2018 Day 547: Michael Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump discussing payments to Karen McDougal; the FBI reopened the Hillary Clinton email investigation 11 days before the election because they were too busy investigating the Trump campaign's connections to Russia; the Justice Department will alert the public when foreign actors target Americans with propaganda; and Scott Pruitt's staff tried to protect him from formaldehyde exposure while he was suppressing the release of a report on the health dangers from the same chemical Jul 20, 2018
2020 Day 1278: The Trump administration is trying to block funding for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health; the next coronavirus relief bill is expected to tie school funding to classrooms reopening; Trump insisted that he'll "be right eventually" about the coronavirus pandemic, repeating his claim that "it's going to disappear"; and Trump will resume the White House coronavirus task force briefings on Tuesday. Jul 20, 2020
2022 Day 547: A bipartisan group of senators reached a deal to reform the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act that Trump and his allies tried to exploit as part of their attempt to overturn the 2020 election results; Trump called Wisconsin’s Republican house speaker “within the last week” and urged him to decertify Biden’s 2020 election win in that state; the Trump administration tried to add a citizenship question to the census to help Republicans win elections; Rudy Giuliani was ordered to testify before a special grand jury in Georgia investigating efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 electoral loss in the state; Biden called climate change an "emergency," a “clear and present danger,” and an “existential threat” but stopped short of a formal climate emergency declaration; about 105 million people in 28 states – nearly a third of America – are currently living under heat advisories and excessive heat warnings; and 36% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – his lowest approval rating since taking office. Jul 20, 2022
2023 Day 912: The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics; Kevin McCarthy reportedly promised Trump that the House would vote to expunge his two impeachments before its August recess; Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger complied with a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith seeking all security video from an Election Day polling site; a federal judge denied Trump’s request for a new trial in the case where a jury ordered him to pay $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll; and the Florida Board of Education approved a new set of standards for how Black history should be taught to middle school students, including instruction on how slavery gave Black people a “personal benefit” because they “developed skills.” Jul 20, 2023
2026 Day 2008: Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, invoking a never-before-used provision of a 1930 trade law in response to what the administration called Canada’s “discriminatory treatment of American products”; the Pentagon didn't disclose three Iranian strikes on U.S. forces in Jordan that injured dozens of troops and damaged several helicopters until after a fourth attack killed two soldiers and left another missing; the U.S. launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran in an effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz; the war with Iran has pushed the national average price of gasoline back above $4 a gallon; the Justice Department subpoenaed phone and text records from several New York Times reporters in an effort to identify confidential sources behind stories about security concerns involving Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One jet; Trump will stop flying on the Qatari-donated Air Force One while it undergoes “additional upgrades and enhancements” to be “maxed out"; a man set off fireworks and started a fire outside the federal building in Lower Manhattan; the Justice Department submitted its first-ever application asking the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to deport an unnamed noncitizen; Trump presented Spain with the World Cup trophy less than two weeks after calling the country “hopeless” and its people “bad people”; and Trump reportedly installed a life-size bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson in the White House Rose Garden. Jul 20, 2026