Attorney General Pam Bondi gave her first interview since taking office on the White House North Lawn -- a seemingly symbolic move as she touted her close personal relationship with President Donald Trump.

"You know, Donald Trump has created an incredible team of people who truly -- we were pre-existing friends, so many of us," Bondi said to Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday.

Bondi was also asked about U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling throwing out former special counsel Jack Smith's classified documents case against Trump.

Hewing to a popular conservative narrative that Smith's prosecution was politically motivated, Bondi answered, "Judge Cannon is a brilliant judge. She followed the law that will be upheld and the weaponization of government will end. No more special counsels out there targeting anyone."

-ABC News' Alexander Mallin

At least 50 staff members focused on environmental justice inside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were told by their leadership during a Thursday meeting that they are being placed on paid administrative leave, effective immediately, sources tell ABC News.

The staff members were told the decision was part of the agency’s efforts to comply with President Donald Trump's DEI executive order, according to the sources, who also say they were given few specifics about exactly how many staff would be impacted or how long the leave would last.

Another person familiar with current operations at the EPA told ABC News that some environmental justice employees in regional field offices were told earlier this week not to come to work.

Additionally, sources say around 1,000 other EPA staff members have received notices about being on probation with guidance that they could lose their jobs.

-ABC News' Kelly Livingston, Mary Alice Parks and Matthew Glasser

As the Trump administration attempts to shrink the workforce of USAID from 14,000 employees to just 300 employees, two foreign service unions are now suing the federal government to block Trump’s attempt to dismantle the organization.

The American Foreign Service Organization and American Federation of Government employees filed the lawsuit in D.C. federal court Thursday, alleging that Trump engaged in a series of "unconstitutional and illegal actions."

"These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests,” the lawsuit said.

The unions argued Congress is the only entity with the authority to dismantle USAID.

The lawsuit said contractors and employees have been laid off, leading medical clinics, soup kitchens and refugee assistance programs across the world to be "shuddered to an immediate halt.”

The lawsuit alleges the Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk -- who boasted about "feeding USAID into the woodchipper" -- made the final move to gut the agency, locking thousands out of their computers and accessing classified material improperly.

The plaintiffs asked the court to declare Trump’s actions unlawful and issue an order requiring the Trump administration to "cease actions to shut down USAID’s operations in a manner not authorized by Congress."

-ABC News' Peter Charalambous

The American Cancer Society on Thursday called for President Donald Trump's administration to “restore access to comprehensive data, refrain from changes that would lead to incomplete future data collection and commit to ensure evidence-based science can proceed without additional bureaucracy or red tape,” in a statement from the advocacy group’s interim CEO, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick.

The statement comes as some government data sets and webpages have been removed or altered on federal health agency websites.

It notes that disruptions or changes to any government data collection and availability “could compromise understanding of disease burden, emerging trends, and effective interventions.” It further adds that restrictions to gathering and releasing data from federal health agencies could “thwart our ability to address and reduce the cancer burden across all communities.”

-ABC News' Soo Rin Kim, Peter Charalambous, Olivia Rubin