Today in One Sentence. Trump signed an executive order to scale back the federal childhood vaccine schedule; Trump signed executive orders to narrow birthright citizenship and end “birth tourism”; ICE plans to spend up to $20 million in a no-bid contract on thousands of electric shock gloves to use on people they’re trying to detain; Trump authorized U.S. companies to conduct government-directed cyberattacks against foreign hacking groups; Trump secretly after hid inside an airport catering container to secretly get off Air Force One and fly out of Turkey using a smaller military jet last month; the Navy is replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East following complaints about exhaustion, supply problems, and sailors’ mental health; the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general; the Trump official who oversees the U.S. Forest Service demanded for more resources to fight a seven-acre wildfire near his Idaho ranch; a federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard; the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow construction to continue on Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom despite a federal appeals court ruling that the project likely requires congressional approval; U.S. consumer sentiment fell 8% in August as the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July; Trump reported at least $2.2 billion in income in 2025 while the average American family lost about $1,625 to inflation; the White House gave Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook 21 days to answer to allegations that she made false statements on mortgage documents; Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to remain on the Supreme Court for at least another term, ending speculation that the 76-year-old conservative justice would retire and give Trump the chance to name a fourth Supreme Court justice; and Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board voted to re-add his name to the building’s facade and close the main venue for a two-year renovation.

🍹 While I was away…

1/ Trump signed an executive order to scale back the federal childhood vaccine schedule. The order splits the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three shots, and spread childhood immunizations across separate doctor visits. It recommends routine vaccination against 11 diseases and directs the Justice Department to challenge some state vaccination laws. An earlier attempt to overhaul the schedule has already been blocked in federal court and legal experts say it’s unclear whether Trump even has the authority to impose the changes. Nevertheless, Trump claimed without evidence that the combined MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal” and again suggested vaccines contribute to autism, despite decades of research finding no link. The CDC also says there is “no published scientific evidence” of any benefit to separating the MMR vaccine. No individual measles, mumps, or rubella vaccines are currently approved or available in the U.S. (New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Reuters / Washington Post)

2/ Trump signed executive orders to narrow birthright citizenship and end “birth tourism,” weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that his previous attempts to end automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. were unconstitutional. One order would exclude children born to some foreign-government employees, people designated as “alien enemies” or members of foreign terrorist organizations, or mothers who entered the country solely to give birth. The other order directs the State Department and Homeland Security to issue rules and guidance targeting birth tourism, which federal visa rules already restrict. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / Axios)

  • The Trump administration is reportedly intensifying efforts to deport noncitizens who registered to vote, including green card holders who inadvertently signed-up and never cast a ballot. Homeland Security is reopening old voter fraud cases and using a federal immigration database to hunt for registrants. State audits have repeatedly found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare. (New York Times)

  • The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge to Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members. The court said the case was “moot” because the administration had already deported the three named plaintiffs under other immigration laws. The Supreme Court’s injunction blocking removals under the act, however, remains in place while other challenges can now move forward. (ABC News / New York Times / NBC News)

3/ ICE plans to spend up to $20 million in a no-bid contract on thousands of electric shock gloves to use on people they’re trying to detain. The Department of Homeland Security described the CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E. as a “conductive distraction and de-escalation device” that will be issued to immigration enforcement and criminal investigative officers. The manufacturer, however, warns they shouldn’t be used as punishment or for “verbal defiance or belligerence” and advises against using them on children, pregnant women, elderly people, and people with disabilities. White House border czar Tom Homan defended the devices as a less-lethal option to could keep officers from using deadly force. Separately, Homeland Security spent $464 million on a no-bid contract for 10 used planes that were “urgently” needed for deportation flights. The fleet, however, has mostly sat idle for months despite DHS invoking an “unusual and compelling urgency” exemption to skip competitive bidding. (Associated Press / CNN / NPR / Washington Post / Axios / New York Times)

  • Homeland Security used undercover agents, administrative subpoenas, and covert surveillance to investigate left-leaning groups and anti-ICE protesters during Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Agents reportedly infiltrated Signal chats and meetings, recorded activists, collected license plates, and obtained years of financial records in an inquiry into “domestic terrorist financing.” Prosecutors later claimed that the 18 groups were part of a conspiracy to impede immigration officers, but none of the organizations have been charged with crimes. (New York Times / The Guardian)

4/ Trump authorized U.S. companies to conduct government-directed cyberattacks against foreign hacking groups. The memorandum reverses decades of U.S. cybersecurity policy that largely confined offensive cyberoperations to the military and intelligence agencies and allows vetted companies to surveil, disrupt, manipulate, or destroy computer systems and digital infrastructure overseas. Companies are required to receive federal approval before an operation, but attacks that could cause death or serious injury or rise to the level of an armed attack under international law are prohibited. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)

5/ Trump secretly after hid inside an airport catering container to secretly get off Air Force One and fly out of Turkey using a smaller military jet last month. The White House had said Trump would leave Ankara aboard the legacy Air Force One, and Trump publicly claimed the switch was “for old time’s sake.” Instead, he boarded the plane in view of cameras, exited through a catering truck, and flew to Britain on a C-32A while reporters, White House staff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained on the decoy aircraft without knowing Trump was gone. Trump later acknowledged the flight, saying the Secret Service and military “wanted me to go on a different flight” because “there was a threat out there,” adding: “I didn’t really ask too much about it.” CIA analysts, however, reportedly had “low confidence” in the Israeli-provided warning and didn’t view it as compelling. (Washington Post / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / CBS News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

  • Trump said he’s “low-keying it” with Iran, saying the U.S. is “just watching Iran” as its economy falls apart. Iran is demanding an end to the U.S. blockade, sanctions, a military withdrawal, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and war reparations before it’ll reopen the strait. (Axios / Semafor / The Hill)

  • The Senate passed a Russia sanctions bill, which will let Trump impose tariffs of up to 100% on the biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas, including China and India. The measure also targets Russian leaders and oligarchs, and extends sanctions on Iran’s weapons and energy sectors. The bill heads to the House, where Democrats warn it gives Trump too much authority over tariffs. (NPR / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News)

6/ The Navy is replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East following complaints about exhaustion, supply problems, and sailors’ mental health. Sailors have reported shortages of food and basic supplies, plumbing problems, disrupted mail, exhaustion, declining morale, and mental health issues. The Lincoln left San Diego in November for what was supposed to be a normal deployment to the Pacific before being redirected to the Middle East ahead of the war with Iran. Since then, the Lincoln has been deployed for more than 250 days and gone more than 200 days without a port call. Trump, meanwhile, dismissed concerns about deteriorating living conditions and mental health aboard the Lincoln, saying its extended deployment was “not nearly long enough.” Trump said the Lincoln was leaving the region “right now or very shortly” and would be replaced by the USS George Washington. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called reports about the conditions aboard the Lincoln “completely misrepresented,” while Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao acknowledged that sailors “have been pushed to their limits,” but no meals were missed and that “a small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life.” Senate Armed Services Committee Democrat Richard Blumenthal demanded that the Pentagon account for the Lincoln’s conditions and the decisions behind its extended deployment, warning that repeatedly extending carrier deployments could create “tomorrow’s readiness crisis.” (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN / NPR / The Guardian / Reuters)

  • The U.S. military has lost roughly 25% of its fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones in the Iran war. The Air Force said an MQ-9 Reaper can cost between $30 million and $50 million, and that replacing the fleet could take years. (Washington Post)

7/ The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general, putting Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer in control of the Justice Department. Blanches’ nomination faced weeks of bipartisan concern over his independence from Trump, including his role in the IRS settlement that created a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and immunity from tax audits for Trump, his two sons, and their businesses. Blanche, however, secured enough Republican support only after agreeing in writing to kill the fund and narrow the tax protections. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / Reuters / CBS News)

  • Trump named White House staff secretary Will Scharf as his next White House counsel. Scharf, a former federal prosecutor and member of Trump’s personal legal team, will take over weeks before the midterm elections and is expected to handle fights over subpoenas, investigations, testimony, and executive privilege if Democrats win control of Congress. Scharf also chairs the National Capital Planning Commission, which approved Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. (CBS News / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)

  • White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave the Trump administration at the end of August, less than three months before the midterm elections. Leavitt will become one of Trump’s “top outside advisors.” Leavitt returned from maternity leave in July after giving birth to her second child and said she couldn’t “be the best mom my two young children deserve” while meeting the demands of the job. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)

  • White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker will leave the Trump administration in the coming weeks. Baker previously served as JD Vance’s national security adviser, and was personally involved in negotiations with Iran. Mike Needham will remain a deputy national security adviser at the White House, while Cliff Sims will continue as Vance’s national security adviser. (Axios / Reuters / Bloomberg)

8/ The Trump official who oversees the U.S. Forest Service demanded for more resources to fight a seven-acre wildfire near his Idaho ranch. Michael Boren, the undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment, is a tech billionaire and Trump appointee who oversees about 200 million acres of national forest and public land. The response was reportedly greater than what’s typical for a fire that posed no significant threat to life or property. (Washington Post)

9/ A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard, which accused Harvard of failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitism. Judge Richard Stearns, however, said the incidents cited were “too isolated and episodic” to establish that Harvard was out of compliance with Title VI. (Reuters / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CBS News / NBC News / CNN)

10/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow construction to continue on Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom despite a federal appeals court ruling that the project likely requires congressional approval. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the project is already “65% complete” and warned that stopping above-ground work would threaten “national security.” The court ruled earlier that “each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House.” Trump has claimed that the ballroom and its security facilities are “vital for National Security and Military Operations.” The court, however, already rejected that argument, saying national security claims “are not an automatic get-out-of-law-free card” and that whether “a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.” (NBC News / New York Times / CBS News / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times / Reuters / Washington Post)

  • The Trump administration plans to spend at least $927 million on White House construction. The money would pay for Trump’s “modernization projects,” including the East Wing ballroom, a visitor screening center, a helipad, and upgrades to Lafayette Square. (Washington Post)

11/ U.S. consumer sentiment fell 8% in August as the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July. May and June payrolls were revised down by a combined 103,000, as unemployment fell to 4.1%, but for the “wrong reason”: more than 260,000 people left the workforce. Consumers, meanwhile, expect prices to rise 4.3% over the next year, and 8% expect their income growth to exceed inflation. In July, inflation outpaced wage growth. (Axios / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)

12/ Trump reported at least $2.2 billion in income in 2025 while the average American family lost about $1,625 to inflation. The Joint Economic Committee minority staff attributed about $636 million of Trump’s income to his memecoin and blamed tariffs and other Republican policies for $219 billion in added household costs. Through June 2026, the committee estimates that the average family has paid more than $3,500 in additional inflation-related costs since Trump returned to office. (MeidasTouch)

  • The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation sued Trump for selling early access to official government announcements on Truth Social. The lawsuit alleges that the Truth API service violates the First and Fifth Amendments by giving paying subscribers, for as much as $100,000 a month (!), preferential access to Trump’s presidential statements that can move financial markets while Trump is also positioned to profit from market-moving information. (Politico / NPR / CNN / Reuters / CNBC / New York Times)

13/ The White House gave Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook 21 days to answer to allegations that she made false statements on mortgage documents, reviving Trump’s effort to fire Cook after the Supreme Court blocked his first attempt in June. The court ruled that Cook must receive notice and a chance to respond before she can be removed “for cause.” (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Axios / CNBC / NPR)

14/ Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to remain on the Supreme Court for at least another term, ending speculation that the 76-year-old conservative justice would retire and give Trump the chance to name a fourth Supreme Court justice. “Obviously I’m here for another term,” Alito said, adding that calls for him to step down are “a reminder of mortality” and “like, what are those vultures doing up there?” The court’s next term begins in October and runs through late June or early July 2027. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Reuters / USA Today / ABC News)

15/ Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board voted to re-add his name to the building’s facade and close the main venue for a two-year renovation. The board approved an inscription reading “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” to be added below the Kennedy Center’s sign and renamed the grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” A federal judge previously ruled that the center “cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” ordering Trump’s name removed from the facade. (NPR / Reuters / Axios / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / New York Times)