The Gaza ceasefire saw three hostages held by Hamas since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel released on Sunday, along with 90 Palestinian prisoners.

The big picture: In the first hostage-for-prisoner swaps to occur since the ceasefire began Sunday, Israelis Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher and dual British-Israeli national Emily Damar were freed and Israel released a group of prisoners that mostly comprised women and minors.

Flashback: Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal officially signed in Doha

Editor's note: This article has been updated with more photos.

Two days after her president-elect husband generated potentially tens of billions of dollars with a new meme coin, first-lady-in-waiting Melania Trump launched her own coin Sunday night: MELANIA.

Why it matters: The Trump family became crypto billionaires this weekend, simultaneously raising difficult questions about the boundaries between their official roles and personal profits.

By the numbers: The details on this new coin are sketchier, but we can see that it also has a supply of a billion tokens. It's not clear how many are on the market now.

• According to the token's site, the team is only setting aside 35% for themselves, but it will also only take 13 months for it all to unlock.
• More than 22,000 wallets held it early Sunday evening, shortly after launch, according to Solscan, a site for checking the details of assets on the Solana blockchain.
• The meme coin is offered by MKT World, a company associated with the incoming first lady.

What we're watching: The token for Trump's wife is rising in price fast, quickly breaking $5 on Dexscreener (with a fully diluted market cap of more than $5 billion).

• Which would mean something well over $1.5 billion for the team's allocation.
• Concurrently, TRUMP fell about 36% on the news that there was more than one family coin out there, from $72 to $44 on CoinGecko, at press time.

President-elect Trump pledged during a pre-inauguration victory rally in Washington, D.C. to act when he begins his second term from Monday "with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country."

The big picture: Trump claimed at Sunday's rally in Capital One Arena on the eve of his inauguration that "before even taking office, you are already seeing results that nobody expected to see."

State of play: Trump pointed to a surging stock market, optimism among small businesses, Bitcoin's record highs, among other positive news that's happened in recent months.

• "And as of today, TikTok, is back," he said, in reference to the company's move to restore the video app in the U.S. after Trump vowed to sign an executive order on his first day in office to delay enforcing the ban of the platform that's owned by Chinese firm ByteDance.
• Trump also highlighted the Gaza ceasefire that saw Hamas release three Israeli hostages on Sunday, which Axios' Barak Ravid reports wouldn't have been possible without unprecedented coordination between President Biden's and Trump's teams.
• "This agreement could only have happened as a result of our historic victory in November," Trump said.

Zoom in: Trump promised during his speech that people are "going to see executive orders that are going to make you extremely happy, lots of them" when he takes office on Monday and renewed his vow for a hardline crackdown on immigration.

• "I will outline in my inaugural address tomorrow ... the most aggressive, sweeping effort to restore our borders the world has ever seen," Trump said.
• "By the time the sun sets tomorrow evening, the invasion of our borders will have come to a halt and all the illegal border trespassers will, in some form or another, be on their way back home."

What we're watching: The president-elect said he would visit wildfire-ravaged Southern California on Friday.

• Meanwhile, incoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-leader Elon Musk appeared briefly onstage at the rally with his son X, pledging to "make significant changes" and "cement those changes and set the foundation for America to be strong for a century, for centuries, forever."

In photos: Supporters rally for Trump

More from Axios:

• What to know about Trump's inauguration
• Carrie Underwood to perform at Trump's inauguration
• Trump inauguration signals a warmer tone than 2017

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

On Sunday, millions of U.S. TikTok users were sent a message less than 24 hours after the app went dark: "As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!"

Yes, but: While Trump's vow to delay the app's divestment deadline might earn him some likes online, key GOP lawmakers who pushed for a ban over national security concerns could be a bit ticked off.

• And despite Trump's vow to issue an executive order on day one to delay the enforcement of a bipartisan law, TikTok still might be racing against the clock to strike a deal.

Here's what you may have missed when newsmakers hit the airwaves this Sunday, Jan. 19.

1. MAGA's TikTok turnaround

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), a prominent congressional China hawk, said last year President Biden's presidential campaign should be "ashamed" for joining TikTok when federal agencies had to remove the app from their devices.

• "We know the Chinese Communist Party are using this as a data collection bonanza," he said, contending the campaign's presence on the platform as "a superhighway" for election interference.
• "I've called for a full-on ban," Waltz said at the time, calling action on TikTok "long overdue."
• Trump, who once spearheaded the effort to ban the app, eventually joined TikTok as well.

The latest: But on Sunday, Waltz, now the incoming national security adviser, said he's confident the Trump administration can "save TikTok" while protecting U.S. user data.

• That could mean "an outright sale," as is stipulated in the bipartisan law that set the stage for the app's ban, or "some mechanism of firewalls to make sure that the data is protected here on U.S. soil," Waltz said on CNN's "State of the Union."
• "So it's possible China will still own [TikTok]?" host Dana Bash asked, adding, "Isn't that totally capitulating to China?"
• Waltz replied that it's "not capitulating at all." He continued, "TikTok can continue to exist ... whether that's in American hands, owned by an American company, or whether the data and the algorithms are fully protected from Chinese interference."

Zoom out: But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told NBC's "Meet the Press" that "we will enforce the law," and Trump's vows to "save TikTok" mean the president-elect wants to see "a true divestiture."

• "It's the Chinese Communist Party and their manipulation of the algorithms," Johnson said. "They have been flooding the minds of American children with terrible messages, glorifying violence and antisemitism and even suicide and eating disorders."
• The only way to extend the deadline, Johnson said, is if there's an "actual deal" in the works. But he noted, "We don't have any confidence in ByteDance," TikTok's parent company.
• House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) noted on CNN that presenting a remedy other "than someone else purchasing TikTok who's not affiliated with the Chinese communist party" would mean there would have to be "some kind of change in the law."

Yes, but: Trump's vision may look a little different.

• "[My]y initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose," Trump wrote in his social media statement expressing his intent to issue an executive order pushing back the apps' lights-out date.
• It's clear that ByteDance does not want to sell its famous algorithm. And there is no evidence of an in-progress deal, though investor Kevin O'Leary said he's made a $20 billion offer.

What we're watching: Trump 2.0 — and perhaps, the path to TikTok 2.0 — start Monday.

• And as White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer made clear Sunday on ABC's "This Week," the ball is in Trump's court.

2. Israel-Hamas ceasefire commences

The early hours of the Gaza ceasefire saw three female Israeli hostages released from Hamas captivity after more than 470 days.

The latest: Some 800 aid trucks are set to enter Gaza today, said Brett McGurk, the lead U.S. negotiator on the hostage deal — a dramatic increase from daily averages.

• As of Friday reporting from Reuters, UNRWA data showed 523 aid trucks had entered Gaza in January.
• Janti Soeripto, the president and CEO of Save the Children, said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that there are some 300,000 children in Gaza who are in "real acute need of malnutrition treatment."
• Her organization is also trying to reconnect more than 17,000 children separated from their families during a war that has seen more than 45,000 Palestinians killed.

What they're saying: "This was not put together in the last week," McGurk said. "This was put together really since May when President Biden laid out this framework."

• McGurk said the Biden administration has been working "seamlessly" with the incoming Trump team.
• "This is a testament to President Biden and to President Trump allowing us to work together," he said, characterizing his partnership with Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as "historic."

Waltz characterized the hostage return as a "Reagan moment" for Trump, referencing the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.

• The terms of the deal were "inherited" from the Biden administration, Waltz said, but he contended "this deal would have never happened had President Trump not been elected."

The bottom line: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the question over whether Trump deserves some credit for the deal is one "historians will have to answer moving forward."

3. Johnson: Trump isn't behind Turner's ousting

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) denied Sunday that his decision to oust Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) as the House Intelligence Committee chair was prompted by President-elect Trump.

The intrigue: Turner's ousting has generated frustration and disbelief from Republicans who fear their razor-thin majority would shrink further if the Ohio congressman decides to vote against the GOP agenda in retaliation for Johnson's actions.

What they're saying: Johnson told NBC News' Kristen Welker that "the notion that this was directed by the incumbent administration is just simply false."

Yes, but: Turner told CBS News that Johnson said "concerns from Mar-a-Lago" were among the reasons for his removal.

State of play: Johnson said he feels he can still count on Turner's vote as he's a "team player."

• The speaker added that he and Turner are "good friends, trusted friends and colleagues. He will still be one of the top leaders in the House. In fact, I reappointed him and asked him to serve again, and he graciously agreed."
• Turner will be the chairman of the U.S. delegation for NATO's Parliamentary Assembly, a position he previously held in 2011. He was president of the assembly from 2014 to 2016. He also serves on the Armed Service and Oversight and Government Reform committees.

More from Axios' Sunday coverage:

• Bannon: Billionaire CEOs have surrendered to Trump
• Arctic blast, tied to the polar vortex, spreads all the way to Southeast
• Trump's 2.0 inauguration draws more celebrities

An invasion of frigid air from the Arctic is sweeping south from the Plains and Ohio Valley Sunday, moving towards the Southeast and East.

Threat level: The colder-than-average temperatures threatens public health for those exposed to the wind and cold, and may harm water and power infrastructure from North Dakota to Texas, on eastward.

• The extreme cold has links to the polar vortex, which is a feature of the winter climate during winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
• "Life-threatening" wind chills down to minus-55°F are likely in the Plains and Upper Midwest, the NWS warns, mentioning the risk of hypothermia and frostbite for people exposed to the cold for too long.
• Sub-zero wind chills are forecast to affect the Ohio and Tennessee Valley Sunday night through midweek, with the possibility of similar cold spreading into portions of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast in the wake of a winter storm.

Along with the cold, a snowstorm is affecting areas from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast on Sunday into Monday. It is poised to potentially become the heaviest snowstorm so far this year for Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, with 5 to 10 inches possible in this broad region.

What they're saying: "This will be the coldest air of the winter season thus far, and in many cases the coldest in several years," the NWS warns.

Zoom in: The hazardous cold will be especially disruptive in the South and Southeast, where temperature departures from average will be significant and persistent.

• A rare winter storm is set to deliver a severe snow and ice storm from Houston to Baton Rouge and New Orleans, eastward towards the Carolinas beginning Monday.
• As of Sunday morning, the National Weather Service was calling for about 3 inches of snow to fall in Houston, with up to 5 inches in parts of the metro area.
• About 2 to 3 inches of snow are expected to fall in New Orleans, with 4 to 6 inches in Baton Rouge.

The intrigue: The NWS forecast office in New Orleans is urging residents to "Exercise extreme caution if travel cannot be avoided" due to the cold and snow that is expected.

• "Given the rare southerly track of this winter storm, major traffic and travel disruptions are likely through mid-week," the NWS stated in an online forecast discussion.

By the numbers: Here's how some cities will be affected early next week:

• Minneapolis: A high of minus-5°F with a low of minus-13°F on Jan. 22.
• Denver: A high of 6°F and a low of minus-4°F on Jan. 20.
• Dallas: A high of 33°F and a low of 23°F on Jan. 21.
• New York City: A high of 18°F and a low of 10°F on Jan. 21.
• Washington, D.C.: A high of 21°F and a low of 11°F on Jan. 21.

Meanwhile... The Arctic outbreak will result in a blustery and frigid Inauguration Day, with temperatures in the upper teens and wind chills even lower on the National Mall when President-elect Trump takes the oath of office inside the Capitol to protect attendees from the cold.

The intrigue: The cold air may also spill westward into the Great Basin, setting up yet another period of strong, offshore Santa Ana winds in Southern California.

• The Storm Prediction Center has issued a rare, "extremely critical" wildfire risk outlook for Monday across some of the same areas hit by the devastating wildfires earlier this month.

Zoom out: The factors behind this cold outbreak include a strong high pressure area or "ridge" in the jet stream across the eastern Pacific north to Alaska. Meanwhile, there's a dip, or "trough," in the jet stream across central portions of the U.S.

• This is allowing Arctic air to surge southward.
• Also, in the upper atmosphere, the polar vortex is currently becoming "stretched" from north to south across the North Pole.
• It is expanding southward and helping to promote the flow of air from northern Canada southward toward the continental U.S., said Judah Cohen, a meteorologist at Atmospheric & Environmental Research.

Zoom out: The polar vortex in the stratosphere is altering the jet stream one atmospheric layer down, in the troposphere. This is where most weather takes place.

• This interaction between the polar vortex and the jet stream may be favoring the strong area of high pressure over Alaska and downstream trough, according to Amy Butler, a researcher at NOAA, and Simon Lee of the University of St. Andrews.
• Both researchers said this interaction is likely to be more short-lived than what happened during the infamous polar vortex winter of 2013-2014.

Over longer timescales, studies suggest polar vortex shifts may be more likely due to human-caused climate change, but this is an area of active research.

Three Israeli female hostages were released by Hamas on Sunday, six hours after the Gaza ceasefire came into effect.

Why it matters: This is the first hostage release since November 2023, when the first deal led to the release of more than 100 people.

• The released hostages, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, spent more than 470 days in captivity. Damari is a dual British-Israeli national.

Driving the news: Hamas armed militants released the three hostages in the center of Gaza City with hundreds of cheering Palestinians encircling the cars.

• They were then transferred to the Red Cross, which drove them in a motorcade to an IDF force in the southern Gaza Strip and from there to Israeli territory.

What they're saying: "Today the guns in Gaza have gone silent," Biden said in a speech Sunday where he presented the ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza as vindication of his policy for the last 15 months.

• "I worked in foreign policy for decades and this is one of the toughest negotiations I have been part of. ... The road to this deal has been not easy at all and a long road, but we reached this point today because of the pressure Israel built on Hamas, backed by the United States," Biden said.
• He said that unlike what his critics say, without his support for Israel there would have been a wider war in the region.
• Biden added that the region has been transformed with Iran weakened, a new president in Lebanon without ties to Hezbollah and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

Between the lines: Hundreds of aid trucks have entered Gaza to bring supplies to civilians, and on the 16th day of the ceasefire the second phase of negotiations will begin, Biden said.

• That phase, he said, will include "the release of Israeli soldiers and a permanent end of the war without Hamas in power or able to threaten Israel."

What's next: "Now it falls on the next administration to help implement this deal. I was pleased to have our teams speak as one voice in the final days - it was effective and unprecedented. ....I am looking forward to this deal being fully implemented," Biden said

• President-elect Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz on Saturday told the families of American Israeli hostages that the Trump administration is committed to making sure all phases of the hostage-release and ceasefire deal are implemented by Israel and Hamas.
• At least two American citizens being held by Hamas are expected to be released in the coming weeks under the ceasefire terms, Biden said Sunday.

State of play: 30 other hostages are expected to be released over the next 42 days as part of the first phase of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal which was brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt and signed on Thursday.

• 90 Palestinian women and teenagers were released on Sunday from Israeli prisons.

Zoom out: More than 46,000 Palestinians and more than 1,600 Israelis — most of them civilians — have died since the war began following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Editors' note: This story has been updated with comments from President Biden and Mike Waltz.

TikTok announced it is restoring service Sunday, just hours after President-elect Trump said he would sign an executive order on his first day in office to delay enforcing the U.S. ban of the social media platform.

The big picture: The app went dark Saturday night, but by Sunday afternoon services were restored for many users, complete with a notification reading, in part, "as a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!"

• Trump, who once spearheaded the effort to see TikTok banned, has spent weeks pushing for the app to be saved as the deadline, decided by a bipartisan law, neared.
• TikTok said in a statement that it was resuming services as Trump's Sunday post on the matter provided "the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans."

The latest: The decision to begin restoring services less than 24 hours after the app effectively shut down was made "in agreement with our service providers," the platform said in a statement on its TikTok Policy X account.

• "It's a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship," the statement read. "We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States."

Driving the news: Trump wrote in a Sunday Truth Social post that he will "issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security."

• He added the order will also "confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order."
• Trump said he'd like the U.S. to have a "50% ownership position" in a joint venture "between the current owners and/or new owners" to save TikTok.
• "By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to [stay] up," he wrote. "Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok."

Reality check: The law, which President Biden signed in April, required that ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, sell the app to an approved buyer by Jan. 19 to avoid being banned.

• It's unclear if Trump wants the U.S. government or a U.S. company to have 50% ownership, and how exactly he plans to circumvent the law as an executive order can't override it.
• The White House said in a statement Friday that given the timing, the "actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration."
• But Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), the chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a joint Sunday statement with Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) that there's no legal basis for any extension of the law's effective date now that it's taken effect.

Context: The divest-or-ban law does allow the president to initiate a 90-day extension, but only if there is "significant progress" toward divestiture and binding legal agreements in place to facilitate a deal.

• There is no known deal in the works for purchasing TikTok, though investor Kevin O'Leary has offered $20B.
• ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has stood firm against the ban, arguing the forced divestment is unconstitutional. And the company does not want to sell its famed, powerful algorithm.

Our thought bubble: TikTok's restoration of service means that both the company and some of its back-end U.S. service providers — Oracle, Akamai and Amazon Web Services — have decided that Trump's assurances about exempting them from liability are good enough to go on. That also means the app will presumably be running on Trump's inauguration day.

• As of this writing, neither Apple nor Google have restored the availability of the TikTok app in their app stores, meaning new users can't sign up. This suggests that neither company's lawyers are sufficiently persuaded by Trump's statement.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from TikTok and additional context.

Ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon said he sees the presence of billionaire CEOs and tech moguls at President-elect Trump's inaugural events as a white flag of surrender from "the oligarchs."

Why it matters: The conservative media firebrand, a leading MAGA voice, has already noted his dissent against Trump's alignment with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — but the president-elect has seemingly sided with the world's richest man.

• "I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day," Bannon said in a recent interview with Italian outlet Corriere della Sera, characterizing Musk as a "truly evil guy."

Driving the news: "They're there as supplicants," Bannon said on ABC's "This Week" of Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos attending Trump's inauguration. "They're not there as the oligarchs."

• He continued, "I look at this and I think most people in our movement look at this as President Trump broke the oligarchs, he broke them and they surrendered."
• Bannon, who was released from prison in October after serving a four-month sentence on contempt of Congress charges, characterized Zuckerberg as "a criminal."
• Zuckerberg, who once banned Trump from his platforms following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, is set to cohost a reception Monday with other billionaire GOP donors for Trump's inauguration, the AP reported.
• "That guy will flip on President Trump and he'll flip on us in the second," he contended about Zuckerberg. "When it's convenient for him. He will flip."

Zoom out: Zuckerberg is just one of several big-name tech leaders who will attend Trump's inaugural events — and who made large donations for the inauguration.

• After a stream of CEOs stopped by Mar-a-Lago following Trump's election victory, the president-elect declared "everybody wants to be my friend."
• But Bannon sees it differently: "[T]hey're trying to get a landing slot to get in there and be a supplicant."

Go deeper: Scoop: Apple CEO Tim Cook donates $1 million to Trump inauguration

Conor McGregor, the mixed martial arts champ known as Notorious, was spotted making the scene at STK Steakhouse in Washington this weekend.

• Other Ultimate Fighting Championship stars are expected at a black-tie reception Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — a UFC fan and Brazilian jiu-jitsu medalist — will co-host Monday night before the inaugural balls.

Why it matters: The fighters are part of a celebrity influx since President-elect Trump's last inauguration. Giddy MAGA insiders crow that Trump is culturally cool — or at least socially acceptable — after a stretch of toxicity.

Alex Bruesewitz — CEO of X Strategies LLC, based in Palm Beach, who advises Trump's inner circle on alternative media — told Axios between parties this weekend: "President Trump is cool again."

• "He's reclaimed that image he had his entire adult life before he ran for president — sitting courtside at New York Knicks games and lighting Kate Moss's cigarette," Bruesewitz said. "That Donald Trump is back, and now he's going to the White House. It's now socially acceptable to support it."

Behind the scenes: Bruesewitz helped lead the charge on VIP outreach for the inauguration. As the celebrity liaison, he drew on his personal relationships and input from other Trump friends to help build a glittery roster for this weekend's festivities.

• Bruesewitz told me part of the reason is that as celebrities met Trump personally, and as people hear him on long-form podcast interviews, they found him at odds with the portrayal in much of the media: "He was charming and hilarious, not crazy and angry."

Trump's inaugural weekend roster is expected to include:

• Iconic athletes: Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield.
• Current athletes: NHL player Evander Kane, free agent MLB pitcher Noah "Thor" Syndergaard.
• Retired athletes: Brian Urlacher, Le'Veon Bell, Antonio Brown.
• Internet celebrities: Jake and Logan Paul, the Nelk boys.
• Rappers: Rod Wave, Kodak Black.
• Comedian: Rob Schneider.
• Carrie Underwood sings "America the Beautiful" at the swearing-in.

As part of the Nashville-friendly festivities, country singer, guitarist and songwriter Parker McCollum will perform at the Commander-in-Chief Ball, one of three where the newly inaugurated president will speak Monday night.

• Performers at the unofficial Crypto Ball at the 90-year-old Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Friday night: Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Soulja Boy.

The $TRUMP memecoin — a financial asset that didn't exist on Friday afternoon — now accounts for about 89% of Donald Trump's net worth.

Why it matters: The coin (technically a token that's issued on the Solana blockchain) has massively enriched Trump personally, enabled a mechanism for the crypto industry to funnel cash to him, and created a volatile financial asset that allows anyone in the world to financially speculate on Trump's political fortunes.

• After another massive overnight rally, as of Sunday morning Trump's crypto holdings were worth as much as $58 billion on paper, enough -- with his other assets -- to make him one of the world's 25 richest people.

Where it stands: While the Biden administration broadly took the view that memecoins like $TRUMP are securities subject to SEC regulation, the incoming Trump administration has pledged to be much more crypto-friendly and to regulate such coins with a light or nonexistent touch.

For the record: The coin's official website, GetTrumpMemes.com, urges visitors to buy coins with either dollars or crypto in order to "Celebrate Our Win & Have Fun!"

• The coin is "not intended to be... an investment opportunity," per the site, which says that it "has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office."
• That hasn't stopped investors from making millions by speculating on the price of the coin, which was launched while Trump was reportedly hosting a "Crypto Ball" in Washington.

By the numbers: Some 200 million of the 1 billion total coins have already been released and are being actively traded. The rest, which are owned by Trump-controlled entities, will be able to be sold at various points over the next three years, starting in April.

• On average, Trump's companies will be able to sell some 24 million coins per month into the market, which at current prices (which keep moving), would amount to an income of $1.73 billion per month, or $20.7 billion per year. (Although no one has a clue what the value of the coin will even be this afternoon, let alone three years from now.)

Flashback: During the first Trump administration, there were worries that individuals were able to enrich the president by staying at his hotel in Washington.

• Since then, Trump has listed a meme stock where he controls more than 50% of the shares — and, now, has a meme coin that's even less tethered to reality.
• Both of them represent a much more direct way of funneling money to Trump than staying at his hotel did.

Between the lines: The emoluments clause of the Constitution, written in 1787, hardly envisaged a world where a president could conjure billions of dollars of wealth out of nowhere just by endorsing a meme.

• In the present day, it's impossible to track who's going to be buying this coin over the next three years and thereby directing their money directly at Trump.
• Given the Supreme Court's expansive view of presidential immunity, there's a good chance that any such action will be deemed lawful.

The bottom line: Trump has just delivered a masterclass in the ability of a president to turn power into wealth.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the $TRUMP coin's latest prices.

Architects of the leading generative AI models are abuzz that a top company, possibly OpenAI, in coming weeks will announce a next-level breakthrough that unleashes Ph.D.-level super-agents to do complex human tasks.

• We've learned that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — who in September dubbed this "The Intelligence Age," and is in Washington this weekend for the inauguration — has scheduled a closed-door briefing for U.S. government officials in Washington on Jan. 30.

Why it matters: The expected advancements help explain why Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and others have talked publicly about AI replacing mid-level software engineers and other human jobs this year.

"[P]robably in 2025," Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan 10 days ago, "we at Meta, as well as the other companies that are basically working on this, are going to have an AI that can effectively be a sort of midlevel engineer that you have at your company that can write code."

• "[O]ver time, we'll get to the point where a lot of the code in our apps, and including the AI that we generate, is actually going to be built by AI engineers instead of people engineers," he added.

Between the lines: A super-agent breakthrough could push generative AI from a fun, cool, aspirational tool to a true replacement for human workers.

• Our sources in the U.S. government and leading AI companies tell us that in recent months, the leading companies have been exceeding projections in AI advancement.
• OpenAI this past week released an "Economic Blueprint" arguing that with the right rules and infrastructure investments, AI can "catalyze a reindustrialization across the country."

To be sure: The AI world is full of hype. Most people struggle now to use the most popular models to truly approximate the work of humans.

• AI investors have reason to hype small advancements as epic ones to juice valuations to help fund their ambitions.
• But sources say this coming advancement is significant. Several OpenAI staff have been telling friends they are both jazzed and spooked by recent progress. As we told you in a column Saturday, Jake Sullivan — the outgoing White House national security adviser, with security clearance for the nation's biggest secrets — believes the next few years will determine whether AI advancements end in "catastrophe."

The big picture: Imagine a world where complex tasks aren't delegated to humans. Instead, they're executed with the precision, speed, and creativity you'd expect from a Ph.D.-level professional.

• We're talking about super-agents — AI tools designed to tackle messy, multilayered, real-world problems that human minds struggle to organize and conquer.
• They don't just respond to a single command; they pursue a goal. Super agents synthesize massive amounts of information, analyze options and deliver products.

A few examples:

1. Build from scratch: Imagine telling your agent, "Build me new payment software." The agent could design, test and deliver a functioning product.
2. Make sense of chaos: For a financial analysis of a potential investment, your agent could scour thousands of sources, evaluate risks, and compile insights faster (and better) than a team of humans.
3. Master logistics: Planning an offsite retreat? The agent could handle scheduling, travel arrangements, handouts and more — down to booking a big dinner in a private room near the venue.

This isn't a lights-on moment — AI is advancing along a spectrum.

• These tools are growing smarter, sharper, and more integrated every day. "This will have huge applications for health, science and education," an AI insider tells us, "because of the ability to do deep research at a scale and scope we haven't seen — then the compounding effects translate into real productivity growth."

The other side: There are still big problems with generative AI's Achilles heel — the way it makes things up. Reliability and hallucinations are an even bigger problem if you're going to turn AI into autonomous agents: Unless OpenAI and its rivals can persuade customers and users that agents can be trusted to perform tasks without going off the rails, the companies' vision of autonomous agents will flop.

• Noam Brown, a top OpenAI researcher, tweeted Friday: "Lots of vague AI hype on social media these days. There are good reasons to be optimistic about further progress, but plenty of unsolved research problems remain."

What to watch: Two massive tectonic shifts are happening at once — President-elect Trump and MAGA are coming into power at the very moment AI companies are racing to approximate human-like or human-surpassing intelligence.

• Look for Congress to tackle a massive AI infrastructure bill to help spur American job growth in the data, chips and energy to power AI.
• And look for MAGA originals like Steve Bannon to argue that coming generations of AI will be job-killing evil for managerial, administrative and tech workers. The new models "will gut the workforce — especially entry-level, where young people start," Bannon told us.

Axios' Scott Rosenberg, managing editor for tech, contributed reporting.

President Biden will leave office having presided over a very strong stock market, but not quite as strong as either of his two predecessors.

The big picture: The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite all gained more during Trump's first term than during Biden's.

By the numbers: The S&P 500 gained 66.5% under Trump and 57.9% under Biden.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 56.8% under Trump and 40.2% under Biden.
• The Nasdaq composite gained a whopping 137.5% under Trump, and 47.1% under Biden.

Flashback: Trump had warned in 2020 that the stock markets would "crash" were Biden elected. That didn't happen.

The bottom line: Presidents don't determine stock market performance, but often their supporters like to use the markets as an economic measuring stick.

Go deeper: Biden job gains top Trump and Obama

After a three hour delay, the ceasefire in Gaza began at 11:15 a.m. local time (4:15 a.m. ET) with Israel and Hamas agreeing to stop the fighting for 42 days.

Why it matters: This is the first ceasefire in the Gaza war since November 2023, when the first hostage deal led to an 8-day pause in the fighting.

• The war, which started with the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, has been the bloodiest period in the Israel-Palestinian conflict since 1948.
• More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza's health ministry. And more than 1,600 Israelis have been killed. Most of the casualties on both sides have been civilians.
• The war created a devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing around two million Palestinians and destroying tens of thousands of buildings — making the Gaza strip close to uninhabitable.

Driving the news: The ceasefire was supposed to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET) on Sunday.

• But after Hamas failed to submit a list of the three hostages it is going to release on Sunday, Israel announced the ceasefire will not come into force.
• Hamas claimed the delay was due to technical reasons, mainly the security situation on the ground.
• Israeli jets conducted several air strikes in Gaza on Sunday morning local time with at least 8 Palestinians killed.
• Hamas finally submitted the list around 10:30 a.m. local time, and the ceasefire began 45 minutes later.

Catch up quick: The ceasefire deal was signed in Doha earlier this week after months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas with Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediation.

• The deal also includes the release of 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the release of 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including about 275 prisoners who have been convicted of murdering Israelis.
• The hostage and prisoners release is expected to begin on Sunday 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET). Three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian women and teenagers are supposed to be released.

The latest: On Saturday, ahead of the ceasefire, the Israeli Defense Forces started redeploying some forces in Gaza — moving them outside of the enclave or east towards the buffer zone on the Gaza-Israel border.

• On Sunday morning, even before the ceasefire started, Palestinian civilians started moving back to northern Gaza and to the city of Rafah in the southern tip of the enclave.
• Hamas armed militants and Hamas police started moving into to the streets after months of going underground in fear of Israeli strikes.

The big picture: The conflict in Gaza spread into a regional war engulfing Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, the West Bank and Yemen. But fighting has stopped or appears to be stopping soon on each front.

• The ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, signed last November, isolated Hamas and was one of the factors that pushed the group to agree to the hostage deal in Gaza.
• The Israeli strike on Iran in late October deterred the Iranians from further retaliating and led the Shia militias in Iraq to stop their attacks on Israel.
• The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria led to the departure of Iranian forces from the country and closed that front.
• The last active front in the war, which is in Yemen, is also about to close as the Houthi rebels announced they will suspend their attack against Israel as a result of the Gaza ceasefire.

Zoom in: According to the agreement, 33 hostages will be released in the first phase of the deal, including women, children, men over the age of 50 and men under the age of 50 who are wounded or sick. Israel's assessment is that most of those 33 hostages are alive.

• The hostages will be released gradually throughout the first phase of the agreement, beginning on the first day of the six-week ceasefire in Gaza.

During the first phase, Israeli Defense Forces will also gradually withdraw to a buffer zone in Gaza, near the border with Israel. The IDF will leave the Netzarim corridor in the center of the Gaza Strip and most of the Philadelphi corridor on the border between Gaza and Egypt.

• Palestinians will also be allowed to return to northern Gaza. Those who walk won't go through security checks but vehicles will be checked by Qatari and Egyptian officials to ensure no heavy weapons are transferred to Gaza.

More than 700 Palestinian prisoners will also be released, including about 275 who are accused of murdering Israelis and are serving life sentences. More than 1,000 other Palestinians from Gaza who were detained by the IDF during the war but didn't participate in the Oct. 7 attack will also be released.

• Starting today, the first day of the ceasefire, 600 aid trucks, including 50 fuel trucks, will enter Gaza every day. In addition, 200,000 tents and 60,000 mobile homes will be delivered for displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
• The agreement stipulates that Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. will serve as guarantors for the implementation of the agreement.

On the 16th day of the ceasefire, Israel and Hamas will begin negotiations on the second phase of the agreement, which is supposed to include the release of the remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Most U.S. adults (9 in 10 Republicans and close to half of Democrats) say they support mass deportations of immigrants living in the country illegally — but that enthusiasm quickly erodes when presented with options over how to carry them out, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll.

Why it matters: President-elect Trump has vowed to initiate one of the "largest mass deportations in U.S. history" starting early in his return to the White House. Beyond the logistical obstacles, costs and possible pain to the U.S. economy, the survey suggests Americans could quickly sour on deportations depending on how they are carried out.

By the numbers: Two-thirds of all Americans surveyed said they support deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally.

• Among Republicans, support was at 93%, followed by 67% for independents and 43% for Democrats.
• But just 38% of Americans support using active-duty military to find and detain undocumented immigrants in U.S. cities and towns; and only 28% want to use money allocated for the military to pay for deportations.
• Just one in three endorse separating families or sending people to countries other than their country of origin in the interest of speed. And just one in three support deporting those who came to the U.S. as children.
• The trends largely track with findings from a Ipsos-Syracuse University poll from November from which the questions were replicated. But the new survey shows even less support for use of active-duty military, or military funds, than the survey from two months ago.

What they're saying: "There's essentially broad agreement with Trump's position on these topics, but as soon as you start pushing into specifics, a lot of that dissipates," said Chris Jackson, Ipsos pollster and senior vice president.

• The concept of mass deportations may work better for Trump in the abstract than in reality, Jackson said. "Immigration, in reality, is complicated, messy and difficult."
• "The real question is going to be... does that level of support maintain or fragment as they confront the reality of what it means."

The other side: About one in 10 Americans — and close to 1 in 5 Republicans — said they'd support deporting immigrants who are in the country lawfully.

Context: Trump has said he would use the military to round up undocumented immigrants and would consider putting them into camps.

• Trump also has said he would deport American citizens if that means it would keep families together since he wanted to deport their undocumented parents or spouses.
• And he has indicated interest in deporting Haitian immigrants who currently have Temporary Protected Status.

The bottom line: To remove a sizable proportion of the estimated 11 million or more undocumented immigrants from the country, Trump would need not only broad but sustained public support.

Methodology: This Axios/Ipsos Poll was conducted Jan. 10-12, 2025, by Ipsos' KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,025 U.S. adults age 18 or older.

• The margin of sampling error is ±3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample.

TIkTok's 170 million users started receiving a "services temporarily unavailable" notice late Saturday night and the app was no longer available in Google and Apple's app stores as a law to ban the app was set to take official effect at midnight.

Why it matters: It's the first time the U.S. has banned a major online platform of this scale.

Between the lines: In declining to enforce the ban during his last day in office, President Biden essentially shifted the responsibility for enforcing the law to incoming President Trump.

• Trump has indicated that he will try to keep TikTok alive in the U.S., but facing hefty fines, Google and Apple likely chose not to take the risk of violating the law.

What they're saying: Apple has not commented on their plans. Google declined to comment.

Catch up quick: For app store operators and cloud-services vendors like Oracle, which runs the backend for TikTok in the U.S., the ban story has proven complicated.

• Although the Supreme Court upheld the ban Friday, lawmakers have been split on whether they should try to find a way to extend the ban's deadline or keep TikTok shut out of the U.S. unless it found a U.S. buyer.

What to watch: Trump could decide to extend the deadline by 90 days, but he would have to show that legally binding negotiations for a sale of TikTok to U.S. owners are underway.

• There are U.S. players who are interested in buying TikTok, but any deal to acquire the app would also face the hurdle of winning China's approval.
• Trump could also issue an executive order or ask his attorney general not to enforce the law.

Thousands attended the People's March on Saturday in Washington, D.C., to protest President-elect Trump's agenda ahead of his inauguration, per multiple outlets.

Why it matters: The event, some eight years after the earlier Women's March that attracted hundreds of thousands of participants, was crafted with a slightly different approach this year to target Trump policies versus Trumpism as a whole, Axios' Sareen Habeshian writes.

• The president-elect has promised mass deportations will be top of his agenda when he takes office on Monday, leaving sanctuary cities such as Chicago bracing for impact.

Zoom in: Trump's deportation plan is one of many issues demonstrators zeroed in on Saturday as they marched from Farragut Square, McPherson Square and Franklin Park to the Lincoln Memorial.

See some of the moments from the march:

More from Axios:

• What to know about Trump's inauguration
• Tech CEOs flock to Trump's inauguration
• Trump inauguration will move indoors over frigid weather

President-elect Trump will be inaugurated on Monday as the 47th president of the United States in Washington, D.C.

The big picture: Inauguration Day — with Vice President-elect JD Vance also slated to be inaugurated as the third-youngest vice president and first millennial VP — will coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

• It is only the third time MLK Day has fallen on Inauguration Day, with earlier instances being the 1997 inauguration of former President Clinton and the 2013 inauguration of former President Obama.
• Trump's inauguration officially kickstarts a second term he promises will bring mass deportations, aggressive tariffs on U.S. imports and the dismantling of the Department of Education.

What his second term likely won't mean is jail time for Trump — the first former and incoming president with a felony conviction — who on Jan. 10 received a no-penalty sentence in a New York hush money case. He was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records for his criminal trial last May.

• He claimed after the decision that he is "totally innocent" and "did nothing wrong."

What is Trump saying about his inauguration?

The president-elect told NBC News last month the central theme of his inaugural address will be "unity."

• "As I said, we're going to be talking about unity, and we're going to be talking about success, making our country safe, keeping people (out) that shouldn't be in our country — we have to do that," he said. "I know it doesn't sound nice, but we have to do that."

When is the inauguration?

Gates will open for security screening at 5am ET, with musical performances starting at about 9:30am, per a news release from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC).

• Inaugural ceremonies will begin at 11:30am, and the swearing-in ceremony will begin at noon, with Vance going first and Trump to follow.

Where is the inauguration?

The swearing-in ceremony, originally set to take place on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., will be moved inside the Capitol Rotunda due to freezing weather forecasts.

• The parade down Pennsylvania Avenue will move to Washington's Capitol One Arena.

Who's attending the inauguration?

More than 220,000 tickets were printed for the event, with former presidents — Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton — and tech moguls alike set to attend.

• Attendees include billionaire Elon Musk, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is co-hosting a black-tie reception Monday night, per the AP.
• Country music star Carrie Underwood is set to perform at the inauguration, while the disco group the Village People and musicians Kid Rock and Billy Ray Cyrus were booked for the inaugural rally on Sunday.
• Country singer Jason Aldean and the band Rascal Flatts will play at the inaugural ball on Monday.

Yes, but: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former first lady Michelle Obama have joined a growing list of officials and legislators who do not plan to attend the inauguration.

What is planned for the day?

Inauguration Day traditionally starts with a procession, in which the outgoing president joins the president-elect in a walk to the Capitol for swearing-in ceremonies.

• The vice president, vice president-elect and their spouses are also present for the procession and escorted by JCCIC members.
• The swearing-in ceremonies, including oaths of office, follow and the incoming president gives his inaugural address.
• The outgoing president and first lady leave in an honorary departure, and signing ceremonies start followed by an inaugural luncheon and Pass in Review to allow the incoming commander in chief to inspect the troops.

How can you watch?

The inauguration will air live on several major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, CNN, CSPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC and PBS.

• The White House is also planning a live stream of the day's events.

More from Axios:

• Tech CEOs flock to Trump's inauguration
• Carrie Underwood to perform at Trump's inauguration
• Michelle Obama won't attend Trump's second inauguration
• Trump inauguration will move indoors over frigid weather

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change will mark MLK Day on Monday with "moral reflection and prophetic response" amid uncertainty as President-elect Trump retakes office.

Why it matters: This year, the King holiday and the presidential inauguration fall on the same day — a paradox that civil rights leaders say underscores the nation's deep divide.

• Many see a contrast between a man who preached peace and an incoming president whose rhetoric has deepened racial divides, raising fears that Trump could roll back civil rights gains.

The big picture: Trump's second term follows a campaign filled with racist rhetoric, anti-trans policies, and mass deportation promises—raising concerns about the long-term impact on civil rights and equality.

• King Center officials and the King family aim to use MLK Day to remind Americans of their responsibility for human rights and poverty action.

Zoom in: Bishop William J. Barber, II, President & Sr. Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, will offer a keynote sermon on Monday at the 40th Annual King Holiday Observance Commemorative Service.

• The service is at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and will be live-streamed on The King Center's website.

Barber tells Axios he will reflect on how this overlap is a critical moment for people of faith and moral conviction to unite and address the deep injustices in our nation.

• "I think that we have to see this past election, not so much as an election that Trump won, but an election that the progressives and others lost."
• "If there was a serious outreach to poor and low-wage people, we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now."

State of play: Trump has vowed to roll back programs to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal government.

• Some advocates are pushing him to overturn a key executive order from 60 years ago by President Lyndon Johnson, which addresses discrimination among federal contractors.

The intrigue: All eyes are on Trump's message and its implications for the future.

Zoom out: On the night of the election, Trump said, "We are going to help our country heal," leaving behind "divisions." Marc H. Morial, president of the National Urban League, said he will be watching to see if that was "just rhetoric or he meant it."

• "The ball is in the president's court," he said. "I will be watching and preparing for whatever it is. He has to make that determination."

Regardless, Derrick Johnson, CEO of the NAACP, remains resolute as the nation enters this new chapter, telling Axios: "Our mission stays the same. We fight to ensure democracy works for all and that every citizen is afforded equal protection."

Context: The children of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King urge Americans to reflect on his legacy and the nation's state as the King holiday coincides with the presidential inauguration.

• Bernice A. King, the youngest child, urged Americans to "pay attention" to Trump's inauguration words and honor her father's birthday.
• "l certainly understand the desire to tune out rhetoric, ideology, and policies with which we passionately disagree and which contradict the spirit of the Beloved Community," she wrote on Instagram.

Martin Luther King III told Axios the holiday is "a moment to renew and ask ourselves whether we've achieved the dream my parents envisioned."

• "The truth is, we have not," he said. "Martin and Coretta King were not just dreamers — they were doers. It's time for us to step up."

His wife, Arndrea Waters King, added: "The inauguration and holiday, falling so close together, give us time for inner reflection. It's an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to the vision we want to see for America."

President-elect Trump is planning to push back a potential TikTok ban for 90 day, he told NBC News' "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker on Saturday.

Why it matters: The Supreme Court decided on Friday to uphold a law that could ban the video app if the China-based ByteDance parent company doesn't land a non-Chinese buyer by Sunday.

What he's saying: "The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate," Trump told NBC News.

Yes, but: He hasn't made a final decision, calling it a "very big situation."

• The president-elect added that he'll "probably announce" any action on Monday.

The White House said in a statement on Friday President Biden's position on the matter is that "TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law."

More from Axios:

• TikTok is Trump's problem now
• Politicians scramble to save TikTok before Sunday

Raleigh, North Carolina; Ogden, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah are this year's best-performing big cities, according to an annual report ranking metros across a range of economic factors.

Why it matters: The Milken Institute's yearly rankings highlight U.S. cities with job growth, affordable housing, economic equality and other big draws.

The big picture: Cities have largely emerged from the tumultuous times of the COVID-19 pandemic and "remain at the center of economic activity," as the report puts it.

Driving the news: Raleigh moved up to the top spot this year after coming second in 2024 and third in 2023.

• "It's been a long time coming for Raleigh, which has performed extremely well in our rankings for several years, without ever quite landing on top before this year," reads the report, which credits the city's job and wage growth and "thriving high-tech sector."

Utah is also a big winner, with Ogden and Salt Lake City taking the other two podium spots.

• "Ogden's impressive rise from last year's ranking" — up 24 places — "stems from big improvements in its recent labor market performance."
• Salt Lake, meanwhile, combines "a robust job market, a growing high-tech sector, and widespread access to economic opportunities."

Rounding out the top 10: Huntsville, Alabama; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Austin, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Olympia, Washington; Palm Bay, Florida and Boise City, Idaho.

Zoom in: Some smaller cities are growing thanks to lower housing costs and better economic equality, per the report, which highlights job and wage growth in places like St. George, Utah (near Zion National Park) and Auburn, Alabama.

How it works: The annual rankings from Milken — a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank — are based on its Best Performing Cities index, which takes into account cities' labor markets, tech industry growth and economic access.

Reality check: The report doesn't explicitly look at other quality-of-life factors people may consider when picking a place to live, like traffic congestion, public transit access, park space, etc.

The bottom line: If you're searching for a booming city that isn't New York, Chicago or L.A., give this list a look.