Outlet profile

EPA / U.S. Justice Department (press releases)

U.S. executive branch / federal government

Owned byFederal government; both are executive branch agencies directed by presidential appointees — the EPA Administrator (Lee Zeldin, appointed 2025) and the Attorney General (Pam Bondi, confirmed 2025)

FundingAnnual congressional appropriations funded by U.S. taxpayers; neither agency sells advertising or charges subscriptions. EPA's FY 2026 budget was cut roughly 3 percent from prior levels; DOJ funding is similarly set by Congress each fiscal year.

On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

The Environmental Protection Agency was created on December 2, 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed an executive reorganization order consolidating scattered federal pollution programs into one agency. It opened with roughly 5,800 employees and a $1.4 billion budget, and gained broad regulatory authority through major 1970s legislation including the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The agency grew substantially through subsequent decades but has been a recurring target of budget and staffing reductions under Republican administrations. Trump's second term, led by Administrator Lee Zeldin, launched what the agency described as 'the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history,' including repeal of the 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding and rollback of vehicle emissions standards; staffing fell to 40-year lows, with roughly one in three positions cut by 2026. The Department of Justice traces its roots to the Office of the Attorney General, created by the Judiciary Act of 1789; Congress formally established the department on June 22, 1870, to unify the government's legal functions under one head. Historically, norms of prosecutorial independence have insulated the department from direct White House direction, though that norm has been tested across many administrations. In Trump's second term, Attorney General Pam Bondi oversaw personnel changes that critics — including Senate Democrats and former DOJ officials — described as politicization, citing the dismissal of prosecutors who worked Capitol riot cases, dropped charges against political allies, and new investigations of Trump political adversaries including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James; the department's own press releases characterize these actions as legitimate law enforcement.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-06-29; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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