Attorney General Merrick Garland in a court filing on Wednesday said the Justice Department plans to release publicly special counsel Jack Smith's findings on Donald Trump's alleged efforts to subvert 2020 election results.
Why it matters: Trump's federal 2020 election case was dropped after his presidential victory, and he has relentlessly fought any effort to release information about the investigation's findings.
Garland in the Wednesday court filing said that the department will not release the investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents, as to "avoid any risk of prejudice" to Trump's co-defendants in the case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, whose cases are still pending.
Garland said that "for the time being," the report over Trump and his co-defendants' handling of classified documents will be "made available for in camera review" by the chair and ranking members of House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
Editor's note: This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
President-elect Trump is asking the Supreme Court to halt Friday's sentencing in his New York hush money case, according to a new court filing.
Why it matters: If the high court intervenes, it could hand Trump another legal win by delaying the hearing or blocking the lower court from proceeding with levying a punishment for his historic felony conviction.
Catch up quick: Trump's legal team made the request to the Supreme Court after Judge Juan Merchan denied his latest bid to halt his sentencing. An appeals judge rejected his request to dismiss his conviction, as well.
Merchan has said he does not intend to sentence Trump to jail time — but the president-elect's legal team is demanding to have his sentencing stopped altogether.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced just days before his presidential inauguration.
Editor's note: This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated, some having run on foot to flee oncoming flames.
The big picture: The wildfires are the result of an unheard-of combination of factors at this time of year — the worst high wind event in Southern California since 2011, plus some of the driest conditions on record for early January.
Downtown LA has received just 0.16 inches of rain since May 6 of last year, making it the second-driest period on record for May 6 to Dec 31, according to the National Weather Service.
January is typically during the region's wet season.
Bone-dry conditions in Southern California contrast with the northern parts of the state, where atmospheric rivers have squelched fire risks.
Even worse, the region had an unusually hot summer that dried out vegetation even further.
Whipped by powerful Santa Ana winds gusting up to 99 mph, particularly in hilly terrain, the fires forced chaotic evacuations in parts of the area, particularly related to the Palisades Fire.
High winds are affecting the wildfires, with gusts of 50 to 70 mph and higher in some lower elevations. Burbank Airport, for example, gusted to 84 mph.
Near the Palisades Fire, winds have reached 98 mph, with 90 mph winds not far from the Eaton Fire near Altadena, Calif.
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain referred to the high winds as an "atmospheric blow dryer" for its effects on trees and other vegetation.
Context: Climate change is intensifying hydroclimate extremes, both wet and dry, including weather whiplash events where California see-saws between the two.
With dry conditions lasting later into the fall, that means Southern California is more vulnerable to dry high wind events, Swain noted.
"Climate change is increasing the overlap between extremely dry vegetation conditions later in the season and the occurrence of these wind events," he said in an online briefing.
What they're saying: Alex Hall, also with UCLA, said the hydroclimate situation plus the strong winds have suddenly created a precarious situation.
"Southern California has experienced a particularly hot summer, followed by almost no precipitation during what is normally our wet season," he said.
"And all of this comes on the heels of two very rainy years, which means there is plenty of fuel for potential wildfires."
What's next: More wind-driven wildfires may yet erupt before this event is over.
President Biden insisted in a new interview out Wednesday that he could have beaten President-elect Trump in the 2024 election, even as he admitted he was unsure that he had the stamina for another term.
Why it matters: Since Democrats' defeat, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' teams have reportedly blamed each other for the outcome.
Many Democrats have expressed anger at Biden's decision to seek reelection initially despite polls showing voters across the political spectrum expressing concerns about his age.
What he's saying: "It's presumptuous to say that, but I think yes," Biden told USA Today when asked if he believed he could have won.
Biden added that his belief was based on polling he had seen.
However, Biden was more circumspect when asked if he had the vigor to serve another four years in office, admitting: "I don't know."
"Who the hell knows? So far, so good. But who knows what I'm going to be when I'm 86 years old?" the president added in the interview, which was conducted Sunday.
Flashback: Biden has been defiant about his decision to drop out of the race.
Zoom out: Biden covered a wide range of topics in his USA Today interview, including the fact that he is still considering whether to issue preemptive pardons for figures like former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former health adviser Anthony Fauci, whom could be targeted by Trump.
Biden said the decision would come down to who Trump appoints to key administration roles, but noted that he had urged Trump during their Oval Office meeting to not "go back and try to settle scores."
Trump, he added, had complimented some of the Biden administration's economic achievements. "He thought I was leaving with a good record," Biden said.
Data: Esgauge, Conference Board. Note: Includes proposals for employer information report disclosures and diversity in workplace, board and executive. Chart: Axios Visuals
Anti-DEI shareholder proposals have surged over the past few years.
Why it matters: These measures are a somewhat obscure but important piece of the pushback against corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts — programs meant to broaden a company's hiring pool of candidates and make employees from different backgrounds feel more welcome.
The big picture: Corporate diversity efforts are quickly falling out of fashion, especially as President-elect Trump heads back to the White House.
Companies, like Meta, that used to tout their diversity efforts are now rapidly running away from them.
Zoom in: Anti-DEIproposals typically ask public firms to scrutinize their DEI policies to see if they pose legal, financial or reputation risks.
There were 13 anti-DEI proposals at Russell 3000 firms last year, according to research provided to Axios by yhe Conference Board.
The number of anti-DEI proposals is still a fraction of the pro-DEI proposals, but has more than tripled since 2020.
The companies targeted were biggies like Alphabet, Apple, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Boeing, which dismantled its DEI department last year.
Their opposition got a huge boost in 2023, after the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action at the university level.
After the ruling came down, scrutiny of company programs grew, and some groups began filing lawsuits against corporations for, effectively, discriminating against white people in hiring.
Of 70 senior executives recently surveyed by the Conference Board, 69% said the ruling negatively affected their DEI efforts.
State of play: Over the holidays, Costco grabbed headlines when it put out a robust defense of its DEI efforts, in response to one of these proposals from a conservative think tank called the National Center for Public Policy Research.
"Our efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion remind and reinforce with everyone at our Company the importance of creating opportunities for all," Costco's board of directors wrote.
"We believe that these efforts enhance our capacity to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed."
The other side:Stefan Padfield, executive director of the Free Enterprise Project, part of the group that filed the Costco proposal, claimed the company's DEI program institutionalizes racism.
He called Costco's diversity efforts "neo-racism."
Where it stands: These proposals almost always get voted down, but the point isn't to win votes, says Andrew Jones, senior researcher at the Conference Board.
The idea is to "bring scrutiny to DEI and amplify broader opposition," he says. Those efforts appear to be working.
Earlier this week, McDonald's was the latest major company to announce it was scaling back its DEI efforts.
Shares in the ultra-hot quantum computing sector plunged on Wednesday after Nvidia's CEO said useful quantum computers were decades away.
Why it matters: Quantum computing stocks have been on a ferocious run, with some names rising almost 20x in the last year.
Driving the news: Nvidia held a Q&A with Wall Street analysts on Tuesday, during which CEO Jensen Huang was asked about the growth path for the still-nascent technology.
"And so if you kind of said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that'd probably be on the early side. If you said 30 is probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it," Huang said.
Nvidia's dominance in AI computing gives Huang's technology forecasts outsized impact — and his comments tend to move stocks.
By the numbers: Shares in Rigetti Computing plunged 46% in early trading Wednesday. Before that collapse, the stock had risen more than 1,800% in just one year.
Shares in Quantum Computing Inc. also fell 45%, while shares in IonQ dropped more than 42%.
Together, the losses exceeded $4 billion in market capitalization.
Context: Quantum computing is bleeding-edge stuff, applying the principles of quantum mechanics to perform computing tasks far too difficult for traditional computing.
As MIT scientists describe it, traditional binary computers use electrical signals that can be either 0 or 1. Quantum computing uses subatomic particles that can be both simultaneously. It sounds like a small difference but the power is exponential.
Google said last year its new quantum computing chip, code named Willow, did computations in five minutes that would take today's supercomputers 10 septillion years.
But as Google itself points out, Willow's achievement is little more than a "convincing prototype" that offers a "strong sign" quantum systems can be built at scale.
Editor's note: This report has been updated with early Wednesday trading levels for stocks.
New York, San Francisco and Honolulu are home to the country's slowest driving, a new report finds.
Why it matters: Drivers want to get where they're going — fast. But public transit and pedestrian advocates might point to these numbers as evidence that some cities are overwhelmed by cars and need to get serious about alternatives.
What they found: In the heart of the Big Apple, it took an average of about 30 minutes to drive 6 miles in 2024, according to TomTom's annual Traffic Index, released Tuesday. That's 2.3% longer than in 2023.
New York drivers spent a staggering 94 hours a year driving in rush hour on average, based on a twice daily six-mile trip. That's nearly four days of bumper-to-bumper misery.
San Francisco drivers took nearly 26 minutes to cover 6 miles (+1.9% longer than 2023), while those in Honolulu took nearly 20 minutes (+0.6% longer).
The other side: Richmond, Virginia, is a veritable autobahn by comparison, with drivers making a six-mile trip in under 10 minutes on average.
Reality check: New York is walkable, bikeable and boasts one of the country's best public transit systems — meaning you're not necessarily stuck driving, as you might be in so many other U.S. cities.
The latest: Drivers entering the most crowded parts of Manhattan are now being tolled under a "congestion pricing" plan meant to reduce vehicle traffic and raise money for public transit.
Between the lines: Lots of factors go into how quickly you can drive 6 miles in a given city, including traffic congestion, construction and weather.
How it works: TomTom's report is based on a representative sample of data collected by "over 600 million devices" and "over 61 billion anonymous GPS data points around the world," the company says.
The numbers above are based on city centers — "the densest areas that capture 20% of all trips within the city-connected area," per TomTom.
The bottom line: If we're meeting in New York, I'm taking the subway.
State Departmentofficials told the Trump administration transition team there could be a humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza when a new Israeli law barring contact with the UN refugee agency for Palestinians takes effect at the end of the month, three U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is the primary aid agency operating in Gaza. U.S. officials say there's no serious backup plan for providing humanitarian supplies and services to Palestinians.
After more than a year of war, the UN and other aid organizations warn Gaza is close to uninhabitable. Tens of thousands of houses have been destroyed. Nearly two million Palestinians are displaced and dependent on aid for food, water and medical services.
The Israeli law will take effect a few days after President-elect Trump's inauguration, when the new administration will be faced with mounting world crises.
Biden administration officials told Axios they initiated the briefing about UNRWA because they wanted the new administration to be aware of the looming crisis.
Catch up quick: In late October, the Israeli parliament passed two bills that would significantly limit UNRWA's ability to continue operating in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The first bill bars UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory, and is most relevant to UNRWA's activity in East Jerusalem. But it also affects the aid agency's operations in the West Bank that are run from Jerusalem.
The second bill bars any Israeli government official from having contact with UNRWA, and strips all UNRWA workers of their diplomatic privileges and immunity.
Israel has long opposed UNRWA — and since the war began in Gaza, has claimed some of the agency's staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. UNRWA fired nine staff members following a UN investigation, but has repeatedly denied allegations that the agency has widespread links to Hamas.
During Trump's first term, his administration gradually cut all U.S. assistance to UNRWA. The Biden administration later resumed U.S. aid to the agency and supported its budget with hundreds of millions of dollars. But Congress passed a law in March that bans the U.S. from funding UNRWA until at least 2025.
What they're saying: UN officials said they're concerned that after the laws come into effect, UNRWA staff won't be able to move between Gaza and Israel, and the agency won't be able to carry out deconfliction arrangements with the IDF. It's also not clear if the IDF will treat the agency's facilities as part of the UN, which can't be targeted by Israeli forces under international law.
That will put the ability of UNRWA to continue working in Gaza in jeopardy, UN officials said.
A senior UNRWA emergency officer told The Guardian that social order in the Strip would likely collapse.
Behind the scenes: Last week, State Department officials briefed Joel Rayburn from the Trump transition team on the UNRWA situation, and raised "deep concern" about the new laws' implications for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, U.S. officials said.
Rayburn, an experienced Middle East expert who is a former U.S. envoy to Syria, is expected to be named the incoming administration's Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs.
"We wanted them to know what is going to happen 10 days into their presidency," a U.S. official told Axios. "We thought it was the responsible thing to do. It's a catastrophe waiting to happen."
Zoom in: U.S. officials told Axios that neither Israel nor the UN has made any serious plans for what happens next.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres refused over the last two months to engage in a discussion with Israel about alternative UN agencies that could take on some of UNRWA's roles, U.S. and Israeli officials said. A spokesperson for Guterres declined to comment.
The Israeli government conducted several consultations about the UNRWA issue. But hasn't made any decision about what to do in Gaza after the laws come into force, a senior Israeli official told Axios.
"Both sides are playing chicken, waiting for some magical solution — and thinking that if they do nothing, it will solve itself out," a U.S. official said. "But it won't."
In a letterto the members of the UN General Assembly in December, Guterres wrote that the cessation of or restrictions on UNRWA activities in Gaza and the West Bank would have "devastating consequences" for Palestinian refugees.
"There is currently no realistic alternative to UNRWA which could adequately provide the services and assistance required," he wrote.
UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma told Axios the agency isn't going to shut down its operations on Jan. 31 when the law takes effect.
"We plan to stay in Gaza and work as long as wecan until we can't. It will be a disaster if the bill is implemented," Touma said. "Who is going to do the work?"
Distinguishing truth from falsehood is frustrating, endless, thankless work — and now Mark Zuckerberg is walking away from it.
The big picture: Facebook's latest content-moderation pivot looks like part of a plan to win over Donald Trump as he takes power again. But the field Zuckerberg is abandoning is one he never wanted to play on in the first place.
State of play: The founders of social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok didn't expect to end up in what the industry came to call the "content moderation" business — and what many critics, and now Zuckerberg himself, denounce as "censorship."
Policing online speech costs a fortune to do right. It's impossible to make everyone happy. You're bound to make mistakes. And users' wishes keep changing.
The whole effort is a distraction from what's always been Facebook/Meta's top priority — boosting engagement to sell more ads.
Meta faces huge challenges this year, particularly an April trial in the Federal Trade Commission's suit to unwind its decade-old acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. The new Trump-friendly approach to content moderation is one of many efforts to win over the new administration, which is open about rewarding friends and punishing enemies.
Zuckerberg staked out a free-speech position in a 2019 speech at Georgetown. A few months later, he said that social media networks shouldn't try to be "arbiters of truth" — but at the same time Facebook was ramping up its truth arbitration.
After taking blame for spreading misinformation during the 2016 election and violating users' privacy during the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook was under enormous pressure to clean up its act, and the company made big investments in expanding its moderation efforts.
It was also in 2019 that Facebook started a program using third-party fact-checking organizations from a variety of political perspectives to help it identify and limit the spread of potentially dangerous misinformation.
The fact-checking program has drawn fire throughout its existence.
The kinds of topics it confronted — controversies over climate science, COVID-19 and vaccines, charges of election fraud — are often both matters of fact or science and also flashpoints for partisan rage.
Believers in fact-checking insist that there's value to society in telling the public what is — and isn't — authoritative information, grounded in vetted research and verifiable records, in fields like medicine and public affairs.
Critics say there's always another point of view that deserves to be heard, and blocking any perspective is a form of censorship.
Between the lines: Facebook tried to solve some of its content moderation headaches by setting up the independent Oversight Board.
The company handed the Oversight Board hundreds of millions of dollars beginning in 2019 to build a kind of Supreme Court for user complaints.
It's been particularly effective in sorting out complex issues beyond U.S. borders.
But it hasn't insulated Zuckerberg and Meta from criticism by American conservatives and Congressional committees.
Notably, Meta's announcements Tuesday failed to mention the Oversight Board at all.
Zoom out: Zuckerberg calls Meta's new approach a "back-to-our-roots" embrace of free expression. But there's never been any medium where absolute free speech reigned.
Platform owners have legal obligations to governments of countries they operate in to obey the law.
In the U.S. that means dealing with laws governing what Zuckerberg describes as "legitimately bad stuff" like "drugs, terrorism, child exploitation."
A second category where platform owners have generally felt an obligation to intervene is speech that could cause imminent harm.
That might include death threats, violent conspiracies, or even plans to attack the U.S. Capitol.
Then there's the category of hate speech.
It bedevils social-media owners, because it's constantly shifting and varies across cultures. But in any given time and place there are some slurs that violate public norms, and a global public platform can't just ignore them.
Along with the company's other new content policies, Meta has now updated its Community Guidelines on "hateful conduct" specifically to allow "allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation." A variety of other changes in its rules appear to significantly loosen the knot around what many users will consider hate speech.
A final category of content moderation — most relevant to fact-checking — is misinformation (widely shared but inaccurate info) and disinformation (misinformation with deliberate bad intent).
Zuckerberg and other social media owners hate playing content cop in this realm and would rather let users sort such issues out for themselves.
His plan is for Meta to copy X's Community Notes approach, which lets users flag other users' posts for inaccuracies.
What we're watching: When Elon Musk rewrote Twitter's old content rules for X, the platform's never-decorous conversations deteriorated further. Today you don't have to look far on X to find posts espousing racism and anti-semitism or deriding LGBTQ people.
Musk is proud of what he's done with X, but it hasn't helped turn around his business.
We don't yet know how Zuckerberg's version of "more free speech" will play out, but if Meta's platforms get nastier and uglier, too, advertisers could be spooked — and users who aren't on the MAGA side of the fence could flee.
Our thought bubble: Decades of human experience online shows that running any kind of community platform is like gardening — if you let the weeds go wild, the flowers will choke.
Los Angeles County saw multiple wildfires erupt as "extremely critical fire weather" from dry conditions and Santa Ana winds threatened Southern California into Wednesday, and the National Weather Service warned the worst was yet to come.
State of Play: The biggest blaze was the uncontained Palisades Fire. It triggered mandatory evacuations for at least 30,000 people in the Pacific Palisades area as it threatened multiple structures across at least 2,921-acres between Malibu and Santa Monica, where evacuation orders were issued Tuesday evening.
More evacuation orders were issued as more fires erupted in L.A. County as the onslaught of the strongest Santa Ana winds arrived Tuesday.
Other notable wildfires included the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, where evacuation orders were in effect as the blaze swelled to 1,000 acres at 0% containment in the Eaton Canyon area as of early Wednesday.
Sylmar residents were evacuated from the Hurst Fire late Tuesday after the blaze ignited near where Interstate 5 and the 14 and 210 freeways meet about 10:29pm local time. It had grown to 100 acres as of 12:36am.
Threat level: Rare, late-season, "Particularly Dangerous Situation" red flag warnings are in effect as the region faces a life-threatening, destructive and widespread windstorm after months of dry weather that could produce hurricane-force gusts of up to 100 mph in some areas, per an advisory from the NWS' Los Angeles/Oxnard office.
The NWS said on X an"extremely dangerous situation is unfolding in southern California tonight." The forecast was for widespread "DAMAGING WIND and EXTREME FIRE WEATHER for most of Los Angeles/Ventura Counties," the NWS said.
"Time period of greatest concern: Tonight-Wednesday afternoon," it added. "Widespread N/NE gusts 50-80 mph, Isolated 80-100 mph mountains/foothills with scattered downed trees and power outages likely."
University of California, Los Angeles, climate scientist Daniel Swain said on Bluesky that the situation was the worst since a destructive event in 2011 that saw fires in Pasadena and the surrounding areas.
There's a "much greater wildfire risk" this time "due to far drier vegetation," Swain said.
In another sign of the seriousness of the situation, the Storm Prediction Center designated parts of the L.A. area as being in its highest risk category of "extremely critical" for Wednesday and Thursday.
By the numbers: The NWS' Los Angeles office has already recorded wind gusts at or exceeding 70 mph.
These include Deer Creek Canyon (80 mph), Boney Mountain (76 mph), Corral Canyon Park (75 mph), Sandstone Peak (73 mph), Castro Peak (71 mph) and Rancho De Cielo (70 mph).
The big picture: President Biden said in a Tuesday night statement that he was being "frequently briefed on the wildfires in west Los Angeles" and his administration "will do everything it can to support the response."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency in response to the Palisades Fire on Tuesday. He and Cal Fire deployed resources to SoCal areas expected to be impacted by this windstorm and extreme fire risk due to high winds and low humidity, per Monday evening statements.
Southern California Edison spokesperson Jeff Monford said in a Monday evening phone interview the utility had notified 411,000 customers that a public safety power shutoff could affect them on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The utility's power safety shutoffs affected 22,236 customers in Los Angeles County and another 2,968 in Ventura County as of 7:30pm local time amid powerful winds, per the company's outage tracker.
Monford said the issue was "not that the grid is vulnerable to wind," it's that objects could potentially become airborne and hit a power line and "cause a spark and because the vegetation on the ground an is so dry, that could be hazardous."
Context: Swain in a video briefing on Monday afternoon said parts of SoCal were "going on nine or 10 months now without meaningful rain. ... it's been the driest start to the season on record in some parts of Southern California, also the driest nine-month period on record in some of those same places."
Between the lines: Evidence suggests climate change is "increasing the overlap between extremely dry vegetation conditions later in the season and the occurrence of these wind events," said Swain during his briefing.
That's because "if we'd gotten three or four inches of rain" before this event, "we wouldn't really be talking about the wildfire risk, about the wind damage potential."
There's evidence that climate change "has already affected and will continue to accentuate changes in seasonal hydro climate, but not so much evidence, it's really affecting the winds themselves, or that it will necessarily in the future," Swain added.
What to expect: The strongest winds with gusts of 50 to 80 mph were expected into early Wednesday afternoon.
Red flag warnings were coming into effect elsewhere in California on Wednesday, including in San Diego County from the morning through 6pm.
Areas impacted by red flag warnings will face increased risks of extreme fire behavior and large fires with "VERY RAPID" spread, the NWS said.
House Republicans are already laying down potential dealbreakers for the massive fiscal legislation President-elect Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) are planning.
Why it matters: The chamber is set to have a roughly two-vote majority when the package is voted on, meaning just a handful of GOP defections could sink the entire initiative.
Republican factions — both in the House and Senate — are already at each others' throats on whether the package should consist of one bill or two, with Trump wavering on the topic.
State of play: Republican leadership could run into an issue with its fiscally conservative wing if it tries to advance one sprawling bill that includes a measure to raise the debt ceiling.
"I heard that there are three people that will not vote for a debt ceiling lift, which already kills the bill," said Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.).
Two House Republicans — Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Tim Burchett of Tennessee — have never voted to increase the debt ceiling.
Zoom in: The overall price tag of the measure could also create a dilemma for deficit hawks.
The bill is set to include an extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts that could cost as much as $5 trillion over 10 years, in addition to funding for border security and an immigration crackdown.
It will also likely include spending cuts, but the kind of discretionary cuts that Republicans have been floating may amount to peanuts compared to the debt and deficit implications of the package.
What they're saying: "I'm not going to say I'm going to create a 'red line' per se, but in general I came up here to cut spending. That's my whole personal goal, to right-size government," said Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.).
Burlison said Republicans have historically been "bad at" pairing meaningful spending reductions with their tax cuts.
"Everybody has something that somebody's whispering in their ear that they need for [their district], so spending is always a hang-up for Congress and we have never, ever been able to bring that in," said McCormick.
Zoom out: It's not just the GOP's right flank that leadership has to worry about.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday he's "been very clear from the start that I will not support a tax bill that does not lift the cap" on the state and local tax deduction.
That's a provision several blue-state Republicans have pushed for — even though it is unpopular with many Republican lawmakers.
Tens of thousands of people are under evacuation orders in Los Angeles County Wednesday morning as wind-driven, rapidly spreading wildfires are tearing through affluent California neighborhoods.
The big picture: The blazes remained zero percent contained as of Wednesday morning, and officials warned that conditions are expected to worsen.
The latest: Fire officials estimated the Palisades Fire had grown to 2,921 acres between Malibu and Santa Monica, where city officials issued evacuation orders Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning.
Satellite images indicated the fire was "vastly larger" than this, University of California, Los Angeles, climate scientist Daniel Swain said during a Tuesday night video briefing.
Images shared online showed flames engulfing multiple homes and residents abandoning their cars in Pacific Palisades, including the Palisades Charter High School and the Getty Villa museum.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday morning that more than 1,400 firefighters, emergency personnel, and first responders have been deployed to fight "these unprecedented fires in LA."
The county's Office of Education announced Tuesday evening that 19 school districts in the county would be closed Wednesday.
Erik Scott, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said in an X post late Tuesday that there were multiple burn victims and that a 25-year-old female firefighter had sustained a head injury battling the Palisades Fire.
The full extent of injuries from the fires remains unclear.
Threat level: The fire ignited after months of dry weather during powerful Santa Ana winds, per Cal Fire.
In addition to the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire, in the northeast of L.A. County, had burned at least 2,227acres by Wednesday morning, with winds reaching, and even surpassing 80 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The Hurst Fire, in and around the San Fernando Valley, has burned at least 500 acres.
The Woodley Fire in Sepulveda Basin reached 75 acres Wednesday.
All four fires were zero percent contained as of Wednesday morning.
State of play: President Biden said in a Tuesday night statement that he was being "frequently briefed on the wildfires in west Los Angeles" and he'd "offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire."
FEMA has approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant for affected areas, he said.
By Tuesday evening, the City of Santa Monica issued evacuation orders for areas north of San Vicente. "Immediate threat to life," the city said on X just after 7:30pm local time. "This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW. The area is closed to public access."
Zoom in: Video from the scene showed officials using a bulldozer to push stranded cars to the side of a road. "Police Academy" actor Steve Guttenberg stepped in to help move cars that fleeing residents left on Sunset Boulevard so fire trucks could come through, per KTLA 5.
Fellow Hollywood actor James Woods shared posts to X of homes ablaze and noted he and his next-door neighbor managed to safely evacuate, but his neighbor's house was "on fire" after being impacted by the wildfire.
Meanwhile, Getty Villa museum officials had fortunately "made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year," per a statement from Katherine Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
"Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe," added Fleming, who noted that the museum, which is closed to the public on Tuesdays, would remain shut at least through Monday, Jan. 13.
Zoom out: Millions of people in Southern California were affected by rare, late-season red flag warnings due to "widespread damaging north to northeast winds and extreme fire weather conditions," per a forecast discussion from the National Weather Service's Los Angeles office.
"Downed trees, hazardous driving conditions, increased traffic, power outages, and airport delays are to be expected across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Any wildfires that start may spread rapidly with extreme fire behavior."
More wildfires ignited across L.A. County on Tuesday evening and the NWS has warned the worst is likely yet to come for Southern California, which could see hurricane-force gusts of up to 100 mph in some areas.
Between the lines: Many parts of Southern California have not seen any meaningful rainfall for more than eight months.
Much of the region is experiencing "moderate drought" conditions, per the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Firefighters battle winds and flames as multiple beachfront homes go up in flames along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu in the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7. Photo: David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
The Getty Villa art museum is threatened by the Palisades Fire's flames on Jan. 7. Photo: David Swanso/AFP via Getty Images
Three men watch as a house is engulfed in flames from the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
A firefighter walks down a driveway to a home engulfed in fire in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7. Photo: Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/ Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
The Palisades Fire burns near homes in Pacific Palisades, California, on Jan. 7. Photo: David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images
A firefighter in Pacific Palisades tackles the wildfire that was pushed by gusting Santa Ana winds on Jan. 7. Photo: Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images
Plumes of smoke from the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7. Photo: David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images
People evacuate their home in Pacific Palisades due to the wildfire on Jan. 7. Photo: David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images
Smoke rises from a burning vehicle during the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7 in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. Photo: Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images
President-elect Trumpis preparing to invite the entire Senate Republican conference to Mar-a-Lago for a mega-MAGA party in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.
Why it matters: Trump is keen to celebrate a victory he sees as historic and fete the senators who helped him achieve it. He also wants to build trust with the lawmakers he needs to pass his sweeping legislative agenda.
"Mar-a-Lago is special to the president. He's at ease there. Everyone is," a Trump adviser told Axios.
"So it's a good place to get everyone together outside of Washington. It's team bonding. Trump is very much the player-coach."
Driving the news: Final details have not been locked down, but the big bash could come before Trump's inauguration.
Trump is also hosting governors at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday night, Politico reported.
Also this week, Trump will welcome three House groups to his Florida club. There'll be separate meetings scheduled for the Freedom Caucus, committee chairs and the so-called SALT lawmakers from high-tax blue states.
Zoom out: Trump likes to play the role of DJ at his Palm Beach club, but the background music will likely be dominated by the same talk that has consumed D.C. these last few weeks.
Republicans are in a heated internal conversation on whether to use one — or two — legislative vehicles to implement Trump's immigration and tax reform policies.
Trump isn't entirely indifferent, but he's indicated he can live with either approach.
"I like one, big, beautiful bill," Trump said at a press conference on Tuesday. "But if two is more certain, it does go a little bit quicker because you can do the immigration stuff early."
"I can live either way," he added.
Zoom in: This winter, Mar-a-Lago has been the warm-weather retreat for Trump's court — once in exile, but now preparing to return to power. (Mar-a-Lago was dubbed the "Winter White House" long before Trump bought it).
Government leadersand high-profile executives have all visited Trump in Palm Beach, both to pay their respects, but also to understand Trump's intentions and shape his views.
The suspect responsible for the Tesla Cybertruck blast in Las Vegas on New Year's Day used AI to plan the explosion, authorities said Tuesday.
The big picture: Matthew Alan Livelsberger searched ChatGPT to get information on how to carry out his plot, including how many explosives he would need and what pistol would set them off, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said during a news conference.
Authorities did not share what responses the technology generated.
An OpenAI spokesperson, Liz Bourgeois, said in an email statement that the company is "committed to seeing AI tools used responsibly" and that its "models are designed to refuse harmful instructions."
Bourgeois added, "In this case, ChatGPT responded with information already publicly available on the internet and provided warnings against harmful or illegal activities."
Driving the news: Police said Tuesday a six-page document they're describing as a manifesto was found.
They also said evidence has emerged that Livelsberger's death was a suicide.
"This new information comes with more questions than answers. I will not provide an opinion on what the documents mean, nor will we release information or documents that have not been completely verified" Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
President Biden is infuriating critics in the twilight of his term, unburdened by optics as he resorts to raw instincts — and seemingly a bit of trolling — to write the final pages of his polarizing presidency.
Why it matters: Biden's legacy will be defined, in many ways, by Donald Trump's reelection. But the 81-year-old president appears too proud to allow MAGA's rising tide to sweep him into premature irrelevance.
Two days before Christmas, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row — drawing praise from criminal justice groups, but outrage from Republicans and some victims' families.
Last week, Biden gave former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — whom Trump has called to be prosecuted — the Presidential Citizens Medal for her work leading the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
Then on Saturday,Biden honored Hillary Clinton and liberal philanthropist George Soros with the Presidential Medal of Freedom — a move that might as well have been lab-engineered for maximum MAGA meltdown.
Zoom out: Partisan catnip aside, the bulk of Biden's lame-duck agenda has been aimed at extending the longevity of his core policy themes, primarily through a flurry of rules and regulations finalized in recent weeks.
The latest: New consumer rules banning medical debt from being included on credit reports, which the White House touted as an example of making "every day count" in advancing Biden's economic vision.
Biden also issued a sweeping executive order Monday blocking about 625 million acres of offshore areas from future oil and gas drilling, potentially hindering Trump's plans to quickly scale up fossil fuel production.
Trump expressed disbelief at the move on Hugh Hewitt's radio show Monday, and later complained on Truth Social: "Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult as possible."
Reality check: Incoming Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles told Axios that the White House has been "very helpful" during the transition, despite the policy differences.
What they're saying: "After inheriting an economy in freefall and skyrocketing violent crime, President Biden is proud to leave his successor the best-performing economy on earth, the lowest violent crime rates in over 50 years, and the lowest border crossings in over four years," White House spokesman Andrew Bates told Axios in a statement.
Screenshot of Trump-Vance press release.
Between the lines: Biden, who declared "America is back" when he took office four years ago, has remained deeply engaged on global issues as he seeks to Trump-proof his legacy.
He's continued to rush aid to Ukraine, and after the election approved Kyiv's request to strike deep inside Russia with American-made missiles — prompting claims of sabotage from Trump and his allies.
A staunch Zionist, Biden also has refused to bow to progressive pressure to cut off military support to Israel — and even approved an $8 billion arms sale last week, while still working to secure a hostage deal in Gaza.
"I might be the oldest president, but I know more world leaders than any one of you have ever met in your whole goddamn life," a feisty Biden scolded reporters at the White House on Sunday.
The intrigue: The clearest sign of Biden relying on gut instincts in his final days is his decision to block Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel — a position that he and Trump share.
Biden overruled several of his top advisers, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in blocking the Japanese giant's acquisition, according to the Washington Post.
Instead, "Scranton Joe" sided with the United Steelworkers union to ensure that the company remains American-owned — even at the risk of potential job losses and plant closures.
What to watch: The "Dark Brandon" era could end with preemptive pardons for Democrats and government officials targeted for retribution by Trump, including Anthony Fauci.
President-elect Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will join negotiations over a Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal on Wednesday in Doha.
Why it matters: Witkoff's trip is part of a last-minute effort by the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration to reach a deal to release hostages held by Hamas and establish a ceasefire in Gaza before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump has threatened there would be "hell to pay in the Middle East" if Hamas didn't release the hostages by the time he is inaugurated. President Biden also made mediating a deal a top priority for his final months in office.
Driving the news: At a press conference in Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Witkoff said negotiators were "making a lot of progress" on a deal.
"I'm really hopeful that by the inaugural, we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president," Witkoff said.
Trump, who Wikoff described as "exasperated" when it comes to the Gaza deal, said on Tuesday that he doesn't want to say anything that could harm the negotiations but reiterated his threat.
"If these hostages aren't back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East — it will not be good for Hamas or anybody else," Trump said.
100 hostages are still held by Hamas in Gaza, among them seven Americans. Roughly half of the hostages are believed to be still alive, according to Israeli intelligence, including three Americans.
If an agreement is reached, the first phase could include the release of 33 hostages — some who are still alive and some who are dead.
The first phase is also expected to include a ceasefire in Gaza for a period of between six and seven weeks and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including those who murdered Israelis.
State of play: An eight-day round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas during the last week of December didn't lead to a breakthrough. U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators said they managed to make some progress but not enough to get a deal.
Last Friday, Israeli negotiators returned to Doha for another round of talks with the mediators. Biden's top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk also joined the talks on Sunday.
An Israeli official said gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on almost all of issues being negotiated. He said that while it is going to be very hard to reach a deal by Jan. 20, there is "cautious optimism"that a deal could be reached in the next few weeks.
Yes, but: It isn't clear yet when Mossad director David Barnea is going to join the talks in Qatar. Israeli officials said not enough progress has been made to justify him going to Doha.
The other side: Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Tuesday that the group and its supporters in Gaza are not afraid of Trump's threats "because they already live in hell" in Gaza.
Hamadan said he doesn't think a deal will be reached by Jan. 20.
Hamas official Ahmad Abdul Hadi told al-Mayadeen television network on Monday that the "decision is in Netanyahu's court" and reiterated Hamas' position that any deal would need to include an end to the war in Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal.
Behind the scenes: U.S. and Israeli officials say Hamas' top military leader in Gaza — Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — doesn't seem to be deterred by Trump's threat.
The officials said Sinwar refuses to provide a list that clarifies which hostages that would be released in the first phase of the deal — which includes women, men over the age of 50, and men under the age of 50 who are in serious medical condition — are still alive.
The 119th House passed its first bill of 2025 Tuesday: The Laken Riley Act, which would require the detention of undocumented immigrants arrested for certain non-violent crimes such as theft.
Why it matters: It's a sign of just how central immigration and border security will be for Republicans under the incoming Trump administration.
The party spent the last four years railing against what they said was the Biden administration's dereliction on border security.
Driving the news: The bill passed 264-159, with 48 Democrats siding with Republicans in voting for it
The bill was one of a dozen pieces of legislation listed in the House GOP's rules package that passed last week, allowing it to be voted on under a streamlined process.
Zoom in: The measure is named for a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed on the University of Georgia campus last year by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been arrested on theft-related charges.
The House previously passed the bill last March, with 37 Democrats voting in favor of it, but it did not get a vote in the then-Democratic Senate.
Now Republicans control the Senate and plan to hold a vote on the bill, Axios' Stephen Neukam and Stef Kight reported.
It's likely to get some Democratic support in the Senate, though it may not be enough to clear the chamber's 60-vote threshold.
The other side: Democratic leadership opposed the bill but did not formally whip against it, according to a notice sent out by House Minority Whip Katherine Clark's (D-Mass.) office.
"The policies in this bill would ratchet up the number of mandatory detentions without increasing funding to carry them out," the whip notice said.
It also argued that the bill would give conservative state attorneys general greater ability to block federal border policy.
Why it matters: Speaking for over an hour during his second press conference since winning the White House, Trump floated renaming the 'Gulf of Mexico' to 'Gulf of America' and reiterated that he's "looking at" pardoning Jan. 6 defendants.
Driving the news: Trump's far-reaching press conference comes just one day after Congress certified his 2024 presidential victory. Here's some of what he said:
When asked by a reporter whether Trump would assure the world that he would not use military or economic coercion to gain control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, he said: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two."
"I can say this, we need them for economic security," the president-elect said.
Trump's remarks come as his son, Donald Trump Jr., is visiting Greenland on Tuesday, after the president-elect has signaled that the U.S. should try to acquire the territory.
Between the lines: Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino told the local newspaper La Estrella he will not respond to Trump's accusations about the Canal until the president-elect takes office Jan. 20.
A defiant Mulino has previously suggested that Trump's comments didn't matter until he actually became president.
Gulf of Mexico: Trump also said that "we're going to be changing the name of Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring."
His remarks, which raise questions about how the renaming process would actually work, are the latest example of Trump flexing his power on the global stage before he takes office.
Jan. 6 defendants: One day after the four year anniversary of the Capitol riot, Trump said that "we'll be looking at the whole thing, but I'll be making major pardons."
He didn't specifically answer whether he would consider pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters who were charged with violent offenses.
Trump on the campaign trail repeatedly said he would pardon the rioters who were charged in connection to Jan. 6 on his "first day" in office.
Hostages held by Hamas: Trump said that "all hell will break out in the Middle east" if the hostages held by Hamas are not released by the time he takes office.
"And it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don't have to say anymore, but that's what it is."
Canada: Trump, who has mused about making Canada the 51st U.S. state, said that he would not use the military to make that happen but did not rule out using "economic force."
Zoom out: Trump earlier in his Tuesday press conference announced that billionaire Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Dubai-based developer Damac Properties, is investing at least $20 billion in the U.S. to back new data centers.
Senate Democrats are forcing a delay in Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation hearing next week, claiming she hasn't provided required vetting materials — while Republicans accuse them of playing games, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It's the first taste of what's expected to be a drama-filled few weeks as the Senate takes up some of President-elect Trump's most controversial Cabinet picks.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is balking at GOP requests to hold a hearing for Gabbard early next week, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations.
Gabbard, a former member of the House, is Trump's pick for national intelligence director.
Warner has pointed out that the committee has not yet received Gabbard's FBI background check, ethics disclosure or a pre-hearing questionnaire, a source familiar with the matter told us. Committee rules require the background check a week in advance of a hearing.
The other side: Gabbard completed the background check process last week, according to a source working with the nominee. Her active security clearance also means the process will be expedited.
Gabbard submitted an initial pre-hearing questionnaire and intends to submit a second on time and was given a Thursday deadline, the source said.
Another source familiar said the ethics disclosures have been delayed for multiple nominees due to the snow and other logistics but are expected to come through soon.
Between the lines: Either way, without the materials or sign off from Democrats, the hearing for one of Trump's most vital national security officials could be pushed to late next week — if not the week following.
Intel Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)"intends to hold these hearings before Inauguration Day,"a spokesperson told Axios. "The Intelligence Committee, the nominees, and the transition are diligently working toward that goal."
"After the terrorist attacks on New Year's Eve and New Years Day, it's sad to see Sen. Warner and Democrats playing politics with Americans' safety and our national security," Trump transition spokesperson Alexa Henning told Axios in a statement, adding the nominee is willing to meet with every committee member.
The details: Committee rules hold that a confirmation hearing cannot be held until seven days after the panel receives "background questionnaire, financial disclosure statement, and responses to additional pre-hearing questions."
That gives the Gabbard and the transition team just a couple days if the committee wants to easily set up a hearing for next week.
Cotton could bypass that rule with a majority vote of the panel. But it would be a rare step for a committee that has long prided itself on bipartisanship.
The big picture: Gabbard is still making the rounds with Senate Democrats before the hearing and is scheduled to meet with Warner today.
Gabbard will also meet with Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Az.) and Angus King (I-Maine) later this week, per a source. She has already met with Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) — all members of the intelligence panel.
Meta announced Tuesday that it will end its fact-checking program on its platforms in exchange for X-style community notes as part of a slate of changes targeting "censorship" and embracing "free expression."
Why it matters: It's part of a growing trend among online platforms, which are shifting away from policing misinformation and content amid charges of bias. The shift will have consequences for digital safety and young users.
The changes echo calls from the right to walk back "censorship" on social media and coincide with President-elect Trump's return to the White House.
Driving the news: Meta CEOMark Zuckerberg outlined in a Tuesday post a series of content moderation reforms, impacting billions of users across Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
Beyond replacing its fact-checkers, Meta will bring back more political content to its platforms and end restrictions on certain topics "out of touch with mainstream discourse," Zuckerberg said, "like immigration and gender."
It will also adjust filters scanning for policy violations to only tackle illegal and "high severity" violations. Those include topics like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams, per a Tuesday release.
Additionally, Zuckerberg said, the company's U.S. content review team will be moved to Texas from California, contending it will help Meta "build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams."
What they're saying: Joel Kaplan, Meta's chief global affairs officer, said on Fox & Friends on Tuesday that Meta's third-party fact-checkers have demonstrated "too much political bias."
Kaplan, a prominent Republican, replaced Meta's policy chief Nick Clegg last week.
Rules governing content on Meta's platforms have "become too restrictive over time," Kaplan said, "including about those kind of sensitive topics ... that people want to discuss and debate, immigration, trans issues, gender."
He added, "If you can say it on TV, you can say it on the floor of Congress, you certainly ought to be able to say it on Facebook and Instagram without fear of censorship."
Context: Dropping fact-checking is also another step toward embracing MAGA for Meta.
The company was quick to pledge a $1 million donation to Trump's inauguration.
The company on Monday added three people to its board, including close Trump friend Dana White.
Flashback: Meta began to ramp up its fact-checking efforts following the 2016 U.S. election, when it was criticized for misinformation on its platform.
It relied on a network of fact-checking partners that were part of a third-party consortium called the International Fact-Checking Network to do the fact-checks.
By 2019, it had nearly quadrupled the number of fact-checking partners it worked with to combat misinformation globally.
Yes, but: Those efforts soon became politicized, with critics arguing its fact-checking partners were biased.
Zoom out: Meta did a lot to appease critics and dodge regulatory scrutiny during the first Trump era, even when those efforts were at odds with Zuckerberg's bigger vision of acting as a neutral platform for speech.
The company invested millions of dollars in paying news partners globally, only to cut those investments when it changed its algorithm.
Zuckerberg famously reversed the company's policies on Holocaust denialism following criticism.
The big picture: The politicization of fact-checking has contributed to a decline in the number of fact-checking sites globally, according to data from Duke Reporters' Lab, Axios has reported.
In North America, the number of active fact-checking sites decreased from 94 to 90 from 2020 to 2023.
What to watch: In the U.S., fact-checking mostly serves as an exercise to ensure Meta doesn't get in trouble for allowing blatant political misinformation.
But abroad, Meta's fact-checking network has been critical in stopping manipulation and abuses on its platforms, including posts that have led to real-world violence.
