Trump admin updates: Trump plans to issue executive order to require voter ID

President Donald Trump told Congress that he will slash $4.9 billion of congressionally-approved USAID and State Department foreign aid funding, the Office of Management and Budget said on Friday.

The administration is claiming to have slashed the foreign aid money through a rarely used funding move called a "pocket rescission." It is a process that means the White House delivers a request for Congress to slash money from its budget so late in the fiscal year that the funds expire before Congress is obligated to hold a vote.

Congress already acted to slash much of USAID's funding through a formalized rescission process over the summer. Republicans approved $9.4 billion in cuts aimed at formalizing the Department of Government Efficiency's cuts to USAID and public broadcasting.

However, Trump's latest move is different because, unlike the budget change that Congress rubber-stamped, the White House could now be sidestepping Congress's power of the purse.

Congress members on both sides of the aisle sounded off. Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate's Appropriations Committee, blasted the move on Friday, calling it an "apparent attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval" in a statement. She also said the pocket rescission process was illegal, citing the U.S. Governmental Accountability Office, that said the The Impoundment Control Act– which Trump says authorized his action– "does not provide that authority."

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., responded to Trump's move on Friday. "Trump is rooting for a shutdown. He knows he has created a huge problem because now any budget deal with Republicans isn't worth the paper it's written on. He's not even pretending to follow the law," Murphy said in a post on X.

--ABC News' Allison Pecorin, Isabella Murray, Jay O'Brien and Lauren Peller

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday over lunch, according to a Smithsonian official. This meeting comes as the Smithsonian grapples with increased pressure from the Trump administration to allow the White House to review the museum's exhibitions, materials, and operations.

Earlier this month Trump began targeting the Smithsonian, describing the storied institution as being "OUT OF CONTROL" adding that it's a place "where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future."

<ABC News' Elizabeth Thomas

A new six-figure, 10-day ad campaign in Washington D.C. is calling on federal officers and National Guard troops remove their masks, highlighting growing unease over the government's show of force during the federal surge.

The campaign, launched Friday by the group "Home of the Brave," will cover the city with a mobile billboard, wall postings, sidewalk decals, and street posters.

The ads, which show men wearing face coverings, say "Take off your masks!" and "Why are you hiding your face? Public servants should face the public," are concentrated in high-traffic areas around the city.

"There's no justification for using federal law enforcement and National Guardsmen as political pawns," former Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, a spokesman for the group, said. "But as long as they're here, it's imperative that officers conduct themselves professionally—and that starts with showing their faces."

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson

Ahead of a hearing Friday morning on Lisa Cook's attempted firing, President Donald Trump has responded in court to oppose her effort to remain in her job — calling her request "meritless" and arguing that the allegations over Cook's mortgages are "more than sufficient ground for removing a senior financial regulator from office."

"The grounds the President cited—evidence of deceitful and potentially criminal conduct—plainly constitute "cause" under any standard," the filing states.
Trump's filing also urges the court that standard for cause is essentially up to him — notably writing, "The President's judgment about what constitutes "cause" is not subject to judicial second-guessing."

The filing also notes that even if Cook's statements "were made inadvertently, they still demonstrate lack of care or negligence with respect to important financial matters."

In a separate filing this morning, Chairman Jerome Powell and the Board of Governors took no position on the issue, but asked the court for a "prompt ruling" and reiterated its "intent to follow any order this Court issues."

-ABC News' Olivia Rubin