Lest We Forget the Horrors: An Unending Catalog of Trump’s Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes: June 2026: Atrocities 1014-1112

Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.

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ATROCITY KEY

– Authoritarianism
– Constitutional Illegalities, Collusion, and/or Obstruction of Justice
– Environment
– Harassment, Bullying, Retribution, and/or Sexual Misconduct
– Lies and Misinformation
– Musk Madness
– Policy
– Public Statements and Social Media Posts
– Trump Family Business Dealings
– Trump Staff and Administration
– White Supremacy, Racism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, and/or Xenophobia

May 2026

Main Index

Trump’s first term

June 2026

1. – June 1, 2026 – The Trump administration issued a rule narrowing the Medicaid work requirement’s exemption for people who are “medically frail,” making it available only to those whose conditions “significantly impair” their ability to work. The rule states that diagnoses including cancer, HIV/AIDS, and end-stage renal disease do not by themselves qualify for the exemption.
2. – June 1, 2026 – As Canada’s trade minister traveled to Washington for talks on the future of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Donald Trump reposted a Bloomberg article about Canada’s technical recession with the comment: “51st State!” It was his first public use of the phrase in months.
3. – June 3, 2026 – The New York Times reported that a previously undisclosed Department of Homeland Security inspector general report had found repeated mistreatment of detainees at Louisiana’s Winn Correctional Center, including an officer placing one detainee in a chokehold and another stabbing a detainee’s thumb with a pen. Investigators also said the facility later refused to provide complete video footage of some use-of-force incidents.
4. – June 3, 2026 – New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said federal immigration officials again refused to allow her into the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark. The day before, New Jersey had sued the GEO Group, the private prison contractor operating the facility, after it refused access to state health inspectors, as protests outside continued in solidarity with a hunger and labor strike by detainees.
5. – June 3, 2026 – The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration had appointed pardoned January 6 rioter Elias Irizarry to the Defense Department’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office, which oversees sensitive special operations and counterterrorism matters. Irizarry had pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol through a broken window while carrying a metal pole.
6. – June 3, 2026 – Donald Trump signed an executive order stripping job protections from nearly eight thousand federal employees in policy-making roles, making it easier to fire career civil servants. A subsequent New York Times investigation found that the White House had privately pressured the Merit Systems Protection Board before a March ruling embracing the administration’s expansive view of presidential power over the civil service. As Trump signed the order, White House aide James Sherk explained that it would treat policymakers like private-sector employees: “If they’re messing up, then they can be removed quickly.”
7. – June 4, 2026 – Mamuka Artmeladze, a forty-three-year-old man from Georgia, died in ICE custody at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, becoming the fiftieth person to die in immigration detention during Donald Trump’s second administration. His death came days after ICE ended a policy requiring the agency to publicly report deaths occurring within thirty days of a detainee’s release.
8. – June 4, 2026 – Lawfare reported that at least ninety-seven January 6 defendants pardoned by Donald Trump had since been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of new crimes, more than twice the number previously documented. The study identified five cases in which Trump’s pardons allegedly enabled later crimes by releasing offenders who otherwise would likely have remained incarcerated, including one who was later sentenced to life in prison for child molestation and another who was convicted of grand larceny and burglary.
9. – June 4, 2026 – Donald Trump pardoned Stephen Buyer, a Republican who represented Indiana in the US House from 1993 to 2011. Buyer was convicted in 2023 for trading on confidential information about a T-Mobile/Sprint merger and Guidehouse’s acquisition of Navigant, including a tip from a T-Mobile executive during a golf outing, and was sentenced to twenty-two months in prison after the judge found that he had obstructed justice by giving false explanations for his trades.
10. – June 4, 2026 – After multiple musicians withdrew from National Mall concerts for America’s 250th anniversary, saying they had been misled about the event’s political ties, Donald Trump announced his own rally with Lee Greenwood and Christopher Macchio. Trump said the other artists had been told “to stay home,” promised a “Rally to end all Rallies,” and listed himself among the performers as “a fine and highly dignified gentleman known as, President DONALD J. TRUMP!”
11. – June 4, 2026 – Parents of transgender children treated at Mount Sinai Health System reported that the hospital had told them it would provide their children’s medical records to the Trump administration under a federal subpoena. The reports followed a similar demand made by the administration to NYU Langone for years of records on minors treated for gender dysphoria, as well as files on the clinicians who cared for them.
12. – June 5, 2026 – Speaking to farmers in Wisconsin as his trade and foreign policies drove up costs, Donald Trump told supporters, “I don’t need this. I got elected. What the hell do I have to be here for?” He added, “I could be home right now in the beautiful White House, enjoying watching somebody else on television talking.”

    Trump Addresses Wisconsin Farmers (WKOW)

13. – June 5, 2026 – A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restart asylum and immigration processing after striking down policies that had frozen asylum grants and halted immigration benefits for people from thirty-nine countries, most of them in Africa and the Middle East. “The court is reminded” that immigrants are often told to “follow the law” and “do things the right way,” the judge wrote. “This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.”
14. – June 5, 2026 – An auction for oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ended with bids on only about 70,000 of the 689,000 acres offered, despite Donald Trump’s promises to extract “liquid gold” from a refuge he had called “the biggest find anywhere in the world, as big as Saudi Arabia.” No major international oil companies participated, and the sale raised just $3.7 million, nearly half of it from Alaska’s state-owned economic development corporation.
15. – June 5, 2026 – The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had drafted an order directing the US Forest Service to open millions of acres of national forest land to off-road vehicles, including about five million acres mostly in Idaho and Montana that the agency had recommended to Congress for wilderness protection.
16. – June 5, 2026 – A Washington judge dismissed the Kennedy Center’s lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd, who canceled his annual Christmas Eve jazz concert after the Center’s Trump-appointed board added Donald Trump’s name to the building. Redd had hosted the concert since 2006. The court found that he had not signed the 2025 agreement the Center claimed he breached and noted that the free concert lost no ticket sales.
17. – June 5, 2026 – FBI Director Kash Patel fired five bureau employees connected to a 2023 internal memo about far-right extremists’ interest in “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology. An internal review had found that the memo violated professional standards but showed “no evidence of malicious intent.” After the firings, Patel posted, “This FBI will never infringe on religious freedom.”
18. – June 6, 2026 – The New York Times reported that the Trump administration began greatly expanding immigration court dockets to accelerate deportations, with some judges’ caseloads doubling or tripling. In one New Orleans courtroom, more than two hundred cases were scheduled over two days, and immigration lawyers said eighty-nine people were declared absent and therefore deportable. In Chicago, a judge addressed more than twenty immigrants at once and gave them twenty days to submit their cases in writing.
19. – June 7, 2026 – The New York Times reported that recent US intelligence reports expressed serious concerns that Israeli spy agencies had intensified efforts to eavesdrop on senior Trump administration officials involved in negotiations with Iran. The day before, NBC News had reported on the Pentagon’s decision to raise Israel’s counterintelligence threat level to its highest rating. Current and former US officials said senior Trump aides made themselves easier targets by conducting national security business on personal phones, flying on private aircraft, and declining support from US embassies abroad.
20. – June 7, 2026 – Trump stormed out of a Meet the Press interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker. Early in the interview, Trump became agitated when Welker questioned him about his fund for January 6 rioters. After Trump made incorrect statements about California’s gubernatorial election process, Welker asked him to supply evidence. “They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked,” Trump responded. He later added, “You’re either crooked, or you’re stupid. You play right into their hands with this crap. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged,” and walked out.

    Trump Argues with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press (WKYC)

21. – June 8, 2026 – Trump nominated Todd Blanche, his former personal defense lawyer, for attorney general. As deputy and then acting attorney general, Blanche fired numerous Justice Department employees, targeted Trump’s enemies with indictments, was involved in the mishandling of the Epstein files, and played a significant role in the administration’s controversial proposal to create a $1.8 billion fund for those claiming they were victims of government mistreatment, including Capitol attack rioters. “Todd Blanche has never stopped acting as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer,” said Stacey Young, founder of Justice Connection.
22. – June 8, 2026 – Knicks fans booed Trump during the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. After Trump announced he would attend the finals, becoming the first sitting US president to do so, intense security measures were put in place. Other ticket holders were forced to wait in line for hours and undergo airport-style security screening while the streets around Madison Square Garden were shut down. When Trump briefly appeared on screen during the national anthem, fans booed. Asked later about the boos, Trump said, “It was, I think, mostly cheers.” Trump was later filmed sleeping during the Knicks’ only loss in the series.
23. – June 8, 2026 – Somalian soccer referee Omar Artan was denied entrance to the US despite holding a diplomatic passport and visa. An anonymous Trump administration official alleged that Artan had associated with “suspected members of terror organizations,” an accusation that many Somalians felt was unfair. Last year, Trump issued a travel ban against Somalia and called its people “garbage.” Artan would have been Somalia’s first World Cup referee.
24. – June 8, 2026 – Activists began a fast and vigil in solidarity with detainees at two ICE facilities in Adelanto, California. The detainees at Adelanto ICE Processing Center and the Desert View Annex had been on a hunger and labor strike since mid-May over inadequate access to clean water, food, and medical care. Four detainees had already died at Adelanto between January 2025 and the beginning of the fast.
25. – June 9, 2026 – Social Security’s trustees said the program would reach a critical low by 2032, a quarter earlier than last year’s projection, due in part to Trump’s immigration and tax policies. This would mean the government would need to cut monthly benefits by 22 percent beginning in 2032. Over fifty-six million people rely on Social Security.
26. – June 9, 2026 – The Government Accountability Office found that Camp East Montana, an ICE tent encampment in Texas, endangered migrants and wasted millions. The GAO’s report cited loaded guns that went missing, people with HIV and diabetes left untreated, and cookies used in lieu of cleaning services. In the six months prior, three detainees died at Camp East Montana, including Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death following a struggle with guards was ruled a homicide.
27. – June 9, 2026 – A ProPublica investigation revealed that the family of an Indian billionaire targeted by Trump secured major policy concessions from the Trump administration after investing in a company tied to Donald Trump Jr. The Trump administration had previously targeted the Ambani energy empire with tariffs. However, after Anant Ambani befriended Donald Trump Jr., his family made a nine-figure investment in America First Refining, a Texas startup in which Donald Trump, Jr. held partial equity. Around the time of the investment, the Ambani family secured major policy wins that benefited their company, Reliance Industries, including lower tariffs, a license to buy Venezuelan oil, and a sanctions waiver to buy Russian crude after the Iran war began.
28. – June 9, 2026 – Joint research by MS Now and the Marshall Project concluded that ICE had detained over five hundred babies and toddlers under Trump. After analyzing documents obtained by the Deportation Data Project, the journalists determined that ICE had twenty-five children aged three or younger in custody on an average day, a tenfold increase compared to when Biden was in office. Many children were held longer than the court-mandated twenty-day limit and went without proper nutrition, medical treatment, sleep environments, or toys. Pediatricians have said that detention at such a young age can have long-term consequences for a child’s health and development.
29. – June 10, 2026 – After US prices rose at their fastest rate in three years, Trump said, “I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.” According to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers for May, prices rose by 4.2 percent in the past year, including a 0.4 percent spike from April to May due to the war in Iran. Trump later claimed his words were taken out of context.

    Trump on Latest Inflation Numbers: “I love it.” (KWTX)

30. – June 10, 2026 – Trump shared a clip from the television series The West Wing to justify new strikes against Iran. On Truth Social, Trump described the strikes as self-defense in response to Iranian aggression. He then posted a clip from The West Wing in which the fictional President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, argues that the US should hit its enemies with a “disproportional response,” leading to “total disaster.”
31. – June 10, 2026 – An immigration judge ordered the deportation of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University graduate student detained during the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters. Mahdawi’s lawyers argued that their client could not be deported while his habeas corpus petition was still making its way through the courts.
32. – June 10, 2026 – Seeking to comply with Trump’s March 2026 executive order cracking down on mail-in voting, the Postal Service said it wouldn’t deliver mail ballots for states that refuse to hand over voter lists. Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that mail-in voting leads to voter fraud and sought federal control over elections, which is illegal. “This would deny eligible people the right to vote. Full stop. This is not in the president’s power. It’s absolutely clear in the Constitution—states run elections,” said Tobias Read, Oregon’s secretary of state.
33. – June 10, 2026 – Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed that his department had not targeted Democratic states, despite DOE lawyers testifying to the contrary. “No decisions were made on politics,” Wright told a House committee. Meanwhile, his own lawyers had stated in filings related to the termination of eleven clean energy grants in states that Trump lost in 2024 that “a primary reason for the termination decisions at issue is because of location in blue states.” Two days after Wright spoke to the House committee, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the grants must be restored.

    Chris Wright Spars with House Dems (The Hill)

34. – June 11, 2026 – A lawncare company run by Trump supporter James Hagedorn pledged to donate $1 million to repair any damage to the South Lawn caused by the UFC fight held on Trump’s birthday. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said the arrangement raised ethics questions. “Major corporations generally don’t do things out of the goodness of their heart. It’s generally they do things for the government because they want something from the government,” said Jordan Libowitz, CREW’s vice president.
35. – June 11, 2026 – Trump administration officials suggested a novel approach to paying medical bills: borrowing from health insurers. According to reporting by The New York Times, the unusual suggestion was included in a long, dense final rule issued in May on how the ACA will operate. Over a third of US households already have medical debt. “The last thing you want to do is to increase deductibles and load people up with more medical debt. It seems hugely out of touch with where people are,” said Neale Mahoney, an economist at Stanford University.
36. – June 11, 2026 – Seven states—Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—announced they would not participate in Trump’s “Great American State Fair.” While several states cited budget constraints and other resource constraints, others expressed concern over the event’s partisan nature.
37. – June 11, 2026 – Trump threatened to take over DC if Janeese Lewis George, a democratic socialist, won the Democratic mayoral primary. When asked about the campaign, Trump did not name George but appeared to reference her in his remarks: “I wouldn’t like it—and maybe we take back Washington, run it on the federal basis. We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.” Trump does not have the legal authority to unilaterally revoke DC’s right to self-government.
38. – June 12, 2026 – The Justice Department approved a $111 billion Paramount–Warner Bros. merger that could potentially cause massive layoffs and major disruption to the film, television, and streaming industries. With the new acquisition, Paramount will have 200 million subscribers. Paramount’s CEO, David Ellison, is the son of Larry Ellison, a longtime friend of Trump’s.
39. – June 12, 2026 – Federal agents searched the office of Ohio Organizing…