezuelan drug vessels under questionable legal grounds

organisation established to distribute humanitarian aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis

thumb|The website during the presidency of Bill Clinton in 1995 thumb|The website following the first inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009

political and economic crisis in Cuba

2025 proposal by Donald Trump

electronic payment system from Brazil

Global stock market crash spanning April 2–10, 2025, triggered by the U.S. "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping import tariffs; it resulted in over $6.6 trillion in global market value losses and was nicknamed 'Orange Monday'.

In the early morning of June 14, 2025, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, United States. Hortman, the leader of the state House Democratic caucus, was shot and killed alongside her husband, Mark. Less than two hours earlier, state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot and seriously injured at their home in nearby Champlin and hospitalized. Police responding to the attack on the Hoffmans checked on the Hortmans' home, where a man fired at them. The shooter escaped, sparking the most extensive manhunt in Minnesota history.

non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress and funded by the United States federal government to promote public broadcasting

General elections were held in Honduras on 30 November 2025. Voters elected the President, all 128 members of the National Congress, and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN). The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared National Party candidate Nasry Asfura as the election's winner on 24 December. The election was marred by allegations of foreign interference and a prolonged and controversial vote count that saw Asfura win over his nearest opponent, Salvador Nasralla, by a narrow margin. The National Party also won a plurality of seats in the country's National Congress, while the Liberal Party became the second largest party in the Congress at the expense of LIBRE.

United States operation in the Caribbean

The White House State Ballroom is part of a planned new East Wing for the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States. The new East Wing will replace the original, which was torn down in October 2025 in preparation for the new wing's construction. The site, in Washington, D.C., has been under construction since September 2025. Announced in July 2025, the purpose of the 89,000-square-foot (8,270 m2) expansion is to add a venue with a higher seating capacity than the East Room for formal events such as state dinners. The project has been criticized for its funding, design, permitting process and destruction of historic architectural and landscape features. The National Capital Planning Commission approved the final project design in an 8–1 vote on April 2, 2026. The project's above-ground construction has faced legal challenges, with construction as of April 18 being allowed to continue until June 2026.

controversy involving Elon Musk

Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the United States, developed a social and professional relationship with financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that began in the late 1980s and continued into at least the early 2000s. During Trump's prior careers as a businessman and media personality before entering politics in 2015, he and Epstein visited each other's real estate properties regularly. Trump and Epstein socialized frequently throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including attending parties at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and Epstein's residence. Flight logs released during an associate's trial confirm that Trump flew on Epstein's private jet multiple times in the 1990s, and according to Epstein, Trump first had sex with his future wife Melania Knauss in his private jet. Trump had a falling out with Epstein around 2004 and ceased contact. After Epstein was said to have sexually harassed a teenage daughter of another Mar-a-Lago member in 2007, Trump banned him from the club. Epstein said, in a 2019 email attributed by NBC News and Axios to the event, that he had never been a member of the club.

2022 US sanctions task force focused on Russia

operation planned to use law enforcement and the armed forces for carrying out mass deportations in the United States

$Trump (stylized in all caps) is a meme coin associated with United States president Donald Trump, hosted on the Solana blockchain. One billion coins were created; 800 million remain owned by two Trump-owned companies, after 200 million were publicly released in an initial coin offering (ICO) on January 17, 2025. Less than a day later, the aggregate market value of all coins was more than $27 billion, valuing Trump's holdings at more than $20 billion. A March 2025 Financial Times analysis found that the crypto project netted at least $350 million through sales of tokens and fees.

international military exercise in Greenland (2026)

US immigration operation

Todd Wallace Blanche is an American attorney and former prosecutor who has served as the acting United States attorney general since April 2026. Blanche has also served as the United States deputy attorney general since January 2025 and as the acting librarian of Congress since May 2025; the legality of the latter appointment has been disputed.

immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades

2026 Iran war bombing

BitMEX is a cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform. It is owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, which is registered in the Seychelles.

United States federal law

politician and diplomat from South Africa

2026 federal trial of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores

American military operation

organization

campaigns in favor of USA annexation of Canada

2025 feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk