This is a list of events in the year 2018 in the United States.
Incumbents Federal government President: Donald Trump (R-New York) Vice President: Mike Pence (R-Indiana) Chief Justice: John Roberts (Maryland) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) Senate Majority Leader: Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) Congress: 115th
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events January
January 1 The 2018 North American cold wave takes place, with record low temperatures in the Midwestern and Eastern United States. Times Square in New York City has a temperature of , with wind chill, in addition to Omaha having a temperature of on December 30, 2017, lower than the previous record set in 1884. Retail sale of marijuana begins in California, the largest U.S. state to allow the sale of marijuana for recreational use. January 3 – President Donald Trump boasts on Twitter that his nuclear button is "much bigger" and "more powerful" than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's. January 6 – The 2017–18 United States flu season causes dozens of deaths. January 8 – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that 2017 was the costliest year on record for climate and weather-related disasters in the United States. January 9 – The 2018 Southern California landslides occur, killing at least 13 people, and injuring 25. The main damage occurs in Montecito, California, which was nearly burned by the Thomas Fire a month prior. January 10 – The city council of Washington, D.C., renames the street outside Russia's embassy after Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician and critic of Vladimir Putin who was shot dead outside the Kremlin. January 11 – During a meeting with lawmakers about immigration, President Trump is reported to have asked, "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" His remarks are condemned as "racist" and "shocking" by a UN spokesman. (comp. Donald Trump racial views) The government of Botswana demands a clarification, and Ambassador Earl R. Miller is asked if the USDS regards Botswana as a "shithole" country. The event is termed by many media outlets "Shitholegate". January 12 – A Baltimore woman who was a patient at the University of Maryland Medical Center is taken outside and left by hospital employees in freezing temperatures wearing nothing but her hospital gown and socks. She is stranded until bystander Imanu Baraka calls 911. January 13 – The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sends a false alarm warning of an incoming ballistic missile attack, causing widespread panic across the state. January 15 – Turpin case: Police in California arrest a couple, 57-year-old computer engineer at Northrop Grumman David Allen Turpin and his wife, 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin, who allegedly held their 13 children captive, some chained to beds in the dark. January 16 Democrat Patty Schachtner wins the special election for Wisconsin's 10th Senate District, the same district President Trump won by 17 points. A meteor is reported near Michigan that causes a magnitude 2.0 earthquake. January 18 – Scotland Yard reveals that U.S. actor Kevin Spacey is being investigated over a third accusation of sexual assault in the UK, from 2005. January 20 – Senate Democrats block a bill that would have kept the government running until mid-February and the government shutdown of January 2018 begins. January 22 Amazon opens the first Amazon Go store to the public, the first completely cashier-less grocery store, located in Seattle. Minnie Mouse receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of her 90th anniversary. January 23 – A tsunami alert is triggered after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake is recorded off the southern Alaskan coast. January 24 Disgraced Olympic gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar receives a prison sentence of up to 175 years after testimony from nearly 160 of his victims. President Trump attends the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland. January 30 – President Trump gives his first official State of the Union Address. 75 percent of State of the Union viewers approved of Trump's address.
February February 2 – President Trump approves the release of a controversial Republican memo accusing the FBI of abusing its powers during the inquiry into alleged Russian meddling of US elections. February 4 – The Philadelphia Eagles win their first Super Bowl in franchise history by defeating the New England Patriots, 41–33, in Super Bowl LII, ending a 57-year championship drought. February 5 – The Dow Jones share index closes down 4.6%, its biggest drop since the 2008 financial crisis. February 6 – SpaceX successfully launches its Falcon Heavy rocket from LC39A at John F. Kennedy Space Center. February 9–25 – The United States compete at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea and win 9 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze medals. February 14 – A mass shooting occurs at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, resulting in 17 fatalities. It is the deadliest high school shooting in the United States, surpassing the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. February 15 – Pearl Fernandez pleads guilty to the murder of her son Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year old tortured and killed in California. Her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre is also later convicted of murder in relation to the case. February 16 Special Counsel Robert Mueller announces that 13 Russians have been charged with interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler, is released by Marvel Studios as the 18th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It becomes the second-highest-grossing film of 2018 and the ninth highest-grossing film of all time at that point (now the thirteenth), earning $1.347 billion during its run. February 18 – In Stock Car racing, Austin Dillon wins the 60th running of the Daytona 500. Darrell Wallace Jr. finishes 2nd highest finish for an African-American in the Daytona 500. February 22 – Teachers and other education personnel in West Virginia go on the first ever statewide strike in state history. February 23 President Trump announces a plan for the largest ever package of sanctions against North Korea, aimed at cutting off revenue for its nuclear program. President Trump's former deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, admits charges of conspiracy and lying to investigators in a plea deal. February 24 – Paul Manafort is indicted with five federal criminal charges including money laundering and foreign lobbying violations. February 25 – In the wake of concerns about gun control, a number of major companies announce they are severing ties with the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) – including Alamo, Allied Van Lines, Avis Rent a Car, Budget Rent a Car, Delta, Enterprise, First National Bank of Omaha, Hertz, Met Life, National, SimpliSafe, Symantec, Teladoc, and United.
March March 1 – President Trump announces tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium imports. March 4 – The 90th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, are held at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water winning four awards out of 13 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell respectively win Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Gary Oldman wins Best Actor for Darkest Hour and Allison Janney wins Best Supporting Actress for I, Tonya. The telecast garners 26.5 million viewers, at that point the least-watched televised ceremony in Oscar history. March 5 – Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sues agricultural giant Monsanto, alleging the company concealed dangers posed by a toxic chemical compound it manufactured for nearly a half century. March 6 – Gary Cohn, a top economic adviser to President Trump, resigns his position. March 7 Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who alleges she had an affair with President Trump, files a lawsuit against him alleging that a nondisclosure contract she signed is invalid. Florida passes a law by 67–50 votes to raise the age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. March 9 President Trump accepts an invite from Kim Jong-un through South Korean officials for a meeting by May. Former drug firm executive Martin Shkreli is sentenced to seven years in federal prison for defrauding investors. March 13 – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is fired (effective March 31) by President Trump. CIA Director Mike Pompeo is nominated to replace him. March 14 Democrat Conor Lamb wins the 2018 special Congressional election in Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district, previously considered a safe seat for Republicans. The Senate passes, by 67 to 31, a bill to reform the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a set of post-2008 financial crisis rules. President Trump appoints Larry Kudlow to be Director of the National Economic Council, succeeding Gary Cohn. March 15 – A pedestrian bridge collapses at Florida International University, resulting in 6 fatalities. March 16 Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe is dismissed for "lack of candor" days before he was due to retire with pension rights. McCabe denies the claims and insists he was targeted because of his involvement in the Russia inquiry. Facebook suspends Cambridge Analytica, a data firm accused of mishandling Facebook user profiles. In the NCAA Tournament, the UMBC Retrievers defeat the Virginia Cavaliers, 74–54, becoming the first 16th-seed in NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament history to defeat a 1-seed. March 19 Uber suspends all of its self-driving cars worldwide after a woman is killed by one of the vehicles in Tempe, Arizona. British TV station, Channel 4, airs a documentary about Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis company that worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Undercover reporters, talking to executives from the firm, discover the use of bribes, honey traps, fake news campaigns and operations with ex-spies to swing election campaigns around the world. California residents are ordered to evacuate ahead of a storm described as an "atmospheric river". March 20 – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg receives a formal request from the British government to answer questions regarding Cambridge Analytica and the "catastrophic failure of process" behind the data breach. March 21 – It is reported that the Opioid epidemic may be worse than previously thought due to omissions on death certificates. March 22 President Trump announces tariffs on up to $60bn in Chinese goods and plans to limit the country's investment in the US. The Dow Jones falls sharply in response. President Trump replaces his National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster with former United Nations ambassador John Bolton. March 25 – Advocates warn that Congress needs to devote more money to address the growing opioid epidemic. March 26 Six children are killed by their adoptive mothers, Jennifer and Sarah Hart, when their SUV intentionally drives over a California cliff in a mass murder-suicide. Both perpetrators were known to have abused their six children before the crash. President Trump orders the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats following the ex-spy poisoning case in the UK. March 28 – At least 12 states are reported to be suing the Trump administration over inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 census. March 29 Russia announces it will expel 60 US diplomats and close the US Consulate in St. Petersburg in retaliation for the US expelling 60 Russian diplomats. President Trump nominates Ronny Jackson, current physician to the President, to replace Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.