President Donald Trump continues to take sweeping executive actions in his second term, including an order this week targeting a senior official from his first administration who became one of his critics.
Focus continues on the legal battle regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant who was living in Maryland when he was wrongfully deported by the administration.
Trump administration to gut CFPB to 206-person staff
In new court filings, the Trump administration said it plans to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a 206-person staff, a steep decrease from the 1,680 employees who previously worked for the agency. Some departments within the CFPB were cut entirely or reduced to a single employee, according to Mark Paoletta, the agency's chief legal officer.
A security officer works inside of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters Feb. 10, 2025, in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
"An approximately 200-person agency allows the Bureau to fulfill its statutory duties and better aligns with the new leadership's priorities and management philosophy," Paoletta wrote.
The declaration comes ahead of a court hearing in which a federal judge is set to determine if the massive cuts to CFPB ran afoul of a court order.
-ABC News' Peter Charalambous and Alexander Mallin
Apr 18, 2025, 10:28 AM EDT
Administration releases first batch of files related to assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
The Trump administration said Friday it was releasing the first trove of files relating to the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the documents are now accessible online. There are 10,000 pages, which were previously classified and include some redactions, the office said.
Sen. Robert Francis Kennedy, his wife Ethel standing behind him, gives victory sign to huge crowd at the Ambassador Hotel June 5, 1968 prior to making victory speech after winning the California primary.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
"In the course of searching FBI and CIA warehouses for records not previously turned over to The National Archives, an additional 50,000 pages of RFK assassination files were discovered," the office said. "The agencies are working to make these records available and will continue to search government facilities for additional files."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of RFK and Trump's health and human services secretary, said in a statement that "lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government."
Apr 18, 2025, 8:46 AM EDT
Chris Krebs, former CISA director and target of Trump, resigns from job
Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, resigned from his job at a private cybersecurity firm after being the target of an executive order by President Donald Trump.
Krebs, who was appointed by Trump as the first director of the new agency that Trump signed into law, resigned from his job at Sentinel One.
"As many of you know, when the news broke last week about the Executive Order -- one that directly named me and referenced SentinelOne -- I immediately reached out to Tomer. I told him what I firmly believe: this [is] my fight, not the company's, and I offered my resignation," he said in statement posted on his LinkedIn. "For those who know me, you know I don't shy away from tough fights. But I also know this is one I need to take on fully -- outside of SentinelOne. This will require my complete focus and energy. It's a fight for democracy, for freedom of speech, and for the rule of law. I'm prepared to give it everything I've got."
Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to discuss election security and the 2020 election process on December 16, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images
The executive order signed by Trump on April 9 called Krebs a "significant bad-faith actor who weaponized his Government authority." The order directed the attorney general to review Krebs' actions while director of CISA.
Krebs has long maintained that the 2020 election was safe and secure, at odds with Trump who made false claims of election fraud. Krebs' defiance of Trump ultimately led to his firing in late 2020 as CISA director.
-ABC News' Luke Barr
Apr 17, 2025, 11:21 PM EDT
DOGE blocked from accessing sensitive Social Security records
Giving representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency unlimited access to Social Security records "exposes a wide fissure in the foundation" of the agency entrusted with some of Americans’ most sensitive information, a federal judge said on Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander noted that DOGE’s mission of identifying fraud is "laudable," but she said giving the group unlimited access to information – including medical records, information about children, and financial records – betrays a fundamental commitment the government has made to citizens.
A Social Security Administration (SSA) office in Washington, DC, March 26, 2025. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is reportedly aiming to reform and downsize the SSA with office closures, cutbacks on phone services and new rules requiring in-person visits for some prospective beneficiaries to register.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
"For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records. This case exposes a wide fissure in the foundation," she wrote.
Judge Hollander specifically blocked the members of DOGE -- 11 of whom have been detailed to the SSA -- from accessing any record containing personally identifiable information, ordering that any materials already obtained that identifies individual taxpayers must be destroyed. She also blocked members of DOGE from installing any software on computer systems maintained by the SSA or altering any SSA computers.
In limited cases, she said that members of DOGE can access “discrete, particularized, and non-anonymized data” if they get written permission and explain why the information is necessary.
Last month, Hollander temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing some materials maintained by the SSA, and her order Thursday extends that order and allows the Trump administration to appeal.
