2020 Day 1209: Dr. Anthony Fauci warned the Senate that reopening the country too soon “could turn the clock back" and lead to “suffering and death that could be avoided"; Trump declared that "we have prevailed" over the coronavirus as U.S. deaths from the disease exceeded 80,000; Trump ended his press conference after he told an Asian-American journalist to "ask China" about her question; Democrats unveiled a new $3 trillion coronavirus rescue bill; and the Supreme Court heard the first arguments in a landmark dispute over access to Trump’s financial records and tax returns. May 12, 2020
2021 Day 113: House Republicans removed Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership role because of her criticism of Trump's repeated lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him and his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol; Trump’s acting attorney general testified that the Justice Department had "no evidence of widespread voter fraud" at the time of the Jan 6. attack; more than 100 Republicans threatened to form a third party if the Republican Party doesn't break with Trump; Biden's attorney general and homeland security secretary both testified that the greatest domestic threat to the U.S. is from "those who advocate for the superiority of the white race"; and House Democrats and the White House reached an agreement to allow Donald McGahn to testify before Congress about Trump’s efforts to obstruct Robert Mueller's investigation. May 12, 2021
2022 Day 478: The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed five House Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy; Biden authorized the National Archives to release an eighth tranche of Trump's records to the Jan. 6 committee; a federal grand jury issued a subpoena to the National Archives to obtain the 15 boxes of classified White House documents that Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago; the Biden administration canceled the sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of Alaska; and Finland moved to join NATO "without delay" in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. May 12, 2022
2025 Day 1574: The U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs; House Republicans proposed $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to help fund Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax plan; Trump signed an executive order directing drugmakers to cut U.S. drug prices or face federal intervention; Trump plans to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet from Qatar’s royal family for use as Air Force One; and Stephen Miller said the White House is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus — the constitutional right to challenge detention in court — to block migrants from doing so; Trump appointed former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. May 12, 2025
2026 Day 1939: Trump said he doesn’t "think about Americans’ financial situation" as a motivation for negotiations with Iran; U.S. inflation rose to 3.8% in April, the highest level in nearly three years; the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system could cost $1.2 trillion over 20 years – nearly seven times more than Trump’s $175 billion estimate; Trump called a journalist “a dumb person” after she noted that the cost of his White House ballroom project had doubled from $200 million to $400 million; Marty Makary resigned as FDA commissioner after 13 months; the Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to revive a Republican-drawn House map with only one majority-Black district, likely giving Republicans six of the state's seven seats; Democrats called for Rep. Jen Kiggans to resign after she agreed with a radio host's comment that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries should get his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia”; and during a late-night Truth Social posting spree, Trump baselessly called Obama a “traitor,” a “demonic force,” and part of a coup. May 12, 2026