Trump's overflowing grudge list
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Win McNamee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Two months into his term, President Trump is growing more defiant, creative and ruthless in his pursuit of a central campaign promise: exacting revenge on his political enemies.
Why it matters: From Day One, Trump has delighted in settling scores through the stroke of his pen — breathing life into his MAGA mantra: "I am your retribution."
The big picture: In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Axios identified a list of perceived adversaries who fit what Trump ominously described as "the enemies from within."
- As president, he has taken steps to retaliate against virtually all of them.
- White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told Axios: "As President Trump has made clear, his only retribution is success — and his historic achievements and soaring approval ratings prove it."
Political opponents
The Biden administration: Trump has revoked security clearances from former President Biden, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco.
- The FBI is investigating the Biden administration's handling of an EPA grant program, after a senior DOJ official resigned rather than pursue a criminal inquiry that she believed was baseless.
- The Treasury Department has tasked two IRS whistleblowers with investigating the Biden administration's handling of Hunter Biden's tax case, after they alleged political interference last year.
The Biden family: On Monday, Trump announced he was terminating Secret Service protection for Biden's son and daughter, Hunter and Ashley, "effective immediately."
Former Trump officials: Trump also revoked Secret Service protection from former national security officials who criticized him: Mike Pompeo, Brian Hook and John Bolton, who have all faced credible assassination threats from Iran.
Gen. Mark Milley: Trump despises his former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, who called the president "fascist to the core" in 2023. Trump yanked both his security clearance and personal security detail.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed two portraits of Milley from the Pentagon, and ordered an investigation that could result in the retired four-star general's demotion.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney: Trump claimed this week that Biden's preemptive pardons of Cheney and other members of the Jan. 6 committee are "void" because of Biden's alleged use of an autopen.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Trump signed an executive order calling for the elimination of a Pelosi crown jewel: the Presidio Trust, which oversees a historic national park site in San Francisco.
Media and entertainment
White House Correspondents' Association: For the first time in a century, the White House took control of which outlets can participate in its press pool from the independent WHCA.
The Associated Press: The White House barred the AP from accessing events in the Oval Office and on Air Force One for refusing to use the name "Gulf of America" in its coverage.
CBS, ABC and NBC: Under hard-charging chairman Brendan Carr, the FCC has launched an investigation into alleged "news distortion" during a "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Harris, which CBS denies.
- The FCC also reinstated complaints against ABC for its handling of the presidential debate between Trump and Harris, and NBC for allowing Harris to appear on "Saturday Night Live" without equal time for Trump.
NPR and PBS: The FCC is investigating whether the public broadcasters, which receive federal funding, have violated laws prohibiting commercial advertising on their airwaves.
Politico, BBC, Bloomberg: The White House directed the General Services Administration to terminate all media contracts with these organizations, after DOGE discovered millions of dollars in agency subscriptions.
Voice of America: Trump ordered the dismantling of the U.S. government-funded news agency and its sister broadcasters, alleging a "leftist bias aligned with partisan national media."
The Kennedy Center: Trump took control of D.C.'s preeminent culture and arts institution, making himself chairman and firing former Biden officials from the board in an unprecedented purge.
Legal foes and bureaucrats
Prosecutors: Trump stripped security clearances from New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in retaliation for their investigations into his business practices.
- He fired and demoted federal prosecutors and FBI officials involved in the investigation of the Jan. 6 riot, while pardoning thousands of his supporters who were convicted for breaking into the Capitol.
Big Law: At the start of an extraordinary campaign against private practice law firms, Trump revoked the security clearances of lawyers at Covington & Burling who offered pro bono legal advice to former special counsel Jack Smith.
- Trump then targeted Perkins Coie, stripping security clearances and blacklisting the firm's lawyers because of the firm's commission of the Steele Dossier and other work on behalf of Democrats in 2016.
- Last week, Trump signed an executive order targeting New York firm Paul, Weiss for its former employment of Mark Pomerantz, who was involved in the Manhattan DA's Trump investigation.
- He then withdrew that order on Thursday after Paul, Weiss agreed to "dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services" to support the Trump administration on "mutually agreed projects."
Intelligence community: On Day 1, Trump revoked the clearances of 51 former intel officials who signed a letter in 2020 saying emails from Hunter Biden's laptop carried "classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."
- Trump also stripped a clearance from national security lawyer Mark Zaid, who has represented whistleblowers against the government — including the Trump administration — going back decades.
Inspectors general: Trump fired at least 18 independent agency watchdogs in his first week without notifying Congress.
- He was famously impeached in his first term after a whistleblower complaint about his Ukraine dealings was publicized by the intelligence community's inspector general.
Career officials: One of the enduring storylines of Trump's first months in this term is the DOGE-shaped hammer he has taken to the federal bureaucracy, which he blames for stifling many of his first-term priorities.
What to watch: Trump's plans to accelerate his grudge tour were laid bare in an extraordinary speech last week at the Justice Department, in which he falsely referred to himself as "the chief law enforcement officer in the country." (That's actually his attorney general, Pam Bondi.)
- Addressing an agency that has long prided itself on its independence, Trump attacked his political enemies as "scum" and called for them to be jailed.
- "I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred," Trump declared as he touted the appointment of loyalists to lead DOJ and the FBI.
