U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Thursday, as political turbulence coming from the White House capped gains in global trading.

Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 64 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 7.5 points and 31.5 points, respectively.

Tensions may appear to show signs of receding between the U.S. and North Korea, however, storm clouds seem to be brewing domestically.

U.S. President Donald Trump has disbanded two corporate advisory councils in the wake of receiving backlash from his statements surrounding the white supremacist rally seen in Virginia over the past weekend.

Taking to Twitter, the U.S. incumbent said that "rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople" within the Strategic & Policy Forum and the Manufacturing Council, the president has decided to dissolve both groups.

This comes after several leading executives had already chosen to depart from the Manufacturing Council earlier this week, and members of the Strategic and Policy Forum agreed to end the group Wednesday .

The turbulence has weighed on both U.S. futures and international markets on Thursday, with Europe stocks trading under pressure in morning trade, and Asia markets finishing mixed, after a rally in the U.S. dollar was halted due to the political turmoil.

Stepping aside from politics, jobless claims fell to 232,000 from 244,000. Industrial production data are also due at 9:15 a.m. ET.

On Wednesday, the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting revealed a split in opinion between Federal Reserve members when it comes to when to raise interest rates.

One side appeared to show signs of concerns over what would happen if the central bank delayed its hiking path, while the other group warned about the low-inflation environment.

On Thursday, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari are expected to speak at two separate events.

On the commodities front, oil prices were fluctuating around the flat line as glut concerns continued to weigh on sentiment. At 8:32 a.m. ET, U.S. crude hovered around $46.56 per barrel, while Brent stood around $50.09.

—CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

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