Florida's next attorney general could be the ex-congressman who almost became President Trump's U.S. attorney general: Matt Gaetz.

Why it matters: Despite the intense controversy he generated before withdrawing his nomination to be in Trump's Cabinet, Gaetz still has strong name ID and is well-liked enough among Florida's GOP base to be a formidable candidate.

• In a hypothetical primary matchup against Attorney General James Uthmeier, Gaetz was favored 39%-21%, according to a recent survey of likely Republican voters by Tony Fabrizio, one of the nation's top pollsters who works for Donald Trump and several GOP clients.

Zoom in: There's already a war of words brewing between Gaetz and Uthmeier supporters over right-wing influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, the Florida men who recently were allowed to return to the U.S. after facing sex-trafficking charges in Romania.

• Uthmeier on Tuesday announced an investigation into the Tates. Gaetz — who as a member of Congress faced allegations of paying a minor for sex — has criticized Uthmeier's motives.

Reality check: A race against Uthmeier would be no slam dunk for Gaetz. Fabrizio's poll found 40% of GOP voters were undecided.

• "2026 is going to be a dynamic year in Florida politics, for sure," Gaetz told Axios. "I'm humbled that so many Florida Republicans support me. Sometimes the AG itch doesn't go away with one scratch."
• Gaetz has considered running for state attorney general in the past and hasn't ruled it out in 2026. He's also told others he might run for governor.
• A spokesperson for Uthmeier couldn't be reached.

Zoom out: In red-state Florida, the victor of in a GOP primary in a statewide race is typically the odds-on favorite to win in the general election. Registered Republicans in Florida now outnumber Democrats by 1 million.

The intrigue: Florida's 2026 ballot could be full of must-watch races.

• U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R) is running for governor and Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis is considering a bid. Her husband, Gov. Ron DeSantis, is in his second four-year term and can't run again under state law.
• Donalds has been endorsed by Trump, but the governor and first lady met with Trump last weekend at the president's International golf club in West Palm Beach to try to curry his favor.
• Uthmeier has never run for statewide office. He was chief of staff for DeSantis, who appointed Uthmeier attorney general two weeks ago to fill the seat vacated by Ashley Moody. DeSantis had appointed Moody to fill Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat, which he gave up to become Trump's secretary of state.

Flashback: Gaetz quit Congress and then his bid for the top Justice Department post amid a crush of terrible headlines related to a years-long sex-trafficking investigation that resulted in no charges.

• Gaetz maintained his innocence and characterized a related House Ethics Committee investigation as a witch hunt driven by allies of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose ouster Gaetz engineered.

Whether Gaetz runs or not, the investigation into the Tate brothers after they arrived last week in Florida has elevated Uthmeier's profile. The Tates deny wrongdoing and criticized Uthmeier and DeSantis, who denounced them.

• "Ron DeSantis is attacking me because he was worried I would support Byron Donalds over his wife," Andrew Tate posted Tuesday night on X. "They attacked me to prevent me from destroying his wife's political ambitions."

Gaetz chimed in on Wednesday.

• "DeSantis/hisAG are using you to virtue signal against the unrighteous," Gaetz wrote on X.
• "It's all just posturing," Gaetz said. "Hell, Florida even let O.J. Simpson move here, so if you haven't committed any crimes you have little to fear from the Sunshine State."

Fabrizio's poll of 600 likely Republican voters in Florida was conducted via landline and cellphone live callers on Feb. 26-27. It has a +/- error of 4 percentage points.

President Trump wants to will the country back into the "golden age" he promised on the campaign trail, the headlines be damned.

• "America's momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back," Trump said in his first address to Congress of his second term.

Why it matters: This was a record-breaking 100 minutes of the world according to Trump — an address largely indistinguishable from a campaign-style speech. He recited the historic number of executive orders, touching every aspect of American life from immigration to sports.

• 🚢 To thunderous applause from his party, Trump announced a new office of shipbuilding in the White House, to help "resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding," with "special tax incentives to bring this industry home to America, where it belongs."
• 💰Trump pledged to fulfill his "no tax on tips" campaign trail promise to service-sector workers, and called for car loan interest payments to be tax deductible — if the car was made in America.
• 🕊️ Trump declared peace in Ukraine was closer than ever now that its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote him a letter that said he was ready to negotiate.

Reality check: Trump will have a nearly impossible time balancing the budget, as he promised, and cutting taxes. And the economy shows troubling signs: Trump was unmoored from plummeting stock prices, sagging consumer confidence and the specter of rising prices due to tariffs.

• "There'll be a little disturbance," Trump seemingly ad-libbed about 50 minutes into the speech. It was his clearest acknowledgement that times might be tough.

📜 Flashback: The contrast with Trump's first address to Congress, in 2017, was notable.

• Trump in 2017: "The stock market has gained almost $3 trillion in value since the election on Nov. 8, a record."
• Trump gave no similar stat this time. As of Monday, the stock market had shed all of its $3.4 trillion in post-election gains.

Staying largely on-script, Trump made a few jokes and took a few swipes at Democrats. But for a politician who has a tendency to give dark and grievance-filled speeches, this was his version of the positive future he promised.

• "This will be our greatest era," Trump promised. "My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future because the golden age of America has only just begun."

Democrats seldom applauded, including when Trump announced the arrest of the mastermind behind the deadly Abbey Gate attack in Afghanistan in 2021.

• Some Democrats walked out on Trump during the speech. And one, Rep. Al Green of Texas, was forcibly removed from the House chamber for repeatedly interrupting Trump.

More from Axios:

• In photos: Democrats protest Trump's speech
• Trump speech repeatedly rocked by Democratic disruptions
• Slotkin hits at Musk and "gang of 20-year-olds" in rebuttal to Trump address

President Trump's decision to cancel a major oil deal with Venezuela came amid pressure from Miami's three GOP House members who oppose enriching Nicolás Maduro's dictatorship, four sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: To get their way, the three House members suggested — but never explicitly threatened — that they would withhold votes Trump needed for the GOP budget deal that the House narrowly passed last week.

• "They're going crazy and I need their votes," Trump explained to confidants when he privately signaled he would cancel the license allowing Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S.
• Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar then voted for the budget deal, which passed 217-215.
• Eight hours later, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was canceling the oil deal.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) related some of the behind-the-scenes story to a group of Republican donors during a fundraiser Friday at the Miami-area waterfront mansion of local health insurance magnate Ivan Herrera.

• Johnson told the crowd they "should be proud" of Diaz-Balart, Gimenez and Salazar.
• "The three Crazy Cubans, as we affectionately call them," Johnson said, "stood on principle" and delivered for their community, according to two sources at the fundraiser. They said Gimenez and Diaz-Balart chuckled approvingly at the nickname along with the donors, many of whom have Cuban roots.

The big picture: In a more conventional White House, power flows through a more defined process, through "proper channels" that involve careful vetting.

• In Trump's White House, power often circulates instantly, improvisationally and unexpectedly, based on Trump's gut, his needs at the time — or on catching him with the right idea at the right time, with the right words.

This previously untold story helps explain the contradictory positions that Trump's administration sometimes appears to take.

• It also highlights Trump's hands-on involvement in salvaging the House's controversial budget plan — and his familiarity with Florida's unique politics and its international reverberations.

Zoom in: Last Tuesday, the final day of the budget talks, Johnson put Diaz-Balart on the phone with Trump so the Miamian could make his pitch against the Venezuelan oil deal. The week before, Diaz-Balart and Gimenez had met with Trump in the White House to voice their concerns, two sources said.

• During Tuesday's call, Diaz-Balart reminded Trump of his campaign promises to crack down on Maduro, two sources briefed on the call said. Diaz-Balart told Trump that Maduro's dictatorship was "thrown a lifeline" by President Biden when he relaxed sanctions, which Trump had slapped on Venezuela during his previous administration.
• "Mario never threatened their vote or offered a quid pro quo because threatening Trump is just counterproductive," said one of those sources. "They all know that."
• Diaz-Balart, Gimenez and Salazar declined to comment. A Johnson spokesperson confirmed the House members fought to end support to Maduro's government but wouldn't comment further.

Between the lines: Trump already wasn't inclined to continue the Venezuela petroleum deal, partly because Biden had struck it.

• Trump also didn't want to appear to be negotiating an oil-for-migrants deal with Maduro, a White House official and an outside adviser told Axios. The Trump administration is trying to boost deportations of Venezuelan unauthorized immigrants as well as some with pre-existing deportation protections.
• Trump's administration is stocked with Florida Republicans who are anti-Maduro: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Latin American envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
• Trump's special envoy to Venezuela, Richard Grenell, is still in talks with Maduro's regime. Grenell last month secured the release of six U.S. prisoners in Venezuela and persuaded Maduro to accept Venezuelans deported from the U.S.
• Grenell has said the U.S. doesn't want regime change in Venezuela. But other White House officials said regime change is preferred because the socialist dictator has mismanaged his country's finances, destabilizing the region by leading to the Western Hemisphere's biggest mass migration of modern times.
• "The win-win for all of us is to somehow get the dictator to give up power on a glide path of maybe two years," a Trump Latin America adviser said. "So go ahead, keep robbing your country and getting rich off socialism while everyone else gets poor. But ya gotta go."

The backstory: Chevron produces about 220,000 oil barrels daily in Venezuela, about a quarter of the country's production, according to the Miami Herald, which also reported that Palm Beach oil magnate Harry Sargeant III, was closely involved in efforts to broker a deal between Trump and Maduro.

What they're saying: Trump's decision to cancel Biden's 2022 oil deal came as a surprise to Venezuela's government and to Chevron, which under the deal was allowed to pump Venezuelan oil.

• "Chevron lobbied hard and fell hard. So did Harry," said a Republican advising the Trump White House.
• "This is just going to raise the price of oil," said another Trump Republican allied with Sargeant.
• "In reality, damage is being inflicted on the United States, its population and its companies," Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's vice president, said in a social media post criticizing Trump's decision.

Zoom out: The Cuban-American community dominates the politics of Miami-Dade County, the most populous in the state.

• Cuban Americans, including those in Congress, have found political common cause in the state with exiles who fled other countries because of leftist violence, oppression or dysfunction. Those include Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela, where Cuban intelligence services protect Maduro.
• Cuban Americans are among Trump's strongest supporters; he's frequently boasted about that.

But Trump's decision to end Temporary Protected Status for as many as 300,000 Venezuelans is deeply unpopular in Miami politics. The three Cuban-American House members oppose it, but know it's hard to change Trump's mind.

• "Helping out Maduro and Big Oil was just a bridge too far for them," said a Republican allied with the congressional members. "They're happy Trump kept his promise. At least for now."

Business groups are quietly urging the Trump administration to ease up on its plans for immigration raids in workplaces, but the White House is resisting.

Why it matters: So far, the pace of workplace raids doesn't appear to have increased under President Trump compared to the Biden administration's efforts. But aggressive shows of enforcement are key to Trump's plans to crackdown on illegal immigration.

Zoom in: Just the threat of more raids has rattled several industries — such as construction and agriculture — that rely on immigrant labor, not all of it legal.

• "Rumors of raids are having more impact at this point than raids themselves," said Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).
• Two agriculture industry group leaders echoed that sentiment. Concerns about raids have led some workers to walk off job sites early or not show up at all, they said.
• "It's a question of, where are we being prioritized" in the immigration crackdown, said one of the agriculture industry group leaders, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the immigration issue. "I think there's a lot of uncertainty" about that.

The big picture: Trump's team and other Republican leaders are betting that a crackdown on immigrants not authorized to work in the U.S. will open up jobs for Americans and legal residents, and raise wages among working-class voters, who've drifted toward the GOP in recent elections.

• In doing so, the administration is bucking some of the GOP's traditional supporters in the business community.
• Americans "overwhelmingly voted for decisive action on the border and those here illegally," said Chris LaCivita, a Trump campaign co-manager who's now a senior adviser at Building America's Future, a group that supports Trump initiatives. "No amount of lobbying from certain business sectors will change what the new GOP and President Trump are determined to implement."
• "Republicans are making a big switch, a lot of them," a former Trump administration official said. They're "recognizing that the American worker is not happy, and they're justified in not being happy."

Critics see the White House's plan as leading to an exodus of workers in jobs that many Americans don't want to do, resulting in lower productivity, higher prices and a damaged economy.

• "The long-term impact will be where housing prices are already too high in places like Arizona," said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). "When they can't get the workforce to build the houses, the prices are going to go up and rents are going to go up."
• "We've been told why Americans don't do" certain jobs, said immigration attorney Patricia Gannon, who used to work for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "We may not like the answers."

By the numbers: Undocumented workers and those with expired work visas can be difficult to track across sectors of the economy, but some studies have given a glimpse of their presence.

• The American Immigration Council estimates that about 4.6% of the employed labor force are undocumented immigrants.
• A recent Department of Agriculture study estimated that about 42% of America's farmworkers were undocumented from 2020 to 2022.
• About a quarter of construction workers across the U.S. may be undocumented, according to the National Immigration Forum, an immigration advocacy group.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told Axios he's heard from companies in his state concerned about worksite raids.

• " 'Don't hire illegals' should be your statement," Moreno said he told one business association when it asked him what it should say about the situation.
• "Migrants are … fleeing terrible situations," Moreno said. "But it's the companies that are hiring that need to have some sort of ramifications."

The intrigue: Trump's immigration plans have sparked increased lobbying on the issue. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest lobbying organization, recently filed a government disclosure that offered hints at its work on immigration.

• The chamber didn't respond to an interview request and didn't list specific policies it's lobbying on in its February report.
• But a more detailed filing for the last quarter of 2024 showed the chamber lobbied on "high-skilled" immigrants, "less-skilled" immigrants, various immigration visa categories and several immigration-related bills.
• Other industry groups, including the AGC, are pushing for protections for their labor force, including more visas for foreign workers and more trade school trainings to hire Americans.

What they're saying: "[Pennsylvania Democratic Sen.] John Fetterman would have a better chance of convincing Trump to do something for the business community than the chamber," said one Republican lobbyist, who currently doesn't have a client focused on immigration.

• "The chamber represents the Nikki Haley-establishment, Paul Ryan-, Mitch McConnell-wing of the party, which is dead and buried at this point," the lobbyist added.
• "Businesses that human traffic and exploit migrants for cheap labor should be afraid: We will go after them," said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.
• "As for law-abiding companies, the media is intentionally manufacturing fear," she added. "If there was any correlation between rampant illegal immigration and a good economy, Biden would have had a booming economy."

Many Democrats have backed detaining and removing criminals who are in the U.S. without authorization, but don't support Trump's plans.

• "Mass deportations," Kelly said, "are designed to scare people. We need to deport criminals."

The Oval Office shouting match Friday was shocking. But it wasn't too surprising to anyone close to President Trump or Vice President Vance.

Why it matters: Privately, Trump sees Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a pro-Biden, ungrateful lightweight destined to lose to Russia.

• And Trump advisers believe Zelensky sees Trump as a pro-Putin, delusional fool destined to make him lose to Russia.

To Trump's team, it was three strikes — and now officially out of favor — for Zelensky. In their eyes, Zelensky already had two strikes against him when he sat down with Trump and Vance.

• That was the backdrop for a conversation that would become perhaps the most epic televised foreign policy row in history — an argument that rattled Europe and vividly illustrated a sharp turn in U.S. foreign policy toward Russia.

It began with what Trump's team saw as Strike 3 against Zelensky: He disagreed publicly with Vance, who accused Zelensky of trying to "litigate" his case before the media.

• Vance said Zelensky didn't show enough thanks to the U.S. for funding Ukraine's defense — or to Trump for trying to bring peace.
• After a tense nine-minute exchange, it ended with Trump stopping the 50-minute meeting and essentially showing Zelensky the door.

Strike 2 came just before Friday's meeting, when Zelensky arrived at the White House without a suit or jacket, as requested. It was perceived by White House staffers as disrespectful.

• Strike 1, as first reported by Axios, came Feb. 15, when Zelensky publicly trashed a proposed mineral rights deal with Ukraine that he privately had discussed the day before in Munich with Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
• The plan Friday was for Zelensky to sign a new version of the deal as part of a plan to end the war. That didn't happen.

The big picture: At the heart of the discord is Trump's view of the conflict, which continues to challenge the United States' long-held alliances in Europe.

• Trump sees geopolitics in terms of negotiations between powerful countries and big personalities. Russian President Vladimir Putin is a coequal in this paradigm. Zelensky — the leader of a smaller country surviving thanks to American largesse — isn't.

Trump also approaches politics like a business deal or, as a former casino owner, as a type of poker. In one telling moment, he told Zelensky he had a bad hand without the U.S.

• "I'm not playing cards. I'm very serious," Zelensky said. Trump shot back: "You're playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people."
• Quick to temper and desiring of flattery, Trump demands a high degree of obeisance from supplicants. Zelensky didn't show that — and Vance was quick to try to put him in his place.

Trump's expectation of deference from Zelensky is particularly high because of the massive aid the U.S. has sent to Ukraine (an amount Trump inflates). The two have had a fraught relationship since 2019, when Trump was impeached for trying to leverage Zelensky for political gain against Joe Biden.

• Vance has long had antipathy for Zelensky and funding Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion. In his 2022 Senate race in Ohio, Vance ran on a platform of ending Ukraine aid.
• During the presidential election, Zelensky visited a Pennsylvania arms factory and signed missiles with President Biden. Vance cited that episode Friday, accusing Zelensky of "campaigning with the opposition."

Between the lines: Democrats and European allies, who were far more aligned with Biden than Trump, were aghast at the Oval Office spectacle and at how Trump seemed to be shrugging off Putin's aggression against Ukraine.

• But Trump's close Republican allies loved the tag-teaming against Zelensky. White House officials said a message was sent.
• Zelensky "has refused to accept that people are tired of funding this war, and that there is a new sheriff in town," a senior White House adviser said. "He did not come in with that understanding of reality."

What they're saying: Critics say Trump acted more like a crime figure than a president or law enforcement officer.

• "Trump runs the White House like a mob boss. He looks at Russia and China like they're other mob families; he sees Zelensky as a nobody," said Trump critic Lev Parnas, who was Trump's Ukraine fixer during the president's first term, spent time in prison afterward, then penned a tell-all book and a documentary.
• "He thinks [Zelensky] should just beg and then shut up," Parnas said.
• On Friday, "the wildcard was Vance," Parnas added. "I think [Zelensky] would've swallowed whatever Trump was gonna offer, but JD Vance set it off. ... He never liked Zelensky."

Vance advisers say he hadn't plotted to blow up the negotiations, though one privately acknowledged he's "prone to think Zelensky is a liar."

• The meeting was largely uneventful until Zelensky addressed Vance directly and asked how diplomacy would work with a lying killer like Putin.
• "No one expected Zelensky to walk in there and act like such a petulant child, constantly frowning and shaking his head and DJT and JD had had enough," one Republican close to the administration told Axios via text.
• "I'm not sure this is salvageable," the senior White House adviser summed up. "Three strikes and you're out."

Zoom in: Inside the White House, there was a feeling of unease among Trump advisers Friday when they saw Zelensky arrive without a business suit or a blazer. He was dressed instead in a three-button, skintight, long-sleeved black athletic shirt.

• "Wow look, you're all dressed up today," Trump said in a seemingly friendly way that advisers say masked annoyance.
• Brian Glenn, a conservative reporter and boyfriend of Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), seemed to voice the attitude of Trump's team in the Oval Office when he asked Zelensky, "Why don't you wear a suit? … Do you own a suit?" Vance laughed out loud.
• "I will wear a [suit] after this war will finish," Zelensky said. "Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better ... maybe something cheaper."

After Trump canceled a lunch and press conference that was planned after the Oval Office meeting, Zelensky left the White House.

• Later he posted on X, thanking "POTUS, Congress and the American people" for the visit.
• That was interpreted differently by members of the administration. Some thought he was tweaking Vance for having scolded Zelensky. Others thought Zelensky was bending a knee.

What we're watching: Whether Trump and Zelensky can get back to the negotiating table and arrive at a peace deal for Ukraine. If not, Friday's clash could go down in U.S. foreign policy history as even more significant than it already appears.

Vice President Vance will give a keynote address at a tech summit in Washington next month, underscoring the Trump administration's focus on artificial intelligence and advanced computing.

Why it matters: Vance, a former venture capitalist, has helped draw Silicon Valley's tech sector more closely than ever to the nation's capital.

• Vance is a laissez-faire evangelist for American tech dominance. "Excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry," Vance warned Europeans in a speech earlier this month.
• It's a message he'll likely drive home March 18 at the American Dynamism Summit, which is in its third year and organized by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The big picture: Tech influence in federal policy now rivals or exceeds Wall Street's, and not just because of Elon Musk's constant presence in Trump's administration.

Between the lines: Tech sector venture capitalists successfully advocated for Vance to become Trump's running mate last year. They helped fuel Trump's campaign and his inauguration with tens of millions of dollars.

Zoom out: Trump has made a slew of tech hires, many of them tied to Vance. Three days after taking office, Trump issued an executive order appointing tech entrepreneur David Sacks as the administration's "AI and Crypto Czar" to "establish United States leadership in digital financial technology."

• "A lot of founders and investors in Silicon Valley have a deep skepticism about Big Tech," Sacks told Axios in a written statement.
• "They want to innovate and create, rather than censor and consolidate," Sacks said. "The president shares that view. So does the vice president, who has a strong personal network in that world going back to his business career, which is how they can bring everybody together."

Aside from Vance, the summit's speakers include:

• Gwynne Shotwell, president & COO, SpaceX
• Christian Brose, chief strategy officer, Anduril
• Qasar Younis, cofounder & CEO, Applied Intuition
• Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
• Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer, Palantir Technologies
• Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)
• Ali Ghodsi, cofounder, president, & CEO, Databricks

President Trump sparked criticism and suspicion last week when he falsely blamed Ukraine for invading Russia. But his offhand remark reflected a belief his advisers say is real: that NATO helped "provoke" the conflict years ago.

Why it matters: Trump's view of Ukraine is key to understanding why he has turned 80 years of U.S. foreign policy on its ear by criticizing NATO, opposing its expansion there, and cutting European partners out of peace talks.

• Critics on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean accuse Trump of kowtowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, embracing the dictator's disinformation, excusing his aggression and putting Ukraine in too much of a vise.

The big picture: Trump's approach to the war represents a rejection of the reflexively pro-European trans-Atlanticism of past presidents — especially Barack Obama, Joe Biden and George W. Bush. It's also rooted in Trump's longstanding desire to normalize ties with Russia.

• Another sign of how Trump is dramatically changing U.S. policy came Monday, when the U.S. broke with European allies by declining to support a United Nations resolution that condemned Russia and demanded it withdraw from Ukraine.
• Ukraine also is at the heart of strained relations between the U.S. and Russia. It was at the center of Trump's first impeachment in 2019, and played a key role in the investigation of ties between Russia and Trump's campaign that began in 2016.

Zoom in: Trump advisers, put on the defensive over his comment about who started the Russia-Ukraine war, privately have fumed that the media is focusing too much on Trump's misstatement and too little on how the West antagonized Putin in the years before he invaded Ukraine.

They point to two dates that shaped Trump's view of NATO and Ukraine:

• April 3, 2008: NATO declared that one day Ukraine would join the alliance. It troubled Putin, who sees the former "Near Abroad" Soviet republic as more of an extension of Russia. And he doesn't want it to be part of a military alliance that was formed in opposition to the Soviet Union.
• Feb. 22, 2014: Pro-Putin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled for Russia after violent protests in Kyiv erupted as he was backing away from moving closer to the European Union. Five days later, Putin invaded and then annexed Crimea. To justify the aggression, his government had released a secretly recorded and embarrassing phone call between State Department officials that showed the depth of U.S. involvement in Ukraine.
• "When [Trump] is talking about who started the Ukraine war, this is what he was talking about," a senior adviser to the president said. "Yes, he got his wires crossed. The larger point still stands."

Trump's special envoy in the Russia talks, Steve Witkoff, obliquely referred to both of those dates Sunday in discussing the controversy.

• "The war didn't need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn't necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. The president has spoken about this. That didn't need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians," Witkoff told CNN's Jake Tapper.

What they're saying: The condemnation of Witkoff swiftly followed on social media.

• "How embarrassing for Witkoff to be forced to repeat old refuted anti-American leftist propaganda about NATO being a threat to Russia," Gary Kasparov, a Russian chess legend and leading anti-Putin activist, wrote on X. "Russia invaded Ukraine. By Putin's choice, under no threat at all from Ukraine or NATO."
• "Yes the war didn't need to happen. Putin didn't have to invade Ukraine. He most certainly was not provoked. So embarrassing to see a U.S. government official echoing this Putin propaganda," Michael McFaul, Ambassador to Russia during the first Russian invasion of Ukraine, said on X.

Trump's advisers are unmoved.

• They say his critics won't accept that Trump campaigned to end the war, that Putin isn't leaving the Ukrainian territories he has seized, and that Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to resist for much longer.
• "This is a longstanding problem inherited by Donald Trump," said Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump adviser and creator of "The Ukraine Hoax," a MAGA documentary. [He's no relation to this reporter.]
• "The Clinton-Bush-Obama-Biden foreign policy for years played Ukraine as a pawn against Russia in a globalist game that ended up in deadly war," Caputo said. "And the America First movement wants it over."

Reality check: Experts such as Gerard Toal agree with Putin critics that Russia's two invasions were unjust. But, Toal said, it's "a matter of reasonable debate" to accept the view of some academics who believe the West and Russia "co-created" the deterioration of relations, starting in 2008 with talk of NATO expanding closer to Russia.

• "That was a humiliation for Putin," Toal, author of a book about newly independent states near Russia, told Axios.
• "This was a red line for Putin and for the Russians ... this was on their border and was seen as a direct security threat to Russia."

A judge on Monday rejected the Associated Press' emergency motion to rescind the White House ban against its access to some press events, as he sought more details on the circumstances surrounding the case.

Why it matters: It's a win for the White House — at least for now — as they seek to restrict the AP's access, following the news organization's decision to use Gulf of Mexico rather than Gulf of America.

Driving the news: In a hearing on Monday afternoon, Judge Trevor McFadden requested more details about the events that the AP has been barred from and the number of reporters allowed into larger events.

• McFadden didn't find any reason to immediately stop the administration's ban, but he said that case law seems to be against it.

The big picture: The ruling comes after the White House asked the judge to allow it to continue barring the AP from some press events. It argued in a court filing on Monday that access to the president is at his discretion and not a constitutional right.

• The filing said that just because the AP "may have long received special media access to the president does not mean that such access is constitutionally compelled in perpetuity."
• The White House hailed the judge's order, saying in a statement, "asking the president of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right."

The other side: "We look forward to our next hearing on March 20 where we will continue to stand for the right of the press and the public to speak freely without government retaliation," AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said in a statement.

Catch up quick: The Associated Press named White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in their suit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

• The AP accused the White House of violating its First Amendment rights after the outlet's reporters were barred from attending some events, like Oval Office meetings and Air Force One press pools, after the AP's continued use of Gulf of Mexico in its reporting.

The big picture: The White House is targeting AP because of the preeminent role it plays in shaping mainstream news media language via its influential stylebook and, therefore, how other outlets report on the president and his administration.

• Republicans believe the AP has become institutionally geared toward the left.
• Trump advisers say AP's photographers were blocked as well, thereby depriving the organization of the revenue it earns from selling pictures on its news wire.
• AP says its style guide is non-biased and is continually updated to provide accurate, fair and neutral information.

The intrigue: Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for D.C., falsely referred to his office as "President Trumps' lawyers" [sic] in a post on X on Monday. Martin wrote that his team is "vigilant in standing against entities like the AP that refuse to put America first."

• Martin is not a personal lawyer for Trump. As a U.S. attorney for D.C., he is the top prosecutor for the city, with a big portfolio, including white collar and national security investigations and nearly all street-level crime, Axios' Cuneyt Dil reported.
• Per the office's website, "The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia is committed to ensuring the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans."

Between the lines: Trump has installed loyalists at all levels of U.S. government. He's repeatedly promised to use Justice Department officials to seek retribution against his perceived enemies.

• His administration's recent demand that charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams be dismissed led several top prosecutors in New York and D.C. to resign.

The other side: The White House Correspondents Association, an almost 800-member independent press group, filed an amicus brief on Sunday on the AP's behalf.

• It argues that the free speech and integrity of not just the plaintiffs is at stake.
• The brief says that the administration's actions "will chill and distort news coverage of the President to the public's detriment" — a harm that extends beyond just the AP.
• The WHCA also argues that the independent pool system — a rotation of the association's member reporters who follow the president — is a key part of coverage on the White House beat, calling it the "first draft of history of events of domestic and global importance."

Go deeper: AP sues Trump officials over Oval Office ban, citing First Amendment

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

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky angered Donald Trump so much during the peace talks with Russia that Trump was on the verge of withdrawing American military support from Ukraine, three U.S. officials familiar with the discussions tell Axios.

Why it matters: The conflict between Trump and Zelensky escalated into a war of words between the two that scared European allies who are worried about emboldening Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and rewarding his brutal expansionism.

• "President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky," National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said Thursday at the White House press briefing.

The big picture: Trump and Zelensky have had an awkward relationship ever since Trump was impeached in 2019 for trying to leverage U.S. military aid to the war-torn country in return for Zelensky having Joe Biden's son investigated over his sinecure with a Ukrainian gas company.

• Today, Trump is finding it more difficult than expected to make good on his pledge to quickly implement a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Zoom in: Six administration officials tell Axios that during the past nine days there were five incidents that angered Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Waltz. Taken together, one administration official said, Zelensky "showed how not to do the 'Art of the Deal' " when it came to courting Trump's support:

• Feb. 12: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Zelensky in Kyiv to offer a proposal that would give the U.S. access to Ukrainian mineral rights in return for de facto U.S. protection. Trump later told reporters Zelensky was "rude" and delayed his meeting with Bessent because he slept in.
• Feb. 14: At the Munich Security Conference, Vance and Rubio met Zelensky to get his approval for the mineral rights deal. But, the officials said, Zelensky surprised the Americans by saying he didn't have the authority to unilaterally approve it without parliament.
• Feb. 15: Zelensky publicly rejected the offer at the conference. White House sources noted that his remarks to reporters — that the deal was "not in the interests of a sovereign Ukraine" — were markedly different from more positive-sounding comments he'd made on X the day before.
• Feb. 18: As Rubio, Waltz and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff sat down with Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia to talk peace, Zelensky criticized the meeting for occurring without Ukraine at the table. An angry Trump then lashed out at Zelensky at a Mar-a-Lago press conference, falsely suggesting Zelensky had started the war with Russia and had an approval rating of only 4%.
• Feb. 19: Zelensky fired back, saying the U.S. president "lives in a disinformation space." Trump then ratcheted up the pressure by posting on Truth Social that Zelensky, a former actor, was a "modestly successful comedian" who has become a "dictator without elections." Trump has refused to criticize Putin as a dictator.

What they're saying: Vance told the conservative media outlet The National Pulse on Wednesday that Zelensky should've aired his complaints "in a private discussion with American diplomats … he's attacking the only reason [Ukraine] exists, publicly, right now. And it's disgraceful. And it's not something that is going to move the president of the United States. In fact, it's going to have the opposite effect."

• Three administration sources say Vance's comment about Trump's state of mind was a not-so-veiled threat to walk away from Ukraine.

In the White House's view, Zelensky grew too accustomed to former President Biden's open-ended support for Ukraine's war effort, the full-throated backing of NATO countries and the positive press that went with it. So he overstepped.

• "Zelensky is an actor who committed a common mistake of theater kids: He started to think he's the character he plays on TV," a White House official involved in the talks said. "Yes, he has been brave and stood up to Russia. But he would be six feet under if it wasn't for the millions we spent, and he needs to exit stage right with all the drama."
• "We created a monster with Zelensky," another official involved in the negotiations said. "And these Trump-deranged Europeans who won't send troops are giving him terrible advice."
• "In the course of a week, Zelensky rebuffed President Trump's treasury secretary, his secretary of state and his vice president, all before moving on to personally insulting President Trump in the press," another administration official said.
• "What did Zelensky think was going to happen?"

What's next: Despite the mistrust and anger, Trump's team has continued negotiating with Zelensky and a new mineral-rights deal that would be part of a peace agreement is in the offing.

Reality check: The deal Trump appears to be negotiating could be highly controversial. Based on their public and private statements, Trump's team is expected to pressure Zelensky into giving up Crimea (which Putin seized in 2014) portions of eastern Ukraine and the Azov Coast (occupied in Russia's 2022 invasion).

• The U.S. insistence on claiming a share of Ukraine's mineral rights has been compared to a "mafia shakedown" by liberal critics, who point out that the country would lose land and mineral rights and get little in return.
• "It's a sh*t sandwich," a Trump administration official acknowledged.
• "But Ukraine is going to have to eat it because [Trump] has made clear this is no longer our problem."

The Trump administration has given Ukraine an "improved" draft for a minerals agreement between the countries after President Volodymyr Zelensky infuriated President Trump by rejecting his initial offer, a Ukrainian official, a U.S. official and three sources with knowledge tell Axios.

Why it matters: The disagreement over minerals helped spark a wider crisis in relations this week, with Trump denouncing Zelensky as a "dictator" who chose war with Russia, and Zelensky accusing Trump of swallowing Russian "disinformation."

The intrigue: Sources on both sides now say a deal is looking more likely.

• A source with knowledge said several of Zelensky's aides have encouraged him to sign the updated proposal to avoid a further clash with Trump and allow the U.S. president to justify U.S. support for Ukraine.
• "There was significant improvement in the recent draft and it is in conformity with Ukrainian law," the source said.
• National security adviser Mike Waltz told reporters Thursday that Zelensky needed to "come back to the table" on the minerals issue.
• "This is a negotiation. And in a negotiation, you negotiate. Ukraine wants to negotiate minerals, so we're talking about it," a White House official said.

The big picture: Ukraine sits on significant reserves of rare earth minerals critical to the world's most cutting-edge technologies. In total, the value of the minerals could run into the trillions of dollars.

• The minerals agreement is not explicitly linked to any settlement to end the war in Ukraine, but the two issues have collided this week in dramatic fashion.

Catch up quick: The idea for an economic partnership between Ukraine and the U.S. was brought up originally last September by Zelensky during a meeting with Trump in New York.

• Last week, three hours before Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent arrived for a meeting with Zelensky in Kyiv, the U.S. ambassador delivered a draft agreement for cooperation on the mining of minerals.
• The draft agreement said 50% of the resulting revenues would be given to the U.S., that the agreement would be under the jurisdiction of a New York court, and the deal would override any of Ukraine's other trade agreements, according to two sources who read the original draft.
• During their meeting, Bessent told Zelensky that Trump insisted he sign it right away. Zelensky told Bessent he couldn't sign an agreement he had only just received.

Between the lines: The Ukrainians were also disappointed that the U.S. draft didn't include any security guarantees for Ukraine and that it was being pushed on them at a time when Ukraine was also being excluded from U.S.-Russia talks about Ukraine's future.

• But they were also surprised when Trump began to attack Zelensky publicly, including over the minerals proposal.

What they're saying: "Scott Bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely because essentially they told him 'no,'" Trump told reporters on Wednesday. "He came back empty. They wouldn't sign the document."

• Several days later, when Zelensky met Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Munich, they presented him with a less binding draft memorandum of understanding about the mining of minerals, a Ukrainian official said.
• Zelensky told Vance and Rubio he couldn't sign because such an agreement must be approved by parliament, per the Ukrainian constitution.
• "That was news to us that Zelensky's team never told us before that meeting," a Trump administration official said. "It didn't seem like it was in good faith."
• The White House and Zelensky's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Behind the scenes: Zelensky's position on the minerals deal was one of the issues that frustrated Trump and other senior U.S. officials and exacerbated the existing tensions over the U.S.-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say.

• "There is a lot of frustration. Vice President Vance was very frustrated leaving the Munich Security Conference. That is on top of the president [being frustrated]," Waltz told Fox News on Thursday.
• "We proposed to have the U.S. co-invest with Ukraine in its economy and natural resources and become a partner in Ukraine's future. This is the best security guarantee they can hope for. More than another pallet of ammunition."
• "Why are we getting pushback and badmouthing in the press? It's unacceptable. They need to tone it down. Take a hard look and sign this deal," Waltz said.

State of play: Trump said on Wednesday night that he was trying to "resurrect" the minerals deal.

• A Ukrainian official, a U.S. official and two sources with knowledge told Axios that in recent days negotiations continued, with the U.S. presenting Ukraine with an updated version that addressed some of Zelensky's concerns.
• Another source said some articles that had concerned the Ukrainians — including that the deal was under the jurisdiction of the New York court — were removed.

The latest: Zelensky met on Thursday in Kyiv with U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg and discussed the minerals agreement, the battlefield situation, the return of prisoners of war and security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a future peace agreement.

• After the meeting, Zelensky issued a statement thanking the U.S. for its assistance and bipartisan support.
• "Ukraine is ready for a strong, effective investment and security agreement with the President of the United States. We have proposed the fastest and most constructive way to achieve results. Our team is ready to work 24/7," he said.
• Waltz claimed Kellogg had helped Zelensky realize the war needed to end.

Republican grievances against the AP Stylebook's influential guidance on topics like race, gender and immigration have incubated for more than a decade — culminating last week with President Trump's expulsion of Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office.

The big picture: The White House blamed the restriction on AP's recent "Gulf of Mexico" decision. But it's part of a broader escalation against what conservatives see as the AP's tight control over the news media's word choices, as Axios' Marc Caputo reported.

• At a Mar-a-Lago press conference on Tuesday, Trump said that "some of the phrases that they want to use are ridiculous."

The backstory: The first notable conservative complaint surfaced in 2013, when AP discontinued "illegal immigrant" following a pressure campaign from immigrant-rights advocates. Congress was debating a major immigration overhaul at the time.

• Then and now, AP disputes the accusation that its Stylebook favors a political party, movement or ideology. Lauren Easton, AP's vice president of corporate communications, told Axios the news service "doesn't align with any particular agenda." AP provides style guidance to members and customers "and it is up to them what they choose to use," she said.

How it works: For most of its 179 years, AP has been viewed as non-controversial — known for just-the-facts neutrality. The AP Stylebook, first published in 1953, is a basic text in journalism schools — and the first grammar and style guide most U.S. news outlets (including Axios) consult when setting their own rules. The guide is constantly evolving.

• The style rules that rankle conservatives are nested among thousands of Stylebook directives about punctuation and grammar, most of them time-tested and innocuous — capitalization, commas and company names.

Zoom in: Below are some of the AP style guidelines that have stuck in the craws of conservative critics. Axios compiled the list by checking common complaints from MAGA influencers against specific wording in AP guidance.

• Warning against "all views" in transgender coverage: AP's "Transgender Coverage Topical Guide" says to avoid "false balance — giving a platform to unqualified claims or sources in the guise of balancing a story by including all views."
• Using "gender-affirming care": AP says the term, commonly used by advocates and physicians, refers to "a swath of mental and medical treatments (such as counseling, hormones or surgery) that help bring a person's gender expression (such as voice, appearance or anatomy) in line with their gender identity."
• Using "sex assigned at birth": That's recommended "instead of biological sex, birth gender, was identified at birth as, born a girl and the like," the style guide says. "Avoid references to a transgender person being born a boy or girl, or phrasing like birth gender. Sex assigned at birth is the accurate terminology."
• The concept of "non-binary" language: "Experts," the guide says, "say gender is a spectrum, not a binary structure consisting of only males and females."
• Excluding binary terms concerning sex or gender: "Since not all people fall under one of two categories for sex or gender — as in the cases of nonbinary and intersex people — avoid references to both, either or opposite sexes or genders," the guide says.
• Opposing language of transgender critics: "Do not use the term transgenderism, which frames transgender identity as an ideology," AP says.
• Using trans activists' language: The Stylebook discusses "deadnaming," a transgender advocates' term that refers to a person's original name that "can be akin to using a slur and can cause feelings of gender dysphoria to resurface."
• Calling out transgender critics: The guide notes that "opponents of youth transgender medical treatment say there's no solid proof of purported benefits, cite widely discredited research and say children shouldn't make life-altering decisions they might regret."
• Capitalizing Black but not white for race: The Stylebook advises that "Black" should be used for racial descriptions while the lowercase "black" is considered just a color. AP says "white people's skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore those problems. But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs." AP notes that white people "generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color."
• Limiting use of the word "riot": AP says that "focusing on rioting and property destruction rather than underlying grievance has been used in the past to stigmatize broad swaths of people protesting against lynching or police brutality or for racial justice, going back at least to the urban uprisings of the 1960s in the U.S."
• Alternatives to "Hispanic": The Stylebook says that "Latino, Latina or Latinx are sometimes preferred" over Hispanic. Poll after poll shows Hispanic is preferred, and support for using Latinx is minuscule.
• Describing immigrants: The Stylebook frowns on the term "illegal immigrant" and says to "use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant." AP doesn't recommend "undocumented immigrant," and says acceptable "variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission. For people: immigrants lacking permanent legal status."
• Disfavoring the term "anchor babies": The Stylebook says it's "a pejorative term in the U.S. for children who are born to noncitizen parents wanting to take advantage of birthright citizenship."
• Disfavoring "catch and release": The Stylebook notes it's "a term favored by advocates of immigration restriction" for those caught illegally in the country who are then released in the U.S. But the guide calls it a "misleading and dehumanizing term."
• Avoiding "chain migration": AP notes it's a term used by immigration restrictionists, and says to avoid it in referring "to what the U.S. government calls family-based immigration." The guide says the term is "vague and may imply unfettered immigration."
• Cautioning against "terrorism and terrorist" because they've become "politicized": The Stylebook says that instead of "labeling an attack or attacker as terrorism or terrorist, AP describes the specific atrocity, massacre, bombing, or assassination, and so on. We do not use the terms terrorism or terrorist for specific actions or groups, other than when attributed to authorities or others."
• Changing the spelling of Ukraine's capital: In 2019, AP announced a style change to spell the city "Kyiv" to align with the government's spelling, and not "Kiev," which is more associated with Russia. (Chicken Kiev, however, remains unchanged in the style guide).

Criticisms from liberal circles are harder to find — or were resolved, like some concerning coverage of racism or race and ethnicity. But there are some:

• Use of "Palestine": Supporters of Palestinian rights, who tend to be left-adjacent, have for years complained that AP style says the West Bank and Gaza should not be referred to as "Palestine ... since it is not a fully independent, unified state."
• President Trump's conviction: The organization was also criticized by those on the left for not routinely describing Trump as a "convicted felon" during the campaign.

The other side: Easton says that only does the AP Stylebook not align with any one agenda, it "is used as a writing and editing reference worldwide. It contains thousands of entries. It offers guidance on spelling, language, punctuation and journalistic style and is regularly updated as usage evolves. In doing so, we consider a wide range of input."

• "Updates are made with an eye to making the news report clear, accurate and easily understood by a global audience. Like AP journalism, guidance offered in the Stylebook is used by organizations that span the political spectrum."

AP defenders say that objections to Stylebook prescriptions are no justification for punishing journalists. Several news organizations and press groups have issued statements condemning the White House actions.

• An AP statement says: "Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP's speech not only severely impedes the public's access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment."

Go deeper: Why Trump targets AP.

One of the big reasons President Trump is limiting AP reporters' White House access is to protest what aides see as years of liberal word choices that the wire service's influential stylebook spread across mainstream media, according to top White House officials.

Why it matters: The trigger was the announcement by The Associated Press that it would continue using the 400-year-old "Gulf of Mexico" rather than switch to "Gulf of America," as declared by Trump in a Day 1 executive order. But it turns out that broader underlying grievances made AP a target.

The big picture: By spotlighting AP, Trump is amplifying Republican and conservative criticisms that the AP Stylebook, a first reference for most U.S. news organizations, shapes political dialogue by favoring liberal words and phrases concerning gender, immigration, race and law enforcement.

• "This isn't just about the Gulf of America," White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich told Axios. "This is about AP weaponizing language through their stylebook to push a partisan worldview in contrast with the traditional and deeply held beliefs of many Americans and many people around the world."
• The dispute with AP is part of Trump's broader effort to discredit legacy media outlets and the public's trust in the press — already at a record low.

The other side: AP — which has long been considered the gold standard of neutrality — rejects any accusation of bias. Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications, told Axios that AP "is a global, fact-based, nonpartisan news organization with thousands of customers around the world who span the political spectrum."

• "If AP journalism wasn't factual and nonpartisan, this wouldn't be the case," she said.
• Easton said AP provides "guidance on issues brought to us by members and customers, and it is up to them what they choose to use. Again, this is guidance. It's not surprising that political parties, organizations or even individuals may disagree with some entries. The Stylebook doesn't align with any particular agenda."

State of play: After barring AP reporters from covering several events with Trump last week, the White House said Friday that because the wire service "continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America," AP slots in the Oval Office on Air Force One "will now be opened up" to other reporters.

• An AP reporter and photographer were blocked Friday from boarding Air Force One for Trump's weekend trip to Florida.
• The White House said AP journalists "will retain their credentials to the White House complex."

The backstory: AP said in its Jan. 23 "style guidance," released proactively to guide members and customers, that Trump "has signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump's order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change."

• "The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years," the guidance continues. "The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences."
• AP said in the same announcement that it'll follow Trump's executive order returning the name of Alaska's Mount McKinley, which had been changed to Denali in 2015. AP's logic: The peak is solely within the U.S., and "Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names."

Behind the scenes: Five days after AP issued its guidance concerning the gulf name change, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held her first briefing, and foreshadowed the fight the White House would pick with legacy media.

• "Karoline said she would not lie and that she would call out media organizations who do lie," a Trump adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "And we knew the AP would keep calling the Gulf of America the Gulf of Mexico, and that's misinformation."

To attract maximum attention to his change, Trump signed an order in front of reporters on Air Force One as he flew over the Gulf en route to the Super Bowl on Feb. 9, declaring the "first ever Gulf of America Day."

• Two days later, the White House blocked an AP reporter from an Oval Office event.

Zoom out: Trump allies — including Mike Cernovich, a leading MAGA influencer on X — began attracting the attention of the president's advisers by highlighting longstanding complaints about some of the AP stylebook's thousands of entries. Other less-well-known accounts criticized guidance about immigration and transgender issues that White House advisers have seen. Among the AP guidance conservatives find objectionable:

• Warning against "all views" in transgender coverage: AP's "Transgender Coverage Topical Guide" says to avoid "false balance — giving a platform to unqualified claims or sources in the guise of balancing a story by including all views."
• Using the phrase "gender-affirming care": AP says the term, commonly used by advocates and physicians, refers to "a swath of mental and medical treatments (such as counseling, hormones or surgery) that help bring a person's gender expression (such as voice, appearance or anatomy) in line with their gender identity."
• Capitalizing Black but not white for race: AP's stylebook advises that "Black" should be used for racial descriptions while the lowercase "black" is considered just a color. AP says "white people's skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore those problems. But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs." AP notes that white people "generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color."
• Describing immigrants: The Stylebook frowns on the term "illegal immigrant" and says to "use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant." AP doesn't recommend "undocumented immigrant," and says acceptable "variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission. For people: immigrants lacking permanent legal status."

What they're saying: Terry Schilling, a conservative critic of "transgenderism" (a word AP recommends against), called the style guidance "Orwellian newspeak. It's 1984."

• Ashley Brundage, a transgender activist with GLAAD, defended AP for trying to use "inclusive language," and said that "if Republicans are good with name changes for the Gulf of Mexico, then they should be OK for any name changes" for transgender people.

The Axios position: We've taken a different approach than many media companies, based on serving primarily a U.S. audience. The government, plus Apple Maps and Google Maps, call it the Gulf of America. For clarity, we call it the "Gulf of America (renamed by the U.S. from Gulf of Mexico)."

• "At the same time," Axios said in a statement Friday, "the government should never dictate how any news organization makes editorial decisions. The AP and all news organizations should be free to report as they see fit. This is a bedrock of a free press and durable democracy."

President Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is the congenial dealmaker for the very brash dealmaker-in-chief.

• Witkoff has an expanding portfolio that now includes Trump's biggest geopolitical challenge — negotiating a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine as part of a controversial reset of U.S. foreign policy.

Why it matters: Trump's cage-rattling agenda — which has shocked European allies — is a keystone of his second term. He'll rely heavily on Witkoff, a billionaire real estate investor and friend for 40 years, to make it happen.

Zoom in: Associates describe Witkoff, 67, as something of a velvet glove when it comes to negotiating — smooth and to the point.

• Witkoff helped persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to release U.S. teacher Marc Fogel on Monday, after talks in Moscow.
• Witkoff played a key role in getting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire-and-hostages deal with Hamas last month.
• He's also Trump's point man for talks the president wants to have with Iran to try to reach a new nuclear deal later this year, U.S. officials say.

Trump aides emphasize that Witkoff shouldn't be seen as overshadowing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Witkoff was instrumental in advising Trump to pick Rubio, Vice President Vance and White House national security adviser Mike Waltz for their positions.

• They've all worked with Witkoff on the Middle East. But a senior Arab official said it's clear to everyone in the region that Witkoff is Trump's ultimate representative — and that if you want to cut a deal, you do it with him.

Between the lines: Witkoff's negotiating tactics are rooted in his experience as a New York real estate mogul, according to those who know him.

• They say Witkoff knows when to employ charm, which he prefers, and when to apply pressure that can channel Trump's intimidating demeanor.
• "The president sees Steve as one of the world's great dealmakers," said one White House official. "Game respects game."
• "He's very respectful and direct," said one official who's seen Witkoff work. "He doesn't apologize for the president or undercut him. You never hear him say: 'Oh, I agree with you and disagree with Trump.'"
• "He has all the good of Trump but he does not need the limelight," the official said. "He does not need to fly like Icarus, too close to the sun."

Israeli officials who worked with Witkoff on the Gaza ceasefire deal described him as energetic and informal. Witkoff even came to some negotiation sessions in Doha wearing sweatpants, a sweatshirt and sneakers.

• Witkoff's energy "was a key factor that led to the deal," an Israeli official said.

Witkoff favors swift, direct and to-the-point talks.

• "He wants to talk to people that are empowered to close a deal, and not waste his time on talking to people that need to go back to their boss every two minutes to get approval," a source close to Witkoff said.

Reality check: Israeli and Arab officials told Axios that Witkoff still needs to become more knowledgeable about the Middle East — the different players and the historical and emotional sensitivities that underpin conflicts there.

• Concerns about the U.S. trying to impose a shortsighted policy in Gaza have heightened amid Trump's call for Palestinians to be removed from war-torn Gaza and relocated permanently to Jordan and Egypt — a plan few see as remotely workable.

Trump's team faces a significant challenge in talks with Putin over Ukraine. During his invasions of Ukrainian lands in the past decade, Putin has shown no willingness to compromise.

• But much to the consternation of America's European allies, Trump's administration has indicated the U.S. is willing to allow Russia to keep some of the territory it has gained.

Flashback: Witkoff was a behind-the-scenes negotiator and fixer during Trump's 2024 campaign.

• He organized a bury-the-hatchet meeting between Trump and his bitter GOP primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
• After Trump savaged popular Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) for rejecting Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen, it was Witkoff who met with Kemp to smooth things over.
• Witkoff flew to Kiawah Island, S.C., for a secret meeting with another primary rival, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
• Witkoff was in the room when Trump had his reconciliation meeting with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago last July. He was also present when Trump met the Emirati and Qatari leaders in September.

The Trump-Witkoff relationship dates to the mid-1980s, when Trump was a rising New York builder and Witkoff was a real estate lawyer.

• The two became golf buddies and dinner companions. Trump came to appreciate that, unlike others in Trumpworld, Witkoff wasn't seeking fame.
• And unlike many other longtime friends of Trump's, Witkoff didn't ditch him after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. That resonated with Trump.

"Steve has stayed loyal and asked for nothing," an administration official said.

• Trump often used Witkoff's Gulfstream G6 jet during the campaign, including when the Secret Service feared that Trump's jet would be targeted by Iranian assassins. Vance took a secret flight on Witkoff's plane to meet with Trump just before his selection as the VP nominee.
• Witkoff also flew to Israel and Qatar for the negotiations that produced the Gaza deal. He gave Joe Biden's Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, a ride back to Washington after they sealed the deal.
• Last week, Witkoff's jet flew to Russia to bring back Fogel, who'd been held there since 2021 for carrying a small amount of marijuana into the country.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s family is concerned that President Trump's order to release records about his assassination could revive the FBI's attempts to discredit him — efforts that sought to exploit his indiscretions and undermine his legacy, sources close to his relatives tell Axios.

• The family requested a sneak preview of the records prior to their release. Trump declined, a White House official said, but not out of animus toward the family.

Why it matters: The brewing controversy pits Trump's determination to release documents the government has kept secret for more than a half-century against the family's lingering pain over how J. Edgar Hoover's FBI spied on King and tried to intimidate and humiliate him.

• Last month, Trump ordered the release of all records the U.S. government still holds about King's assassination in 1968, as well as the assassinations of President Kennedy (1963) and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (1968).
• The FBI has released documents about King's private life previously, but the new disclosure could include more documents detailing alleged embarrassing interactions in hotel rooms, private homes and even King's house,

"We know J. Edgar Hoover tried to destroy Dr. King's legacy, and the family doesn't want that effort to prevail," a King family friend told Axios.

• "Family members wanted an advanced viewing" of the documents, "and [Trump] said no," the White House official said, explaining that the president believes "these records don't belong to them. These are the public's records."
• The president's abiding interest is disclosure about what the government knew about the assassinations, not salacious details about the leaders' sex lives, the official said, adding that the King family's concerns had been relayed to the White House.
• "Everything will be revealed," Trump said last month after he announced his order to disclose information about the three 1960s assassinations that shaped a turbulent decade in American society and politics.

Zoom in: King's assassination at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis has long fueled conspiracy theories about potential government involvement, especially because of the FBI's hostility toward him.

• In 1969, James Earl Ray, a career criminal, pleaded guilty to shooting King but later recanted his confession, saying he was part of a larger conspiracy.
• Allegations of government complicity have persisted for decades, with civil rights leaders, investigative authors and Ray's attorneys citing the FBI, Memphis police, and Missouri State Penitentiary — from which Ray escaped a year before the killing — as potential conspirators.

Between the lines: The promise of complete disclosure alarmed the King family, who were hurt in 2019 by the release of FBI files that alleged sordid details about King's sex life, the family friend said.

• "The assassination of our father is a deeply personal family loss that we have endured over the last 56 years. We hope to be provided the opportunity to review the files as a family prior to its public release," the family said in an Instagram post Jan. 24, the day after Trump's order.
• "There are deep concerns" within the family, said a second source who has corresponded with one of King's two surviving adult children.
• "They know the right wing wants to smear Dr. King, and one way to do it is by putting these smears in the public under the guise of transparency. If there are assassination records, release those. But smears are not assassination records."

The big picture: Trump's push to release the assassination records reflect his longtime suspicion of the FBI. He stewed when the FBI investigated him, and has associated the bureau with what many conservatives see as a "Deep State" bureaucracy that has manipulated the government.

• So the King family and Trump share a common antagonist: the FBI.

King's pursuit of civil rights through nonviolence is his enduring legacy. But as his work unfolded in the 1960s, Hoover and others in the U.S. government sought to prevent the rise of what they feared would be a Black "messiah" who could unify African Americans.

• Congress formally recognized King's iconic status by approving a federal holiday in his honor more than 15 years after he was killed in Memphis.
• In the following decades, his legacy drew bipartisan admiration. More recently, however, far-right commentators such as Charlie Kirk, a Trump ally, began criticizing King.

Trump hasn't followed suit, but such criticism coincides with an increasing willingness among Republicans to attack affirmative action, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and other initiatives designed to ensure fairness for historically disadvantaged groups.

• Trump has banned DEI programs in the U.S. government. He signed a proclamation declaring February as Black History Month — but his DEI ban led federal agencies to cancel activities celebrating it.

Flashback: FBI documents released through the years have shown how King's success as a civil rights organizer was rattling the bureau in 1963.

• "We must mark [King] now ... as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security," William Sullivan, then the FBI's director of intelligence, wrote in a memo two days after King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
• As attorney general, Robert Kennedy approved Hoover's request in 1963 to wiretap King amid concerns that King was associating with communists.

During its surveillance of King, the FBI stumbled upon recordings, from the bugged home of his lawyer Clarence Jones, that indicated King was involved in an extramarital affair, according to the 2020 documentary "MLK/FBI."

• That led the FBI to expand its surveillance to include bugging King's home and hotel rooms. FBI agents reported that King was involved in several sexual liaisons, according to "MLK/FBI" and documents in the National Archives.
• In November 1964, the FBI anonymously sent a package to King at his home with a copy of an electronic surveillance tape that included personal information and a note suggesting that he kill himself, documents in the National Archives show.

FBI files accessible in the Archives suggest the bureau has tape recordings or photos of King's private activities that have never been released.

• A federal judge in 1977 ordered most recordings and reports on King's private life sealed until 2027. Under Trump's order, the documents would be released two years early, by March 9.

Sam Pollard, director of "MLK/FBI," tells Axios that there initially will be attention on "salacious stuff" when the records on King are released.

• But Pollard said the release also is likely to include tapes that will give scholars insight on conversations King had with Jesse Jackson and other associates on their strategies and views on their civil rights movement.
• "I don't think, personally, it's gonna hurt his reputation," said Pollard, who received a "cease and desist" order from King's family when he was working on his film but later reached an agreement with the family.

What we're watching: Under Trump's order, the government's long-withheld documents on former President Kennedy's assassination are supposed to be released imminently.

• The records regarding Robert Kennedy's assassination are supposed to be released after King's records, sometime after March 9.

As President Trump nears his term's one-month mark next week, a White House adviser is keeping a calendar tracking daily wins, losses and "jump balls" — and loves the result so far.

Why it matters: Insiders tell us Trump, who came into office feeling ebullient and empowered, is just getting more confident — fueled by his expected clean sweep of Cabinet confirmations, plus a CBS News poll showing 53% approval amid his aggressive "flood the zone" opening actions.

The big picture: The midterm map has gotten more favorable for the GOP with the retirement announcements Thursday by Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) a week into Trump's term — two more hot battleground seats for Dems to defend in an already tough cycle.

Privately, there's an undercurrent of worry in Trumpworld that political gravity could weigh him down — especially if inflation rises. The looming debt ceiling and government-funding fights could be messy.

• For now, it's foot ... on ... gas. White House communications director Steven Cheung posted a photo of eight news channels simultaneously showing this week's Oval Office colloquy by Trump and Elon Musk and labeled it: "FULL SPECTRUM DOMINANCE."

Behind the scenes: "Trump is reborn," a confidant who spoke with Trump by phone told Caputo.

• "Normally, a big part of the conversation is the 'Russia hoax' and stuff like that," the confidant said. "It's gone. Now it's: 'Did you see the CBS poll?' Or it's: 'This person is saying nice things about me.' He feels totally vindicated."

A highlight of Trump's week was Russia's release of imprisoned Pennsylvania teacher Marc Fogel, who was flown from Moscow straight to D.C. Fogel met the president on the South Lawn late Tuesday night — an American flag draped around his neck and an Iron City Beer in his hand.

• The cameras captured it all. "This is Trump the Producer," another confidant told us.

Reality check: Offscreen, it's much messier — sometimes intended, sometimes not — as Trump and Elon Musk race to reshape Washington and reset American foreign policy.

• Six senior Justice Department officials, including Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, resigned Thursday rather than comply with a Justice Department order to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. (Reuters)
• As layoffs swept the bureaucracy, thousands of workers "were laid off in messages delivered through prerecorded videos and on group calls," The Washington Post reports. "Some were ordered to leave the building within 30 minutes. Others were told they would be formally fired by emails, which never arrived."
• The Small Business Administration listed a paralegal phone number for laid-off employees to appeal their termination — but the number was an automated line for an apartment building. (WP)
• There's much more to come: Musk told the World Governments Summit in Dubai via teleconference that the U.S. needs to "delete entire agencies — many of them." (Video)
• A "climate of fear" hit the Kennedy Center as Trump was installed as the chair, succeeding David Rubenstein, and some upcoming shows vanished from the lineup. (WP)
• NATO reels: The world's biggest military alliance is in disarray amid new questions about America's commitment to European security after remarks this week by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (AP)
• "Trump's Whirlwind Now Blows Through Europe," the N.Y. Times' David E. Sanger writes (gift link), pointing to Trump's tariffs, statements on Ukraine by Trump and Hegseth, and Vice President Vance's "America First" AI speech in Paris.

The bottom line: Look for the maximalist Trump to accelerate as more of his confirmed officials ramp up.

Go deeper: Axios confirmation tracker.

The FBI just discovered about 2,400 records tied to President Kennedy's assassination that were never provided to a board tasked with reviewing and disclosing the documents, Axios has learned.

• The still-secret records are contained in 14,000 pages of documents the FBI found in a review triggered by President Trump's Jan. 23 executive order demanding the release of all JFK assassination records.

Why it matters: The discovery — 61 years after Kennedy was killed in Dallas — follows decades of government reluctance to release all documents related to the assassination, which fueled a mountain of conspiracy theories.

• The existence of the new documents was disclosed Friday to the White House, when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence submitted its plan to disclose the assassination records under Trump's order.

Zoom in: The contents of the newly found records are closely held secrets. The three sources who relayed their existence to Axios said they hadn't seen the documents.

• But the discovery of thousands of records on one of the most scrutinized events in U.S. history is likely to raise questions about the procedures for vetting and releasing information across the entire government.
• "This is huge. It shows the FBI is taking this seriously," said Jefferson Morley, an expert on the assassination and vice president of the nonpartisan Mary Ferrell Foundation, the nation's largest source of online records of Kennedy's killing. He sued the U.S. government for more records.
• "The FBI is finally saying, 'Let's respond to the president's order,' instead of keeping the secrecy going," Morley said.

Reality check: The remaining records to be disclosed — as well as the newly discovered tranche of 2,400 reports — are unlikely to definitively prove whether Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone-wolf assassin or was part of a broader conspiracy, experts say.

Catch up quick: Under the 1992 JFK Records Act, assassination records were supposed to be handed over to the JFK Assassination Records Review Board and then to the National Archives. The archive maintains a collection of documents that were supposed to be fully disclosed in 2017.

• Administration officials determined these newly discovered records hadn't been submitted to or vetted by the assassination review board or the National Archives.
• When Trump was president in 2017, he delayed disclosure of the records the government had identified, on the advice of the CIA. President Biden then ordered limited releases of records that still didn't fully comply with the spirit of the JFK Records Act.
• Government secrecy advocates argued to Trump and Biden that full disclosure of the assassination documents could compromise "sources and methods" of intelligence gathering, and unfairly implicate officials involved in the controversy.

The big picture: Trump has regretted for years not releasing all the JFK records in his first term, according to those who have discussed the matter with him.

• During the 2024 campaign, Trump promised his supporters and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the late president's nephew, that he'd release the records on JFK's assassination in 1963, as well as those related to the 1968 killing of Kennedy's father, Robert F. Kennedy.
• RFK Jr., named by Trump to be Health and Human Services secretary, has called for full disclosure for years, and believes both assassinations were part of a broader conspiracy.

Trump's order calls for a plan to release assassination records of RFK and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by March 9.

• "PRESIDENT TRUMP IS ENDING THE ENDLESS DELAYS," a White House fact sheet issued Jan. 23 says: "President Trump promised during his campaign to release assassination records to give Americans the truth."

What's next: Despite Trump's order, sources say, the various intelligence agencies with records of the assassination are still recommending redactions.

• "When POTUS hears about this stonewalling, he's gonna hit the roof," a White House official told Axios.
• "This is total Deep State bulls**t," said another.
• "Don't be surprised if all these records just suddenly wind up online," a Trump adviser said. "He wants to move on and call this a promise kept."

The intrigue: The newly discovered FBI files could have relevance in the ongoing federal lawsuit filed by the Mary Ferrell Foundation against the Biden administration in 2022. It alleges federal agencies had more documents related to the assassination that they weren't turning over to the National Archives. They include:

• Jailhouse recordings of mobster Carlos Marcello, who claimed he was involved in the assassination.
• CIA files of George Joannides. He was the chief of covert action at the CIA station in Miami and was a case officer for a New Orleans-based CIA-funded exile group that had a series of encounters with Oswald before the shooting. Joannides also was accused of misleading a House committee investigating the assassination by failing to disclose his ties to Oswald. "The Joannides file sounds exactly like the newly discovered FBI files," Morley said. "It's something assassination-related that was never turned over to the Archives."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked U.S. Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick during their meeting in Washington on Friday to give Israel a waiver that would exempt it from proposed regulatory controls on advanced AI chips, two sources with knowledge of the issue said.

Why it matters: Advanced computing chips are crucial for Israel's tech and defense industries to develop AI systems.

• Israel has been extremely concerned by the Biden administration's decision to put it on a list of 120 countries whose access to advanced AI chips exported from the U.S. could be limited under a framework proposed in January.
• While the immediate effect is mostly on Israel's reputation, the export controls could have a negative impact on the Israeli tech industry in the future.
• The Biden administration's restrictions won't take effect for three months and Israel hopes Trump will change the export control framework or upgrade Israel's status, an Israeli official said.

Behind the scenes: A U.S. source with knowledge of the meeting said Lutnick discussed the issue with Netanyahu but made no promises.

• A senior Trump administration official expressed skepticism that the U.S. will grant Netanyahu's request in the near term.
• "We can't start making exceptions right now because this is national security we're talking about and it's of utmost importance," the official said.

The big picture: Under the Biden administration's framework about 20 allied countries, including Japan, Canada, and the U.K., would be able to import chips from the U.S. without restrictions.

• Arms-embargoed countries, including China and Russia, were already unable to import advanced chips from U.S. companies. The new export controls are aimed at preventing China from gaining access to chips via third-party countries.
• Another 120 countries, including Israel, Switzerland and Portugal, would face caps on the number of chips they could import from the U.S. and be subject to license requirements.
• The sweeping controls have drawn criticism from some industry players who argue they will undermine U.S. competitiveness.

Go deeper:

Biden administration unveils global AI export controls aimed at China

Biden ratchets up AI chip war with China

Scoop: Advanced AI chips cleared for export to UAE under Microsoft deal

House GOP leaders told White House officials Thursday they need another 24 hours on reconciliation, pleading for the Senate to let them figure it out.

Why it matters: After a four-plus-hour meeting in the White House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) returned to the Capitol and said they were "close" to an agreement.

• "I think probably by tonight we wrap it," he said.

Vice President Vance was in the room for the first part of the meeting, while President Trump was in and out after it became clear the meeting would be a marathon.

• They wrapped in the Oval Office, where the president gave the lawmakers pens and coins.
• Trump told the Republicans to "figure out" how to make his 2017 tax cuts permanent.

Zoom in: Johnson's optimism was publicly shared by other leaders who attended the meeting, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).

• "Today was big," Arrington told reporters Thursday.
• "It was pretty intense. The heat was on medium the whole time," House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) told us.

Reality check: Lawmakers didn't share any details of the kind of progress they made.

• It's unclear if they made any headway on the yawning gap in how much spending they should cut, which ranges from $500 billion to $2 trillion.

Driving the news: In addition to his campaign promises, like "no taxes on tips," Trump dug up some provisions he didn't dwell on during the campaign, like ending tax breaks for sports teams and treating so-called "carried interest" as regular income, as Axios scooped Thursday.

• The private equity industry responded quickly. "President Trump's historic [2017] law struck the right balance on carried interest and encouraged local investment, innovation and economic growth," said Drew Maloney, president and CEO of the American Investment Council.

Zoom out: Since Monday, House lawmakers have been acutely aware they have until Friday night to convince Trump their one-bill approach can carry his legislative priorities. That's when the Senate GOP will be dining at Mar-a-Lago.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) upped the pressure Wednesday by telling his colleagues that he'd move his budget reconciliation package next week.

The intrigue: Johnson and Arrington had different responses to the Senate's implicit threat.

• "Our message to our friends and colleagues in the Senate is, allow the House to do its work," Johnson told reporters.
• "We know that they're ready to go at any time," Arrington said. "That's a healthy push for the process on our end."

The White House has directed the General Services Administration to terminate "every single media contract" expensed by the agency, according to an email obtained by Axios.

What they're saying: "GSA team, please do two things," a Trump administration official wrote:

Pull all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E (Politico sub) and Bloomberg

Pull all media contracts for just GSA - cancel every single media contract today for GSA only.

Why it matters: President Trump is targeting the federal government's media contracts after Elon Musk and his allies discovered millions of dollars in agency subscriptions to Politico Pro, a policy tracking service widely used in Washington.

• The discovery, made through a U.S. government spending database that has long been publicly available, triggered erroneous theories on X about the Biden administration "funding" anti-Trump media.
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the executive branch would stop spending money on Politico subscriptions amid the right-wing outrage.
• GSA manages real estate, procurement and technology services for the federal government. An X account for DOGE has also announced cuts to other individual deals, such as a Treasury contract with the New York Times.

Reality check: Politico's executives addressed the false conspiracy theories about the company receiving "funding" from the government in a note to readers Thursday.

• "POLITICO is a privately owned company. We have never received any government funding — no subsidies, no grants, no handouts. Not one dime, ever, in 18 years," wrote Politico Media Group CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Politico Global Editor-In-Chief John Harris.
• "POLITICO Pro is different. It is a professional subscription service used by companies, organizations, and, yes, some government agencies."
• "Government agencies that subscribe do so through standard public procurement processes—just like any other tool they buy to work smarter and be more efficient."

Between the lines: A White House official said there should be no surprise the government is targeting media subscription, given DOGE's mandate to cut spending and Trump's opposition to financially helping the mainstream media.

• "The eye of Sauron is on more than just Politico," the adviser said. "It's all the media."

Disclosure: Our Axios Pro product provides in-depth policy and industry news to paying subscribers, including government employees. Last year, $5,550 in payments were made to Axios as part of a Federal Communications Commission subscription, according to the government's database that tracks federal spending.

The Trump administration's gutting of USAID is just a start: Elon Musk and President Trump's Cabinet and advisers are combing through agencies to purge those deemed to be anti-Trump, anti-American or too "woke," top officials tell Axios.

Why it matters: Trump promised during his campaign to root out the "Deep State" — generally framed as institutional resistance in D.C. that impedes his agenda. But the speed and tactics of Trump's vengeance-fueled cost-cutting efforts have been surprising.

• The CIA on Tuesday became the first major security agency to offer "buyouts" to its entire work force. The buyouts, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, align with new director John Ratcliffe's push for a younger and less establishment-oriented workforce.
• Fresh off her Senate confirmation, Attorney General Pam Bondi is establishing a "Weaponization Working Group" to analyze the actions of federal prosecutors and FBI agents in the criminal cases the Justice Department brought against Trump. It also will examine the New York civil and criminal cases brought against him.
• Tulsi Gabbard will be tasked under a Trump executive order to examine "weaponization" of the agencies under her purview after her expected confirmation as director of national intelligence.
• Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) clashed last weekend with USAID officials who tried to deny Musk's team of tech wizards access to secure government payroll and systems.
• Some State Department workers sent word to Axios that they suspect administration officials "are now stalking people's LinkedIn to check their backgrounds for possible loyalty issues."

Zoom in: Trump is focused on the Justice Department for prosecuting him, but the State Department and the National Security Council are two major ideological battlegrounds where officials say they expect to encounter "resistance" liberals.

• Even before Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, his team was seeking mass resignations from the State Department and the NSC.
• "The folks that we're bringing in are 100% aligned with the president's agenda," National Security Adviser Michael Waltz told Breitbart this month when he announced his "Deep State" purge plans.
• "The State Department is largely run by bleeding-heart liberals," Florida Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Axios.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a longtime supporter of foreign aid, but believes the State Department has had too many officials who support engagement with the dictatorships in Cuba and Iran.

• As a senator, Rubio joined Mast in criticizing the State Department and USAID. They issued a 2023 report called "Diversity over Diplomacy: How Wokeness is Weakening the U.S. State Department" and sponsored an anti-DEI bill aimed at the department.

Zoom out: USAID is the world's premier foreign assistance agency and manages as much as $40 billion in appropriations.

• It's the keystone of U.S. "soft power" in fostering relations in developing nations. It's also a target for Republicans who see parts of the agency as a liberal-aligned patronage system that helps Democrats revolve in and out of government and non-governmental organizations.
• To try to drive home the administration's distaste for USAID, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday ran through list of USAID expenditures that included "$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru."
• "Bring USAID to heel and you end the Democrat gravy train," one Rubio ally told Axios.
• "The claim is kind of absurd," a former Democratic State Department official said in response. "During Republican administrations, they flood the place with their appointees and priorities."

The big picture: USAID is now the flashpoint for the Trump administration's brash — and potentially unconstitutional — efforts to restructure the U.S. government.

• The agency's website was taken down and replaced with a message saying all personnel not assigned to "mission-critical functions" will be put on leave on Friday. Most workers overseas were ordered home within 30 days. The D.C. headquarters was closed Monday. Democratic lawmakers tried to get access and held a press conference after they were turned away.
• "This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like," Rep Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said of the administration's plans to change the agency or fold it into Rubio's State Department.
• "We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper," Musk boasted on X.

Between the lines: Musk over the weekend said Trump had agreed to shut down USAID, but Trump indicated that was premature.

• The president did, however, make Rubio USAID's acting director. Rubio told Fox News on Monday that "we're going through the same process at USAID as we're going through at the State Department."
• "They just think they're a global entity and that their master is the globe, and not the United States," Rubio said. "That's not sustainable."

What's next: An administration official familiar with Rubio's efforts said the secretary has no pre-baked plan to root out "Deep State" actors. Rubio, with Musk's team, is reviewing spending as the department pauses foreign expenditures under a Trump executive order.

• The State Department abided by Trump's spending freeze, the official said — "just the opposite experience of USAID where people started pushing money out the door against ... the spirit of the executive order. We just had outright rebellion."