It’s hard to grasp just how much happened this year: We saw DOGE’s takeover of the federal government, the occupation of American cities, mass immigrant detention and deportation efforts, a sweeping trade war, and so much more.
That’s why American Oversight spent 2025 fighting for transparency and accountability — to ensure the public knows what the government is doing and has the information it needs to challenge abuses of power.
Here’s a look at some of our biggest wins this year.
Accountability for the Signalgate scandal
In March, National Security Advisor Tim Waltz accidentally added Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to an unsecured Signal group chat where several administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed plans for upcoming strikes in Yemen.
We filed a lawsuit against Hegseth and the other officials involved in the now-infamous Signalgate scandal in March, and launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s widespread use of the non-governmental, auto-deleting messaging app.
Our litigation prompted a court order to preserve records and exposed a broader pattern of recordkeeping violations across multiple Trump administration agencies. It also spurred an investigation by the Inspector General for the Department of Defense, which found that Hegseth put troops’ lives in danger when he used Signal to discuss military plans. We called on Hegseth to resign immediately in the wake of the report from the office of the inspector general.
Hegseth has continued his reckless disregard for protocols, and we’re staying on top of him. We sued the departments of Defense and Justice this month for unlawfully withholding records about the Trump administration’s lethal strikes on boats they claim are associated with drug trafficking. We also demanded DHS and the National Archives take immediate action to recover and preserve deleted photos and videos of survivors of a strike in October.
Exposing DHS’ text message problem
DHS is central to the Trump administration’s most controversial and far-reaching actions, including mass deportations and the federal occupation of American cities, and its problematic record-keeping practices prevent the public from accessing information about those actions. We filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, demand letters, and lawsuits for DHS records about its role in several Trump administration actions this year, and uncovered new details about its document preservation failures.
This summer, we sent FOIA requests to DHS seeking its communications about the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles. In July, DHS told us it “no longer maintained” text message data — and hadn’t since April. In October, we sued DHS and other Trump administration agencies and officials for failing to preserve their texts — a flagrant violation of federal laws. We also asked the court to require DHS develop policies to ensure its texts are preserved in the future.
In litigation, DHS backtracked and said it had provided us with “erroneous information” about its text message preservation policies. The agency says it preserves texts, but that it relies on individual officials to take screenshots of their text messages. Because of our lawsuit, DHS demanded top DHS officials “preserve documents and electronic records that relate to the subject matter of the complaint in this case,” making it clear that it expects officials to follow the law and properly preserve records. That’s essential, given the content of these messages, which may include details of actions that impacted many families’ lives.
To date, though, the agency has not released the records or provided evidence that they were preserved, as federal law requires.
Revealing attacks on voting rights
We filed several public records requests and lawsuits for information about what data is being used by the system, and how it is being used. Records we obtained revealed Texas’s early agreement to use the DHS system to check its voters’ citizenship. Other records shed light on the Trump administration’s plans to expand the system to include drivers’ licenses and passport data.
We’ve also been tracking changes to election administration in individual states. In Georgia, we were able to demand transparency after election-deniers at the State Election Board (SEB) tried to influence the way elections work in the state.
Our litigation resulted in a requirement for SEB members to conduct business solely through official government email accounts, and to properly preserve their communication records. Those requirements will strengthen public oversight of the election board actions ahead of the 2026 elections.
Enabling oversight of ICE activity
The Trump administration dramatically changed the way immigration works in the U.S. this year, substantially expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) budget, staffing, and discretion.
This week, a federal court ruled that Congress members must be allowed to conduct unannounced oversight at ICE detention facilities, in a lawsuit represented by American Oversight and Democracy Forward on behalf of a dozen lawmakers. “Members of Congress have an unquestioned right to conduct real-time oversight of immigration detention facilities,” our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said. “By blocking those visits, the administration wasn’t simply breaking the law, it was trying to conceal the reality inside these facilities from the public: people in overcrowded, inhumane conditions without adequate beds, showers, or medical care.”
Our work this year also revealed the bleak conditions many immigrants face in ICE detention at the U.S. Naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. We sued ICE for records about its use of Guantánamo as a detention center and, through that lawsuit, obtained records that showed the agency was unprepared for the hundreds of migrants the Trump administration sent to the base.
Fighting Trump’s efforts to conceal his mishandling of classified documents
It’s been more than two years since Trump was indicted on 37 federal charges for mishandling classified documents at the end of his first term, but the public still hasn’t seen Special Counsel Jack Smith’s full investigation report. Our litigation forced action in the case this year.
We sued the DOJ for the full release of Smith’s report in February. Judge Aileen Cannon sat on our fully-briefed case for nearly ten months, but in November, a federal appeals court told Cannon she must resolve the issues within 60 days. Trump urged Cannon to keep the report under seal this month, even as Smith defended the investigation and said it uncovered “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
And that’s not all we uncovered this year. Here’s a look at some of our other major wins.
Other top stories we followed this year:
House and Senate both approve releasing the Epstein files by a near unanimous margin (NPR)
What we know and don’t know about DOGE’s reported demise (CNN)
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here.” (Lawfare)
Trump’s billion-dollar war on Harvard, explained (NPR)
How Bill Pulte learned the art of the attack, from his own family to Letitia James (Associated Press)
Inside the Trump administration’s manmade hunger crisis (ProPublica)
Inside week 1 of Trump’s ‘hostile takeover’ of DC police (Washington Post)
Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the “junkyard dogs”: The White House chief of staff on Trump’s second term (Vanity Fair)
