Capture lane

Digital and Tech Capture

The Digital and Tech Capture capture lane traces 589 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.

589 events From Jan 1, 1970 To May 28, 2026 Open in filter view →
Top 10 actors in this lane 10 actors · 1836–2026
Top actors in Digital and Tech Capture18401845185018551860186518701875188018851890189519001905191019151920192519301935194019451950195519601965197019751980198519901995200020052010201520202025WatergateReaganIran-Contra9/11Citizens UnitedTrump 1.0Trump 2.0Donald Trump1403 eventsElon Musk186 eventsAmazonJeff BezosxAICondoleezza RiceDepartment of Justice330 eventsFacebookWhite House Iraq GroupKarl Rove
Capture lanecorruptiondemocraticexecutivefinancialintelligencejudiciallaborlegislativemediamilitaryotherregulatory Status confirmed alleged disputed
DateEventLanesStatus
2026-05-28VP Vance Air Force Academy Commencement Explicitly Endorses Pope Leo XIV's Encyclical on AI in Warfare — 'Decisions Over Life and Death Must Be Made by Humans, Not Machines' — Three Days After Magnifica Humanitas 5 src
J.D. Vance · Pope Leo XIV
confirmed
2026-05-07Pentagon CDAO Quintuples Scale AI Contract to $500M Using No-Bid OTA — Eight Months After Original Award 6 src
Scale AI · Pete Hegseth · Emil Michael · Alexandr Wang
confirmed
2026-05-02WLFI Token Hits All-Time Low $0.052 (–85% from Peak) After Bloomberg Exposes 5.9 Billion Secret Token Sale Routing Proceeds to Trump-Affiliated Entities 10 src
World Liberty Financial · Donald Trump · Donald Trump Jr. · Eric Trump · +3
confirmed
2026-04-15Objection.ai Launches: Thiel-Backed AI Tribunal Automates Journalist Targeting, D'Souza Explicitly Frames as Gawker-Model Industrialization
Peter Thiel
confirmed
2026-03-31Air Force Awards BlackSky Sole-Source $99M Contract for Next-Gen Satellite Surveillance 4 src
BlackSky Technology · Peter Thiel · Mithril Capital
confirmed
2026-03-26Sacks Departs White House AI/Crypto Czar Role; No Successor Named; Policy Disperses to OSTP's Kratsios, PCAST, and Witt at PCADA 9 src
David Sacks · Marc Andreessen
confirmed
2026-03-24Palantir and Anduril Developing Core Software for $185 Billion Golden Dome Missile Shield 3 src
Palantir · Anduril Industries · SpaceX · Elon Musk · +4
confirmed
2026-03-23Sen. Warren Calls Anthropic Blacklist "Retaliation" for AI Safety Positions — Says DOD Trying to Strong-Arm Companies Into Bulk Surveillance 3 src
Elizabeth Warren · Pete Hegseth · Anthropic
confirmed
2026-03-22Pentagon-Anthropic Dispute Rekindles Silicon Valley Anti-War Movement — Worker Coalitions Demand Companies Refuse Unrestricted Military AI 1 src
Palmer Luckey · Pete Hegseth
confirmed
2026-03-21Feinberg Signs Memo Designating Palantir Maven as Official DOD "Program of Record" — Locking in Long-Term Funding Despite Claude Dependency 3 src
Steve Feinberg · Palantir · U.S. Army
confirmed
2026-03-20Anthropic Filing Reveals Pentagon Emailed Day After Blacklist Saying Sides Were "Very Close" — Calls DOD Claim of Approval Demand "A Central Falsehood" 1 src
Anthropic · Emil Michael · Dario Amodei
confirmed
2026-03-20Army 1st Special Forces Command Renews Clearview AI Facial Recognition Contract Through 2030 4 src
Clearview AI · Hoan Ton-That
confirmed
2026-03-19Lawfare Analysis Argues Judge Should Block Government-Wide Ban and "Secondary Boycott" but Allow Pentagon to Stop Buying From Anthropic 1 srcconfirmed
2026-03-18AI Super PAC "Think Big" Spends $2.5M+ in Illinois Primaries With Mixed Results — Fortune Reports AI/Crypto "Mostly Lost" 3 src
Greg Brockman · Marc Andreessen
confirmed
2026-03-18DOD Files 40-Page Rebuttal Claiming Anthropic Might "Disable Its Technology" During Warfighting Operations Over Corporate Red Lines 2 src
Department of Defense · Pete Hegseth · Anthropic
confirmed
2026-03-18Military Users Warn Claude Replacement Could Take 12-18 Months — Pentagon IT Staff "Slow-Rolling" Transition 2 src
Defense contractors · Palantir
confirmed
2026-03-17~150 Retired Federal and State Judges File Bipartisan Amicus Brief Supporting Anthropic Against Pentagon Blacklist 2 src
Anthropic
confirmed
2026-03-17Pentagon Confirms Working to Replace Anthropic's Claude — OpenAI Already Deployed, Google Gemini Next in Line 3 src
Emil Michael · OpenAI · Google
confirmed
2026-03-17Pentagon Plans to Let AI Companies Train Military Models on Classified Intelligence Data — OpenAI and xAI Already Have Agreements 1 src
OpenAI · xAI
confirmed
2026-03-16Broad Tech Coalition Files Amicus Briefs Supporting Anthropic — TechNet Warns Procurement Now "Contingent on Political Favor" 3 src
Sam Altman · OpenAI · Google · Microsoft · +1
confirmed
2026-03-16Sen. Warren Questions Pentagon Granting Musk's xAI Access to Classified Military Networks Despite Grok's Harmful Outputs 2 src
Elizabeth Warren · Pete Hegseth · Elon Musk · xAI
confirmed
2026-03-16Time/CDT Op-Ed Reveals Pentagon Wanted Anthropic to Help Collect and Analyze Bulk Commercial Data on Americans 2 src
Pentagon · Anthropic
confirmed
2026-03-16WLFI Governance Vote Passes 99% — $5M Super Node Tier Buys "Direct Access" to Trump-Family Crypto Team 8 src
World Liberty Financial · Donald Trump · Eric Trump · Barron Trump
confirmed
2026-03-14U.S. Army Awards Anduril $20 Billion Enterprise Contract for AI-Enabled Lattice Platform 4 src
Anduril Industries · U.S. Army · Donald Trump Jr. · Peter Thiel · +4
confirmed
2026-03-13Pentagon CTO Emil Michael Says "No Chance" of Renewed Anthropic Negotiations, Accuses Company of "Leaking and Bad Faith" 4 src
Emil Michael · Anthropic · Pentagon
confirmed
2026-03-05SEC Settles Tron Fraud Case — Rainberry Pays $10M, Justin Sun Personal Charges Dismissed With Prejudice 4 src
Securities and Exchange Commission · Justin Sun · Tron Foundation · World Liberty Financial
confirmed
2026-03-03OpenAI Revises Pentagon Deal After Surveillance Loophole Backlash, Critics Remain Unconvinced 6 src
Sam Altman · OpenAI · U.S. Department of Defense
confirmed
2026-02-27AI Industry Super PACs Deploy $125 Million to Target Pro-Regulation Candidates in 2026 Midterms 7 src
Greg Brockman · OpenAI · Andreessen Horowitz · Marc Andreessen · +4
confirmed
2026-02-27OpenAI Strikes Pentagon Deal Hours After Trump Blacklists Anthropic, Drawing Backlash 5 src
Sam Altman · OpenAI · U.S. Department of Defense · Pete Hegseth · +1
confirmed
2026-02-27Trump Blacklists Anthropic, Designates AI Company a Supply Chain Risk to National Security 6 src
Donald Trump · Pete Hegseth · Dario Amodei · Anthropic · +1
confirmed
2026-02-26Anthropic Formally Rejects Pentagon Ultimatum, Amodei Holds Red Lines on AI Safety 5 src
Dario Amodei · Anthropic · Pete Hegseth · U.S. Department of Defense
confirmed
2026-02-24Hegseth Threatens Anthropic with Defense Production Act Over Military AI Access 5 src
Pete Hegseth · Dario Amodei · Anthropic · U.S. Department of Defense
confirmed
2026-02-22DHS Shutdown Furloughs 50%+ of Cybersecurity Agency Workforce 3 src
DHS (Department of Homeland Security)
confirmed
2026-02-20DHS Plans Unified Biometric Matching Engine Across Agencies 3 src
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) · Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · U.S. Customs and Border Protection
confirmed
2026-02-14DHS Shutdown Begins as Congress Fails to Reach Immigration Reform Deal 3 src
United States Senate · U.S. House of Representatives · John Thune · Chris Murphy · +1
confirmed
2026-02-14Scott Shambaugh Firing Exposes DOGE's Indiscriminate Purge of Technical Expertise 3 src
Department of Government Efficiency · National Institute of Standards and Technology · Elon Musk
confirmed
2026-02-13Senate Fails to Advance DHS Funding Bill in 52-47 Vote 3 src
United States Senate · John Thune · Chuck Schumer · John Fetterman · +1
confirmed
2026-02-07NATO Launches Arctic Sentry Multi-Domain Mission in High North 3 src
North Atlantic Treaty Organization · Mark Rutte · Denmark · United Kingdom · +1
confirmed
2026-02-05Federal Judge Orders Elon Musk Deposition Over USAID Dismantling, Rejects Apex Doctrine Claims 3 src
Elon Musk · United States Agency for International Development · Department of Government Efficiency · Marco Rubio
confirmed
2026-01-30Analysis Shows DOGE Savings Claims Fall Short of $1 Trillion Target, Cost Taxpayers Billions 3 src
Department of Government Efficiency · Elon Musk · Russell Vought
confirmed
2026-01-30DOJ Releases 3.5 Million Pages of Epstein Files, Claims Full Compliance 4 src
Department of Justice · Todd Blanche · Pam Bondi · Ro Khanna · +1
confirmed
2026-01-29Ten Tech Vendors Offer $600 Million in Discounts to Implement Medicaid Work Requirements 2 src
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · Donald Trump · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
confirmed
2026-01-29Trump Proclaims 2026 Year of Celebration and Rededication at National Prayer Breakfast 2 src
Donald Trump · White House
confirmed
2026-01-28Federal Reserve Refuses to Comply with DOJ Grand Jury Subpoenas Against Powell 3 src
Jerome Powell · Federal Reserve · Department of Justice · Jeanine Pirro · +1
confirmed
2026-01-28Vought Allocates $15 Million in USAID Funds for Personal Security Detail Through 2026 3 src
Russell Vought · Office of Management and Budget · United States Agency for International Development · U.S. Marshals Service
confirmed
2026-01-26Bondi Requests Minnesota Voter Rolls Including Public Assistance Data for ICE Enforcement 2 src
Pam Bondi · Department of Justice · Minnesota · U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
confirmed
2026-01-23NPR Report Reveals Trump Administration Admits DOGE Accessed Personal Social Security Data Beyond Legal Authority 3 src
Department of Government Efficiency · Social Security Administration · NPR
confirmed
2026-01-21ICE Launches Operation Catch of the Day in Maine 3 src
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · DHS (Department of Homeland Security)
confirmed
2026-01-20DOJ Court Filing Confirms DOGE Shared Social Security Data to Unauthorized Server 3 src
Department of Government Efficiency · Department of Justice · Social Security Administration · Elon Musk
confirmed
2026-01-17DOGE Claims $881M in Education Research Contract Cancellations 3 src
Department of Government Efficiency · U.S. Department of Education · Linda McMahon
confirmed
2026-01-16DOJ Files Notice of Corrections in AFSCME v. SSA Admitting DOGE Unauthorized SSA Data Access — Key Prosecutorial Predicate for State Computer-Crime Charges 3 src
Social Security Administration · Department of Justice
confirmed
2026-01-14FBI Raids Washington Post Reporter's Home, Seizes Devices in Unprecedented Press Freedom Violation 3 src
Federal Bureau of Investigation · Washington Post · Hannah Natanson · Pam Bondi · +1
confirmed
2026-01-14Trump Imposes 25% Tariff on Advanced AI Semiconductors Under Section 232 2 src
Donald Trump · White House · U.S. Department of Commerce
confirmed
2026-01-10DOJ Serves Fed Chair Powell with Grand Jury Subpoena in Unprecedented Criminal Investigation 3 src
Jerome Powell · Donald Trump · Department of Justice · Bill Pulte · +1
confirmed
2026-01-09Supreme Court Narrows AEDPA Bar on Federal Habeas Claims 3 src
U.S. Supreme Court · Sonia Sotomayor · Neil Gorsuch · John Roberts
confirmed
2026-01-08House Democrats File Impeachment Articles Against DHS Secretary Noem Over ICE Shooting 3 src
Kristi Noem
confirmed
2026-01-07General Matter Wins $900M DOE Contract for HALEU Uranium Enrichment at Paducah 4 src
Department of Energy · Peter Thiel · Founders Fund
confirmed
2026-01-06Seven NATO Allies Issue Joint Statement Defending Greenland's Sovereignty Against US Threats 4 src
North Atlantic Treaty Organization · Mette Frederiksen · Emmanuel Macron · France · +3
confirmed
2026-01-05Israeli Security Cabinet Approves 'Operation Iron Strike' Against Iran 2 src
Benjamin Netanyahu · Donald Trump
confirmed
2026-01-03US Military Invades Venezuela, Captures President Maduro in Predawn Raid 4 src
Donald Trump · Nicolas Maduro · Pete Hegseth · Stephen Miller · +1
confirmed
2025-12-24Trump Declares Support for Rate Cuts 'Litmus Test' for Fed Chair Nominees 2 src
Donald Trump · Jerome Powell
confirmed
2025-12-23Botched DOJ Redactions Allow Public to Copy-Paste Hidden Epstein File Text 2 src
Department of Justice · Jeffrey Epstein
confirmed
2025-12-18FY 2026 NDAA Sections 1651-1652 Codify Trump Golden Dome Missile Defense Policy, Lock In 2,440-Vendor Ecosystem Including SpaceX $2B Satellite Constellation 4 src
U.S. Congress · 119th Congress · Senate Armed Services Committee · House Armed Services Committee · +7
confirmed
2025-12-18Johnson Sends House Home for Recess, Delays ACA Subsidy Vote Despite Democratic Demands 7 src
Mike Johnson · Hakeem Jeffries · House Republicans · House Democrats
reported
2025-12-11DHS Secretary Noem Confronted Over Veteran Deportations in Contentious Congressional Hearing 3 src
Kristi Noem
reported
2025-12-09Federal Judge Orders Release of Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Materials Under Epstein Files Transparency Act 3 src
Paul Engelmayer · Ghislaine Maxwell · Department of Justice · Donald Trump · +1
reported
2025-12-08Human Rights Groups Document Systematic Torture at Fort Bliss Immigration Detention Facility: 45+ Detainees Report Beatings, Sexual Abuse, Crushed Testicles, and Coerced Deportations 3 src
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · American Civil Liberties Union · Human Rights Watch
confirmed
2025-12-08Paramount Skydance Launches $108.4 Billion Hostile Takeover Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with Saudi, Qatari, and UAE Backing 5 src
David Ellison · Larry Ellison · Saudi Public Investment Fund · Qatar Investment Authority · +7
reported
2025-12-02Dell Family Announces $6.25 Billion Donation to Trump Accounts in Largest Private Child Investment 4 src
Michael Dell · Donald Trump · U.S. Treasury Department
reported
2025-11-25House Judiciary Democrats Release Report Exposing Trump Family's $800 Million Cryptocurrency Empire Built on Foreign Influence and Self-Dealing 4 src
Jamie Raskin · Donald Trump · Trump Organization · Trump Family · +17
reported
2025-11-20Trump Threatens Six Democratic Congress Members with Execution for Reminding Military of Duty to Refuse Illegal Orders 5 src
Donald Trump · Elissa Slotkin · Mark Kelly · Chris DeLuzio · +7
reported
2025-11-17Judge Finds Halligan Misrepresented Law and Used Tainted Evidence in Comey Grand Jury 3 src
William Fitzpatrick · Lindsey Halligan · James Comey · Department of Justice · +2
reported
2025-11-06FAA Announces 10% Air Traffic Reduction at 40 Airports Due to Shutdown 2 src
Sean Duffy · Federal Aviation Administration · Department of Transportation
reported
2025-11-04Axon acquires Carbyne for $625 million, consolidating Israeli 911 surveillance tech with US police body camera giant 3 src
Axon · Carbyne · Ehud Barak · Peter Thiel
confirmed
2025-11-04DHS Releases Mobile Facial Recognition App for Local Police to Identify Immigration Status 3 src
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) · Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · U.S. Customs and Border Protection
reported
2025-11-04Memphis Residents Report Widespread Racial Profiling by Trump's Federal Police Task Force 3 src
U.S. Marshals Service · Federal Bureau of Investigation · National Guard
reported
2025-11-03Trump Administration Announces 2027 Medicaid Work Requirements Affecting Nearly 5 Million 2 src
CMS · Trump · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
reported
2025-11-01PJM December 2025 capacity auction hits record $333/MW-day; data centers account for 40% ($6.5B) of total $16.4B cost 3 src confirmed
2025-10-31Anduril's Autonomous Fighter Jet Completes First Flight Test 2 src
Anduril Industries · U.S. Air Force · Palmer Luckey
confirmed
2025-10-27Elon Musk's xAI Launches Grokipedia to Challenge Wikipedia with AI-Generated Content 3 src
Elon Musk · xAI
reported
2025-10-24Crusoe closes $1.375B Series E at >$10B valuation; Mubadala Capital co-leads, putting UAE sovereign-adjacent capital at developer layer of Stargate Abilene 7 src confirmed
2025-10-20Musk's DOGE Uploads Hundreds of Millions of Americans' SSA Data to Unsecured Cloud 2 src
Elon Musk · Department of Government Efficiency · Charles Borges · Social Security Administration
confirmed
2025-10-18Trump Posts AI Video Dumping Feces on 7 Million "No Kings" Protesters, Defended by Johnson and Vance as "Satire" 4 src
Donald Trump · Mike Johnson · J.D. Vance · protesters
confirmed
2025-10-16Planet Labs Wins $12.8M NGA Contract for AI Maritime Surveillance in Asia-Pacific 6 src
Founders Fund · National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency · National Reconnaissance Office
confirmed
2025-10-16Ring partners with Flock Safety and Axon, reversing privacy commitments and expanding police surveillance 3 src
Ring · Amazon · Flock Safety · Axon · +1
confirmed
2025-10-10Musk's Boring Company Accused of 800 Environmental Violations in Las Vegas 2 src
Elon Musk
reported
2025-10-07NIST Suspends All Facial Recognition Testing During Government Shutdown 2 src
National Institute of Standards and Technology · U.S. Department of Commerce
reported
2025-10-07White House Withdraws CFTC Nominee Brian Quintenz After Winklevoss Conflict 2 src
White House · CFTC
reported
2025-10-05Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman Negotiates Harvard Research Funding Restoration 3 src
Blackstone · Harvard University · White House · Trump Administration
reported
2025-10-01DHS and CMS Share Personal Data of 79 Million Medicaid Patients With ICE 2 src
U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
reported
2025-10-01VA Awards Palantir $385M Contract for Veterans Data Platform Integrating HHS, DoD, SSA, and IRS Data 1 src
Palantir · Department of Veterans Affairs · Department of Health and Human Services · Department of Defense · +2
confirmed
2025-09-30ICE Awards $1.4 Billion in Surveillance Contracts in Single Month, Highest in 18 Years 2 src
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement · U.S. Department of Homeland Security
reported
2025-09-30SpaceX and xAI Purchase Thousands of Unsold Cybertrucks Before Tax Credit Deadline 2 src
SpaceX · xAI · Tesla · Elon Musk
reported
2025-09-30Trump Signs Pediatric Cancer AI Executive Order After Cutting Billions in Research Funding 3 src
Donald Trump · White House · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
reported
2025-09-29HUD Fires Two Civil Rights Lawyers Who Exposed Fair Housing Enforcement Gutting 2 src
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
reported
2025-09-29YouTube Pays Trump $24.5M to Settle Suspension Lawsuit, $22M for White House Ballroom 2 src
Donald Trump · YouTube · Google · Meta · +1
reported
2025-09-26Supreme Court Allows Trump to Withhold $4B in Foreign Aid Through Illegal 'Pocket Rescission' 2 src
U.S. Supreme Court · Donald Trump · Elena Kagan · Mike Johnson · +1
reported
2025-09-26White House Solicits Input on Dismantling AI Regulations to Boost Industry 2 src
White House
reported
2025-09-25DOJ Sues Six States to Seize Voter Data Including Social Security Numbers and Driver's Licenses 2 src
Department of Justice · Civil Rights Division · California · Minnesota
reported
2025-09-25Microsoft Terminates Israeli Unit 8200's Azure Access for Mass Surveillance of Palestinian Civilians 4 src
Microsoft · Israeli Defense Forces
reported