President Donald Trump on Thursday revoked the Secret Service detail for former Vice President Kamala Harris that was previously extended by former President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, fallout continues from the White House's attempt to remove Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez.
Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill has been tapped as the interim director of the CDC, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Trump also signed a memo directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether federal grant money is being used to "support lobbying activities."
A fact sheet about the memo provided by the White House pointed to a couple of examples it claims violated the law.
The examples included a National Institutes of Health grant that allegedly "adapted an LGBTQ+ teen pregnancy prevention program for 'transgender boys'" and a U.S. National Science Foundation grant that was allegedly aimed at "advancing racial justice in elementary mathematics."
-ABC News' Isabella Murray and Michelle Stoddart
Aug 28, 2025, 5:03 PM EDT
Trump executive order calls for banning collective bargaining at some agencies
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that ends collective bargaining with federal unions for agencies that focus on intelligence or national security work.
The White House argued in a statement that "procedural requirements" within unions create delays in agency operations.
The affected agencies include NASA, the National Weather Service, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), each part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Hydropower Facilities in the Bureau of Reclamation Office of the Commissioner of Patents, the Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office of the White House, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP
-ABC News' Isabella Murray and Michelle Stoddart
Aug 28, 2025, 5:01 PM EDT
Trump signs EO targeting federal architecture
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that mandates all federal public buildings, including courthouses and government office buildings, "embrace classical architecture to honor tradition, foster civic pride, and inspire the citizenry."
The order requires federal buildings, such as courthouses, should be built "in a classical architectural style" and "in a style that uplifts and beautifies public spaces, ennobles our Nation, and commands respect from the general public."
The order requires that the president be notified about building designs that depart from the classical style, including buildings in the "Brutalist, Deconstructivist, or other modernist" styles.
-ABC News' Isabella Murray and Michelle Stoddart
Aug 28, 2025, 2:51 PM EDT
CDC director's lawyers say she still hasn't heard from the president
After White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday's briefing it was President Donald Trump who fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, Monarez's lawyers pushed back that she has still not heard directly from the president on the matter.
Monarez's lawyers also said they have not had any further communications with the White House since Wednesday night, when a White House staffer notified her of her termination, which her attorneys then rejected as "legally deficient."
"WH @PressSec can say whatever she wants because thankfully free speech still exists in this country. But it doesn't make her comments factually true, even when from a White House podium," attorney Mark Zaid said on X after the press briefing.
Susan Monarez, nominee to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 25, 2025.
Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
Zaid and attorney Abbe Lowell have said they would only accept termination from the president given Monarez's status as a Senate-confirmed appointee.
"Our client was notified tonight by a White House staffer in the personnel office that she was fired. As a presidential appointee, Senate-confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her. For this reason, we reject the notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position," the attorneys said on Wednesday night.
