The House voted Thursday to pass President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" after weeks of Republican infighting that repeatedly threatened to tank the GOP-only legislation.
Why it matters: It's a major step toward getting the hulking fiscal package signed into law, though the Senate is likely to make substantial changes that could be difficult for House GOP hardliners to swallow.
The vote was 215-214.
The bill would extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts and aims to cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending, including through Medicaid work requirements and the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits.
It took considerable wrangling by House Republican leadership to get to this point, with members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus threatening to oppose it as recently as Wednesday.
State of play: The vote came after a marathon congressional session in which some lawmakers stayed up for days.
The House Rules Committee met early Wednesday morning to markup the bill only ending late Wednesday night.
House Democrats gummed up the works with several procedural votes, pushing the vote time back to around 6:30 am ET on Thursday.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says he's convinced of two things: The U.S. will make a long list of trade deals by mid-summer, and the tariffs forcing those deals won't raise retail prices.
Why it matters: Investors, business leaders and consumers are praying he's right.
Driving the news: Lutnick, a billionaire Wall Street CEO before entering government, was nothing but optimistic in an interview with Axios' Mike Allen at the Building the Future event in Washington.
Asked how many of the U.S.'s 18 key trading partners would have a deal by the time a tariff pause ends July 8, he said, "I think most countries, we'll have an idea of what we want to do with them."
The big picture: Lutnick is at the forefront of the Trump administration's sweeping efforts to rewrite the rules of global trade, a campaign that has disrupted the U.S. and international economies and created deep uncertainty for businesses and consumers.
The president's argument: The U.S. has been treated unfairly by the world for decades, at the cost of valuable American jobs — a situation that can only be fixed by a more aggressive approach.
Between the lines: Over the last few days, the single most important question about the tariffs has been what they'll do to the American consumer.
Lutnick recently decried "silly arguments" that tariffs raise prices. A few days later, Walmart said they'd do exactly that, and a number of other companies have hinted at the same since.
The commerce secretary didn't flinch, though. "The president has to stand strong, and you can't fix things in a day, and that's still going, but I would expect that prices in America will be unaffected."
Reality check: Notwithstanding Lutnick's certainty, retail executives expect cost pressures to build week by week, with price increases getting much more noticeable by late June or early July.
The intrigue: While U.S. trade relations work through their biggest disruption in nearly a century, Lutnick and Trump are pushing a different incentive for foreign business leaders: a $5 million "gold card" that would confer permanent U.S. residency.
The website, trumpcard.gov, will launch within a week
"Everyone I meet who's not an American is going to want to buy the card if they have the fiscal capacity," he said.
"This is for people who can help America pay off its debt. Why wouldn't you want a Plan B that says, God forbid something bad happens, you come to the airport in America and the person in immigration says, 'Welcome home.'"
With its multibillion-dollar purchase of Apple design legend Jony Ive's startup, OpenAI is doubling down on a bet that the AI revolution will birth a new generation of novel consumer devices.
Why it matters: Just as the web first came to us on the personal computer and the cloud enabled the rise of the smartphone, OpenAI's gamble is that AI's role as Silicon Valley's new platform will demand a different kind of hardware — and that Ive, who played a key role in designing the iPhone and other iconic Apple products, is the person to build it.
What they're saying: An OpenAI promo video features Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman strolling through San Francisco's North Beach to meet for coffee at Francis Coppola's Zoetrope Cafe.
Ive tells Altman that we're still using "decades old" products, meaning PCs and smartphones, to connect with the "unimaginable technology" of today's AI — "so it's just common sense" to work on "something beyond these legacy products."
Between the lines: Altman has long pursued a strategy of shaping AI through devices as well as software.
He was an early investor in Humane, whose AI Pin flopped, and is a co-founder of World (formerly Worldcoin), which is deploying eyeball scanning orbs to verify human identity in a bot-filled world.
At OpenAI's first-ever developer conference in 2023, Altman told Axios that major platform shifts usually usher in a new type of computing device. "If there's something amazing to do, we'll do it," he said.
Late last year, OpenAI relaunched a hardware and robotics team, hiring former Meta executive Caitlin Kalinowski.
Ive and Altman announced last year that they were collaborating on a hardware side project but have been tight-lipped about what their startup, named io, is working on, though Altman told Axios in an onstage interview last year that it wouldn't be a smartphone.
Altman loves a big bet, and this one is huge: billions in stock in exchange for Ive's talents and those of the rest of the team at io — which includes three other veteran Apple design leaders.
By the numbers: OpenAI said Wednesday it will pay $5 billion in stock to acquire the parts of io it doesn't already own.
It already had a 23% stake in the company thanks to an exclusive partnership it signed in the fourth quarter of last year.
Once the deal closes, which is expected to happen later this summer, the 55-person team behind io will join OpenAI, to be led by Peter Welinder. (Kalinowski will now report to Welinder rather than Altman.)
Ive and his design firm, LoveFrom, will take on a major design role for OpenAI, though LoveFrom will remain independent and continue working on some other projects.
The big picture: Other big tech companies have also been investing in a post-smartphone hardware future.
While investor interest in the metaverse has cooled, there's still a competitive market in VR headsets and a growing field of smart glasses as a delivery device for AI services.
Meta has its Ray-Ban smart glasses. Google demonstrated its own prototype glasses, which include a small display. And Apple is reportedly working on augmented-reality glasses, too.
The intrigue: OpenAI's deal further seals Ive's exile from Apple, which started in 2019, and fully ties him to an emerging competitor.
Our thought bubble: Ive famously spent his career at Apple as Steve Jobs' creative partner.
OpenAI's video presents the new Ive-Altman pairing as the natural successor to that team — with Sam as the new Steve and Apple left behind as a peddler of "legacy products."
What's next: OpenAI said that it will share the first fruits of its new hardware efforts next year, though there's no promise that anything will be shipping that soon.
Prices are going up, that's clear now — but the nation's biggest retailers are taking very different approaches to what they say on the impact of tariffs publicly.
Why it matters: President Trump's trade war is stirring echoes of the inflation that took hold of the economy just three years ago.
Unlike the COVID era, the increase in prices was entirely foreseeable this time.
The big picture: Over the last week, the warning lights have started to flash.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, said last week it couldn't hold the line anymore and would have to raise some prices.
Home Depot doesn't plan to increase prices "broadly" because of tariffs, but said some items might disappear from store shelves.
Those comments came after the CEOs of all three met with Trump in April andwarned the president that tariffs would soon lead to empty shelves, higher prices and shortages.
State of play: Trump has, for years, steadfastly insisted that Americans don't pay for tariffs — the costs, somehow, are absorbed overseas.
It was, in its way, a concession of the reality that almost all of the tariff cost is borne domestically. (A reality backed up by the government's own data, per a recent Apricitas Economics note.)
Zoom in: Target and Home Depot both spoke about pricing this week, notably after Trump came down on Walmart.
We don't see broad-based price increases for our customers at all going forward," Billy Bastek, Home Depot's executive vice president of merchandising, said Tuesday.
Target was less certain: "We have many levers to use in mitigating the impact of tariffs and price is the very last resort," CEO Brian Cornell said Wednesday.
Between the lines: Zacks Investment Research analyst Sheraz Mian told Axios Twin Cities' Nick Halter he doubts Target will be able to fully absorb the tariffs.
"They don't want to publicly acknowledge it and get into the unfavorable kind of political limelight by speaking the truth," Mian said.
The intrigue: Americans seem to only have a vague grasp of the mechanics of tariffs, even if they get the ultimate impact.
A new report from consumer insights platform Zappi finds just 22% of people fully understand how tariffs affect the prices of goods — and only 20% think their household is ready to absorb those higher prices.
But one way or another, they get something is coming — the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey found year-ahead inflation expectations surging to 7.3%, the highest since the early 1980s.
"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," Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic told reporters at a conference this week.
The bottom line: Customers may see certain items exiled from store shelves if they're impacted too much by tariffs.
"There'll be some things that don't make sense that just end up going away," Home Depot's Bastek said.
The "gold card" website allowing people to buy U.S. permanent residency for $5 million will launch within a week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday at an Axios Building the Future event in Washington.
Why it matters: President Trump has suggested the U.S. could sell 1 million of the cards — enough to retire the national debt.
Catch up quick: Trump announced the gold card in late February, offering permanent U.S. residency to anyone who shelled out the $5 million fee.
It was meant to replace the EB-5 investor visa, which gives out green cards in return for a much smaller investment in the U.S. economy.
Other countries have tried similar so-called golden visa programs, but wound them down after limited interest.
What they're saying: Lutnick told Axios' Mike Allen the site, trumpcard.gov, would initially allow people to register their interest in buying one of the cards.
"All that will come over a matter of the next weeks — not month, weeks," he said.
Between the lines: Lutnick positioned the card as a safety option that also helped the U.S. fund its growing debt obligations.
"Everyone I meet who's not an American is going to want to buy the card if they have the fiscal capacity," he said.
"This is for people who can help America pay off its debt. Why wouldn't you want a Plan B that says. God forbid something bad happens, you come to the airport in America and the person in immigration says, 'Welcome home.'"
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments by Lutnick.
Two Israeli Embassy staff were fatally shot at close range while leaving an event Wednesday night at the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C., the embassy's spokesperson in Washington, Tal Naim Cohen, told Axios.
The big picture: The suspect chanted "free Palestine" while being taken into custody, said D.C. police chief Pamela Smith at a briefing. Officials at the briefing said a man and a woman were killed in the shooting.
The latest: The Israel Foreign Ministry identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim in a statement shared to X.
"Israeli diplomats and representatives around the world stand on the frontlines of Israel's diplomatic efforts — defending the country with their very lives," the statement said.
"We will not be deterred by terror. We will continue our mission across the globe, with unwavering commitment to represent Israel with pride," the statement continued."
Police identified the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, Illinois.
Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter said at the briefing that the "young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem," calling them a "beautiful couple."
He added: "We are a resilient people. The people of Israel are resilient people and the people of the United States of America are resilient people."
What they're saying: President Trump in a Truth Social post early Thursday offered his condolences to the families of the man and woman killed in the attack. "These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has ordered the strengthening of security at Israeli missions around the world and for state representatives, per a Thursday morning statement posted to his office's X account.
Details: Smith said police were alerted just after 9pm ET Wednesday about a shooting in the area around the museum in downtown D.C. that comprises other institutions, government buildings including the FBI's Washington Field Office and tourist attractions.
"Prior to the shooting, the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum," Smith said.
The suspect approached four people and opened fire using a handgun, fatally striking the young man and woman, according to Smith.
"The suspect then entered the museum and was detained by event security," Smith said.
Zoom in: The FBI assisted on the scene and its deputy director Dan Bongino said on X early Thursday that the suspect was being interviewed by the Metropolitan Police Department with the Bureau's Joint Terrorism Task Force team while he, the U.S. Attorney's office and other officials were "reviewing the evidence to determine additional actions."
He added, "Early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X late Wednesday that she was on the scene of the shooting with Jeanine Pirro, interim U.S. attorney for D.C., and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on the platform that her department was "actively investigating" the killings.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the briefing, "We will not tolerate any acts of terrorism, and we're going to stand together as a community in the coming days and weeks to send a clear message that we will not tolerate antisemitism."
Zoom out: The American Jewish Committee was hosting at the museum the annual Young Diplomats Reception, which "brings together Jewish young professionals ... and the D.C. diplomatic community for an evening dedicated to fostering unity and celebrating Jewish heritage," per a post by the Jewish advocacy group advertising the event.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
President Trump said Wednesday he's "giving very serious consideration" to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giants, public.
The big picture: Trump said on Truth Social he'll speak with officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, about the matter "and will be making a decision in the near future."
He added, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned!"
Why it matters: These two companies combined support some 70% of U.S. mortgages.
Between the lines: Messing with the structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac poses risk to the economy — and at the very least could raise mortgage rates even further, per Axios' Felix Salmon and Emily Peck.
Flashback: Before Trump took office, there was a broad-based desire to wrest Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from federal control and the Biden Treasury Department and Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the two companies, released a roadmap for how privatization could work.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
House Republicans made a last-minute change to the $1,000-per-baby MAGA Accounts in their sweeping tax bill: Calling them "Trump Accounts" instead.
Why it matters: It's the latest in a series of attempts by congressional Republicans to display their loyalty to the president through legislation — and the one that is most likely to be signed into law.
Republicans have also pushed to codify his proposed land-grabs with bills allowing him to negotiate the purchases of Greenland and the Panama Canal. One proposed renaming Greenland to "Red, White and Blueland."
Driving the news: House Republicans tucked the renaming into an 11th-hour amendment to their "One, Big Beautiful Bill" — a hulking fiscal package to extend the Trump tax cuts and cut $1.5 trillion in spending.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is moving to hold a vote on the package as early as early Thursday morning after GOP hardliners softened their opposition on Wednesday.
The Trump Accounts would seed $1,000 for every American baby born starting in 2026. The original name — MAGA — stood for "money account for growth and advancement."
The other side: Democrats railed against the late-stage change at a Rules Committee hearing on the amendment.
"You all would be screaming bloody murder if we named savings accounts after Barack Obama," said Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.).
Said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.): "Why don't we call it the Trump Diaper Savings? It could be TDS, because I think the only way you end up with a stupid name like this is if you have TDS."
Tune into Axios' event looking at the evolving trade landscape's ripple effect on the global economy, the optimism of business investors, and AI's increasing role in building supply chain resilience.
Featured speakers include Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, 26th Sec. of the Army Dan Driscoll, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), deputy dir. of the CIA Michael Ellis & Bayer CEO Bill Anderson.
President Trump on Wednesday repeated false crime numbers, shared misleading images 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 1,000" white farmers killed.
The video also showed Black South African activists purportedly calling for violence against white farmers.
"We have dead white people, dead white farmers, mostly," Trump said, repeating unproven claims that white people in South Africa are disproportionately affected by the nation's high crime rates.
The latest: One image Trump shared that he claimed showed genocide against white people in South Africa was actually a screenshot of a February YouTube video from the Democratic Republic of Congo, per AFP.
It features "Red Cross workers responding after women were raped and burned alive during a mass jailbreak in the Congolese city of Goma," AFP notes.
The video of what Trump said was a "burial site" of "over a thousand" white farmers appeared to be taken from a 2020 tribute to Glen and Vida Rafferty, a white farming couple who were murdered, and a display of "support in the fight against farm murders," per The Bulletin's caption of the incident.
South Africa-based CNN correspondent Larry Madowo said almost everything Trump said was "inaccurate or immediately debunked."
He said he'd looked into the data and found no evidence of a white genocide in South Africa. "I don't think it's possible that 1,000 farmers could've been killed and buried along the roadside and there's thousands of cars paying respects without anybody noticing it," Madowo said.
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.
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 stems from its newExpropriation 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 Black people 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.
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 had 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 was updated throughout the event.
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.
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 Goosento 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A federal judge on Wednesday found that the Trump administration "unquestionably" violated a court order when it quickly deported immigrants to South Sudan, multipleoutletsreported.
The big picture: The rebuke fromU.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.
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.
Data: Congress.gov, Bioguide; Note: Senate Democrats include two Independents; Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios
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.
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.
