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Trump Administration

DOGE

How Elon Musk and His Associates Are Remaking the Federal Bureaucracy

Impact of Our Reporting
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Senators Demand Investigation Into Canceled VA Contracts, Citing “Damning Reporting From ProPublica”

The senators are calling for a federal watchdog to investigate the Trump administration’s killing of hundreds of VA contracts. Among their concerns: ProPublica revealed DOGE used artificial intelligence to mark contracts as “munchable.”

Senators Demand Transparency on Canceled Veterans Affairs Contracts

Following a ProPublica investigation into how DOGE had developed an error-prone AI tool to determine which VA contracts should be killed, a trio of lawmakers said the Trump administration continues to “stonewall” their requests for details.

Impact: Senators Call on DOJ to Investigate Potential DOGE Conflicts of Interest After ProPublica Report

Citing ProPublica’s reporting on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Democratic senators argued that the potential conflicts “underscore what appears to be a pervasive problem with Elon Musk and DOGE employees trampling ethics rules and laws.”

38 stories published since 2024

Senators Demand Investigation Into Canceled VA Contracts, Citing “Damning Reporting From ProPublica”

Senators Demand Transparency on Canceled Veterans Affairs Contracts

DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts

Impact: Senators Call on DOJ to Investigate Potential DOGE Conflicts of Interest After ProPublica Report

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk.

Musk Adviser May Make as Much as $1 Million a Year While Helping to Dismantle Agency That Regulates Tesla and X

The Department of Education Forced Idaho to Stop Denying Disabled Students an Education. Then Trump Gutted Its Staff.

Trump’s NIH Axed Research Grants Even After a Judge Blocked the Cuts, Internal Records Show

DOGE Aide Who Helped Gut CFPB Was Warned About Potential Conflicts of Interest

The Latest Trump and DOGE Casualty: Energy Data

A DOGE Aide Involved in Dismantling Consumer Bureau Owns Stock in Companies That Could Benefit From the Cuts

Inspector General Probes Whether Trump, DOGE Sought Private Taxpayer Information or Sensitive IRS Material

White House Proposal Could Gut Climate Modeling the World Depends On

The Trump Administration’s War on Children

Trump Laid Off Nearly All the Federal Workers Who Investigate Firefighter Deaths

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More

Two Months After Trump’s Funding Cuts, a Nonprofit Struggles to Support Refugees and Itself

Beyond Showerheads: Trump’s Attempts to Kill Appliance Regulations Cause Chaos

Trump Said Cuts Wouldn’t Affect Public Safety. Then He Fired Hundreds of Workers Who Help Fight Wildfires.

How Investigative Journalists Actually Find Fraud, Waste and Abuse

Did You Work on a Terminated NIH Grant? ProPublica Wants to Hear From You.

Fend for Yourself: Under Trump, Consumer Protection Bureau’s Probes of Big Tech and Finance Firms Freeze Up

Killing Grants That Have Saved Lives: Trump’s Cuts Signal End to Government Work on Terrorism Prevention

Emails Reveal Top IRS Lawyer Warned Trump Firings Were a “Fraud” on the Courts

Who’s Running the DOGE Wrecking Machine: The World’s Richest Man or a Little-Known Bureaucrat?

Washington Blues: A Government Town Faces a Gloomy Future

“The President Wanted It and I Did It”: Recording Reveals Head of Social Security’s Thoughts on DOGE and Trump

How DOGE’s Cuts to the IRS Threaten to Cost More Than DOGE Will Ever Save

DOGE Gains Access to Confidential Records on Housing Discrimination, Medical Details — Even Domestic Violence

The Trump Administration Keeps Citing an Untrue Stat as It Targets Federal Workers

Anxiety Mounts Among Social Security Recipients as DOGE Troops Settle In

DOGE’s Millions: As Musk and Trump Gut Government, Their Ax-Cutting Agency Gets Cash Infusion

The Staffers Helping Elon Musk Dismantle and Downsize the U.S. Government, One Agency at a Time

One Agency Tried to Regulate SpaceX. Now Its Fate Could Be in Elon Musk’s Hands.

Elon Musk’s Team Decimates Education Department Arm That Tracks National School Performance

The Elite Lawyers Working for Elon Musk’s DOGE Include Former Supreme Court Clerks

Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Expected to Examine Another Treasury System Next Week

An Open Letter to Elon Musk

What We’re Watching

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.

Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

Photo of Sharon Lerner
Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

Photo of Andy Kroll
Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

Photo of Melissa Sanchez
Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

Photo of Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn

I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.

If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.

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    DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family.

    Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his sensitive work for a U.S.-funded nonprofit.

    RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That.

    While touting a $50 million initiative to identify the causes of autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is helping lead an administration that is rolling back protections against pollution and toxic chemicals, including some linked to the condition.

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    In the face of intense public opposition, the city’s Chamber of Commerce has gone to unusual lengths to promote Musk’s xAI facility: sending out a mailer, for the first time in recent memory, that includes misleading facts.

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    A Texas County Cuts Over 100 Polling Sites as Trump Attacks Mail-In Voting Nationally

    The decision by commissioners in Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, comes amid growing concern about GOP efforts to limit voting access ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    What I Witnessed as I Photographed the Disappearances and the Homecomings of My Countrymen

    Over the past four months, a photojournalist documented the lives of five families whose sons had been imprisoned in El Salvador, including their long-awaited reunions. CECOT left a mark on the men, their loved ones and Venezuela.