President Trump on Wednesday repeated false crime numbers and doubled down on a debunked "white genocide" conspiracy theory in South Africa during his tense Oval Office meeting with that nation's president, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Driving the news: Trump used a video made by political activists who oppose Ramaphosa to emphasize his claims about white Afrikaners facing racial violence by the majority Black population — claims that are widely disputed and rooted in white nationalist conspiracy theories.

Catch up quick: Trump ambushed Ramaphosa during a tense meeting in which Trump vowed to help white South African farmers get asylum in the United States.

• Ramaphosa kept his cool as Trump showed him a video that included images of white crosses along a South African road. Trump said they represented "over a thousand" white farmers killed.
• The video also showed black South African activists allegedly calling for violence against white farmers.
• "We have dead white people, dead white farmers, mostly," Mr. Trump said, repeating unproven claims that white people in South Africa are disproportionately affected by the nation's high crime rates.

Reality check: South African officials, scholars, journalists and others say there's no evidence of "thousands" of white farmers being killed in that nation, or targeted in the way Trump claimed.

• They say farmers of all races have been victims of violent home invasions in South Africa, which has a murder rate of 45 victims per 100,000 residents, the second-highest among countries that publish crime data, according to the UN Office for Drugs and Crime.
• 225 people were killed on South African farms during the four years ending in 2024, per the New York Times. Those victims included 101 Black current or former workers living on farms and 53 farmers, who are usually white, the Times reported.
• Most of the nation's violent crime occurs in cities where Black residents make up the majority, officials report.

State of play: The Trump administration welcomed a small number of white South African refugees into the U.S. this month. It also announced it was ending deportation protections for refugees from Afghanistan.

• The admission of Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority that dominated South African politics during apartheid, is in response to Trump's call to "prioritize U.S. refugee resettlement of this vulnerable group facing unjust racial discrimination in South Africa," the State Department said.
• The Trump administration said white South Africans are victims of a controversial new law aimed at countering the lingering impact of apartheid.

The backstory: Some of the tension surrounding South Africa's farms stem from its new Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take some land and redistribute it as part of a long-running effort to lessen the economic disparities created by apartheid.

• Under apartheid, which ended in 1994, South Africa's white minority government prevented Blacks from owning land or enjoying basic rights for nearly a half-century.
• Three decades later, South Africa's president and many other leaders are Black. White people make up 7.3% of South Africa's population while owning 72% of the farmland, a disparity that continues to ripple through the economy.

Yes, but: South Africa's new law is designed to work something like eminent domain in the U.S.: It allows the government to take land from private parties if it's in the "public interest," and allows that to be done without compensation — but only if negotiations for a reasonable settlement fail.

• The nation's leading farmers' union says there've been no land confiscations since the expropriation law was passed last year.

More from Axios:

• How false "white genocide" claims became central to Trump's view of South Africa
• Trump's open door to white South Africans buys into conspiracy theory

The top priority for the CIA's new leadership is China, and in particular helping U.S. companies maintain "a decisive technological advantage" in areas like AI, chips, biotech and battery technology, Deputy Director Michael Ellis told Axios' Colin Demarest in a rare interview.

Why it matters: Ellis and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have pledged to restructure the agency and shift its priorities. Ellis offered insight into how exactly they plan to go about it.

Breaking it down: "China is the existential threat to American security in a way we really have never confronted before," Ellis said.

• Russia will still be a challenge and a collection priority, Ellis said, along with adversaries like Iran and North Korea.
• But Ellis said the CIA will put much more emphasis on drug cartels, elevating the counter-narcotics division that had been something of an internal backwater.

Zoom in: Ellis also contended that the CIA's workforce and the tactics it employs need to evolve to fit the times and President Trump's priorities.

• Cold War-era human intelligence techniques may still have some role, but they're getting much harder to use successfully due in part to adversaries' surveillance tech, Ellis said.
• "We need more people with technical backgrounds," Ellis said. "More STEM grads."

The intrigue: Ellis mentioned inviting Elon Musk to visit the CIA, and said there were "a lot of efficiencies that we can gain" by learning from private sector leaders like him.

• Ellis said looming staff cuts were "actually an opportunity in some ways" to "reshape" the workforce.
• "We cannot have weaponization or politicization of the intelligence community," Ellis said, in an apparent reference to Trump's repeated claims that the "deep state" had been working against him.
• It's time to "really get rid of the distractions and biases that I think may have existed in the past," Ellis said, without offering specific examples. Other senior officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have railed against "woke" ideology in their departments.

Israel is making preparations to swiftly strike Iran's nuclear facilities if negotiations between the U.S. and Iran collapse, two Israeli sources with knowledge of the discussions tell Axios.

Why it matters: The Israeli intelligence community has shifted just in the past few days from believing a nuclear deal was close to thinking talks could soon break down, the sources say.

• One source said the Israeli military thinks its operational window to conduct a successful strike could close soon, so Israel will have to move fast if talks fail. The source declined to say why the military believes a strike would be less effective later.
• Both sources confirmed a CNN report that the Israel Defense Forces have been conducting exercises and other preparations for a possible strike in Iran. "There was a lot of training and the U.S. military sees everything and understands Israel is preparing," one said.
• "Bibi is waiting for the nuclear talks to collapse and for the moment Trump will be disappointed about the negotiations and open to giving him the go ahead," an Israeli source added, using a nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Friction point: A U.S. official told Axios the Trump administration is concerned Netanyahu might make his move even without a green light from President Trump.

Behind the scenes: Netanyahu held a highly sensitive meeting earlier this week with a group of top ministers and security and intelligence officials regarding the status of the nuclear talks, an Israeli official said.

Split screen: The fifth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks are scheduled to take place Friday in Rome.

• White House envoy Steve Witkoff gave his Iranian counterpart a written proposal for a deal during the last round ten days ago. Confidence that an agreement could be reached seemed to be growing.
• But the negotiations hit a roadblock over the question of whether Iran would be able to have any domestic enrichment capability.
• "We have one very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability," Witkoff told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. Iran's leaders have repeatedly said they won't sign a deal that doesn't permit enrichment.

What to watch: The two Israeli sources said any Israeli strike on Iran will not be a one-off, but a military campaign lasting at least a week.

• Such an operation would be highly complicated and perilous for Israel and for the region.
• Countries in the region fear an Israeli strike could cause widespread radioactive fallout, not to mention a war.

What they're saying: Netanyahu said in his first press conference in six months on Monday that Israel and the U.S. are fully in sync on Iran.

• "We respect their interests and they respect our interests and they overlap almost completely.
• Netanyahu said he'd respect any deal that prevents Iran from enriching Uranium and blocks it from getting a nuclear weapon.
• "But in any case, Israel maintains the right to defend itself from a regime that is threatening to annihilate it."

Axios has some of the biggest voices in defense, artificial intelligence and commerce on our stage Wednesday in D.C. to talk about the new rules of power.

The big picture: We're making it easier for you to follow along with our event in D.C.

ICYMI...

• 📞 Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told Axios' Hans Nichols that Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing President Trump "like a fiddle" after a two-hour call they had this week ended without a ceasefire in Russia's war with Ukraine.
• 💼 CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis told Axios' Colin Demarest that his agency wants an "elite workforce" and "global meritocracy" when asked about the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce, including the Pentagon. "It's actually an opportunity, in some ways, to reshape the workforce, to get that right blend of technical expertise, acumen and skill sets."
• 💰 Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Axios' Mike Allen that the "gold card" website allowing people to buy U.S. permanent residency for $5 million will launch within a week. He said the U.S. expects to make trade deals with "most" of its key partners before a pause on tariffs runs out this summer.
• 🌿 Bayer CEO Bill Anderson told Axios' Nathan Bomey the company is fighting to keep the popular agricultural herbicide Roundup available for farmers in the U.S., but warned it could "reach the end of the road" and pull out of the market amid mounting challenges.
• 🇨🇳 Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House select panel on China, told Axios' Neil Irwin that China is "not not a friendly nation," adding: "We don't want to completely decouple, but at the same time we need to be strategic and have our supply chains." He said the U.S. is "getting to the end of a runway" on the TikTok ban and if ByteDance doesn't divest from the app, it should shut down.
• 🪖 U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told Axios Colin Demarest that artificial intelligence can best help "transform the business side of the army." On the combat side, "targeting and defending against incoming air attacks, it requires a complexity of thought that a human being just can't pull off," he said.

Editor's note: This story is developing and will be updated.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa got the Zelensky treatment while meeting President Trump Wednesday, with added special effects.

The big picture: Visiting the White House is no longer just a coveted opportunity to earn goodwill with the president and credibility back home. Under Trump 2.0, it carries the risk of a presidential ambush.

• The visit immediately evoked the disastrous Feb. 28 meeting in which Trump and Vice President Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, shocking the world and setting a precedent.
• Even leaders who avoid a public flogging face prolonged and unpredictable on-camera spectacles, with Trump taking questions from a mix of mainstream and MAGA media and holding the floor for up to an hour.
• Trump's premeditated humiliation of Ramaphosa is likely to be on the minds of other leaders before they make plans to visit Washington.

Driving the news: Ramaphosa came to D.C. in need of an urgent reset.

• On the basis of disputed claims of "white genocide" pushed by Elon Musk and others in his orbit, Trump cut off aid to South Africa, expelled South Africa's ambassador, and fast-tracked white South Africans for refugee status.
• Ramaphosa made clear that he hoped to reassure Trump on that topic and pivot to trade, with South Africa desperate to escape tariffs and renew a U.S.-Africa trade deal. Perhaps anticipating a Zelensky scenario, he brought South African golfing legends Ernie Els and Retief Goosen to try to keep things friendly.
• Ramaphosa may not have been reassured to see Musk in attendance, but the meeting started amicably enough. He lavished praise on Trump, while Trump described the South African president as well-respected "in some circles."

About 20 minutes in, after Ramaphosa said "listening to the stories" of South Africans would help Trump better understand the situation, Trump sprung his trap.

• "Mr. President, I must say that we have thousands of stories... we have documentaries, we have news stories. Is Natalie here?" Trump said, turning to his staff with an apparent reference to aide Natalie Harp.
• "I could show you a couple things, and it has to be responded to," Trump told Ramaphosa, whose eyes suddenly went wide before he shared a bemused laugh with his staff.
• "Turn the lights down and just put this on," Trump said.

The lights went down, and the video began. "Kill... the.. white farmer."

• Trump subjected Ramaphosa to a five-minute compilation involving incitement against whites by extremist politicians whom Ramophosa opposes, before flipping through a stack of news printouts describing such attacks.

The cameras kept rolling for another half hour, with Ramaphosa remaining determinedly upbeat and Trump firmly in control.

• Unlike Zelensky, Ramaphosa was not ejected from the Oval.
• When the press was finally ushered out, Ramaphosa's meeting with Trump officially began.
• By then, all the headlines had already been written.

Zoom out: There are still potential upsides to visiting Trump's White House.

• Several leaders, most recently Canada's Mark Carney, have managed to hold their own or score minor wins.
• El Salvador's Nayib Bukele seemed to enjoy guest starring in the Trump show, while French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried a mix of flattery and persuasion to influence Trump on trade and Ukraine.
• But while one Oval Office disaster could be a fluke, two is starting to look like a trend.

The bottom line: If Trump invites you into his office, enter at your own risk.

In a shocking moment during President Trump's meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, Trump requested for videos to be displayed purporting to show evidence of violence against white people in the country.

The big picture: Trump, who cut all foreign assistance to South Africa, has embraced the false accusations of genocide against white South Africans as justification for granting them refugee status in the U.S.

• A South African court in February dismissed claims of a "white genocide" as not real.

Driving the news: In a stunning scene reminiscent of the Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump asked for the lights to be dimmed before playing the videos.

• While Trump watched the video, Ramaphosa looked away, appearing uncomfortable.
• At one point, speaking over the video, Trump said the screen was displaying "burial sites." Ramaphosa inquired where the scene was located, adding, "This I've never seen."
• Later on, Trump paged through articles from the "last few days" while repeating, "death, death, death."

Catch up quick: In the question that preceded the video display, a reporter asked Trump what it would take for him to be convinced there was no genocide in South Africa — an inquiry Ramaphosa answered.

• "It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans," Ramaphosa said.
• Trump jumped in, saying there were "thousands of stories" and "documentaries."
• "It has to be responded to," he said before the footage began.

Context: The video played in the Oval Office featured the voice of Julius Malema, a firebrand politician and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, who was ejected from Parliament.

• Ramaphosa clarified that the utterances in the footage were not "government policy," saying, "We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves."
• South Africa's Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen — who is white — reiterated Ramaphosa's point, emphasizing that the two people in the video are opposition leaders. He said his party, the Democratic Alliance, chose to join forces with Ramaphosa's "to keep those people out of power."

Trump interjected, "You do allow them to take land ... and then when they take the land, they kill the white farmer, and when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them."

• South Africa recently passed the Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take some land and redistribute as part of a long-running effort to lessen the racial and economic disparities created by apartheid.
• White people make up 7.3% of South Africa's population and own 72% of the farmland.

Ramaphosa acknowledged there is "criminality" in the country — but said the majority of people killed have been Black people.

• Trump claimed the "farmers are not Black" and said people were being killed "in large numbers" and were decapitated without evidence. He repeatedly lashed out at reporters, saying "the fake news in this country doesn't talk abut that."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said Wednesday she is filing a resolution to expel Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) from Congress after the Justice Department charged her with allegedly assaulting law enforcement.

Why it matters: The resolution is a long shot — and Mace isn't yet forcing a vote on it — but Republicans seem intent on punishing McIver and two other House Democrats who were involved in a scuffle with ICE officers.

• The three-page measure says McIver "must be held accountable to the highest standards of conduct in order to safeguard the public's faith in this institution."
• McIver, who has denied assaulting law enforcement, responded in a post on X: "In the South I think they say, 'bless her heart.'"

Driving the news: Mace said in a press release she would introduce an expulsion resolution but let the House Ethics Committee consider it, rather than forcing a House floor vote on it.

• The Justice Department has charged McIver with assault on a law enforcement officer based on footage of her elbowing an ICE official outside a migrant detention facility in Newark earlier this month.
• McIver has said she was the one who was assaulted and accused the Trump administration of pursuing a political prosecution.
• Democrats have rallied around her and her fellow New Jersey Democrats, saying they had every right to conduct oversight of the detention center.

Zoom out: In addition to Mace's expulsion measure, Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) introduced a resolution to censure her and launch a House Ethics Committee investigation.

• Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution to strip committee assignments from McIver and Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and Rob Menendez (D-N.J.).
• House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said last week that expulsion is "not likely" because it requires a two-thirds majority, but said Republicans were "looking at what is appropriate."

The intrigue: Mace cited the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), saying it "set [a] precedent for expelling Members charged, but not yet convicted, of serious criminal offenses."

• Santos was expelled in an overwhelming bipartisan vote in 2023 after being charged with nearly two dozen criminal counts, including wire fraud and money laundering.
• The vote came after an Ethics Committee report corroborated many of the allegations against Santos, who was sentenced last month to 7 years in prison.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.

Former President Biden's cancer diagnosis and new revelations about the White House's efforts to hide his deteriorating health highlight the murky standards for what health information presidents are required to disclose.

The big picture: There is no legal requirement for presidents to divulge their health records or status. There's also no agreed-upon definition of what being "fit for office" means.

State of play: Perceptions of politicians' privacy — and what's out of bounds — have significantly changed over the past century.

• The focus on a president's health and ability to serve became more important with ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967. That addressed presidential succession and instances in which the president can't discharge the duties of the office — but without laying out a medical threshold or saying who precisely should determine fitness for office.
• Since then, there's been tension between presidents' medical privacy and the public's right to know, with privacy giving ground to fuller disclosure, the AMA Journal of Ethics noted in 2000.

Zoom in: U.S. presidents have in the past hidden their impairments.

• Grover Cleveland secretly underwent surgery for oral cancer on a yacht in 1893.
• The public was unaware that Woodrow Wilson suffered a major stroke in 1919 that incapacitated him until the end of his term in 1921.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt submitted to physician exams of his infirmity from polio before the 1932 presidential race, though was seldom photographed in a wheelchair.
• John F. Kennedy took pains to conceal multiple medical conditions such as Addison's disease in order to project youthful vigor.

Zoom out: Access to the health information of presidential candidates was a point of contention, including during the 2024 election.

• Biden, at that point the oldest person to ever serve as president, dropped out of the race in the summer after a disastrous debate performance ignited concerns about his age and physical health.
• Then-candidate Trump agreed to release his medical records but didn't end up doing so — breaking with a longstanding tradition for presidential candidates. Trump has since become the oldest person to take the oath of office.
• Then-Vice President Kamala Harris, in contrast, released detailed health records and called on Trump to do the same as questions about his physical and cognitive health mounted.

Flashback: Democratic presidential candidate Paul Tsongas and his physicians denied he had a recurrence of lymphoma while he campaigned in 1992 until he dropped out.

• In 1972, Democratic vice presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket after acknowledging he had been hospitalized for depression and underwent electroshock therapy.

Go deeper: Biden camp pushes back against suspicion over cancer diagnosis timing

Axios' Adriel Bettelheim contributed to this report.

A federal judge on Wednesday found that the Trump administration "unquestionably" violated a court order when it quickly deported immigrants to South Sudan, multiple outlets reported.

The big picture: The rebuke from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy is among the strongest against President Trump's deportation agenda, which has tested the powers of the executive over the judiciary.

Driving the news: Murphy found that the government did not give enough time for eight immigrants from various nationalities to contest their removal before they were put on a plane to South Sudan early Tuesday.

• "It was impossible for these people to have a meaningful opportunity to object to their transfer to South Sudan," Murphy said, adding that the 17-hour window of the events was "plainly" and "undeniably" insufficient, per CNN.
• The "actions in this case were unquestionably in violation of this court's order," the judge said.

Context: Immigration attorneys accused the Trump administration of deporting immigrants from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan in violation of a court order Murphy issued last month.

• The judge had already ruled that sending undocumented immigrants to countries they're not citizens of would "clearly violate" an earlier order against sending people to third countries.

Zoom in: Murphy said in an order late Tuesday that the administration must "maintain custody and control" of immigrants "being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country" in case he finds such removals were unlawful.

• He said he's leaving "the practicalities of compliance" to the Trump administration but expects the immigrants "will be treated humanely."
• The Department of Homeland Security identified eight individuals ICE deported and listed crimes they were convicted of in a news release also shared on the White House's website on Wednesday.

Go deeper: Judge: Trump admin's deportations to South Sudan may have violated order

Sen. Ron Johnson is launching an investigation into former President Biden's health, he told Axios.

Why it matters: The news of Biden's cancer diagnosis as well as new revelations about the White House's efforts to hide the former president's deteriorating health has reignited attacks from the GOP about Biden's fitness to carry out the duties of commander in chief.

• Johnson (R-Wisc.), who is chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' select subcommittee on investigations, told Axios he plans to send out letters seeking information about Biden's health during his presidency as soon as Wednesday evening.
• He plans to request information from a "couple dozen people" who had or should have "direct contact" with Biden.
• "We have to. I mean, who was running the government," Johnson told Axios.

The other side: "Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer," a Biden spokesperson told Axios on Tuesday.

• Biden was last screened for prostate cancer in 2014, when he was 70 or 71. Standard guidelines don't recommend screenings past that age, Axios reported Tuesday.

Zoom out: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has already announced an investigation into Biden's use of an "auto pen" to sign documents.

Three elder House members died in office this year, during the 119th Congress — most recently Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who died Wednesday morning at 75 years old after battling esophageal cancer.

The big picture: The health of the country's oldest lawmakers regularly reignites concern over America's aging leaders and their fitness to serve.

Driving the news: Connolly is the third House Democrat to die since March, following Reps. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas) at 70 years old and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) at 77 years old.

• The 119th Congress is the third oldest since 1789, according to a January NBC News analysis.
• The House and Senate were both the third oldest in each chamber's history, as of January.

By the numbers: At that point, the average age of the Senate was 63.8 years, and the average age of the House was 57.7 years.

• Between both chambers, 20 members were 80 or older, per NBC.

State of play: America's political gerontocracy has been a focus across government branches in recent years, with voters worried about lawmakers' fitness for office.

• The country's two most recent presidents — former President Biden and President Trump — are the oldest in U.S. history.
• Meanwhile, Americans have indicated that they'd support age limits for Supreme Court justices and elected officials.

Read more about the oldest lawmakers in Congress:

Who are the oldest House members?

What we're watching: Many of the oldest House Democrats are running for reelection in 2026, sparking internal party tensions.

• The 10 oldest U.S. representatives are:

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.): 87 years old

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.): 86 years old

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.): 85 years old

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: (D-Calif.) 85 years old

• Pelosi in 2022 was among top House Democrats who stepped aside from leadership to make room for a new generation of leaders.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.): 84 years old

Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.): 83 years old

Rep. John Carter (R-Texas): 83 years old

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.): 82 years old

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.): 82 years old

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.): 81 years old

Who are the oldest Senators?

Between the lines: The Senate reversed its aging trend with the 119th Congress after the death or retirement of some of its oldest members, according to Pew Research.

• The 10 oldest U.S. senators are:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): 91 years old

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): 83 years old

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): 83 years old

• McConnell said in February that he won't seek re-election in 2026.
• The longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history, he stepped down from leadership in 2024.

Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho): 82 years old

Sen. Angus King (I-Me.): 81 years old

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): 80 years old

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.): 79 years old

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.): 78 years old

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii): 77 years old

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.): 78 years old

Go deeper: Scoop: Democrats' oldest lawmakers are mostly running again

OpenAI said Wednesday it will pay $5 billion in stock for io, a startup co-founded by Jony Ive to create a new generation of AI devices.

Why it matters: The move will place Ive — the Steve Jobs collaborator who masterminded many of Apple's design breakthroughs — in a key creative role for OpenAI.

What they're saying: OpenAI said the first new products from the deal are set to be shown in 2026.

• "Thrilled to be partnering with jony, imo the greatest designer in the world. excited to try to create a new generation of AI-powered computers," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X.

Driving the news: The deal, slated to close this summer, values io at just under $6.5 billion.

• OpenAI already had a stake in the company as part of a collaboration agreement signed last year.
• OpenAI is paying a further $5 billion in stock, based on the OpenAI's most recent $300 billion valuation.
• io's 55 employees will join OpenAI and form a new hardware division to be led by Peter Welinder.
• Ive's LoveFrom design consultancy will remain independent.

Editor's note: This story is breaking news and will be updated.

The U.S. accepted Qatar's gift of a Boeing 747 to serve as the new Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday, despite the ethical quandaries and potential constitutional violations it entails.

Why it matters: President Trump has brushed off any concerns about the appearance of accepting the $400 million gift despite objections from Democrats and some Republicans.

• Trump scoffed at the criticism, saying it would be "stupid" to turn down a new Air Force One.

The latest: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accepted the 747 "in accordance with all federal rules and regulations," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.

• "The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States."

The big picture: The jet is worth 100 times more than every other presidential gift from a foreign nation combined since 2001.

• The Constitution prohibits anyone holding government office from receiving a personal gift from a foreign head of state without the consent of Congress.
• Trump argued the gift was not being made to him personally but rather to the Department of Defense. It will later be transferred to Trump's presidential library when he leaves office.
• News of the jet was reported ahead of Trump's trip to the Persian Gulf earlier this month.

The latest: The jet has become a punch line among world leaders.

• "I'm sorry I don't have a plane to give you," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said to Trump on Wednesday.
• "I wish you did," Trump responded. "If your country offered the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it."

Go deeper:

• Backstory: How Trump got a free "palace in the sky"
• Air Force One gift would smash presidential records

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details throughout.

A spreadsheet making the rounds in Congress illustrates the stark tariff-era math for America's retailers, leaving them with two options: hike consumer prices or risk a cash crunch that threatens their survival.

Why it matters: The numbers, an illustrative example produced by a footwear trade association, show that many importers of consumers goods from China can't make the math work, even after the reduction in tariff rates from 145% to 30%.

• Given typical margins in these industries, importers can only eat so much of the tariff costs before they hit a cash flow crisis that leaves them short on the capital necessary to import the next batch of goods.

The big picture: It's a warning for the economy and consumers in the months ahead if the high tariff rates stick. Many retailers will likely have few choices but to hike prices.

• But there is no guarantee that shoppers will keep buying, resulting in a negative feedback loop: less cash to hold on to staff and bring in goods from overseas. At a large enough scale, it means layoffs and shortages.

State of play: The spreadsheet shows the financials of a hypothetical retailer that sells children's shoes sourced from China, mocked up by the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, and updated to reflect the recent trade truce.

• The math — which the trade association said it checked with industry CFOs — was intended to show the dire financials that explain how the price of the shoes sold at a big box retailer would have to jump, even with the slimmest of margins necessary for a small profit, payroll, rent and more.

By the numbers: A pair of $19 children's shoes sold at a big box retailer would rise to $24. In isolation that may be manageable to consumers, but it would coincide with similar hikes on a broad range of imported goods.

• "For most working class families shopping in big box stores, this price is too high," the spreadsheet says, warning that a consumer then "doesn't purchase or delays purchase for kids."
• The group said the math doesn't make sense for how many of those shoes would likely be sold — meaning they ultimately may no longer be sold at all.

Zoom in: The typical retailer faces roughly $3 in higher costs at the border with the additional 30% tariff — an amount that spikes to almost $300,000 in additional capital for an order of 100,000 pairs of shoes.

• If retailers can secure a loan for the additional costs, borrowing costs would be steep. Banks may be reluctant to lend money for a tax that is higher than the value of the actual good.
• The next option: cutting costs — perhaps even payroll — to make up the cost as best they can.

"Retailers are saying, 'We're at the point where there's no more fat to trim. There's nowhere left to eat these costs,'" Andy Polk, FDRA's senior vice president, tells Axios. "The math simply no longer works."

• Polk says the impact will likely hit in the summer months, when retailers roll through pre-tariff inventory — right before back-to-school shopping season.
• "When Congress is on August recess, costs will be increasing, and people might have problems finding their sizes in certain shoes they may want," Polk says.

The other side: The Trump administration has argued that the tariffs will help fuel a rebirth of U.S. domestic manufacturing and that Chinese exporters will shoulder a meaningful share of the burden.

The macroeconomic fallout

Top economic officials are waiting to see whether the tariff fallout results in higher inflation, a labor market slowdown — or a stagflationary combination of both.

• "A lot of the tariff impact today has actually not shown up in the numbers yet," Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic told reporters yesterday in Florida.
• "There's been a lot of front-running, building inventories and all those sorts of things," Bostic adds, strategies that have masked the impact of tariffs from consumers.

Between the lines: Many businesses are running down inventories stocked up before tariffs took effect. Now they are in wait-and-see mode, though time is running out, Bostic says.

• "What we are hearing from an increasing number of businesses is that those strategies are starting to run their course — and so the ability to wait and just hold might be declining," Bostic said.
• "If these pre-tariff strategies have run their course, we're about to see some changes in prices — and then we're going to learn how consumers are going to respond to that," Bostic said.

The bottom line: Bostic says that "consumer balance sheets are not as strong as they were collectively three or four years ago," meaning consumers may not be as willing to accept higher costs as they have been in recent years.

The Justice Department announced Wednesday it will seek to dismiss pending police reform agreements in Louisville and Minneapolis, days before the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder.

Why it matters: Scrapping proposed consent decrees for two of the nation's most scrutinized police departments is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is backing away from federal oversight of alleged police misconduct.

The big picture: Federal probes into nearly a dozen other city police departments, initiated by President Biden's Justice Department, are now unlikely to reach reform agreements.

Driving the news: The DOJ said Wednesday it will begin the process of dismissing lawsuits against the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments.

• The Biden administration's DOJ found that both engaged in widespread patterns of unconstitutional policing practices.
• Trump's DOJ said those investigations "wrongly [equated] statistical disparities with intentional discrimination and heavily [relied] on flawed methodologies and incomplete data."
• Pending agreements also sought to subject the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments to sweeping reforms that went "far beyond the Biden administration's accusations of unconstitutional conduct," the DOJ said.

State of play: Floyd's 2020 murder by Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck triggered international protests and calls to tackle systemic racism.

• Breonna Taylor was killed that same year after Louisville police shot multiple rounds into her apartment in a raid that led to her death. A former detective was convicted of violating her rights by using excessive force.

Zoom in: Under the Minneapolis consent decree, officers would have been prohibited from cuffing people age 14 or younger, and would be required to receive specific training on working with youth.

• The agreement would have limited how much force police can use to handle crowds at demonstrations, and barred officers from detaining or destroying the equipment of reporters covering a news story.

What they're saying: "Overbroad police consent decrees divest local control of policing from communities where it belongs, turning that power over to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, often with an anti-police agenda," said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for DOJ's Civil Rights Division.

• "Today, we are ending the Biden Civil Rights Division's failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments with factually unjustified consent decrees."

Yes, but: Police reform advocates argue consent decrees are necessary to force departments to make systemic changes in tactics, hiring, abuse and oversight.

Reality check: Some city leaders and public safety experts tell Axios that federal oversight of police departments has had mixed results. In some cases, they've driven up costs while doing little to curb violent crime, they say.

• A consent decree in Oakland, Calif., for example, has been in place for more than two decades.
• Police in Ferguson, Mo., are more racially diverse after federal authorities intervened in 2016 following the killing of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Black man.

The other side: The Minnesota Department of Human Rights, the state's civil rights enforcement agency, said a state agreement on police reforms will remain in place.

• "While the Department of Justice walks away from their federal consent decree nearly five years from the murder of George Floyd, our Department and the state court consent decree aren't going anywhere," said Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero.
• "Under the state agreement, the City and MPD must make transformational changes to address race-based policing."

Between the lines: Trump's reversal of police reform comes amid a decline in Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

• In Washington, D.C., Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House was quietly dismantled in March after funding threats from Republicans — a symbolic setback in what once was the epicenter of 2020's racial reckoning.

House Republicans' internal negotiations on the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" went south Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, with GOP hardliners publicly digging in their heels against the legislation.

Why it matters: Some of the anger centers on a deal House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is nearing with blue-state Republicans to raise the State and Local Tax Deduction cap.

• "I think, actually, we're further away from a deal because that SALT cap increase upset a lot of conservatives," House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said in a Newsmax interview.
• Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), another GOP holdout, told Axios in a text message: "THINGS ARE NOT LOOKING GOOD!!"

State of play: Johnson and a group of House Republicans from New York, California and New Jersey were close to a deal on SALT as of Tuesday night, Axios' Hans Nichols reported.

• The deal would have raised the SALT cap to $40,000 a year for those making up to $500,000.
• The income phaseout would grow by 1% for 10 years, and then the deduction would become permanent.

Yes, but: Johnson's right flank has long been skeptical of the SALT cap, which would increase the deficit and disproportionately benefit taxpayers in high-tax Democratic states.

• Some conservative hardliners also feel the bill doesn't go far enough in cutting Medicaid and nutrition assistance spending.
• "This bill actually got worse overnight. There is no way it passes today," Harris said on Newsmax.

What they're saying: Johnson said in a CNN interview that "no one is delighted" with the SALT cap deal, but that right-wingers "understand the necessity of our handling this issue and keeping the majority."

• As for timing, Johnson — who has hoped to hold a vote on the bill as early as Wednesday — said "we plan to do it tonight. That's my plan."
• Harris has other ideas: "We may need a couple of weeks to iron everything out, but it's not going anywhere today."

Elon Musk will attend Wednesday's meeting between President Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, according to South Africa's presidency.

The big picture: Musk, who has led an upheaval of the federal government under Trump, was born in South Africa and has been an open critic of its government.

Context: Trump slashed foreign assistance to South Africa and has echoed false allegations that white South Africans, whom he has granted refugee status in the U.S., are being subjected to genocide.

• The president's comments mirror statements made by Musk, who has promoted the claim that the country is conducting a genocide against white people.

Editor's note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Vice President JD Vance characterized Chief Justice John Roberts' recent statement that the judiciary can "check the excesses" of the executive as a "profoundly wrong sentiment" in a New York Times interview published Wednesday.

Why it matters: His comments add to the heaps of criticism the administration has levied against the judiciary as district court judges have issued injunctions and orders to halt some of the president's sweeping federal actions.

• Roberts, in a rare statement in March, rebuked GOP calls to impeach a federal judge who ordered deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members to turn around.
• And earlier this month, he defended the courts' independence before a New York audience, saying the job of the judiciary is to "obviously decide cases but in the course of that to check the excesses of Congress or the executive."

Driving the news: "I saw an interview with Chief Justice Roberts recently where he said the role of the court is to check the excesses of the executive," Vance said on the NYT's "Interesting Times" podcast. "I thought that was a profoundly wrong sentiment."

• To Vance, checking the power of the executive is "one-half of" Roberts' job.
• "The other half of his job is to check the excesses of his own branch," the vice president said.
• "You cannot have a country where the American people keep on electing immigration enforcement and the courts tell the American people they're not allowed to have what they voted for," he continued.

What he's saying: Vance said the courts were making an effort to "quite literally overturn the will of the American people."

• However, he noted, "it's not most courts," before offering his critique of Roberts' comments.

Context: Federal courts have blocked Trump's orders at a particularly high rate.

• And since the beginning of the Obama administration, Axios' Sam Baker reports, there has been a rise in judges ordering nationwide injunctions.
• But blatantly defying orders — even if they go against what a president says his supporters voted for — would undermine the nation's system of checks and balances. Critics say that's already happening in some cases.

Catch up quick: Vance has previously advocated for the power of the executive branch if legal hurdles from the judiciary stand in the way of exercising presidential authority.

• In February, he wrote that "[j]udges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power."

The bottom line: It is the role of the Supreme Court to interpret the law — and, when necessary, declare it unconstitutional if it poses a violation.

• Judicial review, established in the case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803, allows the court to determine a legislative or executive act in violation of the Constitution.

What's next: Vance told the Times' Ross Douthat that the administration would "keep working it through the immigration court process, through the Supreme Court as much as possible."

• The high court last week heard oral arguments on whether to let Trump proceed with a plan to redefine birthright citizenship — a case that could also have implications for lower courts' abilities to freeze federal policy.
• The Supreme Court's decision is expected by late June.

Go deeper: Supreme Court weighs judges' power over Trump

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, died Wednesday morning at 75 years old, his family said.

What they're saying: "It is with immense sadness that we share that our devoted and loving father, husband, brother, friend, and public servant, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, passed away peacefully at his home this morning," the family said in a statement.

• Connolly had been battling with esophageal cancer, prompting him to announce last month that he would step aside as ranking member of the Oversight panel.

This story is adapted from the new book "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson.

Needing video of then-President Biden speaking sharply and fluidly in a freewheeling setting, his campaign staged a closed-to-the-press town hall with a friendly audience in April 2024.

• The resulting footage was unusable, CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson write in their new book, "Original Sin."

Why it matters: The episode highlights the lengths that Biden's campaign went to cover for his deficiencies as an 81-year-old re-election candidate — and how difficult he made it to carry out the basic blocking and tackling of a modern campaign.

Behind the scenes: The event at a high school gym in Biden's home state of Delaware was supposed to be the basis for a campaign commercial. The idea was to create scenes of Biden taking off-the-cuff questions from voters that could be used in ads.

• The campaign had a full list of the questions the voters would ask, and cameras rolled for 90 minutes with Biden on stage.
• Some blamed the gym's lighting for the event being a dud, while others firmly pointed the finger at Biden's performance.

The big picture: The staged town hall was just one of a series of frustrations the campaign faced in trying to salvage workable video of Biden, Tapper and Thompson report in the book.

• The campaign regularly needed recorded remarks from Biden that could be played at events or used in fundraising pitches, but the candidate often was unable to tape even mundane remarks without botching lines.
• When supportive groups requested a taped five-minute video address from Biden, the White House would respond by saying the video would be one or two minutes.
• As a workaround, Biden would be filmed with two cameras instead of one, so that any flubbed lines could be smoothed over with jump cuts.

Even with such accommodations, videos sometimes were unsalvageable. In some cases, the heavy edits were so obvious that campaign staffers regretted putting them out.

Reality check: Many campaigns use two cameras to film remarks to make the editing process easier. But the extent of how reliant Biden was on them troubled campaign officials.

• Past campaigns also have used stage town halls to film commercials, as well as authentic ones. Biden was doing virtually no authentic town halls.

What they're saying: "The man could not speak," said one person involved.

• Staff blamed Biden's inability to find words or stay on a train of thought — not his stutter — for the issue.
• "Every shoot was anxiety-inducing for Biden's team," Thompson and Tapper wrote.

Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden have pushed back on reports of his decline, acknowledging that he had been physically slowed by age but saying that never affected his performance as president.

• "The people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us, and they didn't see how hard Joe worked every single day," Jill Biden said earlier this month during the Bidens' appearance on "The View."
• A Biden spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The book is based on interviews with more than 200 people, mostly Democratic insiders, with knowledge of the events that unfolded during the final two years of Biden's presidency. Almost all of the interviews took place after the 2024 election.