The Defense Department announced Wednesday it's sending an additional 1,500 troops to the southern border to carry out President Trump's immigration orders.
The big picture: Soon after being sworn in, Trump signed executive orders declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and calling for more barriers as part of an crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
Driving the news: Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said in a statement Wednesday that he's carrying out a series of actions to gain "complete operational control of the southern border."
The Department of Defense will send an additional 1,500 people, along with helicopters and intelligence analysts "to support increased detection and monitoring efforts," Salesses said.
There are already about 2,500 U.S. National Guard and Reserve forces there.
Zoom in: The Pentagon will also provide military aircraft to support the Department of Homeland Security's deportation flights of more than 5,000 undocumented immigrants from the areas of San Diego, California; and El Paso, Texas.
The DOD will also start helping with the construction of temporary and permanent physical barriers at the border, aimed at curtailing illegal border crossings and trafficking.
What they're saying: "This is just the beginning," Salesses said.
"President Trump directed action from the Department of Defense on securing our nation's borders and made clear he expects immediate results. That is exactly what our military is doing under his leadership."
The other side: Civil liberties groups promised to take legal action against any misuse of military on civilian populations.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tells Axios they are gathering information and will look at taking action.
HHS Secretary designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned $326,000 from the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense and a $100,000 licensing fee for use of the Make America Healthy Again brand, according to financial disclosure forms posted by the Office of Government Ethics.
Why it matters: The forms offer a detailed picture into Kennedy's extensive financial holdings and how he'd resolve potential conflicts of interest if he's confirmed.
The Senate Finance Committee announced Wednesday that it will hold a confirmation hearing on Kennedy's nomination on Jan. 29. That's expected to be followed by a second hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee a day later.
The big picture: Kennedy reported more than $11.3 million in earnings, including $8.8 million from the law firm Kennedy & Madonna. He pledged to transfer or forfeit interests in contingency fee cases if confirmed.
He also earned $481,732 from JW Howard, a law firm he worked for and remains of counsel to. The firm represented a health freedom group in an appellate court challenge to a COVID-19 vaccination mandate imposed by the Los Angeles Unified School District. Kennedy indicated he would not be paid going forward.
He received $856,559 in fees on contingency cases from Wisner Baum, where he served as co-counsel in suing Merck over patient injury claims from Guardasil, a vaccine approved to protect against human papillomavirus, or HPV, which is a leading cause of cervical cancer.
Between the lines: Kennedy reported income from several other sources including stock investments, books, endorsements and a licensing deal, as well as $100,000 speaking gigs.
His investment holdings include the biotechs CRISPR Therapeutics AG and Dragonfly Therapeutics, and tech giants Apple and Amazon, which both have health care arms. He pledged to divest if confirmed.
Per the report, he earned $451,000 from Skyhorse Publishing for author introductions, book ideas and forwards to other authors' works. He is still owed at least $2 million in book advances. He committed to halt all related activities if confirmed.
He also received $100,000 from Jeff Hayes ,who made a documentary about RFK Jr., in a licensing agreement for using the Make America Healthy Again brand marks.
The intrigue Kennedy reported a $100,000 deal to endorse a $30 app-enabled fitness game called Boxbollen on social media. The game involves hitting a ball that is connected to a strap that's worn on the head. He reported returning $50,000 because he wasn't able to fulfill his duties.
The report also lists financial income sources for his wife, actress and producer Cheryl Hines, including residuals for the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," as well as a $600,000 book advance.
The White House has requested that the three Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) resign by end of day Thursday or face termination, a source close to the agency confirmed.
Why it matters: The move will dismantle a key intelligence program watchdog agency, leaving it with just one member as it prepares to help lawmakers navigate a highly contentious debate over whether to keep certain government surveillance powers intact.
The big picture: PCLOB is just the latest privacy and security-related board to have its membership wiped as the new Trump administration settles in.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine C. Huffman sent a letter Monday terminating all members of the department's advisory boards — including one that was investigating the China-backed hack of U.S. telcos.
"Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security will no longer tolerate any advisory committee which push agendas that attempt to undermine its national security mission, the President's agenda or Constitutional rights of Americans," a senior DHS official said in a statement.
Between the lines: Loyalty is paramount to President Trump as he builds his new group of advisers.
Zoom in: The White House sent the letters to three Democratic members of PCLOB Tuesday night, the New York Times first reported.
Those members include Chair Sharon Bradford Franklin and two other members selected by Democratic administrations, Edward W. Felten and Travis LeBlanc.
The board was established following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to investigate any national security work that could infringe on individual civil rights.
In recent years the board weighed in on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a program that allows for warrantless collection of bulk online communications and comes up for renewal again next year.
PCLOB is also instrumental in implementing an agreement between the U.S. and European Union that allows businesses to transfer Europeans' data to the United States.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
How it works: The board is an independent agency that's designed to have five members, and its charter does not allow for more than three members from the president's party.
The fifth seat at the board had been vacant for years, and the forced resignations would leave Beth Williams as the sole member.
PCLOB needs three members—who require Senate confirmation—to have a quorum. Without one, the staff cannot start new projects or close out existing ones.
What they're saying: "President Trump's attempt to expel members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is a brazen effort to destroy an independent watchdog that has protected Americans and exposed surveillance abuse under Democratic and Republican administrations alike," Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, said in a statement.
"This is an effort to shoot the watchdog. That's a very bad signal about what this President wants to do next."
What's next: It's unclear how quickly Trump would move to name new members of the board. PCLOB is historically low on any administration's nomination list.
MrBeast, one of most successful Internet creators, may join a bid by real estate mogul and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt to buy TikTok's U.S. arm, McCourt told Axios' Sara Fischer in Davos Wednesday.
Why it matters: McCourt has said that he's gotten $20 billion in commitments to his bid but hasn't detailed who the investors are — as the popular app's future has remained in flux.
Zoom in: The group in on the bid is composed of "all the major investment firms that you would imagine," including private equity firms, large family offices and alternative asset managers, McCourt said.
In addition, he suggested the existing investors in Chinese-owned ByteDance will also want to roll over their investments into a U.S. TikTok spin-off.
What he's saying: McCourt said he's spoken to MrBeast — born Jimmy Donaldson — who has publicly expressed interest in buying TikTok. "MrBeastis going to be a part of this bid too. So he's very entrepreneurial," McCourt said.
"We welcome everyone," McCourt said.
A spokesperson for McCourt later told Axios, "We have only had conversations with MrBeast. Nothing set in stone."
Representatives for MrBeast did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Asked if he'd partner with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and X owner Elon Musk, McCourt responded, "if there was an agreement on the values and principles."
Between the lines: "There is oodles of capital here. That's not the issue at all," McCourt said. "It's really the politics of this that's very, very challenging."
By the numbers: When asked if his bid would be enough to suffice the deal given the value of TikTok's U.S. arm is uncertain, McCourt said he believes his $20 billion bid accurately reflects the value.
"You can buy shares of ByteDance on the secondary market now at a valuation with a $200 billion plus number in front of it for the entire company," he said.
"U.S. TikTok represents about 8% and we're talking about buying that piece without the technology," he continued.
The law requires that any future U.S. arm of the platform be disentangled from the Chinese technology that runs it.
Catch up quick: TikTok restored its service Sunday after going dark the previous night. A U.S. law passed last year had set a deadline of Jan. 19 for the app to face a ban unless sold to a U.S. owner.
President Trump on his first day in office signed an executive order to delay enforcing the law by 75 days.
What to watch: The investor group has been in touch with ByteDance through bankers, McCourt said. But other than acknowledging receipt of the offer, "ByteDance is silent right now," he said.
Their offer was the only that went to the Justice Department, got approved and was ready to go if ByteDance signed it, according to McCourt.
What he's saying: As companies are increasingly pulling back on moderation, McCourt suggested that if his deal goes through, he would not regulate TikTok's free speech policy, privacy policy or moderation policy.
"We need technology that is actually optimizing for what we as society want for these policies," he said. "What we have right now is a few people deciding."
McCourt views this as a unique opportunity to solve a national security issue, help fix the Internet and begin the third generation of the Internet where users are in charge.
Catch up quick: McCourt launched Project Liberty, which includes both a for-profit company and a non-profit institute, in 2021 to help build and advocate for a safer and more equitable internet.
He announced his intentions to assemble an investor group to buy the app in May, shortly after the bipartisan law that would instate a ban was signed.
Alongside its research and policy efforts, Project Liberty has also developed its own blockchain-based, decentralized web infrastructure in an effort to make social media safer and more secure.
In 2022, MeWe, a free and subscription-based social media platform that bills itself as a privacy-focused alternative to Facebook, became the first social network to launch using Project Liberty's decentralized social networking protocol (DSNP).
The Trump administration is screening the loyalty of approximately 160 career civil servants assigned to the National Security Council.
Why it matters: The screenings are part of a larger push by President Trump to reshape the federal workforce that includes staffing the administration with loyalists and making it easier to fire civil servants.
State of play: There are approximately 160 civil servants, known as detailees, on the NSC whose employment is being reviewed. These reviews are at "different stages" but nearly all "are being impacted today," a national security source briefed on the mattertold Axios Wednesday.
The sidelined detailees have been told to temporarily work from home as the process continues, per AP, which first reported the story.
Meanwhile, new detailees, including some that had served during the first Trump administration, are being brought on, per AP.
Catch up quick: Even before President Trump took office, members of his administration began questioning NSC employees about their political affiliations and actions, to suss out their loyalty to Trump, AP reported earlier this month.
Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz had told Breitbart News earlier this month that career civil servants detailed to the NSC during the Biden administration would be returned to their home federal agencies and departments.
Zoom out: Trump has lost little time in reshaping the federal workforce since his inauguration Monday.
He swiftly signed executive orders mandating a hiring freeze for federal workers and mandating a full-time return to in-office work for government employees.
He also reinstated Schedule F, which could make it easier to fire civil servants deemed disloyal.
President Trump threatened on Wednesday to levy fresh tariffs on Russia if the Kremlin does not quickly agree to a deal to end its war in Ukraine.
Why it matters: Trump made ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine a key campaign pledge, but its not clear that his new threat will put significant pressure on Russia to change its negotiating posture.
Driving the news: Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday that if a deal to end the war is not reached "soon," he would have "no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries."
Trump said he wasn't "looking to hurt Russia" but that the actions were necessary to end the war.
"I'm going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR," he added.
Caveat: According to U.S. Census Bureau data, U.S. imports from Russia have fallen precipitously over the past decade.
State of play: Trump vowed on the campaign trail to end the war within 24 hours of taking office. That didn't happen. Recent reports have suggested his administration now expects it to take several months to broker a deal.
Trump was often critical of the Biden administration's support for Ukraine.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that Trump's "unpredictable" nature could help end the war.
Our thought bubble, from Axios' Ben Berkowitz: A threat to tariff Russian exports, and sanction its companies, has much less practical impact now than it would have in past years, given that Russian trade has dwindled dramatically since the war started.
Hours after President Trump announced a major artificial intelligence investment, it faced skepticism from one of his closest allies: DOGE head Elon Musk.
Why it matters: Musk publicly undermining the $500 billion project, led by OpenAI and other tech titans, could draw Trump's ire.
Trump tasked Musk with slashing federal spending with the new Department of Government Efficiency.
The pair's budding relationship has grown more entwined since Trump won back the White House, but this is one of their most public disagreements to date.
What he's saying: "They don't actually have the money," Musk said on X late Tuesday night in response to OpenAI's announcement of the project.
A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on Musk's post.
Catch up quick: "The Stargate Project," a joint venture funded by SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure in the U.S.
The project will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, the company said. Trump called it a "monumental undertaking."
Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle and OpenAI are the initial technology partners.
Driving the news: Musk said he had it on "good authority" that SoftBank secured "well under" $10 billion.
"Wrong, as you surely know," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk. He urged him to put the country ahead of his own companies.
"I genuinely respect your accomplishments and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time," Altman said earlier.
Between the lines: Musk and Altman have had a fraught relationship after a falling-out over the direction of OpenAI, which both men co-founded, and Musk is deep in the latest of several lawsuits he has brought against OpenAI.
President Trump on Tuesday ordered key federal health agencies to pause all external communications, multipleoutlets reported and Axios confirmed.
Why it matters: The health agencies' website updates, advisories, and scientific reports provide the public with critical information on a variety of medical issues, including food recalls, infectious diseases and new drug approvals.
Driving the news: The directive was delivered to officials inside the Department of Health and Human Services' agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), per the Washington Post, which first reported the story.
The directive did not outline a reason for the pause, how long it is meant to last, or what exactly was covered under it, CNN reported.
The HHS, NIH, and White House did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment on Wednesday. The FDA and CDC referred Axios to HHS.
Between the lines: While a pause in external communications at the start of a new administration isn't unprecedented, an unnamed source familiar with the directive told CNN that the scope of the order seemed unusual.
The pause could simply be a reflection of the new administration needing to "catch their breath and know what is going on with regard to" communications, the Post reported, citing an unnamed official.
Flashback: The first Trump administration in 2017 sent a similar directive pausing external communications to several federal agencies overseeing environmental and scientific policy.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership has directed employees to refer to foreign nationals as "aliens" in all "internal and external communications," according to an internal memo obtained by Axios.
The new memo is another sign of how the administration came in ready to make clear their aggressive stance on combatting illegal immigration, right away.
Immigration advocates criticize the term for being offensive, while immigration restrictionists defend using "alien" because it's what's used in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Shortly after taking office, former President Biden's team moved away from the statutory language, pushing for more "more inclusive" words instead.
Driving the news: Acting ICE director Caleb Vitello is reverting the language guidance back, according to a memo dated Tuesday and addressed to agency leadership.
The directive rescinds the memo from 2021, which had changed the official terminology from "alien" to "noncitizen."
The new directive from Vitello specifies that instead of "noncitizen," employees are to use the term "alien." It also replaces "noncitizenship" with "alienage."
Zoom out: Trump has made clear for years that he intends an explosive and sweeping crackdown on immigration to the U.S. in his second term.
He has already signed orders to resume his Remain in Mexico policy, end birthright citizenship, declare a national emergency at the border, halt refugee admissions, among other actions.
The House subcommittee overseeing President Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is stacked with some of the most outspoken and ideological lawmakers in both parties, Axios has learned.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose mere presence on a committee is enough to cause upheaval, will be chairing Oversight's DOGE subcommittee.
Several of the GOP members are from the right-wing Freedom Caucus, with other big names such as Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and freshman rising stars like Reps. Brian Jack (R-Ga.) and Brandon Gill (R-Texas).
Driving the news: Democrats' members similarly include a healthy number of Congressional Progressive Caucus members, according to a list obtained by Axios.
Led by Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), the list features big-name progressive Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Greg Casar (D-Texas), the chair of the CPC.
It also includes Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), a fiery defender of D.C.'s interests on Capitol Hill, and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), an Oversight Committee mainstay.
Crockett in particular is known for her biting rejoinders in committee hearings and for sparring with firebrand Republicans like Taylor Greene.
Between the lines: This is the kind of committee you put together when you're trying to stage the Capitol Hill equivalent of bare-knuckle brawls.
Few, if any, of the Republicans and Democrats on this committee are considered bipartisan dealmakers prepared to reach across the aisle on reasonable spending cuts and revenue raisers.
What they're saying: Stansbury told Axios' Erin Doherty on Tuesday that she is prepared to fight against Republican attempts to use DOGE to shrink the size of government.
"All you need to do is see that they put [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in charge of the committee to know that this is likely going to be very much a political committee," she told Axios.
A deal will get done to ensure that TikTok remains available in the U.S., General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford told Axios during an event on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
Why it matters: General Atlantic is a major investor in TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Ford is on ByteDance's board of directors.
Catch up quick: President Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 75 more days to work out a change-of-control deal, as required by a law signed last year.
As of Trump's order, ByteDance had not engaged in negotiations with any potential buyer, despite the pending ban.
What he's saying: "Yes," said Ford, when asked if a deal will get done. "It's in everybody's interest."
"We'll get on with it, as soon as maybe the end of the week in terms of negotiating what might work ... The Chinese government, the U.S. government and the company and the board all have to be involved in this conversation."
He added that there could be solutions "short of divestiture."
Zoom in: Ford also argued that the Biden administration is partially to blame for the situation reaching a boiling point, arguing that it wasn't "engaging with us on a real dialogue."
At the same time, however, he acknowledged that President Trump tried banning TikTok in the waning days of his first term, before changing course during the recent campaign.
The spread of influenza A, COVID and RSV is "high" or "very high" across much of the U.S. at the same time norovirus cases are well above normal levels, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and wastewater surveillance data shows.
Why it matters: The result is "quad-demic" of illness hitting simultaneously in what's shaping up to be a more active virus season than last year.
The big picture: The simultaneous threats are straining some hospitals to capacity and leading administrators to recommend masking among staff, ABC News reports.
The surge follows what was a slow start to the respiratory virus season.
"Predictions for this respiratory virus season were that we would see peak January 1 and that it would likely mirror previous respiratory virus seasons. We're obviously seeing it peak a little bit later," Saskia Popescu, a member of APIC's Emerging Infectious Diseases Task Force, told Axios.
The details: Flu activity is high or very high across 33 states and Washington, D.C., according to the CDC tracking of outpatient visits to health care providers for influenza-like illness.
Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas had the highest levels as of the week of Jan. 18, according to the Walgreens Flu Index, compiled using retail prescription data for antiviral medications used to treat the flu across Walgreens locations.
The CDC data shows flu-like illness is "very high" in New York City while the Walgreens index identifies Oklahoma City; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Montgomery-Selma, Alabama, among the areas with the most activity.
What we're watching: Human metapneumovirus, or HMPV — which comes with symptoms of a cough, fever, nasal congestion and shortness of breath — made headlines in China and has also been spreading in the U.S.
Activity in the U.S. remains low compared with other viruses, per CDC data, and experts have said it shouldn't be cause for panic. "It is a seasonal bug that we know how to manage," said Popescu, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
For HMPV, as well as these other viruses that are circulating, the tried-and-true advice is particularly worth heeding right now, she said.
"All of those mitigation efforts that you can do — washing your hands, covering your cough, cleaning, disinfection, being mindful of ventilation in shared spaces — that's all going to help," she said.
Over just eight hours on Inauguration Day, Presidents Trump and Biden forever stretched the immense public and private power of the presidency to once-unimaginable dimensions:
Presidents can preemptively pardon family and friends in case of any accusation of grift or crimes.
Presidents can pardon violent criminals convicted of sedition and violence in defense of their politics.
Presidents and their families can start businesses — or even currencies — and profit without restriction or outcry.
Oh, and they can do this with the presumption of presidential immunity.
America doesn't have a king. But we're dancing close to king-like power.
Why it matters: Presidents could always pardon, profit or protect friends, family and allies. It just never has been done this broadly, this brazenly, this quickly. And with this much of a public shrug.
The big picture: So much of modern political and presidential power flows from precedent and imagination: doing unto others what the predecessors did — or did to them. And then stretching the hell out of it.
Biden, under the guise of protecting his family from unfair political and legal persecution, preemptively pardoned his brothers James and Frank Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens, and John Owens and Sara Biden, the spouses of Valerie and James. This is unprecedented.
"It's disgusting," Bill Daley — a longtime Biden friend who was White House chief of staff under President Obama — told us. It "confirms that there are serious concerns about culpability." Daley said the Bidens will never wipe this "stain" from the former president's legacy.
Trump blasted the pardons, moments before offering his own to approximately 1,500 people convicted or charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — including violent criminals who attacked police officers.
Trump also pardoned Enrique Tarrio, the fascist Proud Boy leader convicted of seditious conspiracy — and serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison — for coordinating the attack on the Capitol from outside Washington.
Trump also commuted the sentences of 14 extremist members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convicted for plotting to violently overthrow the U.S. government and keep Trump in office.
The sweeping acts of clemency stunned Washington and contradicted prior statements from Republicans — including Vice President JD Vance — that violent offenders should not be pardoned.
Between the lines: Biden, who earlier pardoned his son, Hunter, basically offered blanket immunity to family members who might be accused of profiting from this presidency.
Trump tested new limits by launching a surprise meme coin, $TRUMP, that vaulted him to crypto billionaire status two days before being inaugurated.
Crypto insiders fear that $TRUMP — as well as the hastily launched $MELANIA meme coin — could destroy credibility that the scam-plagued industry has spent years trying to build.
Remember, Trump once was a crypto skeptic and converted only during the 2024 campaign. He then became a beneficiary, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, of the industry's open wallet. What an ROI!
Most Americans don't realize there are basically no limitations on presidents profiting off their reins of power through new businesses or business deals.
Thanks to the Supreme Court, presidents also enjoy the presumption of immunity for "official acts" if they're ever accused of crossing any legal lines.
So Trump and his family conceivably could make billions through deals worldwide, new businesses and new currencies, funding the family — or even a political movement — for a generation. Their only limitation is imagination.
America has drifted into uncharted waters in the rule of law. Trump and future presidents can test the limits with a presumption of success. And Biden's final act of pardons show Democrats have lost a lot of ability to cry foul.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday when asked about Trump's blanket Jan. 6 pardons: "We said all along that Biden opened the door on this."
We'll leave you with this: Now that presidential power is so broad, so deep, so uncontainable, why forfeit it? Well, here's an apparent loophole in the constitutional limit on two presidential terms:
Trump or future presidents could simply run for a de facto third term —as the vice presidential nominee, with the understanding they will take power back once elected. That's but one of the once-unthinkable scenarios that seem more thinkable than ever.
President Trump's sweeping pardons for 1,500 Jan. 6 criminals and defendants were a last-minute, rip-the-bandage-off decision to try to move past the issue quickly, White House advisers familiar with the Trump team's discussions tell Axios.
Why it matters: Trump's move to "go big" on the pardons sheds light on his unpredictable decision-making process, and shows his determination to fulfill a campaign promise to his MAGA base — regardless of political fallout.
How it happened: Eight days before the inauguration, Vice President-to-be JD Vance — channeling what he believed to be Trump's thinking — said on "Fox News Sunday" that Jan. 6 convicts who assaulted police ought not get clemency: "If you committed violence that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned."
Trump vacillated during an internal debate over targeted clemency vs. a blanket decision according to two insiders.
But as Trump's team wrestled with the issue, and planned a shock-and-awe batch of executive orders Day 1, "Trump just said: 'F -k it: Release 'em all,'" an adviser familiar with the discussions said.
Catch up quick: Trump's decision was a surprise to some Republicans in Congress, who grimaced at the appearance of the new president condoning violence against police officers.
On Jan. 7, 2021, the day after his supporters rioted at the Capitol to protest the 2020 election, Trump decried those who "defiled" the building.
But as his own legal problems mounted during his campaign, Trump came to embrace the cause of those charged in the riot. On the campaign trail, he began playing a version of the National Anthem sung by jailed protestors who called themselves the "J6 Prison Choir."
After he was elected, Trump told "Meet the Press" on Dec. 8 that he'd pardon Jan. 6 convicts and defendants on Day 1: "I'm going to be acting very quickly."
He didn't rule out clemency for those accused or convicted of attacking police, but said: "We're going to look at individual cases."
Between the lines: Early in the internal discussions, Vance actually had advocated for a blanket pardon. But the Yale-trained lawyer figured Trump wouldn't want to take the hit for releasing notorious convicts.
The case-by-case review was onerous. Trump staffers wondered whom to pardon and who might slip through the cracks.
Time was running out heading into Inauguration Day. Trump wanted to pardon as many people as possible and get it over with, so he landed on clemency for everyone.
In the Trump team's view, "all the prosecutions are tainted," the adviser familiar with the discussions told Axios: "It's time to move on."
Vance was "100% on board," said one Trump insider, pointing to a Vance post on X in which he noted that in 2021, "I donated to the J6 political prisoner fund and got ROASTED for it during my Senate race."
Trump advisers say they aren't particularly worried about the political fallout from the pardons decision, despite bad poll numbers. They believe Jan. 6 was essentially litigated in the election Trump won, and that other issues matter more to voters.
The pardons episode provided a lesson for Vance and others in Trump's orbit: Categorical statements forecasting the mercurial president's actions are always a risk. It also happened to Vance during the campaign, when he said Trump would veto a national abortion ban.
"The president didn't change his mind," the Trump adviser said. "He just made up his mind and Vance got a little over his skis on Fox, but it's no big deal."
The bottom line: "Never get ahead of the boss," a Trump transition source said, "because you just never know."
"Volatile" is the one word that describes the tech industry's new reality under the second Trump administration.
Why it matters: With AI booming, social media splintering and crypto inflating, the giant companies that drive today's economy face a huge spike in uncertainty.
The big picture: Trump's track record of sudden policy about-faces and unpredictable lurches governed by whim and self-interest puts CEOs in a defensive crouch.
Some, like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, have enthusiastically moved into the MAGA tent, joining tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen. Others are standing outside but paying ritual tribute.
Silicon Valley leaders won't shed tears, for the most part, as Trump's team disassembles Washington's half-constructed regulatory regime for AI and backs off from the Biden administration's full-court press on monopoly and competition.
But Trump's priority of shutting the U.S.'s immigration door will directly harm the tech work force. And the new president's vow to stifle trade with tariffs, if fulfilled, could disrupt tech's global supply chain in unpredictable ways.
Here are four trends that will shape tech's free-for-all world in the new Trump era.
1. Rail-free artificial intelligence
Trump has already revoked Biden's AI executive order as part of his blizzard of day-one declarations.
The incoming president has given no sign that he believes the government has an important role to play in regulating tech's new platform beyond assuring that conservative voices aren't limited.
Elon Musk has long held the view that advanced AI could threaten humanity's future. But that fear does not appear to be front of mind as he tackles his mission of cutting the federal budget.
2. Unchained crypto
Cryptocurrency investors and developers see Trump's return as the start of a new golden age: Regulators will get off their backs, and thousands of coins will bloom.
There will likely be a burst of new experiments in blockchain-driven democracy, too.
But the inauguration-eve floating of new meme coins for both the new president and First Lady Melania Trump made clear where the biggest action will be: lots of fast money new coin issues, many of which will be soak-the-suckers pump and dump schemes.
Even some Trump-friendly crypto insiders were uncomfortable with the brazen profiteering of the Trump-coin schemes.
Things will get progressively crazier until another big failure on the scale of FTX causes a new bust.
3. Deals dynamo
With regulators sidelined and vast amounts of cash sloshing around the globe, expect deal-making in tech to accelerate, even if the Federal Reserve keeps trying to hit the brakes.
The biggest companies still face ongoing antitrust investigations and lawsuits, but they're likely to be less cautious and more opportunistic.
Any deal that holds the possibility of enriching the president, his family or his allies will have that much extra juice.
4. Social media's "big sort"
American internet companies and users are rapidly segregating themselves into separate "red" and "blue" environments.
Meta's move to embrace MAGA and X's harbor for extreme right-wing voices are speeding this process, driving opponents to new rival media platforms on the other side of the political fence.
Online, at least, this process dooms the quest for common ground and assures further estrangement of America's two parties and cultures.
The bottom line: Volatility compounds across different domains.
What happens when autonomous AI agents, steered by blockchain-based voting, start executing deals on tribalized social-media platforms?
Cyberpunk authors dreamed such visions as dystopias, but team Trump sees them as blueprints.
Senate Democrats from Trump states are starting to vote in tandem, which could make Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) life more complicated for the next two years.
Why it matters: Call it the buddy system for vulnerable Dems.If Senate GOP leader John Thune (R-S.D.) can flip a Democrat who's up for election in 2026, he increases his chance of picking up the other state's Dem senator.
That 2-for-1 math gives him massive incentive to push the limit on messaging bills ahead of 2026.
It's a major headache for Schumer if Monday night becomes a trend.
You saw this on the Laken Riley Act vote, which passed with help from 12 Democrats.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) quietly changed his position by voting in favor of final passage. He was backing up Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who faces reelection in 2026. Warnock later blamed a process objection for his flip.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) voted with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who's up in '26.
So did new Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), whose fellow Democratic Michigander Sen. Gary Peters is up next year.
Zoom out: The Laken Riley Act is just the beginning of a barrage of GOP bills that Senate Democrats will have to find their footing on in the coming months.
Thune is likely to try to pass an abortion-related bill later this week, which is unlikely to get much — if any — Democratic support, sources tell Axios.
But other GOP legislation, particularly if it is related to the border and the economy, is an area ripe for some Democratic buy-in.
Editor's note: This article has been corrected to note that Sen. Shaheen (not Sen. Hassan) faces reelection in 2026.
A rare winter storm that's slamming the southern U.S. with "dangerously cold temperatures," historic snow and icy conditions has been linked to at least 10 deaths as it disrupts travel across the region.
The big picture: Schools, government offices and roads across the region closed and thousands of flights were delayed or canceled due to the cold weather that's brought record snowfall to places including New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida.
Threat level: Rare winter storm and blizzard warnings and advisories stretched from South Texas to Jacksonville, Florida.
The once-in-a-generation winter storm with "heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain, was spreading eastward from parts of the Florida panhandle through the eastern Carolinas, per a National Weather Service forecast discussion.
"Major highway and air traffic disruptions, including possible road closures and flight cancellations, may continue for several days even after the snowfall ends," the NWS noted.
"The Arctic Air Mass will create widespread sub-freezing overnight lows along the Gulf Coast and throughout the Southeast. The cold weather will exacerbate power outages," it added.
"From Tuesday evening into Wednesday, 0.10 inches of freezing rain will develop across northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia."
Record snowfall was set in Mobil, where 6.2 inches fell, and Pensacola, which saw 5 inches on Tuesday, per the local NWS office. New Orleans also recorded its biggest-ever snowfall total — a whopping 10 inches.Screenshot: NWS Mobile/X
Five deaths were reported in a vehicle crash on a highway between La Pryor and Batesville in Zavala County, Texas, on Tuesday morning.
The Dale County, Alabama coroner confirmed two storm-related deaths.
Austin-Travis County emergency officials "have responded to more than a dozen cold exposure calls since Monday, including two fatal incidents," per a city of Austin, Texas, statement
Georgia officials said at least one person had died of hypothermia in the Atlanta area.
Zoom in: Winter weather warnings are impacting areas not usually affected extreme cold, with the NWS Jacksonville noting on X that southeast Georgia into northeastern Florida among the areas facing snow, sleet and ice.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office in a Facebook post urged people to stay off the roads if possible Tuesday night into Wednesday.
"We are expecting some winter weather we're not used to in Northeast Florida," per the post. "The safest place you can be Tuesday night and Wednesday is at home!"
Zoom out: "Bitterly cold" high pressure extended from the Ohio Valley to the Southern Plains, bringing temperatures 25 to 30 degrees below average from parts of the Mid-Atlantic in addition to the Central Gulf Coast, per the NWS.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in 13 counties on Tuesday, with communities near Lake Ontario forecast to receive up to 3 feet of snow and those in the state's west up to 2 feet.
Despite this extreme weather event, the Environmental Protection Agency notes that total snowfall has fallen in many parts of the U.S. since widespread observations began in 1930.
"In addition to changing the overall rate of precipitation, climate change can lead to changes in the type of precipitation," per the EPA.
"One reason for the decline in total snowfall is because more winter precipitation is falling in the form of rain instead of snow."
The escalating bird flu crisis is ravaging the nation's supply of eggs, leading to increased prices and presenting an immediate challenge for the Trump administration.
Why it matters: An outbreak of avian influenza is growing and has affected nearly 13 million birds in the last 30 days, according to USDA data.
Some retailers are limiting how many eggs consumers can purchase while others are having a hard time keeping shelves stocked.
"It's really a crazy situation and an unfortunate situation for consumers because the supply situation is what it is due to the bird flu," Jason Hart, CEO of grocery chain Aldi, tells Axios.
State of play: Egg prices are climbing to new record highs daily, Karyn Rispoli, managing editor for eggs in the Americas for price-reporting service Expana, tells Axios.
A dozen large eggs in the Southeast and South Central "will be north of $7," while Midwest eggs are $6.95, Rispoli said Tuesday.
Brian Moscogiuri, a global trade strategist at Eggs Unlimited, an egg supplier based in Irvine, California, told Axios that the "transactional values of eggs are as high as we've ever seen them."
"Some of the retailers are short because their suppliers have been directly impacted and their replacement cost is extremely high right now because there's not much egg to be had in the market," he said.
Meanwhile, Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, said demand "for eggs at retail has been exceptionally high for a sustained period, and failing to act quickly and identify new ways to fight [highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI] could mean continued challenges for customers and consumers who need the nutritious foods impacted."
What's next: Egg prices are expected to fly to new highs in the coming weeks and months.
Hart said Aldi is committed to keeping prices as low as possible on eggs, consistent with its general pricing philosophy. "We view ourselves as that shock absorber for the consumer, so wherever we can we hold the line" on prices, he said.
Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, told Axios in a statement that it "does not have a purchase limit on eggs, and although supply is very tight in some areas, we're working with suppliers to try and help meet customer demand."
What we're watching: It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will take any action in addition to efforts already underway to address the crisis.
Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would give Moderna approximately $590 million to accelerate bird flu vaccine trials.
The American Egg Board tells Axios it's eager to work with the Trump administration as farmers, distributors and retailers all grapple with egg shortages and price hikes.
Department of Agriculture representatives did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment from Axios.
Reality check: "There's no real silver bullet for this thing right now, outside of trying to stop the spread of the virus and get birds repopulated as quickly as possible," Moscogiuri said, adding that "farms are doing to their best of their ability."
"It's unlikely that the new administration will be able to bring about significant change in just a matter of weeks, especially when it comes to the bird flu itself," Rispoli said.
The bottom line: Eggs are considered safe to eat but don't expect them to get cheaper until bird flu is under control.
The Trump administration is directing agencies to move to close federal diversity, equity and inclusion offices and place DEI staff on paid leave by 5pm Wednesday ET ahead of being laid off.
The big picture: The memorandum that the Office of Personnel Management sent to federal agencies on Tuesday follows President Trump's signing of an executive order a day earlier to dismantle DEI initiatives within the federal government.
Details: The OPM's memo instructs agencies to take offline all websites and social media accounts associated with DEI by the Wednesday deadline.
The next action is for agencies to report on steps taken to implement the order by 12pm Thursday ET.
This includes providing a "complete list" of DEI offices and workers as of Election Day 2024, according to the memo.
The agencies must provide a written plan for "executing reduction-in-force action" for DEI employees by 5pm Friday ET, the memo says.
What they're saying: "President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a media statement.
"This is another win for Americans of all races, religions and creeds. Promises made, promises kept."
Trump in Monday's order calling for the termination of all federal government DEI programs described the Biden administration initiatives to increase diversity, equity and inclusion as "illegal and immoral discrimination programs."
Zoom out: Companies have in recent months responded to Republican lawmakers and activists railing against DEI by rolling back programs.
The top Democrat on the DOGE subcommittee is ready to "fight back" against any attempts to dismantle federal agencies and programs like Social Security and Medicare, she told Axios on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), a former OMB staffer, is very skeptical that DOGE will live up to its public billing.
"All you need to do is see that they put [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in charge of the committee to know that this is likely going to be very much a political committee," she said.
Driving the news: Stansbury was named the ranking member of the DOGE Subcommittee on Oversight, the congressional arm of the Elon Musk-led government department.
Stansbury said that there are "a lot of good government, bipartisan solutions" that she supports, including modernizing federal agencies and spending federal resources more efficiently.
She said that she has not yet spoken to her GOP counterpart since being named as the Democratic ranking member earlier on Tuesday.
Zoom out: Stansbury said that she will "fight back against efforts to dismantle federal agencies, to take away critical programs like Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare, we'll fight back against the dismantling of environmental programs."
She also said that she will "be on watch" to make sure that Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, does not use his role in government to benefit his private companies.
The bottom line: Stansbury highlighted a number of executive orders that Trump signed on his first day in office, including reinstating his first-term Schedule F executive order and dismantling government diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within 60 days.
"These are the kinds of things that I'm prepared to fight back against and to lead Democrats in the battle to make sure that we're protecting the American people," she told Axios of her role with the new subcommittee.
