Trump signing executive order to split up MMR vaccines, scraps recommendations for hepatitis B, Covid-19 and influenza jabs
In the Oval Office, Donald Trump has signed an executive order – that we flagged earlier – which would split up the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines.
“You should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than giving them all in the same day,” the president said.
He added that his administration would no longer recommend hepatitis b, Covid-19 and influenza shots for children.
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much healthy, and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to much closer to where it was,” Trump said, despite the fact that there is no proven link between inoculations and an increased risk of autism.
Key events
Fack check: European countries do not have mandatory vaccine requirements
The Trump administration have routinely cited European, claiming that they do not have mandatory vaccine requirements.
However, in 12 countries in the European Union (EU) vaccinating children against some diseases is mandatory.
For example in France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Czechia, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, measles is a compulsory inoculation for infants.
As my colleague Melody Schreiber notes, while Trump’s latest order requires clinicians to offer three separate shots to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, there are actually no separately licensed vaccines for the diseases, and the licensing process takes years.
A reminder that the changes recommended to the childhood vaccine schedule were first suggested by the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) earlier this year. However, they were blocked by a federal judge.
We can expect that these latest attempts overhaul the immunization schedule will be met by further legal challenges.
Trump signing executive order to split up MMR vaccines, scraps recommendations for hepatitis B, Covid-19 and influenza jabs
In the Oval Office, Donald Trump has signed an executive order – that we flagged earlier – which would split up the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines.
“You should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than giving them all in the same day,” the president said.
He added that his administration would no longer recommend hepatitis b, Covid-19 and influenza shots for children.
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much healthy, and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to much closer to where it was,” Trump said, despite the fact that there is no proven link between inoculations and an increased risk of autism.
Earlier, we reported that Trump is “demanding compensation from Iran”, tied compensation for the damage caused by the war launched by the US and Israel.
In a follow-up post on Truth Social, the president said that Tehran should be responsible for “the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza”.
Todd Blanche sworn in as attorney general
In a closed-press ceremony, Todd Blanche was officially sworn in as the new attorney general. In a video posted to social media, press secretary Karoline Leavitt filmed Blanche taking the oath of office while Donald Trump stood beside him in the Oval Office.
Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general since April. The Senate voted narrowly in favor of his confirmation in the role, with the Republican-led upper chamber voting 50-49 in the early hours of Saturday morning. Every Democrat rejected his nomination.
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Trump to sign executive order that will split up MMR vaccine
Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order today that will involve splitting up the highly effective measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three single shots.
Last year, the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP), which health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr overhauled and replaced with several vaccine-skeptics, voted to change US vaccine policy and recommend single vaccines to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, instead of a single shot that can protect against all four diseases.
Kirk Milhoan, the ACIP chair, telegraphed earlier this year that he expects the US childhood vaccine schedule to undergo changes. ACIP may “not necessarily” change the recommendations for all vaccines to become optional, but the committee is “reevaluating all of the vaccine products including risks and benefits”, Milhoan told the New York Times in January.
Many public health experts have warned that splitting up shots could increase the likelihood of missed visits and reduced immunization. 2026 has already seen the highest number of measles cases throughout the US in 35 years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile, in Charleston, South Carolina, defense secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled that the area’s main airbase has now been renamed in honor of the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham.
“It now falls to us to continue Senator Graham’s work, of building up our military, the hard work of defending this nation,” Hegseth said, while unveiling Joint Base Lindsey Graham.
The late lawmaker served for three decades in the US military, retiring with the rank of colonel.
Todd Blanche has arrived at the White House for his swearing-in ceremony.
The event is currently closed to the press, but we’ll let you know if anything changes.
RNC chair says that committee will ‘support our nominees’, avoids calling on Max Miller to end re-election bid
Joe Gruters, the Republican National Committee (RNC) chair, avoided calling on Max Miller – the embattled Ohio congressman facing a wave of domestic abuse allegations and pressure to resign – to end his re-election bid.
“I always tell people that there’s not many things worse than divorce,” Gruters said in an interview with NewsNation. “Nobody’s a winner.”
A reminder that Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, is the daughter of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, also a Republican. Many of the accusations against Miller came out through the custody battle court filings for their two-year-old daughter.
Gruters added that the RNC “will support our nominees”. Despite the many calls for Miller to abandon his campaign for his seat that is a GOP stronghold, the incumbent did not withdraw by the deadline needed for Ohio Republicans to select a replacement nominee.
“We need to make sure we hold the majorities. Max, I’m sure, is on that side,” Gruters said. “Everybody has to prove that they’re capable of winning, and then we’re gonna look at our resources and make the decisions. I can’t tell you right now … I hope that he can. We hope we can hold that seat in Ohio. It’s an important seat, but we’re going to be watching that race very carefully.”
Ahead of Todd Blanche’s formal swearing-in today, the NAACP has said that the new attorney general earned his job “by defending Donald Trump”.
“His record is clear: he’s attacked voting rights, abandoned civil rights enforcement, targeted Trump’s political enemies, and he’s looked the other way when civil rights are threatened,” said NAACP president Derrick Johnson. “The Department of Justice should be the guardian of justice, not a shield for political corruption. Once again, this Senate has let us down.”
A reminder that Blanche secured his confirmation last week, after Republican Senator Bill Cassidy cast a deciding vote and saved his nomination.
Trump says he will demand conflict compensation from Iran
Donald Trump has said he is “demanding compensation from Iran” in future talks after Tehran tied compensation for the damage caused by the war launched by the US and Israel at the end of February to the reopening of the strategic strait of Hormuz.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the matter of compensation “was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings”, but Tehran has been demanding war damages from Washington since the early weeks of the war.
In April, Tehran demanded compensation after US-Israeli attacks wrought an estimated $270bn worth of destruction, and said the issue had been discussed in talks with Washington in Pakistan. That figure was later revised up to $400bn, but the two sides later settled on a $300bn investment fund and other measures to support Iran’s economic recovery. Trump has insisted that American taxpayer dollars will not fund that project, instead it will be funded by private investment, including from the Gulf states.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi toughened Tehran’s demands over the weekend, declaring that the reopening of the strait of Hormuz is conditional on the US agreeing to a long list of demands, including paying Tehran financial compensation.
Here’s Trump’s full Truth Social post:
I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings! But it is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous, as led initially by General Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat. Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months. I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.
Donald Trump names White House staff secretary Will Scharf to become White House counsel
Donald Trump has named White House staff secretary Will Scharf to become White House counsel and assistant to the president, replacing David Warrington, who is taking a job in the private sector.
In taking up that role, Scharf will become the White House’s top lawyer after overseeing the administrative work of the Oval Office in his current position. Trump also appointed him chair of the National Capital Planning Commission last year, where he helped secure approval for the $400m for the White House ballroom project.
He served as the general counsel of Trump’s 2024 campaign and also previously represented Trump in a number of criminal and civil legal cases in between his two terms in office, including the presidential immunity case at the supreme court.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social last night, saying Scharf would start on 1 September. “I know Will well! He previously represented me in numerous cases, including at the Supreme Court, during the Biden Administration’s corrupt and illegal campaign of Weaponization,” the president wrote.
He added: “Will is Tough, Strong, and Smart! He also loves our Country, and respects the Law. Will Scharf will do a great job as White House Counsel!”
Lawyers for Olympian whose reflecting pool vandalism charges were dropped say Trump administration continues to ‘attack an innocent man’
Lawyers for David Hearn, the Olympian who was arrested for alleged property destruction of the reflecting pool before his charges were dropped, said that the Trump administration is “continuing to attack an innocent man”.
This comes after Donald Trump said that Hearn was still guilty on Truth Social this weekend, despite the justice department dismissing all charges against him, and citing the “botched” renovation of the pool as the reason for the peeling lining.
Hearn’s lawyers also said they are still “reviewing all legal remedies, including for this continued harassment”.
José Olivares
A Kurdish man who was force-fed over the course of eight months while on hunger strike in US immigration detention has spoken out about it for the first time, describing how much the process harmed him physically and psychologically.
Gabar Choli, a film-maker and activist now living in Canada after being deported, described how he endured the coercive treatment – a practice widely considered torture by international human rights groups – often twice a day after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when his asylum application was denied.
“It just broke me, mentally broke me,” Choli said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. “It came to a point that I decided to write my body an apology letter.”
ICE officials force-fed Choli at the Port Isabel federal detention center in Los Fresnos, south Texas, from late May 2025 until he was deported in January of this year, a Guardian investigation found. Choli had resorted to a hunger strike to protest against conditions at the facility and to push for a resolution to his immigration case.
He described how a team of detention center guards would physically restrain him while ICE medical staff forcibly inserted a feeding tube through his nose and down his esophagus and pumped nutritional liquid into his stomach.
An investigation by the Guardian last week found that the second Trump administration used court orders in plans to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in ICE detention to involuntary medical procedures.
