During Donald Trump’s second presidency, the Trump administration took a series of actions using the government to target his political opponents and civil society. His actions were described by the media as part of his promised "retribution" and "revenge" campaign, within the context of a strongly personalist and leader-centred conception of politics. He repeatedly stated that he had "every right" to go after his political opponents during his 2024 presidential campaign. 
He undertook a massive expansion of presidential power, and several of his actions ignored or violated federal laws, regulations, and the Constitution according to American legal scholars. He threatened, signed executive actions, and ordered investigations into his political opponents, critics, and organizations aligned with the Democratic Party. He politicized the civil service, undertaking mass layoffs of government employees to recruit workers more loyal to himself. He ended the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence, weaponizing it and ordering it to target his political enemies. He engaged in an unprecedented targeting of law firms and lawyers that previously represented positions adverse to himself. He targeted higher education by demanding it give federal oversight of curriculum and targeted activists, legal immigrants, tourists, and students with visas who expressed criticism of his policies or engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy. He detained and deported United States citizens.
His actions against civil society were described by legal experts and hundreds of political scientists as authoritarian and contributing to democratic backsliding, and negatively impacting free speech and the rule of law.
Background.
Trump frequently promised to exact retribution against perceived political enemies through his 2024 campaign, and has said he has "every right" to go after political opponents. A central campaign theme for Trump's second presidential bid was "retribution". Trump framed the 2024 election as "the final battle", and openly promised to leverage the power of the presidency for political reprisals. 
Trump repeatedly suggested that he supports outlawing political dissent that he regards as misleading or that questions the legitimacy of his presidency, for example saying that criticism of judges who ruled in favor of him "should be punishable by very serious fines and beyond that." He also repeatedly called for press companies who have produced unfavorable coverage of him to have their licenses revoked, and said that he would jail reporters who refuse to name the sources of leaks. "The New York Times" described Trump as using "grievance as a political tool, portraying himself as the victim of what he claims is a powerful and amorphous 'deep state.
Actions taken.
Mass firings and expansion of presidential power.
Trump undertook mass firings of federal employees, inspectors generals, and Democratic members of independent agencies and oversight boards who could attempt to block or constrain his moves in express defiance of existing laws prohibiting such actions. His actions were described by legal experts as unprecedented or in violation of federal law, and with the intent of replacing them with workers more aligned with his agenda. Legal analysts described such firings as setting up Supreme Court cases that could expand his power over independent executive branch agencies that Congress set up to be insulated from presidential control. His actions removed checks and balances within the executive branch by ignoring agencies such as the Office of Legal Counsel. In an executive order on February 18, Trump declared the executive branch an extension of his own person, and that only he and the United States Attorney General had final say on the interpretation of all executive branch law. He sent teams to administer loyalty tests to some federal employees, intelligence, and law enforcement candidates. His actions politicized the civil service, especially among law enforcement.
His actions against civil society were described by legal experts and hundreds of political scientists as authoritarian and contributing to democratic backsliding, and as negatively impacting the rule of law.
Targeting the judicial system and judges.
Following legal setbacks to his executive orders, Trump increased his criticism of the judiciary and called for impeachment of federal judges who ruled against him. He threatened, signed executive actions, and ordered investigations into his political opponents, critics, and organizations aligned with the Democratic Party. His defiance of court orders and a claimed right to disobey the courts raised fears among legal experts of a constitutional crisis. He engaged in an unprecedented targeting of law firms and lawyers that previously represented positions adverse to himself. His verbal attacks against the judiciary saw an increase in threats and harassment against judges and their families who ruled against him. On April 25, 2025, the FBI arrested Milwaukee County Circuit judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly blocking immigration enforcement. The move was widely characterized as an authoritarian act by legal experts. His actions were described by scholars as potentially creating a "two-track legal system" or "dual state".
Launching Justice Department investigations.
Trump ended the post-Watergate norm of independence for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and weaponized it to investigate his political opponents, calling them "scum". His administration publicized actions against local leaders, judges, and federal officials who opposed his agenda along with what "The New York Times" described as "people who have simply gotten on the president's bad side" in an attempt to stigmatize them. Trump made numerous suggestions, requests and demands to arrest, investigate or prosecute his political opponents, including by explicitly or indirectly ordering investigations into political opponents and celebrities such as James Comey, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen, and Chris Krebs. Trump's interim DC Attorney General Ed Martin stated the Justice Department would publicly name and shame individuals they did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute. Legal experts described this approach as violating the department's ethical and procedural rulebook. 
Trump used the Justice Department to punish his enemies and reward his allies while making unfounded claims of prior "weaponization" against him. Trump ordered the attorney general to investigate the Biden administration for "weaponization of the federal government" and "government censorship of speech". "The Guardian" described the investigations as "politically charged reviews into his personal grievances". The orders made misleading accusations against the Biden administration and asserted they had committed criminal conduct against him and his supporters and demanded evidence be found to "correct past misconduct". On June 5, 2025, Trump ordered his administration to investigate former President Joe Biden for his executive actions arguing he was too mentally impaired to do the job and casting doubts as to the legitimacy of his pardons, although he admitted he had no evidence to back up his claims. Legal experts described the investigation as unlikely to do anything except fire up his core supporters.
On January 27, the DOJ fired more than a dozen officials who worked on criminal cases against Trump alleging a lack of trust in faithfully executing his agenda. It also announced a "special project" to investigate prosecutors who had previously brought charges against January 6 rioters, and launched a "weaponization working group" to review and investigate officials at both the state and federal levels who previously investigated Trump and provide the White House quarterly reports on its findings. Several FBI agents and the FBI Agents Association sued the Trump administration to prevent the publication of the names of 5,000 FBI agents for their involvement in investigating the January 6 attack, and Trump later said he would fire some agents involved in investigating the attack.
On March 14, 2025, Trump gave a norm-breaking political speech at the Justice Department's Great Hall promising it would "expose" his enemies in what "The Associated Press" described as "the latest manifestation of Trump's unparalleled takeover of the department". In March, interim US attorney Ed Martin sent a letter to US representative Eugene Vindman requesting information about his business dealings. Martin also sent letters to Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Robert Garcia, suggesting that they had threatened officials, and to William Treanor, dean of Georgetown University's law school, warning that the law school's students would not be eligible for employment or fellowships with the District of Columbia's US attorney's office as long as the school discussed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Investigating Democratic organizations.
Trump threatened, signed executive actions, and ordered investigations into his political opponents, critics, and organizations aligned with the Democratic Party. On April 24, 2025, Trump directed the Justice Department in a presidential memorandum to investigate the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue in an attempt to cripple the Democratic Party's political infrastructure. It marked the third time in three weeks Trump ordered the government to target his perceived enemies and domestic opponents, which "The New York Times" described as "eroding a post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence far more than he ever did in his first term".
Eric Adams investigation.
It was reported on February 14 that the efforts by Trump to dismiss the case into New York City Mayor Eric Adams, which caused the resignation of seven government prosecutors, came in the same week as the administration was negotiating with the mayor over immigration enforcement initiatives and Trump's "border czar" Tom Homan made reference to an "agreement". Earlier, Adams had agreed with Homan to give access to the city's Rikers Island jail for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without—via a "loophole... [Adams] appears to have found"—violating the city’s sanctuary laws, and joined Homan in a joint interview conducted by Phil McGraw, among one or more other joint interviews.
The report came after February 10, 2025, when the DOJ under Trump instructed federal prosecutors to drop charges against Adams, citing concerns that the case had been affected by publicity and was interfering with his ability to govern. The memo directing this move, written by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, stated that the prosecution had limited Adams' capacity to focus on issues such as immigration and crime. The Justice Department's decision did not assess the strength of the evidence or legal arguments in the case. The memo was issued months before the city's Democratic primary, where Adams is seeking reelection. The charges were to be dropped "as soon as is practicable" pending a further review of Adams' case following the general election in November 2025. Danielle Sassoon, the US attorney in charge of the case, refused to dismiss the charges, telling Attorney General Pam Bondi that "I cannot agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations". Sassoon later resigned, accusing Bove and the Trump administration of making an illicit deal with Adams to dismiss the charges, becoming the first of seven prosecutors to resign due to the order to dismiss charges.
Actions against the legal profession.
In March 2025, Trump said that he would be targeting law firms, a move experts call unprecedented. He first ordered that security clearances be revoked for all of the attorneys at Covington & Burling who are involved in the firm's representation of former special counsel Jack Smith. Smith led federal investigations and prosecutions of Trump in both an election obstruction case and a classified documents case. Trump then signed executive orders 14230 and 14237, each aimed at another firm. The first ordered that the security clearances of all Perkins Coie employees be suspended, and also prohibited the firm from receiving money from federal contractors and barred its attorneys from entering federal buildings. Perkins Coie had represented Hillary Clinton in her 2016 presidential campaign, and in that capacity paid for opposition research that led to the Steele dossier. The second involved similar orders for the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (known as Paul, Weiss), and for Mark Pomerantz, a previous partner at the firm. Pomerantz had worked with the Manhattan district attorney's office, which subsquently prosecuted Trump for falsifying business records. The firm had done pro bono work in January 6 cases.
Trump subsequently rescinded order 14237 after Paul, Weiss agreed to a set of conditions, such as promising to provide $40 million in free legal services to the administration and end its diversity policies.<ref name="Ahmadi/BBC"></ref> Within days, Trump issued executive order 14246, this time aimed at Jenner & Block, a firm that employed Andrew Weissmann after he worked on the Mueller special counsel investigation.<ref name="Birnbaum/WP"></ref> Two days later, Trump issued another executive order directed at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (known as WilmerHale), where Robert Mueller had been a partner; the firm also employed Aaron Zebley and James Quarles, who had worked with the Mueller special counsel investigation. Claire Finkelstein, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said the goal of these executive orders was to "intimidate professionals, to intimidate the legal profession from engaging in professional activities that go against Donald Trump and the current administration."
Perkins Coie filed a lawsuit challenging executive order 14230, and on March 12, Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order for parts of Trump's executive order. Howell said that the order likely violated several constitutional amendments and "casts a chilling harm of blizzard proportion across the entire legal profession". The Department of Justice attempted to have Howell removed from the case, alleging that she is "insufficiently impartial", but the motion was denied. On March 28, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale also filed suit in the District of Columbia challenging their respective executive orders. The same day, Judge John Bates issued a temporary restraining order for the executive order directed at Jenner & Block, and Judge Richard Leon issued a temporary restraining order for the executive order directed at WilmerHale.
Trump also issued a presidential memorandum, "Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court", targeting lawyers and law firms more generally if they filed "frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation" against the administration, as judged by the attorney general. The menacing memo, again including revocation of security clearances and preventing any company that uses such a firm from getting federal contracts, has been seen as a threatening escalation and broadening of the president's campaign of retaliation against judges and lawyers who don't share his political views.<ref name="Barrett/NYT"></ref><ref name="Jacobs/WP"></ref> A variety of people in the legal profession condemned the memorandum as an attempt to intimidate firms so that they wouldn't take on clients who oppose government actions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also contacted 20 law firms, telling them that they were being investigated in relation to their DEI practices.
The series of actions against lawyers and law firms quickly started having the desired effect of making it harder for those who oppose Trump administration actions to find lawyers who would agree to represent them.<ref name="Barett/NYT"></ref><ref name="Summers/NPR"></ref> University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Law professor Scott Cummings and a former senior Justice Department official have both called Trump's moves attacking law firms and targeting lawyers "authoritarian".<ref name="Rohde/NBC"></ref> Senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Ben Wizner said Trump's threats are an attempt to "chill and intimidate" lawyers who challenge him. In remarks delivered with the governor of Louisiana, President Trump told reporters that he thinks "The law firms have to behave themselves, and we've proven that."<ref name="Stein/Chronicle"></ref><ref name="President/White House"></ref>
Within the legal community, there have been varied responses to Trump's attacks on the profession. Law firms that haven't been targeted by Trump have largely been silent in response. A few firms have issued public statements, such as Albert Sellars LLP, whose response was a concise "Fuck that fascist nonsense." The American Bar Association released a statement encouraging everyone in the profession to stand up against the Trump's "efforts to undermine the courts and the legal profession", following that with another statement joined by over 50 smaller bar associations across the country. The deans of nearly 80 law schools from across the country also signed a joint letter condemning the administration's actions, stating that "Punishing lawyers for their representation and advocacy violates the First Amendment and undermines the Sixth Amendment." Democratic state attorneys general sent a joint letter as well, condemning Trump's attempts to undermine the rule of law. Rachel Cohen, an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (also known as Skadden), organized an open letter, inviting other associates to sign on. The letter, addressed to large law firms, called on them to take a stand, and as of March 27, 2025 over 1500 associates had signed it. Cohen also submitted a conditional resignation letter, calling on Skadden to fight Trump's actions, and they let her go the same day. Skadden later proactively approached the Trump administration before Trump targeted them with an executive order, coming to an agreement with the administration along the same lines as that reached by Paul, Weiss.
Pulling security protection and clearances.
Within 24 hours of being elected, Trump revoked the security clearance of his former national security adviser John Bolton as well as the clearances of 50 officials who signed onto a letter about the Hunter Biden laptop controversy, including ex-DNI director James Clapper and ex-CIA directors John Brennan and Leon Panetta. Trump also revoked the security protection for his former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, his aide Brian Hook, and Bolton, who all had faced assassination threats from Iran. The revocation of security protection was described as part of Trump's vow to target those he perceives as adversaries. He also revoked protection for Anthony Fauci who had received several death threats, and said to reporters that he would not feel any responsibility if harm befell the former government officials he revoked security details from.
On January 29, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspended former chair of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley's security clearance, withdrew the authorization for his security detail, and ordered a review of his actions as Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a view to demote him in rank. Hours after Trump was inaugurated, the official portrait of General Milley was removed from a Pentagon hallway where the portraits of all former chairmen are displayed.
Actions against the media and free speech.
Trump's actions against the media and those who expressed certain viewpoints were described as negatively impacting free speech. Scientists expressed fear of expressing viewpoints contrary to administration preferences, and the government undertook widespread online resource removals. His deportations of activists and political dissidents were described as violating their free speech rights.
Trump's actions were described as part of a revenge tour against the media, which some experts described as a "broad, systematic assault" on free speech. Trump claimed that some media groups should be "illegal", and frequently assaulted the "fake news" and suggested using law enforcement against them. Sitting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Anna M. Gomez called Trump's lawsuit against "60 Minutes"' parent company CBS News part of "a campaign to censor and control" and to harass the media "into covering the news the way they want it to be covered". As a result of Trump's threats, media executives instructed journalists and their staff to self-censor and reduce criticism of Trump.
FCC investigations.
On January 22, Trump's FCC chair Brendan Carr revived three investigations into claims of bias from CBS, ABC, and NBC, but not Fox News, and Carr previously promised to punish news broadcasters he saw as unfair to Trump or Republicans in general. On January 29, Carr ordered an investigation into underwriting announcements on NPR and PBS stations, and recommended that Congress stop funding these organizations (which aligns with the section of Project 2025 that Carr had authored). In his first-term budgets, Trump had previously proposed eliminating funding for public broadcasting, art, libraries, and museums. Carr sent a letter to the heads of NPR and PBS with his complaints, but ignored requests for a copy from a Democratic FCC commissioner. On May 1, NPR and PBS were targeted by an executive order instructing the cessation of their funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the investigation of all other federal funds they received. On February 12, Carr launched investigations into Comcast, the parent company of NBC News and Universal Studios, over having diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. 
Carr revived a 1960's-era policy prohibiting "news distortion" to target media outlets, and his actions were condemned by former Republican and Democratic FCC chairs and independent watchdog groups. Legal experts told "Ars Technica" that the investigations could be used to "harass licensees and hold up applications related to business deals", and Carr stated that a news distortion complaint against "60 Minutes"' Kamala Harris interview would factor into an FCC review of a CBS transfer of TV broadcast station licenses to Skydance.
Restricting media access to the White House.
Following his reelection, Trump launched lawsuits and created blacklists against certain media outlets, and took over the process run by the White House Correspondents' Association to choose what outlets could gain access to him. He kicked out and prohibited certain outlets from access to events, and allowed right-wing outlets such as Real America's Voice, Blaze Media, and Newsmax into the press pool.
In February 2025, Associated Press journalists were barred from entry to press briefings in the White House after the Trump administration objected to the Associated Press using the name "Gulf of Mexico" instead of "Gulf of America" as chosen by Trump. The Associated Press had recommended both names were to be used, as "Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change", and "the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years." The Associated Press protested the Trump administration's action as violating the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later commented: "If we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable", as she described the name of 'Gulf of America' as a "fact". The administration followed up by banning Associated Press journalists indefinitely from the Oval Office and Air Force One, citing the gulf naming issue. Trump said that month that the Associated Press would continue to be banned "until such time as they agree that it's the Gulf of America". Associated Press filed a lawsuit on February 21, in which it states "The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government, ... The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American's freedom."
On April 8, 2025, federal district judge Trevor McFadden granted the preliminary injunction sought by AP and ruled that the White House must lift the access restrictions they have imposed on the Associated Press while the "AP v. Budowich" lawsuit moves forward. On April 13, even though a court order was placed, the Trump administration blocked the AP from covering a meeting between Trump and Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office.
Actions against higher education.
Trump's actions targeting higher education were described as part of an intimidation campaign against institutions viewed as hostile to his political views. He targeted higher education by demanding it give federal oversight of curriculum and targeted activists, legal immigrants, tourists, and students with visas who expressed criticism of his policies or engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy.