Treatment of Individuals: Cruelty, Defamation, and Degradation
Personal attacks, defamation, and degrading treatment of individuals.
30 entries
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceTargeting Judges' Families: Trump's Public Attacks on Judge Merchan's Daughter, Judge Engoron's Clerk, and a Pattern of Judicial Intimidation2023–2024
During the criminal and civil proceedings against him in 2023 and 2024, Donald Trump repeatedly targeted the family members and staff of presiding judges through social media posts and public statements. These attacks prompted multiple gag orders, judicial findings of violations, and monetary fines. The pattern was documented through…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedAttacks on Election Workers: Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and the $148 Million Defamation Verdict2020–2025
Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, were Fulton County, Georgia election workers who processed absentee ballots during the 2020 presidential election. Beginning in December 2020, Donald Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani publicly and repeatedly accused the two women of committing ballot fraud during the vote…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceReal-Time Witness Intimidation: Trump Tweeted Attacks Against Marie Yovanovitch While She Testified in the Impeachment Hearing2019
On November 15, 2019, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified publicly before the House Intelligence Committee as part of the first impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. While Yovanovitch was actively testifying, Trump posted a tweet attacking her professional record. The tweet stated: "Everywhere Marie…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceRetaliation Against Whistleblowers: Ukraine Whistleblower Threats and Vindman Firings2019–2022
In September 2019, a federal intelligence community whistleblower filed a formal complaint alleging that President Trump had abused the power of his office by soliciting interference from Ukraine in the 2020 presidential election during a July 25, 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The complaint triggered…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceAttacks on the Biden Family: Mocking a Stutter, Disparaging Hunter Biden's Addiction, and Using Government Power to Investigate a Political Rival's Relatives2019–2024
Throughout the 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, Donald Trump conducted a sustained public campaign targeting members of Joe Biden's family, employing personal ridicule directed at Biden's lifelong stutter, derogatory references to Hunter Biden's struggles with addiction, attacks on Biden's age and mental acuity, and the deployment…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceRacist Attacks on Congresswomen of Color: Trump Told the 'Squad' to 'Go Back' to Their Countries, and the House Voted to Condemn His Remarks2019
On July 14, 2019, President Donald Trump posted a series of tweets directed at four first-term Democratic congresswomen of color, telling them to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." Although Trump did not name the targets in his initial tweets, the remarks were widely understood to be…
Tier 4, Credibly Reported Through Investigative JournalismCalling Meghan Markle 'Nasty' and Then Denying It: A Case Study in Gaslighting Captured on Audio2019
In June 2019, days before a state visit to the United Kingdom, Donald Trump was informed during an interview with the Sun newspaper that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, had said during his 2016 campaign that she would move to Canada if Trump were elected. Trump responded: "I didn't know that she was nasty."
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceSystematic Harm to Immigrants and Asylum Seekers: Remain in Mexico, Title 42 Expulsions, and Migrant Protection Protocols2019–2025
Beyond the family separation policy documented in INDIV-001, the Trump administration implemented several additional immigration policies that subjected asylum seekers and immigrants to documented harm. These policies were enacted during Trump's first term, partially reversed under President Biden, and reinstated in his second term…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceMockery of Christine Blasey Ford: Trump's Rally Reenactment of Sexual Assault Testimony During the Kavanaugh Confirmation2018
On October 2, 2018, at a campaign rally in Southaven, Mississippi, President Donald Trump publicly mocked Christine Blasey Ford, the psychology professor who had testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee days earlier that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Trump performed a…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceTreatment of John Kelly: Trump's Attacks on His Former Chief of Staff After Kelly Confirmed 'Losers and Suckers' Comments2017–2024
John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, served as Donald Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security from January to July 2017 and as White House Chief of Staff from July 2017 to January 2019. Kelly's son, Second Lieutenant Robert Kelly, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010. After leaving the White House, Kelly became one of…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidencePublic Humiliation of Jeff Sessions: Trump's Sustained Campaign of Insults Against His Own Attorney General for Recusing from the Russia Investigation2017–2018
Jeff Sessions, a Republican senator from Alabama, was one of the first members of the U.S. Senate to endorse Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, doing so in February 2016 when most of the Republican establishment opposed Trump. After winning the election, Trump nominated Sessions as Attorney General, and he was confirmed in February…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceFamily Separation Policy: Thousands of Children Separated from Parents at the Border Under Zero Tolerance2017–2024
In April 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum directing all U.S. Attorney's offices along the Southwest border to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy for illegal entry offenses. When adults traveling with children were criminally prosecuted, their children were classified as unaccompanied minors and transferred to the…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceDisability Rights Rollbacks: Special Olympics Funding Cuts, Program Reductions, and Erosion of Disability Protections2017–2026
Across both terms, the Trump administration proposed and implemented policies that reduced federal protections and funding for people with disabilities, drawing sustained criticism from disability rights organizations.
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidencePattern of Retaliatory Attacks on Former Allies: Public Humiliation, Forced Departures, and Personal Vilification of Loyalists Who Dissented2017–2026
Donald Trump has engaged in a documented pattern of publicly attacking, demeaning, and seeking to destroy the reputations of former allies, appointees, and associates who fell out of favor, criticized him, or failed to demonstrate sufficient personal loyalty. This pattern spans both terms of his presidency and is documented through…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceTreatment of Mitt Romney: The Dinner Photo, the Endorsement-to-Exile Arc, and the Pattern of Punishing Intraparty Dissent2016–2023
Donald Trump's treatment of Mitt Romney over a period of seven years illustrates a documented pattern of courting, humiliating, endorsing, and then attacking members of his own party who subsequently criticized him. The sequence of events is recorded through primary sources, including photographs, debate footage, social media posts, and…
Tier 4, Credibly Reported Through Investigative JournalismPattern of Threatened Lawsuits Never Filed: Litigation Threats as a Tool of Intimidation Against Accusers, Media Organizations, and Investigators2016–2026
Donald Trump has a long-documented pattern of publicly threatening lawsuits that are never filed, using the prospect of litigation as a tool of intimidation against individuals who accuse him of wrongdoing, media organizations that publish critical reporting, and investigators who examine his conduct. This pattern has been documented by…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceAttacks on Gold Star Families and Military Service Members2015–2024
Across a period spanning from the 2016 presidential campaign through Trump's second term, a documented pattern of attacks on Gold Star families, wounded veterans, prisoners of war, and senior military officers distinguished Trump's conduct from any prior president or major party nominee in recent American history. The targets included…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceAttacks on Journalists: Mocking a Disability, Gendered Insults, and Targeting of Individual Reporters2015–2025
Throughout his political career, Donald Trump has directed personal attacks against individual journalists by name, targeting their physical characteristics, professional competence, and identity. The pattern is documented through video recordings, social media posts, and contemporaneous reporting spanning from his 2015 campaign launch…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidencePattern of Racist and Racially Charged Statements: From Birtherism to 'Shithole Countries' to 'Go Back Where You Came From'2011–2026
Over the course of his public career and political campaigns, Donald Trump has made a series of statements that have been widely characterized as racist or racially charged. Each statement documented here was made on the record, in public settings, and is preserved in video, audio, or confirmed contemporaneous reporting. The statements…
Tier 4, Credibly Reported Through Investigative JournalismNatasha Stoynoff Accusation: Alleged Forcible Kissing at Mar-a-Lago in 2005, Corroborated by Six Witnesses2005–2023
Natasha Stoynoff, a staff writer for People magazine, alleged that Donald Trump physically assaulted her in December 2005 during a visit to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Stoynoff was at the resort to conduct an interview with Trump and his wife Melania, who was pregnant with their son Barron, for a feature on the couple's first…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceSexual Misconduct Allegations: The Access Hollywood Tape, 26-Plus Accusers, and Threats to Sue2005–2024
At least 26 women have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, with allegations spanning from the 1970s through the 2010s. The accusations include rape, sexual assault, groping, unwanted kissing, and walking into dressing rooms unannounced. Trump has denied all allegations and threatened legal action against his accusers.
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceAccess Hollywood Tape and Pattern of Sexual Misconduct Allegations (20+ Accusers)2005–2021
On October 7, 2016, The Washington Post published a video recording made in September 2005 in which Donald Trump, then a private citizen and television personality, spoke with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush while traveling to an NBC studio lot in a tour bus. Trump was preparing to appear as a guest on the NBC soap opera Days of Our…
Tier 4, Credibly Reported Through Investigative JournalismSexist Treatment of Women on The Apprentice: Accounts from Contestants, Crew, and Former Staff2004–2018
Between 2004 and 2015, Donald Trump served as the host and executive producer of The Apprentice and its spinoff, The Celebrity Apprentice, on NBC. During that period, multiple former contestants, crew members, and production staff described a workplace environment in which Trump routinely engaged in sexist behavior, including rating…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedE. Jean Carroll Verdict: Civil Liability for Sexual Abuse and Defamation ($88.3 Million in Total Damages)1996–2025
In May 2023, a federal jury in the Southern District of New York found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing writer and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and for defaming her in 2022 when he denied the assault and attacked her character. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in total damages: $2 million for sexual…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidencePageant Dressing Room Intrusions: Trump's Self-Described Practice of Walking In on Contestants at Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA1996–2016
Donald Trump owned the Miss Universe Organization, which included the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants, from 1996 to 2015. During that period, multiple contestants reported that Trump entered dressing rooms while contestants were undressed. Trump himself described this practice in a recorded 2005 interview with radio…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceTreatment of Native Americans: Opposing Tribal Sovereignty as a Business Competitor, Questioning Racial Identity, and Using Slurs at a Ceremony Honoring Veterans1993–2017
Donald Trump's documented interactions with Native Americans span more than two decades and reflect a pattern of treating tribal nations as business competitors, questioning the racial identity of tribal members, and using a Native American name as a political slur in a setting meant to honor Native American veterans.
Tier 2, Formally Charged or InvestigatedJill Harth Lawsuit: Federal Complaint Alleging Groping and Attempted Rape from 1992 to 19971992–2016
On April 25, 1997, Jill Harth filed a federal lawsuit against Donald Trump alleging a pattern of sexual harassment and assault spanning from 1992 to 1997. The complaint alleged hostile and offensive sexual behavior on multiple occasions.
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceCentral Park Five: Full-Page Death Penalty Ads and Refusal to Acknowledge Exoneration1989–2024
In May 1989, Donald Trump paid for full-page advertisements in four New York City newspapers, including the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and Newsday, calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York State. The ads were published in response to the arrest of five Black and Latino teenagers in…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally Resolved100 Central Park South: Tenant Harassment Campaign and Federal RICO Dismissal1981–1998
In 1981, Donald Trump purchased 100 Central Park South, a 14-story residential building, alongside the adjacent 38-story Barbizon Plaza Hotel for approximately $65 million. His stated goal was to demolish both structures and construct a luxury condominium tower. The building housed roughly 60 occupied units, with approximately half under…
Tier 4, Credibly Reported Through Investigative JournalismJessica Leeds Accusation: Alleged Groping on a First-Class Flight in the Late 1970s1979–2023
Jessica Leeds alleged that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her during a first-class flight from either Dallas or Atlanta to New York in the late 1970s. Leeds was in her late 30s at the time and working in sales. She stated that a flight attendant escorted her from coach to first class, where she was seated next to Trump. The conversation…