What ProPublica’s Reporters Are Covering During Donald Trump’s Second Presidency — and How to Contact Them
From Trump’s relationships with billionaires to immigration, here are some of the issues and topics our reporters are watching during his second presidency.
Now that Donald Trump is the president for the second time, we will once again turn our focus to the areas most in need of scrutiny at this moment in history. As our editor-in-chief wrote in November, that’s what our more than 150 working journalists do.
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We will watch closely as the Trump/Vance administration takes shape and makes plans. To find stories, we will, as always, rely on insights from people closest to the issues. Concerned public servants are some of our most important sources. If you are a federal employee, is there unfinished business — a sensitive project, a little-known but key policy, an important lawsuit — you worry will be quashed or left to molder? Are there records, research or databases you feel strongly should be preserved?
We appreciate the difficult situations people weigh as they decide whether to reach out to us, and we take source privacy very seriously. Read more about ProPublica’s approach to investigative journalism in our ethics code. If you have tips, documents, data or stories the public should know about, you can contact all of our journalists at propublica.org/tips. Here’s information on how to do so securely. And if you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.
We will tell you more about our whole team and about our coverage plans in the months to come. We work across a number of beats and disciplines, from tax policy to education to health care. We have data reporters who can handle complicated datasets and public records specialists eager to strategize.
Here are just a few examples of the topics we’re thinking about, plus contact information for some reporters on the beat:
Civil Rights
Consumer Finance
Counterterrorism and Surveillance
Drug Safety and Regulations
Education and Schools
Environmental Regulations
Federal Poverty Policy
Foreign Affairs/Policy
Health Care Policy
Housing and Transportation
Immigration
Public Records and Government Data
Regulation of the Space Industry
Reproductive Health
Rule of Law
Technology and Cybersecurity
Trump and Billionaires
Trump and Tariffs
This is just a small sample of our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops. You can hear more from our journalists about their work by signing up for our Dispatches newsletter.
What We’re Watching
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andy Kroll
I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.
Melissa Sanchez
I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.
Jesse Coburn
I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.
If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.
Experts who reviewed the code for ProPublica found numerous and troubling flaws in the system, providing a disturbing glimpse into how the Trump administration is allowing artificial intelligence to guide critical cuts in services.
We obtained records showing how a Department of Government Efficiency staffer with no medical experience used artificial intelligence to identify which VA contracts to kill. “AI is absolutely the wrong tool for this,” one expert said.
One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent extremism.
The president’s attack on diversity efforts has derailed the government careers of highly educated civil servants — even though the jobs some lost were not directly involved with any DEI programs.
Homeland Security records reveal that officials knew that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having no criminal record in the U.S. and had only violated immigration laws.
As the White House redirects counterterrorism personnel and funds toward mass deportations, a state-level scramble is on to preserve efforts once supported by Washington. The result is a patchwork approach that leaves many areas uncovered.
One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent extremism.
We obtained records showing how a Department of Government Efficiency staffer with no medical experience used artificial intelligence to identify which VA contracts to kill. “AI is absolutely the wrong tool for this,” one expert said.
Richard L. Bean remained in his perch as the superintendent of the juvenile detention center that bears his name despite scandals, investigations and the use of seclusion to punish children.
by Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio, and Mariam Elba, ProPublica,
June 7, 2025, 5 a.m. EDT
Experts who reviewed the code for ProPublica found numerous and troubling flaws in the system, providing a disturbing glimpse into how the Trump administration is allowing artificial intelligence to guide critical cuts in services.
For the second legislative session, lawmakers have withdrawn funding for a company selling kits that promise to help find missing kids after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported there’s no evidence to support that claim.
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