Trump Administration Removes 400+ Federal Datasets as Data Manipulation Concerns Mount

Donald Trump’s aggressive moves to control government data conflicting with his political agenda are accelerating, raising alarms among scientists, economists, and public health experts. Since January, his administration has systematically removed or altered hundreds of federal datasets, dismissed key statistical leaders, and halted critical data collection programs across multiple agencies, fundamentally undermining evidence-based policy.

The most stark example came in August when Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer mere hours after her agency released a jobs report showing weaker employment growth than initially forecast. Without presenting evidence, Trump labeled the data “rigged,” accusing McEntarfer of manipulating numbers “for political purposes” – a pattern of dismissing statistics that contradict his preferred narrative.

How Does Federal Data Removal Impact Public Policy?

Political science experts warn this tactic follows “a page from the authoritarian playbook,” according to Robert Cropf, a professor at St. Louis University. “What he’s trying to do is to present the best possible picture of what he’s doing, even if that means he has to cook the numbers, even if that means he has to distort the data,” Cropf stated, pointing to Trump’s well-documented pattern of challenging unfavorable facts.

Denice Ross, former U.S. Chief Data Scientist now with the Federation of American Scientists, has meticulously documented over 400 specific changes to federal forms and surveys since January 20th. She describes a “targeted, surgical removal of data sets, or elements of data sets, that are not aligned with the administration’s priorities.”

Data Vanishing from Health, Climate, and Economic Agencies

The scope is alarming:

• Health: The CDC is now forbidden from collecting gender data on programs including abortion services, HIV/STD prevention, violence prevention, and mental health. Federal abortion data collection ceased entirely on April 1st following widespread HHS layoffs.
• Climate: Dozens of critical climate databases and government-funded studies have been discontinued, including efforts quantifying natural disaster damage and predicting rainfall intensification. Key websites like the U.S. Global Change Research Program and Climate.gov were taken offline.
• Drug Crisis: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration halted updates to the Drug Abuse Warning Network in June, crippling real-time tracking of street drugs and overdoses. The shutdown of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health jeopardizes the vital National Youth Tobacco Survey.
• Economy: Trump’s NOAA budget proposal seeks to eliminate nearly all climate, weather, and ocean research labs essential for forecasting and business planning. Basic public figures, like federal workforce numbers, face months-long delays or freezes.

Trump announces he has directed his team to fire the Commissioner of Labor Statistics.
“Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
— Donald Trump, August 2025 (Posted by Acyn on Twitter/X)

Experts Warn of Long-Term Damage

Ross and other nonpartisan experts emphasize that reliable data is the bedrock of effective governance, business planning, and scientific progress. Removing it doesn’t change reality but blinds policymakers and the public to emerging crises in public health, the environment, and the economy. The pattern of replacing inconvenient facts with political assertions fundamentally erodes trust in government institutions and decision-making processes. Without accurate, transparent data, diagnosing problems and measuring policy success becomes impossible, leaving the nation vulnerable to unaddressed threats and misallocated resources.

The systematic removal of federal datasets by the Trump administration represents more than bureaucratic shifts; it’s a deliberate assault on evidence itself. By silencing statistics that challenge his narrative – from jobs reports to climate impacts and public health trends – Trump undermines the very foundation of informed democracy. Restoring trust and safeguarding the integrity of government data will be a critical challenge long after this administration ends. Demand transparency from your elected officials and support independent data journalism.

Must Know

1. What specific data did the Trump administration remove? Documented removals include CDC gender/abortion data, climate change databases (like Climate.gov), drug overdose tracking via the Drug Abuse Warning Network, and proposed cuts to NOAA weather/climate research. Over 400 dataset changes are confirmed.
2. Why did Trump fire the Labor Statistics Commissioner? Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in August 2025 immediately after her agency released a weaker-than-expected jobs report, which he baselessly called “rigged” and accused of political manipulation.
3. How does removing data affect ordinary citizens? Loss of reliable data hampers disease tracking, disaster preparedness, economic planning for businesses, understanding of social trends, and the government’s ability to effectively address crises like drug epidemics or climate impacts.
4. Which agencies are most affected by Trump’s data policies? Key agencies impacted include the CDC (health data), Bureau of Labor Statistics (jobs data), NOAA (climate/weather data), SAMHSA (drug data), and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (climate science).
5. Are there legal challenges to this data removal? While specific lawsuits may arise, the administration has broad authority over agency operations. The primary challenges come from scientific organizations, journalists, and transparency advocates documenting the changes and their consequences.
6. What happens to historical data that was removed? Experts like Denice Ross express concern that removing datasets from public websites or halting collection can make historical data harder to access or contextualize, potentially erasing valuable long-term trends.