The Abuse of Presidential Power and Breach of Public Trust

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REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This Report examines a broad pattern of conduct by President Donald J. Trump and his Administration that, in our judgment, reflects an ongoing abuse of presidential power and a grave breach of the public trust.[1] The Presidential Oath set forth in the Constitution requires the President, before taking office, to pledge to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution further requires the President to “take care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Beyond these two Constitutional injunctions, our democratic system of government is based on the premise that our President will use his delegated powers for the benefit of our republic and will not abuse those powers for personal gain, to undermine our democratic system of governance or to suppress individual rights protected by our Constitution.

Drawing on publicly reported facts, court filings, and the Administration’s own statements and actions, the New York City Bar Association (City Bar), through its Rule of Law Task Force,[2] concludes that the President and his staff have repeatedly used the powers of the Executive Office not to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,”^[3] nor to “take care that the Laws be faithfully executed,”^[4] but instead to advance personal interests, to suppress Constitutional rights, and to weaken the laws and institutions that sustain our constitutional democracy. The number, scope, and nature of these abuses reach virtually every core responsibility of the presidency—from commanding the armed forces and enforcing the laws to safeguarding the health, safety, and welfare of the American people.

The conduct we analyze falls into six principal categories.

First, the President has abused his role as Commander-in-Chief by deploying federal troops and federalized National Guard forces into American cities without lawful justification, over the objections of state and local officials, and in defiance of judicial rulings—using military power as a domestic policing tool to intimidate political opponents and chill constitutionally protected protest.

Second, the President and his Administration have repeatedly undermined fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law, including efforts to strip citizenship from a class of U.S.-born citizens, restrict voting and distort electoral representation, suppress protected speech and academic freedom, and sanction sweeping, rights-violating immigration enforcement and detention practices at home and abroad.

Third, the President and his Administration have systematically attacked judicial independence—personally vilifying judges, threatening noncompliance with adverse orders, failing to comply with court rulings, and attempting to intimidate private law firms and individual lawyers who represent clients in opposition to the President and his Administration — actions that erode the rule of law and public confidence in the courts.

Fourth, the President and his Administration have sought to undermine Congress’s constitutional role and to dismantle or disable Congressionally mandated agencies and programs in ways that exceed the Executive Branch’s lawful authority. These actions include initiating hostilities and military strikes abroad without Congressional authorization; delegating sweeping power over the federal workforce and critical social programs to an unelected, private “Department of Government Efficiency;” jeopardizing Social Security benefits; weakening public health and education systems; rolling back essential environmental and disaster protections; and stripping independent agencies and Inspectors General of their ability to provide effective oversight.

Fifth, the President and his Administration have compromised national security by engaging in uses of force that contravene U.S. treaty obligations, condoning serious lapses in defense and intelligence practices, abandoning or undermining key international institutions and programs, and implementing immigration and travel bans widely perceived as grounded in racial and religious animus, thereby eroding our global standing and the rules-based order the United States helped build.

Sixth, and finally, the President is using the Presidency for personal enrichment on a scale without modern precedent—leveraging regulatory and foreign policy decisions, pardon power, access to the White House, and federal branding and prestige to benefit his own businesses and those of his immediate family and close associates, all in ways that conflict not only with the spirit but also likely the letter of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses and basic anti-corruption norms.

Viewed in isolation, some individual actions might be defended as exercises of lawful presidential discretion or as policy choices subject to correction at the ballot box. But taken together, they amount to a fundamental erosion of democratic values, the rights enshrined in the Constitution, and the basic health, safety, and welfare protections that Americans rightly expect from their government.

The Constitution provides multiple mechanisms for holding a President accountable for misconduct. These include vigorous Congressional oversight and public hearings; formal censure; the appointment of special counsel or other independent investigative mechanisms; and the use of Congress’s appropriations and legislative powers to constrain or reverse unlawful or abusive policies.[5] Congress can also demand that vacant Inspector General positions be filled, and call for investigations into the vacancies and other concerns as appropriate.[6] All of these tools are available to Congress to curb Presidential and Executive Branch overreach and abuses.

The most potent option available to Congress is impeachment, either of the President or senior officials guilty of misconduct. The Constitution provides that the President, as well as other officers of the United States, may be impeached and, if convicted, shall be removed from office for “Treason, Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”  The Constitution’s impeachment standard does not rely on the technical commission of a crime or on any single episode of misconduct. Rather, it encompasses “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,”^[7] a phrase long understood to include, and require, grave abuses of official power and profound betrayals of the public trust.[8] And where, as here, much of the conduct occurs within the core of the President’s formal authority, impeachment may be the primary constitutional mechanism for accountability, because ordinary civil and criminal liability is unavailable while the President remains in office or thereafter.

This Report does not purport to dictate outcomes. It is for Congress, exercising its constitutional role, and for the American people, exercising their democratic right to vote, to determine whether the conduct described herein warrants Congressional oversight, investigation, legislative response, impeachment and removal, or other action. Our purpose is to assemble, analyze, and present the relevant facts and legal standards. While cognizant of the possible reluctance to set the impeachment mechanism in motion, the Report explains how the conduct described herein fits within the established framework for “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” In addition, there are other actions that Congress can and should take to effectuate its longstanding oversight function with respect to government agencies and in its role representing and safeguarding the rights and interests of the American people.

By presenting the breadth, persistence, and escalating nature of the current Administration’s abuses and overreach in one document, we hope to highlight their many damaging effects and warn government officials, the legal profession, and the broader public about the imminent – and, indeed, already present – danger to our constitutional democracy and the framework that protects our individual rights and freedoms. We will continue to monitor events as they unfold. We must not lose sight of all our nation has to lose by abdicating the roles and responsibilities of our tripartite government – with its separation of powers and its checks and balances – which was carefully designed to prevent despotism and rule by fear and fiat. We call on Congress to reclaim its power as a co-equal branch of government to use all available tools of accountability to address the ongoing threats to our constitutional democracy, the rule of law, the safety and rights of those subject to federal power, and the preservation of our constitutional system.

Updated December 23, 2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1)

EGREGIOUS CONDUCT AND ABUSE OF POWER (4)

I. DEPLOYING ARMED FORCES IN U.S. CITIES (4)

A. Deploying National Guard and Marine Troops to Los Angeles (5)

B. Deploying National Guard and Active Duty Troops to Washington, D.C. (5)

C. Deploying National Guard and Active Duty Troops Nationally (6)

II. UNDERMINING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS (7)

A. Attempting to Revoke Citizenship (7)

B. Undermining Voting Rights and the Election Process (7)

C. Suppressing Freedom of Speech and Thought (8)

D. Abusing Immigrants, Visa-Holders and Citizens (10)

III. UNDERMINING JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE (13)

A. Attacking Federal Judges (13)

B. Failing to Comply with Federal Court Orders (15)

C. Attacking Law Firms to Limit Judicial Review (16)

D. Punishing Department of Justice Prosecutors, FBI Agents and Political Enemies (17)

E. January 6 Pardons (18)

IV. UNDERMINING CONGRESS AND ITS FEDERAL PROGRAMS (18)

A. Violating Constitutional and Legal Limitations on the Use of Armed Force Against Foreign Nations (18)

B. DOGE Actions Dismantling the Federal workforce and Obtaining Confidential Information on Citizens (19)

C. Jeopardizing Social Security Payments (20)

D. Undermining Public Health (21)

E. Threatening Public Education (21)

F. Eroding Environmental and Disaster Protection (22)

G. Reducing Illegal Gun Monitoring (23)

H. Undermining Specialized Agencies’ Independence (23)

I. Exceeding and Abusing Tariff Authority (23)

V. COMPROMISING NATIONAL SECURITY (24)

A. Unlawful Use of Force Against Foreign Nations (24)

B. Condoning Defense Department Misconduct (25)

C. Abandoning International Institutions and Programs (25)

D. Banning Foreign Visitors (26)

VI. USING THE PRESIDENCY TO ENRICH HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY (26)

A. Supporting Crypto Market (26)

B. Selling Personal Memecoins in Exchange for Private White House Visits (27)

C. Launching Family Business Ventures with Foreign Governments (27)

D. Accepting Gift Airplane from Qatar (27)

E. Selling Presidential Pardons and Regulatory Favors (27)

F. Selling Presidential and Regulatory Access through Private Club Memberships (28)

G. Selling Consumer Products through the Presidency (28)

REMEDIES FOR ABUSES OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND EXECUTIVE OVERREACH (29)

Read the full report here.