Associated Press photographers documented a turbulent first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, marked by bold institutional changes at home and contentious diplomacy abroad. The administration shifted ceremony and symbolism, courted tech leaders, and expanded immigration enforcement that led to federal deployments. Trump clashed with media and lawmakers, resisted full disclosure in high-profile investigations, and failed to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Photos: How President Trump Reshaped Washington in Year One of His Second Term
FILE - President Donald Trump holds a saber after using it to cut a cake at the Commander in Chief inaugural ball in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
In the first year of his second presidency, President Donald Trump wielded both literal and figurative wrecking balls against Washington customs and the United States’ established role on the world stage. Associated Press photographers captured the most dramatic moments as the administration upended long-standing norms and policies.
Key Moments Captured in Photos
He moved his inauguration indoors and placed tech industry leaders in prominent seats in the Capitol Rotunda — the same chamber that had been stormed by his supporters four years earlier. The administration forged close ties with Silicon Valley, at one point supporting sweeping changes to the federal technology workforce that became a flashpoint in the relationship between Trump and tech CEOs, including Elon Musk.
An expanded immigration crackdown that began with tougher border policies escalated into clashes in several U.S. cities after federal officers were dispatched to restore order. At high-profile public events, Trump did not shy away from partisan rhetoric: he told mourners at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service that he “hates” his opponents, according to eyewitness reports.
On the international front, the White House promoted Trump as a broker of stability — even dubbing him “the president of peace” — a characterization later echoed by FIFA. Despite that branding, Trump failed to secure a halt to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and publicly rebuked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during an Oval Office meeting.
Back in the West Wing, the president oversaw a visible makeover of the executive offices while dismantling elements of the East Wing. He repeatedly tangled with U.S. media both on camera and in court, exerted intense pressure on Congress, and resisted full disclosure of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
As the year closed, Trump again courted controversy by threatening possible troop deployments in Minneapolis amid unrest, while also advocating for a U.S. acquisition of Greenland — a proposal that drew international attention and skepticism.
This photo gallery was curated by Associated Press photo editors.
Reporting note: Barrow reported from Atlanta.
FILE - Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, from left, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, arrive to attend the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - A group of migrants wait to be processed between two border walls separating Mexico and the United States in San Diego, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump receives Marc Fogel, a Pittsburgh-area school teacher who was deemed wrongfully held in a Russian prison for years before being freed, at the White House in Washington, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw he received from Argentina's President Javier Milei, right, as they arrive to speak at the Conservative Political Action or CPAC Conference in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump reads a copy of the New York Post as he arrives at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - A sunrise view of the U.S. Capitol as seen from the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Protesters against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown confront police on the 101 Freeway near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - California Highway Patrol officers dodge rocks thrown by protesters against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - U.S. Capitol Police remove protesters who started shouting as the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget began to testify on proposed budget cuts, during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing at the Capitol in Washington, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Republican members of Congress gather round to shake hands with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center bottom, after he signed President Donald Trump's signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, at the Capitol in Washington, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Federal agents detain Paraguayan Carlos Javier Lopez Benitez, center, as they pull away his sister, Porfiria Lopez, a U.S. citizen, left, outside immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building, in New York, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pa., Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - A child watches as DEA officers patrol along the National Mall in Washington, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a press conference at Joint Base Elmendorf- Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Oscar Villanueva holds a sign in support of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel outside El Capitan Entertainment Centre, where his late-night show is staged, in Los Angeles, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump stands with Erika Kirk at the conclusion of a memorial for her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, in Glendale, Ariz., Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Visitors take photos backdropped by a bronze painted sculpture depicting President Donald Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, on the National Mall near the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, left front, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, third from right, and U.S. military senior leadership listen to President Donald Trump speak at Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Construction workers, bottom right, atop the U.S. Treasury, watch as work continues on a largely demolished part of the East Wing to make room for a ballroom, at the White House in Washington, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - A gold-colored item embossed with the word 'President' sits on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump meets with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., second from right, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., right, attend a news conference regarding the Epstein Files Transparency Act, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump puts on the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize presented to him by FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk arm in arm into Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
FILE - Teyana Gibson Brown, standing in her doorway, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after a federal immigration officer used a battering ram to break down a door before arresting her husband, in Minneapolis, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Help us improve.
