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What a year it’s been: A month-by-month look back at 2018’s biggest stories

by Avery Anapol - 12/31/18 6:00 AM ET
by Avery Anapol - 12/31/18 6:00 AM ET

If you felt like you lived a decade in the last year, you’re not alone.

President Trump’s second year in office was a nonstop news event that began and ended with government shutdowns.

{mosads}In between, there was a midterm campaign and election that resulted in the flipping of the House majority to Democrats, a string of deadly gun shootings that turned a group of student-survivors into political leaders and the most volatile Supreme Court confirmation in decades.

And that was just the beginning.

Read on for a look back at how The Hill covered some of the top stories of the year:

JANUARY: First shutdown of the year

  • Jan. 3: Journalist Michael Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” set off a media frenzy and rocked the White House with its numerous allegations of chaos within the first year of the Trump administration. The book also prompted a falling out between Trump and his former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon.
  • Jan. 4: Attorney General Jeff Sessions ended a policy banning enforcement of federal pot laws in states where it is legal, a controversial move given growing support for legal recreational marijuana nationwide. 
  • Jan. 7: The “Times Up” movement, tied to “Me Too,” made waves at the Golden Globes, with celebrities wearing black in a show of solidarity against sexual misconduct. The legal defense fund created to aid victims of workplace sexual harassment ended up being the largest GoFundMe fundraiser in history.
  • Jan. 7: Oprah Winfrey gave a stirring speech honoring the press and victims of sexual abuse at the Golden Globes, driving speculation that she could launch a White House bid in 2020.
  • Jan. 11: Trump reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations as “shithole countries” in a closed-door meeting. The comment was used by Trump opponents as evidence of racism and bigotry in the Oval Office and was co-opted by activists throughout the year.
  • Jan. 12: The Wall Street Journal broke a story that dominated the news cycle for the rest of the year, reporting for the first time that Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen made a $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump. 
  • Jan. 13: Hawaiians were shocked to receive an emergency missile alert on their phones, which was determined to be a false alarm nearly 40 minutes later. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency worker who sent the alert by mistake was fired, and another top official resigned.  
  • Jan. 19: The government shut down for three days after lawmakers were unable to reach agreement on a temporary spending bill. Democrats had pledged not to support a spending measure that did not include an agreement on how to ensure protections for young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, known as “Dreamers.” Democrats agreed to end the impasse after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised to take up a bill on immigration the following month. Republicans felt they won the political battle surrounding the episode, which they called the “Schumer shutdown” after Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.).
  • Jan. 20: Women’s March demonstrators gathered in hundreds of cities to mark the anniversary of the march, which was first held the day after Trump’s inauguration. 
  • Jan. 24: Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced, in a closely watched hearing, to up to 175 years in prison for the sexual assault of dozens of young gymnasts.

FEBRUARY: A devastating school shooting

  • Feb. 2: The House Intelligence Committee released a controversial memo, compiled by Chairman Devin Nunes’s (R-Calif.) staff, alleging that top FBI and Justice Department officials abused their surveillance powers to spy on members of Trump’s campaign.
  • Feb. 6: It was reported that Trump asked the Pentagon to look into holding a massive military parade for Veterans Day. After estimates found that the parade could cost up to $92 million, the Department of Defense announced that they would explore holding a parade in 2019.  
  • Feb. 14: The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 students and staff became the catalyst for a massive, youth-led movement calling on lawmakers to take action on gun control and school violence. Survivors and their parents met with Trump, leading to the establishment of a White House commission on school safety, an eventual ban on bump stocks and some state legislation tightening gun laws. No widespread national legislation has been introduced to date. 
  • Feb. 16: Special counsel Robert Mueller brought charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups accused of participating in a disinformation campaign on social media linked to a broader plot by Moscow to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
  • Feb. 27: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had his security clearance downgraded from top-secret to secret after a White House review of clearances prompted by the scandal surrounding the resignation earlier in February of former aide Rob Porter, who was accused of domestic abuse. 

MARCH: Stormy Daniels storms onto the scene

  • Mar. 6: Adult-film star Stormy Daniels filed a lawsuit against Trump claiming that a nondisclosure agreement related to a 2006 affair she said she had with him is not valid because Trump allegedly never signed it.
  • March 13: Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who had reportedly called him a “moron” behind his back, and replaced him with then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo.  
  • March 16: Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fires Andrew McCabe, a longtime target of President Trump, after an internal Justice Department watchdog concludes the FBI’s No. 2 official made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and “lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.” The ouster came days before McCabe was scheduled to retire. 
  • Mar. 24: Youth gun control activists, including students from Parkland, Fla., brought thousands of people together for the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C., and sister marches around the world. 
  • Mar. 25: Daniels sat down with “60 Minutes,” revealing for the first time details of a 2011 incident in which she says she was threatened by a man in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.  

 APRIL: Prosecutors home in on Cohen

  • April 8: Adult-film star Stormy Daniels and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, released a forensic sketch of a man she says threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump. In response, Trump tweeted that the sketch was a “total con job” and suggested that the man in the image was Daniels’s ex-husband. The comment prompted Daniels to sue Trump for defamation.
  • April 9: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) became the first senator to give birth while in office after having her daughter, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey. She later brought Maile to a Senate vote after her colleagues voted in favor of a rule change allowing senators to bring children under a year old to the floor. 
  • April 9: FBI agents, executing a search warrant based partly on a referral from Mueller, raided the office, home and hotel room of Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer. 

  • April 11: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announces that he will retire in January, ending a three-year Speakership whose crowning achievement was the 2017 overhaul of the tax code.  

  • April 11: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of lawmakers on key issues including data privacy and his company’s market power following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the data of tens of millions of users was used by a third party for political targeting without user permission. 

  • April 12: Two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks, where they were waiting to meet a friend but hadn’t ordered anything. The case heightened national awareness of racial profiling in public places and prompted Starbucks to hold a company-wide day of racial bias training.  
  • April 17: Former FBI Director James Comey published his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty:Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” which tore into Trump as “unethical” and “untethered to truth” and prompted the president to blast him as a “LEAKER & LIAR” who “should be prosecuted.” 
  • April 17: Former first lady Barbara Bush died at the age of 92.
  • April 19: The Justice Department released Comey’s memos in which he detailed a number of personal encounters with Trump. 
  • April 19: The United Kingdom became the first nation to issue a ban on single-use plastic straws, an eco-friendly move that was mimicked by companies, cities and other bodies globally.
  • April 26: House Chaplain Patrick Conroy is forced from his position by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). The decision proves controversial, with calls from Democrats and Republicans that Conroy be reinstated. Conroy rescinded his resignation days later.
  • April 28: Comedian Michelle Wolf took heat from conservatives and journalists alike after a controversial set at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, where she took aim at a number of targets and particularly White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The association apologized for Wolf and later would tap historian Ron Chernow to be the entertainment at the 2019 dinner instead of a traditional comedian.

MAY: First shots fired in trade war

  • May 7: Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the “zero tolerance” policy that resulted in thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents. The separations sparked widespread protests and condemnation from lawmakers until they were ended in June.  
  • May 7: First lady Melania Trump officially announced “Be Best,” her wide-ranging initiative focused on children’s well-being. Trump’s particular opposition to cyber bullying has faced some mockery due to her husband’s use of Twitter to attack his political foes.
  • May 8: Trump fulfilled a key campaign promise and withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, setting off a flurry of international activity to try to save the accord. Trump followed through with his withdrawal by reimposing sanctions on Iran in August and November.
  • May 8: Alex Van der Zwaan, a 33-year-old Dutch lawyer, became the first person to be incarcerated in Mueller’s investigation. Van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison after pleading guilty to one count of lying to federal investigators about his contacts with former Trump campaign aide Richard Gates. 
  • May 14: The U.S. opened its new embassy in Jerusalem, the result of a vow by Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the U.S. Embassy.  
  • May 29: The hit ABC revival of sitcom “Roseanne” was canceled after its star, Roseanne Barr, tweeted a racist comment directed at Valerie Jarrett, an adviser to former President Obama. A spin-off of the show was later launched without its titular character.
  • May 31: Trump slapped massive tariffs on steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada and Mexico, a key move ahead of months of ongoing trade conflicts that also extended to China and prompted tension between the U.S. and other global powers.

JUNE: A historic summit

  • June 4: Trump disinvited the Super Bowl–champion Philadelphia Eagles from the White House, citing the team’s participation in protests during the national anthem. He later held a “Celebration of America” event instead. 
  • June 5, 8: Two famous figures, fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef and journalist Anthony Bourdain, died by suicide, raising public awareness of mental health and a growing suicide rate. 
  • June 6: Trump granted clemency to Alice Marie Johnson, a great-grandmother serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction, after meeting with reality star Kim Kardashian West. Trump pardoned a number of big names this year, including conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and the late boxing champion Jack Johnson. The moves tied into a wider bipartisan effort to pass a criminal justice reform overhaul, which Trump signed into law after passage by Congress in December. 
  • June 12: Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a historic summit in Singapore. The two signed a joint declaration that called, in vague terms, for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula in exchange for the U.S. ceasing war games with South Korea. 
  • June 18: Trump officially ordered the Pentagon to create Space Force, launching a litany of jokes from late-night talk show hosts and social media users. The Pentagon has continued to draft its plans for the military branch, which it aims to send to Congress next year.
  • June 21: First lady Melania Trump wore a controversial jacket emblazoned with the phrase “I really don’t care, do u?” to visit a child migrant detention center in Texas. The jacket’s message was interpreted in several different ways, with some critics seeing it as a dig at her husband and others saying it was an insensitive message to separated families. Trump said that it was a message aimed at the “Fake News Media.” 
  • June 26: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist running her first campaign for elected office, knocked off longtime Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) in a primary upset that shocked the political world and rocketed Ocasio-Cortez to Democratic stardom. 
  • June 28: Five people were killed in a shooting at Maryland newspaper the Capital Gazette, underlying concerns about how political attacks on the press could lead to violence.

JULY: Trump meets Putin

  • July 3: The Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, finding that the Kremlin sought to hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign and help Trump.
  • July 5: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who was embroiled in a number of spending and ethics controversies from the beginning of his tenure, resigned.
  • July 10: All members of a youth soccer team and their coach were extracted from a cave where they had been trapped for nearly two weeks. Thai Navy SEALs, as well as elite divers and military from several countries, including the U.S., participated in the rescue effort that had the world holding its breath. One ex-Thai Navy SEAL died in the rescue effort. 
  • July 12: Peter Strzok — the FBI agent who sent disparaging text messages about Trump during the 2016 campaign, testified to Congress. Republicans ripped into Strzok during the wild hearing, and he fired back. The FBI would later fire Strzok in August. Conservative Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) had criticized Strzok and argued the real controversy of improper behavior by Obama administration officials was being covered up by complaints about Trump and Russia. Critics complained that Republicans were seeking to undermine Mueller’s investigation. 
  • July 15: Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen targeted top Republicans in his undercover show, “Who is America?” In one episode, Cohen duped former Vice President Dick Cheney into signing a “waterboard kit,” which he then put up for auction. 
  • July 16: Maria Butina, a Russian woman with ties to the National Rifle Association who was living in Washington, D.C., was arrested on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent ahead of the 2016 presidential election. She originally pleaded not guilty, but later entered a guilty plea.   
  • July 18: Trump appeared alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference following a summit in Helsinki, Finland, during which he shocked Republicans and Democrats alike with his refusal to denounce Russian meddling in U.S. elections.
  • July 24: CNN aired a recording of a conversation between Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen, in which the two are heard discussing buying the rights to the story of former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s alleged affair with Trump. 

AUGUST: Guilty, guilty 

  • Aug. 3: Trump launched a feud with NBA superstar LeBron James by tweeting that CNN host Don Lemon “made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do.” The comment sparked a resurgence of accusations that Trump frequently targets the intelligence of African-American athletes and celebrities. 
  • Aug. 8: GOP Rep. Chris Collins (N.Y.), a top ally of Trump, was arrested and charged with federal securities fraud related to an Australian pharmaceutical company that counted him among its biggest shareholders. Two weeks later, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and his wife were charged with misusing at least $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses. Both were reelected in November.  
  • Aug. 14: Trump referred to former White House aide and “Apprentice” star Omarosa Manigault Newman as a “dog” following the publication of her explosive book, in which she said that Trump used the N-word on the set of his reality show. 
  • Aug. 21: Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations with payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Cohen testified that he made those illegal payments at the direction of then-candidate Trump.   
  • Aug. 21: Moments later, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted by a jury on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.
  • Aug. 25: Senate giant John McCain (R-Ariz.) died at the age of 81 after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Trump, who had long feuded with McCain, faced backlash over his response to McCain’s death, including quickly raising, then re-lowering, flags to half staff.

SEPTEMBER: A controversial Supreme Court fight

  • Sept. 3: Nike featured former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in its 50th anniversary “Just Do It” ad campaign, prompting boycotts and backlash from opponents of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem at games to protest racial inequality and police brutality, a movement popularized by Kaepernick.  
  • Sept. 5: The New York Times ran an op-ed piece by an anonymous member of the Trump administration proclaiming to be part of a “resistance” working to “thwart” Trump’s inclinations from within.
  • Sept. 7: Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days in prison and one year supervised release for lying to FBI investigators about his contacts with Russia.
  • Sept. 11: Journalist Bob Woodward’s book “Fear: Trump in the White House” was published, rocking the White House with its depictions of an administration rife with infighting and White House aides attempting to rein in Trump’s worst impulses.
  • Sept. 30: The U.S. reaches a deal with Canada and Mexico to preserve the North America Free Trade Agreement. The new trade deal is called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
  • September–October: The confirmation hearings of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh gripped the nation, especially after Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor in California, came forward with an allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, when the two were in high school. After several days of hearings and public testimony from both Kavanaugh and Ford, Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee was confirmed. Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) was the only Democrat to vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) was the only Republican to vote against advancing the nomination. 

OCTOBER: Khashoggi is killed

  • Oct. 2: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, disappeared after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where it was later admitted he was killed. Trump angered senators and the international community by refusing to blame Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for involvement in the murder. The Senate ultimately passed a measure formally naming the crown prince “responsible.”
  • Oct. 7: The United Nations released a dire report warning that the world may be on a path toward catastrophic climate change if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically reduced by 2030. 
  • Oct. 11: Kanye West, an outspoken supporter of Trump, visited the White House for a meeting with the president in the Oval Office, during which the rapper launched into a profane monologue regarding his mental health struggles, the prison system and airplanes.   
  • Oct. 12: Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) raised a record-setting $38 million in the third quarter in his effort to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). O’Rourke’s Senate bid was ultimately unsuccessful, but the El Paso Democrat skyrocketed to stardom and is being hailed as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. 
  • Oct. 15: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the results of a DNA test showing she has some Native American ancestry, in an effort to quell attacks from Trump and other critics who have accused her of faking that aspect of her heritage. Warren came under heavy criticism over the episode, including from the Cherokee Nation. 
  • Oct. 15: A caravan of hundreds of Central American migrants began forming to travel from Honduras to the U.S.-Mexico border. The supposed danger of the caravan became a major theme of President Trump’s in the midterm elections, to the chagrin of some in his party.
  • Oct. 15: A federal judge dismissed adult-film star Stormy Daniels’s defamation lawsuit against Trump, saying that the allegedly defamatory tweet mocking the forensic sketch of the man Daniels said threatened her was “rhetorical hyperbole.” Trump’s lawyer called the ruling a “total defeat” for Daniels. 
  • Oct. 25: Megyn Kelly lost her NBC show after questioning whether blackface was racist, saying that it was considered OK when she was growing up “as long as you were dressing like a character.”
  • Oct. 25: Explosive devices were mailed to more than a dozen prominent Democratic figures and news organizations, including the Obamas, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, philanthropist George Soros and CNN’s New York offices. The suspect, Cesar Sayoc Jr., later pleaded not guilty to charges of using weapons of mass destruction with intent of killing or injuring individuals.  
  • Oct. 27: Eleven people were killed in a shooting inside Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in the U.S.

NOVEMBER: Dems take House in midterms

  • Nov. 6: Democrats took back control of the House, but Republicans held on to the Senate in the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats also gained several state governorships, though two of the party’s biggest stars, Andrew Gillum and Stacy Abrams, lost gubernatorial contests in Florida and Georgia. 
  • Nov. 7: Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions the day after the midterm elections. Trump had long criticized Sessions for recusing himself from the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference. He later nominated former Attorney General William Barr to replace Sessions.
  • Nov. 7: The White House suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta following a testy exchange with Trump, marking a boiling point in Trump’s feud with the media. A judge ordered the White House to reinstate the credentials.   

  • Nov. 13: Former first lady Michelle Obama releases her memoir, “Becoming.” The book shoots to the top of the charts and becoming the best-selling hardcover book of the year. 

  • Nov. 20: Trump submitted written answers to some questions from Mueller related to the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

  • Nov. 25: After two weeks of devastation, firefighters in California were able to contain the Camp Fire, the deadliest blaze in state history.

    Nov. 27: A government report warning of the consequences of climate change was published, to pushback from the administration. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the report was “not based on facts”.

DECEMBER: Government shuttered yet again 

  • Dec. 1: Former President George H.W. Bush died at the age of 94. At his funeral, Trump joined former Presidents Obama, Clinton, Carter and George W. Bush. Trump and first lady Melania Trump sat next to the Obamas and Clintons. Trump and the Clintons did not appear to speak.
  • Dec. 4: Mueller recommended no prison time for former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, citing his “substantial assistance” with the Russia investigation. Flynn pleaded guilty roughly one year earlier to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Later in the month, Flynn’s sentencing was delayed. 
  • Dec. 11: Time magazine named murdered and imprisoned journalists as their “Person of the Year,” with a series of covers honoring “The Guardians and the War on Truth.”
  • Dec. 12: Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for a series of crimes he committed while working as Trump’s personal lawyer, including campaign finance law violations that he allegedly made at the direction of Trump.
  • Dec. 13: After months of negotiations, both chambers of Congress passed a bill overhauling sexual harassment policies on Capitol Hill, sending it to Trump’s desk. 
  • Dec. 14: A federal judge in Texas strikes down the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, saying that the law was unconstitutional since its individual mandate was repealed in the 2017 tax cuts. A group of more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general have taken steps toward appealing the ruling.
  • Dec. 15: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, facing allegations of ethics violations, left his post.
  • Dec. 20: Defense Secretary James Mattis abruptly resigned, writing in a letter that his views are not in line with Trump’s. The move came the day after Trump, reportedly without consulting defense officials or advisers, announced that he planned to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, drawing opposition from defense officials and lawmakers. Trump, irked over Mattis’s letter, later announced the Defense secretary’s exit would be sped up.
  • Dec. 21: The government went into a partial shutdown after lawmakers failed to reach a deal on funding. The impasse was tied to Trump’s demand for $5 billion to fund his proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
  • Dec. 25: The second Guatemalan child within a month died while in Customs and Border Protection custody, prompting the agency to conduct health checks on all migrant children in its custody and pledge “extraordinary protective measures.”
  • Dec. 26: Trump and first lady Melania Trump made an unannounced visit to visit U.S. troops in Iraq. The president had received flak for being the first commander in chief not to visit troops around Christmas since 2002.
Tags 2018 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Andrew McCabe Brett Kavanaugh Chris Collins Chuck Schumer Devin Nunes Donald Trump Duncan Hunter Elizabeth Warren George Papadopoulos Hillary Clinton James Comey James Mattis Jared Kushner Jeff Sessions Jim Jordan Joe Manchin John McCain Lisa Murkowski Mark Meadows Mark Zuckerberg Melania Trump Michelle Obama Mike Pompeo Mitch McConnell Omarosa Manigault Newman Paul Manafort Paul Ryan Rex Tillerson Robert Mueller Ryan Zinke Scott Pruitt Tammy Duckworth Ted Cruz Top stories

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