What we covered here
• CDC chaos: Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill is expected to serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sources say, assuming the role amid turmoil at the agency after Dr. Susan Monarez’s firing and a series of high-profile resignations this week.
• Fed fight: Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is suing to keep her job after President Donald Trump said he was removing her from her role earlier this week.
• Stalled peace talks: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is “not happy” but also “not surprised” by Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine — the largest since Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month. The US envoy for Ukraine said earlier today that the attack threatens Trump’s peace efforts.
Our live coverage of Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.
RFK Jr. has never gotten briefing from CDC on measles or Covid-19, former agency official says
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has never gotten a briefing on measles, Covid-19 or flu from the experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, former CDC official Dr. Demetre Daskalakis said today.
Daskalakis resigned this week as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases in the wake of the ouster of new CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez.
The US has had more measles cases this year than in any other year since the disease was declared eradicated in 2000, largely because of an outbreak that started in West Texas and primarily affected unvaccinated people. Kennedy drew criticism during that outbreak for promoting treatment with vitamin A and the steroid budesonide over the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.
HHS did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
In interviews Thursday, Kennedy characterized the CDC as in need of change, but Daskalakis said that — especially in light of a shooting at this agency’s main campus this month that left a police officer dead — any problems start at the top.
Potential school shooting in DC thwarted and guns seized, ATF says
Law enforcement agencies say they thwarted a potential school shooting in Washington, DC, on Wednesday – the same day as the horrific shooting at a Catholic grade school in Minneapolis – arresting a juvenile and recovering multiple firearms.
The ATF’s Washington Field Office announced in a social media post that its agents, alongside DC’s Metropolitan Transit Police officers, “Quickly intervened and interrupted what could’ve possibly led to a school shooting incident in #DC.”
The agencies did not reveal the name of any school targeted beyond identifying it as a public school in the district.
In a joint statement to CNN, the Transit Police and ATF said the police department’s “Criminal Investigation Division found an alarming social media post referencing a potential threat to a DC public school.”
A search warrant was executed by MTPD and ATF officers on Wednesday “at a residence where multiple firearms were recovered” and “a juvenile was placed under arrest,” according to the statement.
The ATF released a photo of the firearms, displaying six handguns, six magazines and two boxes of ammunition.
Authorities said the incident is still under investigation and did not provide any additional details about the case or what was said in the social media post that referenced a potential threat to a DC school.
A DC Public Schools spokesperson told CNN in a statement, “We’re not currently tracking that any DC Public Schools students have been apprehended in relation to this incident.”
During a press conference at the White House Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned the arrest while touting the Trump administration’s law enforcement surge in DC, saying that “there was an arrest of a juvenile right here in DC, in Ward Seven,” an area of the city that struggles with high rates of violent crime.
Leavitt said the juvenile was arrested “for threats to kidnap and injure, receiving stolen property, possession of a large capacity feeding device, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.”
CNN has not been able to identify an attorney for the juvenile. CNN has reached out to the DC attorney general’s office for additional information.
CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.
Fed governor agrees with Trump that labor data can be improved. But he doesn't say it is rigged
Criticism against the data compiled and released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is justified, a top official at the Federal Reserve said Thursday, but the unusually large revisions in recent months wasn’t because the data was manipulated.
During a speech at an event in Miami, Fed Governor Christopher Waller — seen as a contender to be President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the central bank next year — said that “it is entirely appropriate to examine the quality of the jobs numbers and the process by which they are collected.”
Earlier this month, Trump fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer, who led the BLS as its commissioner, accusing her of manipulating the monthly jobs reports for “political purposes.” That same day, the BLS reported unusually large downward revisions to job-gain figures in the two months prior to July.
Waller didn’t share Trump’s view in his latest speech. He said the massive revisions are likely due to businesses taking a longer time to respond to the surveys the BLS fields to create its data.
“No, response rates by the final estimate have not fallen — about 95% of firms responded a decade ago, and that is how many are responding now,” Waller said. “What has happened is that US firms are slower in returning the survey.”
Waller declined to weigh in on Trump’s attempt to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook from her post.
Potential Trump pick for Fed chair backs string of rate cuts this year
A top policymaker at the Federal Reserve — who is on President Donald Trump’s shortlist of candidates to lead the central bank next year — said Thursday that the Fed should lower interest rates multiple times by year’s end to support America’s labor market.
In prepared remarks for an event hosted by the Economic Club of Miami, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said demand for workers has declined, unemployment among “some cyclically sensitive groups” has risen and the rate of quitting has slowed to levels not seen in a decade — all signs of a weakening job market.
Waller raised concerns about the labor market when he dissented on the Fed’s July policy decision to hold borrowing costs steady for the fifth time in a row.
“Based on what I know today, I would support a 25 basis point cut at the (Fed’s) meeting on September 16 and 17,” Waller said. (Twenty-five basis points is a quarter of a percentage point.) “As I stand here today, I anticipate additional cuts over the next three to six months, and the pace of rate cuts will be driven by the incoming data.”
The so-called neutral interest rate, where the Fed has balanced its commitment to keep a lid on price increases with supporting the labor market, should be about one and a quarter to one and a half points lower than the current 4.25% to 4.5% target, Waller said.
He also reiterated that central bankers should “look through” the possible impact of Trump’s tariffs on prices and proceed with rate cuts anyway.
Waller’s dissent improved his standing with Trump’s advisers, CNN previously reported.
19 Democratic governors call Trump's plan to expand National Guard deployment to other cities "an alarming abuse of power"
Democratic governors from more than a dozen states issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning President Donald Trump’s plans to deploy the National Guard to other cities following similar moves in Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Nineteen Democratic governors – including some who have already been at odds with the administration, such as Kathy Hochul of New York, Wes Moore of Maryland, JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Gavin Newsom of California – signed onto the statement.
CNN has reported that following the deployment of the National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles and to crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital, the Trump administration is looking to expand its anti-crime agenda in Chicago. The president has also said he’ll take a look at New York.
Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order, establishing “specialized units” in the National Guard that will be “specifically trained and equipped to deal with public order issues” — the clearest sign yet he intends to expand the US military’s role in domestic law enforcement activities across the country.
The president told reporters Monday that he “may or may not” wait until governors request National Guard troops before ordering deployments to address crime.
“We may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do,” Trump said.
Trump is afforded certain presidential powers that he could use to deploy the National Guard and federal law enforcement agencies in US cities to crack down on crime — though such a move would be unprecedented and, some experts and local leaders argue, illegal.
Trump administration approves sale of 3,350 extended range missiles to Ukraine
The Trump administration has approved the sale of 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) missiles to Ukraine, providing a potentially powerful tool to Kyiv as it continues to face a relentless assault by Russia.
The announcement of the proposed $825 million sale Thursday comes as diplomatic efforts to end the war have yet to yield a result and following a deadly night of Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital.
It was announced after President Donald Trump met this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin and separately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Although the Trump administration has approved a number of sales of equipment to sustain existing weapons, this appears to be the first major arms sale of new weapons to Ukraine announced by the administration.
A source familiar said that if the sale is concluded as expected, the missiles – which have a range of 150-280 miles – could be delivered later this year.
It is unclear whether there will be restrictions on their use.
“Ukraine will use funding from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway and Foreign Military Financing from the United States for this purchase,” the notice from the State Department said. “The ERAM is an example of working together with our NATO allies to develop a capable and scalable system capable of being delivered on a fast timeline.”
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” it said.
Kennedy expected to name deputy Jim O’Neill as acting CDC director, sources say
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill is expected to serve as acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to an administration official and another person familiar with the matter.
He assumes the role amid turmoil for the CDC in the wake of Dr. Susan Monarez’s firing and a series of high-profile resignations.
O’Neill joined HHS in June after years as a Silicon Valley-based technology and biotech investor, including stints with the Thiel Foundation and later the Thiel Fellowship, a grant program for young entrepreneurs started by billionaire Palantir founder Peter Thiel. He also worked for HHS during the George W. Bush administration, when, as principal associate deputy secretary, he led changes to food regulation and emergency response.
O’Neill accompanied Monarez and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on a tour of the CDC campus this month after a gunman opened fire there, pocking the buildings with hundreds of bullet holes and killing DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose.
The Washington Post first reported O’Neill’s new role.
Federal judge bars Kari Lake from ousting Voice of America’s director
A federal judge on Thursday barred Kari Lake, an ally of President Donald Trump whom the president picked to lead Voice of America, from firing agency director Michael Abramowitz.
Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered Abramowitz’s reinstatement, saying the director must remain in his role until he can be lawfully removed.
Lake, a senior adviser for the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, put VOA’s entire workforce on administrative leave and pulled funding from every other US-backed broadcaster earlier this year, shortly after Trump signed an executive order to gut the agency.
Abramowitz can only be removed by a majority vote of the VOA’s advisory board, according to Lamberth’s decision. But there’s a catch: The Trump administration fired the broadcaster’s entire board earlier this year.
The move comes as a major blow to Lake, who has sought to exert control over the VOA since being given oversight of the agency by Trump in February.
Lake and attorneys for Abramowitz did not responded to CNN’s requests for comment.
Trump signs order to end collective bargaining at more agencies
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that seeks to end collective bargaining for union employees at additional federal agencies, including the National Weather Service, NASA, and the United States Agency for Global Media.
The president cited national security concerns as the reason for the move, according to the executive order and a fact sheet released alongside of it. National security was also the justification for another sweeping executive order he signed this year aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for workers across many other federal agencies, including the departments of State, Defense, Justice and Health and Human Services.
“President Trump is taking action to ensure that agencies vital to national security can execute their missions without delay and protect the American people,” the fact sheet reads.
The American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement that Thursday’s executive order is “another clear example of retaliation against federal employee union members who have bravely stood up against his anti-worker, anti-American plan to dismantle the federal government.”
“President Trump’s decision to issue a Labor Day proclamation shortly after stripping union rights from thousands of civil servants, a third of whom are veterans, should show American workers what he really thinks about them,” he continued.
Federal employee unions filed lawsuits over the original executive order. A three-judge federal appeals panel recently ruled Trump could move forward with his previous order, though it is possible that the case could be reheard by the entire appellate court. Another appellate court issued a similar ruling in a separate lawsuit in May.
Several departments, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already terminated the union contracts of employees affected by the March executive order.
Judge condemns Trump administration’s priorities in DC
A federal judge castigated the Trump administration Thursday after he learned that a man on probation is unable to continue his court-ordered rehabilitation program due to budget constraints, chastising the government for having what he said were the wrong priorities.
“We have an infinite amount of money to bring hundreds of troops in (to Washington, DC) and federal agents … but we don’t have the money to get you the treatment that you need,” Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said during a hearing after the man’s probation officer told him that a lack of funding meant the man could no longer continue in his treatment program.
“It’s unreal, the world that we’re living in,” Faruqui said, putting his head in his hands as he lamented “inhumane, thoughtless budget decisions” that he worried would have a negative impact on the man’s well-being.
Faruqui has been outspoken in recent days about President Donald Trump’s decision to surge federal agents on the streets of DC to address what the president has called a crisis of crime in the nation’s capital. In other proceedings, he’s stressed that the criminal justice system cannot keep up with the influx of new cases.
During the check-in hearing Thursday for the man, Saint Vincent Harris, the judge appeared to take a jab at the administration’s decision to try to keep new defendants behind bars before their case is heard in court as he complimented a federal prosecutor in Harris’ case for his shared desire of ensuring Harris remains in a treatment program.
Trump orders scrutiny of federal grants for "political overtones"
President Donald Trump moved Thursday to assert greater control over federal grantmaking, signing an executive order scrutinizing whether certain awards are improperly advancing “political lobbying activities.”
The directive instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate grants that the administration believes are going toward initiatives deemed overly political, citing past funding that has gone toward “advancing racial justice” and a teen pregnancy prevention program targeted at “transgender boys.”
“Taxpayer funds are being spend on grants with highly political overtones, raising the concern that they are supporting political or lobbying activities.”
The executive order did not specify any parameters for what constitutes political or lobbying activity when it comes to grantmaking. But it charges Bondi with submitting a report on her investigation into federal grants within 180 days, and authorizes her to take “appropriate enforcement action.”
Trump to focus on “root causes of this violence,” Vance says
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday the Trump administration will focus on what he called the “root causes of this violence” following Wednesday’s Minnesota school shooting.
Vance asked the crowd gathered in Wisconsin to join him in prayer in memory of the two children killed.
In a rare statement on X on Wednesday, first lady Melania Trump called for “pre-emptive intervention in identifying potential school shooters.”
Trump wrote that early warning signs “are often evident, with many individuals exhibiting concerning behaviors and making violent threats online prior to their actions.”
Meanwhile: Democratic leaders want meeting with GOP counterparts to talk government funding
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have sent a letter to Senate Republican Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson laying out their opening lines of attack as September’s government funding fight draws closer, warning of the possibility of a government shutdown.
Lawmakers have spent the past few weeks in their home districts for Congress’ August recess.
Schumer and Jeffries pressed GOP leadership on whether they are prepared to negotiate with Democrats to avert a government shutdown and demanded to know whether the administration has indicated if it will attempt to claw back more federal funds – which Democrats have previously warned would poison the water ahead of any funding negotiations and increase the likelihood of a shutdown.
Jeffries said in a podcast released Thursday afternoon that he and Schumer had spoken on Wednesday. He added that he’s “scheduled to talk to Speaker Johnson in the next day or so.”
Republican senator calls for canceling vaccine panel meeting in wake of CDC shakeup
In a strongly worded statement, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said a meeting of the Department of Health and Human Services’ vaccine panel should not take place next month following the departure of top Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.
And if the Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices meeting does take place, any recommendations from the panel should be ignored, said Cassidy, a doctor who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Cassidy had also called for ACIP’s June meeting to be delayed, after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all the panel’s members and named eight new appointees. Cassidy said at the time that the meeting should not take place without a permanent CDC director; Dr. Susan Monarez had been due to appear before the HELP committee for her confirmation hearing that week.
The new panel met as scheduled in June and heard a presentation on thimerosal in vaccines, echoing Kennedy’s longtime theories about risks of the rarely used additive.
Kennedy is expected to name additional ACIP appointees as soon as this week. He clashed with Monarez about the panel’s membership before ousting her, according to sources familiar with the situation.
HELP ranking member Bernie Sanders called on Cassidy earlier Thursday to convene a hearing on CDC officials’ departure. A Cassidy spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
White House slams former official who used gender-inclusive language: "That’s not someone who we want in this administration anyway"
The White House criticized Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases who resigned Wednesday along with other top public health officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Daskalakis, who described himself as a “trusted voice for the LGBTQ community” on public health issues, used the phrase “pregnant people” in his resignation letter, a gender-neutral term.
He wrote that “the recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lambasted Daskalakis’ language.
“He identifies pregnant women as pregnant people. So that’s not someone who we want in this administration anyway. So if people are not aligned with the president’s vision and the secretary’s vision to make our country healthy again, then we will gladly show them the door,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House Thursday.
Moments later, Leavitt was pressed on whether officials pushing back privately on the president’s agenda should fear losing their jobs.
“I think if you’re doing your job well, and if you are executing on the vision and the promises that the president made to the public who elected him back to this office, that you should have no fear about your job. Just do your job,” she said.
The Trump administration contends that diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, “creates and then amplifies prejudicial hostility and exacerbates interpersonal conflict.”
White House says it will defend in court the firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook
The Trump administration will continue fighting to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
President Donald Trump earlier this week posted a letter on his social media platform stating that he fired Cook — the first time a Fed governor has ever been removed — citing allegations of mortgage fraud first raised by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Cook has not been charged with any wrongdoing. The Justice Department has said it will investigate Pulte’s allegations.
Earlier on Thursday, Cook filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s removal order, claiming the president violated her due process rights under both the Constitution and federal law, and asked a court to keep her in her prominent role on the Fed’s Board of Governors, which helps set interest rates.
“We’ll continue to fight this battle,” Leavitt said during a news conference.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement Thursday after Cook filed her lawsuit that “the President determined there was cause to remove a governor who was credibly accused of lying in financial documents from a highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions.”
A hearing on her request for a temporary restraining order has been scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Friday in front of Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed for not lowering interest rates this year.
Trump is "not happy" but "not surprised" by Russia's attacks on Ukraine
President Donald Trump is “not happy” but “not surprised” by Russia’s overnight air assault on Ukraine, the White House said Thursday. The strikes marked the second-biggest aerial attack since the war began, with at least 19 people killed, including four children, according to officials.
Trump, she said, wants the war to end, but both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “must want it to end as well.”
Leavitt also previewed that the president would “make some additional statements on this later,” declining to elaborate.
Trump’s envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg described the attacks in a social media post earlier in the day as “egregious” and warned it “(threatens) the peace that @POTUS is pursuing.”
Following a burst of momentum around Trump’s Alaska meeting with Putin, peace talks appear to have stalled. The White House had indicated the next step would entail a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, but the Kremlin has poured cold water on that possibility in the near future.
WH declines to say whether the US is planning military action against Venezuela after deploying US Navy ships to its coast
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to answer Thursday whether the United States is considering military intervention towards Venezuela but instead touted the administration’s counter drug operations.
“I won’t get ahead of the president with respect to any military action or questions about that,” Levitt told reporters from the White House.
“But what I will tell you is that many Caribbean nations and many nations in the region have applauded the administration’s counter drug operations and efforts, and the president is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice,” she added.
Leavitt went on to reject Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro as a legitimate leader.
“Maduro is not a legitimate president. He is a fugitive head of this drug cartel. He has been indicted in the United States for trafficking drugs into our country,”
The press secretary said it is “the utmost responsibility” of the Trump administration “to prevent the illicit flow of drugs “ and “protect citizens from those deadly poisons.”
Leavitt’s comments come as a US Navy fleet and military vessels has arrived at Venezuela’s coast in the Caribbean, in a major escalation aimed at curbing drug trafficking allegedly linked to Maduro.
White House will fight judge's order to shutter “Alligator Alcatraz”
The White House will “continue to fight” a judge’s order to shutter the Florida immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” even as they abide by a court order to stop taking new detainees and remove infrastructure added to the site, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“We’re going to comply with court orders, but we’re also going to fight back on them on the merits of the law. And DHS is in compliance while we disagree with this decision, and we’ll continue to fight it in court,” Leavitt told reporters during Thursday’s press briefing.
Last week, US District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction in a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, ordering that the facility remove infrastructure added to the site and stop taking detainees.
The Miccosukee Tribe, a Native American tribe whose reservation lies within miles of the facility, raised concerns about the impact the facility will have on their land and the environmentally sensitive area, including the plants and animals that inhabit the Everglades.
“The project creates irreparable harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality to endangered species in the area,” Williams said in the order.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also said that his state intends to fight the order, though a message from a top Florida official said the facility will likely be empty in a matter of days.
“We’re not going to be deterred,” DeSantis said. “We are totally in the right on this.”
CNN’s Alaa Elassar contributed to this report.
