Trump admin updates: Trump wants Senate to cancel August recess to work on nominees

President Donald Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act, which aims to combat the fentanyl crisis into law, during an event in the East Room of the White House. Trump was accompanied by various lawmakers and family members who have lost loved ones to the epidemic.

"Today, we strike a righteous road to the drug dealers, narcotic traffickers and criminal cartels that we've all been hearing so much about for so many years. And very little has been done," Trump opened.

"We take a historic step toward justice for every family touched by the fentanyl scourge, as we signed the Halt Fentanyl Act into law," he continued. "With this bill, we are officially and permanently classifying all fentanyl related substances as Schedule One narcotics, which is actually a very big deal."

ABC News' Kelsey Walsh

President Donald Trump came to Attorney General Pam Bondi's defense on the Jeffrey Epstein files on Wednesday.

Trump was asked if he's asked Bondi to release more documents to put the controversy to bed. Trump again said she should release what's "credible" on Epstein.

"What more can she do than that? Honestly, what more can she do?" Trump said.

He then tried to shift focus, saying Epstein "is dead, he's gone" and argued there are more important things to focus on.

President Donald Trump was asked on Wednesday about Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell amid reports that Trump had indicated to allies he would fire him. Trump said he talked to Republicans about the "concept of firing him" but denied drafting a letter, as the New York Times had reported.

Trump first said he was "not planning on doing anything" on Powell, though the administration was "very concerned." He again slammed Powell as "too late" to bring down interest rates and called on him to do so immediately.

"So he's doing a lousy job," Trump said. "But no, I'm not talking about that. We get -- fortunately, we get to make a change in the next one eight months or so, and, we'll pick somebody that's good."

Powell's term as the chair of the Fed ends in 2026.

Trump said firing Powell is "highly unlikely" but suggested he could be removed if there is "fraud" found in the Federal Reserve's building renovation. The Federal Reserve has brought in its inspector general to review the expansion.

Just as the Senate began debate on the rescissions package that would strip the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of two years’ worth of its funding, the Trump administration filed a new lawsuit against the three CPB board members whom the president has attempted to fire, but have refused to leave.

Tuesday’s filing, in US District Court in Washington, is the latest volley in a monthslong legal fight between the administration and the entity that funds the nation’s public radio and television stations. It seeks to affirm Trump’s power to remove members of the CPB board -- a power the corporation and its board members insist he doesn’t have.

"As recent Supreme Court orders have recognized, the President cannot meaningfully exercise his executive power under Article II of the Constitution without the power to select—and, when necessary, remove—those who hold federal office," the administration’s filing says. "Personnel is policy, after all."

CPB and its board members argue that while the president has the power to appoint the organization’s board members, there is no provision in law that allows him to fire them.

-ABC News' Steven Portnoy