The Standing Record

This is the Standing Record for July 29, 2026. We recorded 5 events from July 28, 2026 that erode our democratic ideals and added 42 more from earlier dates — 816 so far this month, bringing the total archive to 1366. If you saw something happen — yesterday, or any other day — that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

Acting DNI Pulte announced a fifth, 'near final' round of ODNI terminations, citing a roughly 30% staff reduction

Event: July 28, 2026 Location: Washington, DC Jurisdiction: Federal Abuses: Dismantling agency capacity

On July 28, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte posted on X that ODNI was "Executing a 5th and Near Final Round of TERMINATIONS, an approximately 30% Staff Reduction from Weeks Ago," framing the cuts as necessary so the intelligence community would "protect the American people, NOT the political whims of the bloated and corrupt elite class." The announcement came hours before the Senate's confirmation vote on permanent DNI nominee Jay Clayton and one day after a fourth round of cuts.

People & Organizations: - Bill Pulte (Acting Director of National Intelligence) - Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/07/28/federal-dismantling-agency-capacity-5322470e/ Primary source: Official statement announcing the fifth round of ODNI terminations

Court-appointed monitor found CoreCivic's California City ICE facility systemically denied detainees adequate healthcare

Event: July 28, 2026 Location: California City Immigration Processing Center, California City, California Jurisdiction: Federal Abuses: Corrections abuse

On July 28, 2026, a court-appointed independent medical monitor, Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, released a report finding that the CoreCivic-operated California City Immigration Processing Center in California City, California systemically failed to provide adequate healthcare to ICE detainees, identifying 13 deficiency areas including missing medications, months-long delays in cancer treatment, and inadequate management of chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and seizures. The report was ordered by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by seven detainees alleging due-process violations at the facility. CoreCivic said it provides daily medical access and 24-hour emergency care, while lawsuit plaintiff Sokhean Keo said he never received medication prescribed for an infection.

People & Organizations: - CoreCivic - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/07/28/federal-corrections-abuse-02235df5/ Primary source: A judge sent a doctor to evaluate California's largest ICE detention center. What he found

Guardian investigation reveals ICE forcibly treated hunger-striking detainee with force-feeding, catheterization, or blood draws

Event: July 28, 2026 Location: Washington, D.C. Jurisdiction: Federal Abuses: Corrections abuse, Violence in immigration enforcement

A Guardian investigation reviewed an ICE Health Service Corps document, published online in February 2026, confirming for the first time that the Trump administration forcibly treated a hunger-striking immigration detainee — subjecting the unnamed patient to force-feeding, hydration, forced urinary catheterization, or involuntary blood draws after they began a hunger strike between October and December 2025. The same document discloses at least seven detainees were on hunger strike as of February 2026 and budgets over $168,000 for hunger-strike-related external medical care in fiscal year 2026. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, declined to answer questions about the treatment.

People & Organizations: - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/07/28/federal-corrections-abuse-86177d38/ Primary source: Revealed: Trump administration forced treatment on hunger striker in ICE detention

DOJ agreed to pay pro-life activist Paul Vaughn a seven-figure settlement over Biden-era FACE Act prosecution

Event: July 28, 2026 Location: Washington, D.C. Jurisdiction: Federal Abuses: Weaponizing the Justice Department

On July 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to pay Tennessee pro-life activist Paul Vaughn a "seven-figure" settlement resolving his lawsuit over a 2022 prosecution under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and a predawn armed raid on his home while several of his eleven children were present. Vaughn was convicted of a misdemeanor FACE Act violation and a felony conspiracy count for a March 2021 clinic protest, received no prison time, and was pardoned by President Trump in January 2025 before suing DOJ; the settlement amount was not disclosed and DOJ did not comment. It is at least the second seven-figure DOJ settlement paid to a Trump-aligned FACE Act defendant within four months, following a similar payout to Mark Houck in April 2026.

People & Organizations: - U.S. Department of Justice

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/07/28/federal-weaponizing-doj-0efa748d/ Primary source: First on Fox: Trump DOJ reaches settlement with pro-life protester targeted by Biden admin

Indiana Capital Chronicle investigation revealed Inspector General Jared Prentice halted publication of state misconduct reports

Event: July 28, 2026 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Jurisdiction: State Abuses: Suppression of government data

The Indiana Office of Inspector General, led by Inspector General Jared Prentice, released nine investigative report summaries in 2025 but has published none in 2026, Indiana Capital Chronicle reported July 28, 2026. The office continues to investigate misconduct and still announces criminal or ethics charges when they occur, but no longer releases findings from investigations that do not result in charges, citing an internal legal-risk review. The state's own online investigative-reports archive independently confirms the change, listing no completed 2026 reports where prior years list several.

People & Organizations: - Jared Prentice (Indiana Inspector General) - Indiana Office of Inspector General

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/07/28/in-suppression-of-government-data-0b466a3f/ Primary source: 2026 Reports

Filling out the archive

We're steadily backfilling the archive — working backward through the record so the timeline is complete, not just current. These are older events we archived yesterday. If you know of something from months or years back that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

• January 20, 2022 — Hawaii state Rep. Sylvia Luke agreed to accept $35,000 in campaign funds in exchange for steering COVID-19 testing emergency appropriations
• July 23, 2024 — Penn State Health St. Joseph canceled a non-binary patient's scheduled mastectomy citing Catholic doctrine
• January 24, 2025 — CBP agents denied Samuel Tunick a lawyer during a warrantless, pretextual border search targeting his Stop Cop City activism
• February 13, 2025 — DHS awarded $220M in no-bid advertising contracts under Noem, funneling work to firms tied to her inner circle
• July 14, 2025 — Fargo police arrested Tennessee grandmother Angela Lipps based on unverified Clearview AI facial-recognition match; she was jailed five months
• August 7, 2025 — Trump directed Education Department to collect college race-admissions data on compressed 120-day deadline, bypassing required notice-and-comment rulemaking
• August 25, 2025 — Pentagon installed Adm. Daryl Caudle as Chief of Naval Operations after he signaled loyalty to Hegseth's anti-diversity agenda
• October 1, 2025 — Energy Secretary Wright canceled $7.6 billion in clean energy grants claiming merit review — grants were actually cut based solely on states' political identity
• October 1, 2025 — DOE terminated 284 renewable energy grants based solely on whether recipient states voted for Trump, its own legal filing later admitted
• October 6, 2025 — Broadview, Illinois Mayor Thompson signed executive order imposing 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily curfew on ICE facility protests
• February 4, 2026 — Karoline Leavitt falsely claimed all 4,000 Operation Metro Surge arrests were dangerous criminals
• February 18, 2026 — ICE arrested DACA recipient at her permanent residency interview and deported her the next day under a decades-old removal order
• March 2, 2026 — ICE detainee Emmanuel Damas died from untreated tooth infection at CoreCivic Arizona facility
• March 10, 2026 — Mississippi Secretary of State Watson rolled out unverified Experian data, marking 50,000 voters inactive and blocking some from March primaries
• March 11, 2026 — ICE rammed Vermont home on mistaken identity, detained three innocent immigrants whose subsequent detentions courts ruled unlawful
• March 23, 2026 — USAGM leadership directed Voice of America to publish White House talking points as news, journalists' lawsuit alleged
• March 23, 2026 — Trump ordered ICE deployed to 14 airports as explicit shutdown pressure on Democrats, displacing TSA roles
• March 23, 2026 — TSA shared passenger screening data with ICE to target and detain asylum-seeking mother at San Francisco airport
• March 24, 2026 — University of North Texas staff dismantled student protest art installation and power-washed chalk messages at CVAD Gallery
• March 25, 2026 — Bill Pulte issued two new criminal referrals against NY AG Letitia James after prior indictment was dismissed and two grand juries declined
• March 26, 2026 — DOJ opened civil-rights investigations into California and Maine for housing transgender women with female inmates
• March 29, 2026 — CNN revealed FEMA contractor Kara Voorhies exercised de facto agency authority in violation of federal regulations
• May 1, 2026 — DOJ shut down San Francisco immigration court ahead of schedule after firing most judges, leaving 100,000 cases in limbo
• June 23, 2026 — Acting DNI Pulte fired six political appointees and removed dozens of career intelligence officers in first ODNI purge round
• July 9, 2026 — Wisconsin Elections Commission adopted guidance barring voters from voiding returned absentee ballots
• July 10, 2026 — Acting DNI Pulte announced a third round of ODNI staff cuts, again declining to disclose numbers or positions affected
• July 16, 2026 — White House intervened in FDA's cyclospora recall at Taylor Farms' request, delaying public health response by 60 hours
• July 22, 2026 — HHS revised CDC autism-and-vaccines webpage to introduce vaccine-autism uncertainty, replacing evidence-based guidance, to secure a Senate vote
• July 22, 2026 — ICE agents arrested Ukrainian woman at San Francisco airport; video showed agents pinning her to floor as she alleged choking
• July 23, 2026 — Forest Service Chief Schultz falsely told Congress DOGE cuts had not harmed wildfire capacity; agency documents and officials contradicted the claim
• July 24, 2026 — DOJ offered $3 billion in police grants conditioned on partnering with ICE for immigration enforcement
• July 24, 2026 — FEMA cut Aberdeen-Hoquiam flood grant from $47M to $34.65M and delayed it one year as DHS diverted FEMA resources to immigration enforcement
• July 24, 2026 — Trump signed executive order directing warning signs placed outside National Museum of American History labeling exhibits inaccurate
• July 24, 2026 — Trump publicly declared the way to identify government leakers is 'through the journalists,' endorsing pursuit of reporters
• July 24, 2026 — MS NOW report reveals Hegseth forced two officers into early retirement for questioning his command directives
• July 24, 2026 — Documents revealed federal agencies spent nearly $1M on Trump-image lobby banners; DOJ — which enforces the Hatch Act — led the spending
• July 24, 2026 — Marshall Project investigation revealed Illinois DOC ignored fire hazards at Joliet mental health prison, killing two
• July 24, 2026 — Verite News and Type Investigations revealed Louisiana Gov. Landry required 100+ state employees to sign NDAs blocking disclosures
• July 27, 2026 — Education Department and DOJ threatened Ann Arbor, Michigan schools with funding cutoff over transgender student privacy policy
• July 27, 2026 — DHS eliminated pre-referral asylum interviews, fast-tracking up to 444,000 cases to immigration court
• July 27, 2026 — Acting DNI Pulte announced a fourth round of ODNI staff cuts, again without disclosing numbers or positions affected
• July 27, 2026 — Court filing revealed ICE, Border Patrol agents used racial slurs to target Latinos during Los Angeles immigration sweeps

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