The Pentagon placed two top officials on administrative leave on Thursday as part of an investigation into leaks at the Defense Department, a department official confirmed.

The big picture: Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was escorted out of the Pentagon building as part of an "unauthorized disclosure" investigation, Reuters first reported.

• Darin Selnick, the Pentagon's deputy chief of staff, was also placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, the Defense Department official told Axios, confirming Politico's reporting on the matter.

Context: The Pentagon launched an investigation last month into "unauthorized disclosures."

• Caldwell was named as Hegseth's representative in a now-infamous Trump administration Signal group chat last month, which The Atlantic's editor-in-chief was inadvertently added to as officials prepared to launch strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

President Trump signed a wide-ranging executive order Tuesday addressing drug costs that endorses a pharmaceutical industry-backed change to Medicare drug price negotiations.

Why it matters: Lowering drug prices — which are significantly higher for U.S. patients than in other countries — was a prominent goal of the first Trump administration, and Trump promised to make the issue a priority during his campaign last year.

The big picture: Administration officials will start working on initiatives ranging from getting more savings out of drug price talks to paying the same amount for cancer treatments regardless of whether the drugs are delivered in a hospital-owned or independent facility.

• The order directs the Health and Human Services Department to work with Congress to fix what the administration calls a "distortion" in the Medicare negotiation process for small-molecule drugs.
• The law now exempts synthetic drugs from negotiation for nine years after they hit the market while giving more complex biologics 13 years. The order calls for aligning the two but doesn't say for how long. Drugmakers have long backed such a change to what they call the "pill penalty."

Zoom in: The order also directs HHS to reinstitute a program from Trump's first term to provide discounted insulin through federally-qualified health centers.

• Additionally, it calls on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to launch a pilot project to cover novel therapeutics and directs the Food and Drug Administration to streamline approval of generic and biosimilar drugs.
• The order also directs FDA to facilitate more state plans to import drugs — something Trump pushed in his first term but that relatively few states took the administration up on.

The order doesn't specifically mention the so-called Most Favored Nation policy — a hallmark idea of the first Trump administration that would have pegged U.S. drug prices to what other developed countries pay. The policy was blocked by the Biden administration.

• But the administration is still working to decrease the gap between what the U.S. pays for pharmaceuticals compared to other developed countries, a White House official told reporters.

Between the lines: HHS earlier this month laid off approximately 10,000 employees. But White House officials said the staff reductions will not affect HHS's ability to implement the new initiatives to lower drug prices.

If the Maryland man erroneously deported to El Salvador manages to return to the U.S., he will be detained and removed from the country, the Department of Justice said in a court filing Tuesday.

The big picture: The Trump administration is resisting courts' orders to return Kilmar Armando Abrego García from a notorious Salvadorian prison, despite conceding that he was deported in an "administrative error" — and a federal judge later Tuesday indicated she's weighing contempt proceedings against the government, per multiple reports.

State of play: A federal judge U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said at a hearing there the Trump administration will be required to provide documents and answer questions to show what's being done to "facilitate" García's release, per the New York Times.

• "To date nothing has been done," Xinis said to the DOJ lawyer, per the NYT.
• "If everyone is operating in good faith, this will get done in two weeks," Xinis said, according to the Washington Post.
• "If you're not, that will be a fact in and of itself for this court to consider," she added. "If I make a finding of contempt, it will be based on the record before me."

Zoom in: The DOJ said in its filing earlier that Abrego Garcia would either be removed to a country that's not El Salvador or the government would seek to "terminate" his "withholding of removal" status and send him back to El Salvador if he were returned to the U.S.

• The update came in response to Xinis' earlier order that the government provide daily updates in his case.
• Tuesday's update did not provide information on steps the government is taking to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., as Xinis requested.

Catch up quick: The Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration must take steps to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return.

• But the Trump administration argued Monday that simply means if El Salvador asks to send him back, the U.S. has to help.
• El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he can't return Abrego Garcia, to the U.S., nor will he release him within El Salvador.

More from Axios:

• Timeline: The case of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador
• White House exploring legality of sending U.S. citizens to foreign prisons
• Judge demands daily updates on return of wrongfully deported Maryland man

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the latest details in the case.

President Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday attempting to curtail Social Security fraud, despite ample evidence against widespread improper payments.

Why it matters: The move bolsters Elon Musk's DOGE-related efforts to eliminate Social Security fraud, about which he has continually exaggerated and promoted conspiracy theories.

Driving the news: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the memorandum aims to restrict undocumented immigrants from receiving Social Security retirement benefits, which they are already legally barred from doing.

• Trump is expanding the Social Security's fraud prosecutor program to at least 50 U.S. Attorney offices, according to the White House.
• Additionally, Trump is establishing a Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecution program in 15 U.S. Attorney offices.
• Trump will also require the Social Security Administration's inspector general to investigate recipients who are more than 100 years old and have mismatched records.

Catch up quick: Trump's move throws extra muscle behind Musk's campaign to eliminate Social Security fraud, which has threatened critical benefits to the entire pool of beneficiaries.

• The agency's new bids to address fraud have included cutting off phone services, which it eventually backed off from after weeks of confusion and outcry.
• The Trump administration has repeatedly said it will protect Social Security, and that changes are meant to address fraud and increase efficiency.
• Musk and Trump have made repeated debunked claims that droves of dead people are getting Social Security checks.
• Musk has characterized the program as a "Ponzi scheme" lousy with fraud, and has repeated a false conspiracy theory that undocumented immigrants receive payments.

By the numbers: Undocumented immigrants do pay Social Security taxes — more than $25 billion in 2022, according to one estimate — but do not collect benefits.

• A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that less than one one-hundredth of a percent of the $1.5 trillion that the SSA paid out in benefits last year was lost to direct deposit fraud.
• Likewise, less than one one-hundredth of a percent of SSA's 70 million beneficiaries had their direct deposits redirected in 2023.

What they're saying: "There is no evidence that there is a very much fraud at all," said Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. She worked at the government agency for years under different administrations, most recently in the Biden administration.

• "This is a solution in search of a problem," Romig said.
• The system has checks in place to prevent fraud already, she said, in a recent interview with Axios.
• The changes the White House is making to combat such fraud will likely cost more than the government actually loses due to fraud, former Social Security officials have told Axios.

- Axios' Emily Peck contributed reporting to this story.

DOGE's cost-cutting may get in the way of the "grand celebration" President Trump, has ordered for July 4, 2026 — America's 250th birthday.

The big picture: State humanities councils planning 250th anniversary celebrations all over the country have had their funding slashed, and those organizations tell Axios they likely won't be able to execute the big, patriotic plans they had been making.

• Trump has called for an "extraordinary celebration" next summer, and signed an executive order in his first few days in office creating a federal task force to plan it.
• The chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities is part of that task force, and state humanities councils across the country had a leading role in planning public events to mark the occasion.

But 80% of the NEH's staff was placed on administrative leave earlier this month, according to the Federation of State Humanities Councils.

• Those layoffs came just days after the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils were alerted that their funding grants were being terminated.
• "These were funds that were already appropriated, that had already been distributed through a competitive process, and they had already been under contract to be provided," said Julie Ziegler, the CEO and executive director of Humanities Washington.

The latest: The National Endowment for the Humanities on Monday opened applications for 250 challenge grants, worth up to $25,000 each, for projects related to the "founding of the American nation, key historical figures, and milestones that reflect the exceptional achievements of the United States" in honor of the anniversary.

• But state officials say the cuts have already prompted them to shed staff and suspend new programming, so even the possibility of new anniversary-specific funding would not fill the massive gap.

Zoom in: Georgia's humanities council was preparing to roll out a wide array of programming for the big 250, president Mary McCartin Wearn told Axios.

• The council planned to give grants to local communities to support their own programming, coordinate a state speakers bureau to platform speakers across the state, partner with the state's public library services to build a digital reading initiative and more.
• Now, it's unlikely they'll have the funds or resources to support such events.
• The NEH cut "threatens our very existence," McCartin Wearn said.

What they're saying: "This commemoration ... is an extraordinary opportunity to talk about the things we most hold dear: freedom, equality, independence, our interdependence," said Gabrielle Lyon, the executive director of Illinois Humanities.

• Now, "the programs that we have already started to outline are all going to be jeopardized," she told Axios.

The White House and the NEH did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

What's next: The impact on state and jurisdictional councils will stretch far beyond the anniversary commemorations.

• "This isn't one event that would be affected by terminating all of our general operating grants," said Michele Anstine, the executive director of Delaware Humanities. "It's all of the work that we do."

President Trump has not "made a determination" on if he supports the idea of hiking corporate taxes to pay for other tax cuts, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Tuesday briefing.

Why it matters: Trump campaigned on lowering the corporate tax rate, which may have helped him garner support from certain investors and business leaders.

By the numbers: The current corporate tax rate is 21%, down from 35% before the 2017 tax cuts.

• Trump had suggested lowering it down to 15%.

The big picture: Republicans are scrambling to find revenue offsets for a whole host of proposed tax cuts, including on overtime and tips, plus to maintain spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

• Particularly as Trump walks back tariffs that he had claimed would help fill the gap.
• This could include not just a corporate tax increase, but also higher individual rates on the richest Americans.

Another grassroots, widespread action against the Trump administration is planned nationwide on Saturday.

Why it matters: The 50501 Movement takes momentum from recent protests to encourage Americans to become each other's "social support web" as the administration's policies target marginalized communities.

• The 50501 Movement, meaning 50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement, is pushing back against what it called executive overreach from the Trump administration. Its organizing started on Reddit.
• "Our movement shows the world that the American working class will not sit idly by as plutocrats rip apart their democratic institutions and civil liberties while undermining the rule of law," the movement's website said.

Driving the news: More than 400 events are scheduled nationwide for April 19, including rallies, protests, nature cleanups and food drives.

Zoom in: Saturday's mobilizing could include protests, organizers said, but it could also include community actions like donation drives, clothing swaps or meeting to discuss future action.

• "We need to think about the America we want to see, where we have empathy and help each other, and just become that," organizers wrote. "That's just as important as protesting."

Context: The first 50501 protests were on Feb. 5, "a decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies," its website said.

• "In just days, grassroots organizers—without any budget, centralized structure, or official backing—pulled off over 80 peaceful protests in all 50 states."

Zoom out: Millions of people across the country protested during the Hands Off! movement on April 5. They took to streets, state capitals, federal buildings, congressional offices and city centers.

• Backlash against the Trump administration has also targeted Elon Musk's involvement in the government and his sweeping cuts across the federal bureaucracy via DOGE.

Go deeper: In photos: "Hands Off!" protesters rally against Trump across the U.S.

Former President Biden stopped short of mentioning his successor by name at a speech Tuesday in Chicago, but took aim at the Trump administration's threats to cut social security.

The big picture: Biden spoke at the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled (ACRD) on the same day Democrats declared Save Social Security National Day of Action.

The latest: Biden's rebuke against the administration came as Democrats have launched digital ads attacking Republicans over the administration's threats to Social Security, such as President Trump's order to cease payments by paper check.

Why it matters: The former president told the roomful of disability advocates that he left the Social Security Administration fully staffed and dedicated to customer service, but accused the Trump administration of "wreck[ing] it so they can rob it."

The other side: Trump has repeatedly said he's not cutting Social Security, but any cuts are meant to address "improper payments" and wasteful spending.

Zoom in: In his characteristically soft spoken speech, punctuated with punchy one-liners and personal histories of growing up working class in Pennsylvania and Delaware, Biden pushed back on the current administration's claims that the agency is riddled with fraud and bloated overstaffing.

What they're saying: "You gotta ask yourself, 'why is this happening? Why are these guys taking a name and social security now?'" Biden said.

• "Well, they're following that old line from tech startups. The quote is, 'Move fast. Break things.' They're certainly breaking things. They're shooting first and aiming later. As a result, there is a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights," he added.
• "73 million Americans receive social security from their first paycheck for their entire life, they pay into social security. In return they count on social security is going to be there for them when they're gonna need it."

Zoom out: Trump on Tuesday signed a memo aimed at curtailing Social Security fraud, despite ample evidence against widespread improper payments.

• Former SSA commissioner Martin O'Malley, who introduced Biden at Tuesday's conference, pushed back on the Trump administration's claims of fraud by saying that "every Inspector General for the last 30 years has concluded that the level of fraud in Social Security is actually less than one half of 1%."
• The administration backed off a recent threat to cut off phone service for social security services after outcry from groups like AARP said the change would create confusion and cut off access of benefits.

Go deeper: Social Security is now an immigration enforcement tool

Two members of House Democratic leadership are trying to send an official congressional delegation to the El Salvadorian prison where the Trump administration is sending deportees, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Dozens of House Democrats have privately expressed interest in participating in such a trip to protest the Trump administration's deportation policies, sources tell Axios.

• But while lawmakers could travel to the Central American country informally, a Republican committee chair's approval is needed to send an official congressional delegation, or CODEL.
• A CODEL would provide the members with crucial oversight powers and security resources.

Driving the news: Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) asked House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.), in a letter first obtained by Axios, to authorize a CODEL to El Salvador.

• They cited the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is being held at El Salvador's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) despite the Supreme Court ordering him to be returned to the U.S.
• "A Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia, as well as others held at CECOT," they wrote.
• Reps. Garcia and Frost said they are "prepared to travel as soon as possible" and would "gladly include any Republican Members of the [Oversight] Committee who wish to participate."

Zoom out: The letter comes after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) requested a meeting with El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele to discuss the return of Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident.

• Van Hollen said he plans to travel to El Salvador this week if Abrego Garcia is not sent back to the U.S. — which Bukele and Trump have refused to do.
• Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is also looking to lead a trip to the country and is still trying to iron out details of timing and who will join, multiple sources familiar with the matter told Axios.

In their letter, Reps. Garcia and Frost said the Senate "has already authorized CODEL travel to CECOT" and that "the House should be represented."

• A spokesperson for Comer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What we're hearing: There is considerable eagerness among House and Senate Democrats to travel to El Salvador, lawmakers and aides familiar with the discussions told Axios.

• Several potential trips have been floated among House Democrats — though they are running into the same issue of needing official CODEL status.
• "Many of us would love to be part of a trip like that," one senior House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share details of sensitive private discussions, told Axios.
• "It's surreal and Orwellian and many of us want to shine a bright light on it ... to expose whatever the hell this thing is," the lawmaker added.

The White House is "looking into" the legality of sending U.S. citizens to prisons in El Salvador, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Tuesday.

The big picture: President Trump has recently threatened to send Americans to a notorious El Salvador prison where several deported Venezuelans, who are alleged to be members of the MS-13 gang, and one erroneously deported Maryland man are being held.

• Sending U.S. prisoners to foreign jails violates the Constitution's Eighth Amendment, which bars "cruel and unusual" punishments, according to criminal justice advocates.

What she's saying: Asked by a reporter if the White House believes it has the power to deport American citizens to Central America prisons or if it has to change the law to do so, Leavitt said: "It's another question that the president has raised."

• She added, "It's a legal question that the president is looking into."
• Trump "would only consider this, if legal, for Americans who are the most violent, egregious, repeat offenders of crime who nobody in this room wants living in their communities," Leavitt said.
• Asked to explain the legal basis for sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador prisons, Leavitt said: "We're looking at it."

Zoom out: During a Monday meeting at the Oval Office, Trump told Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele that he would need more prisons in El Salvador to house the "criminals" the U.S. would send.

• "Homegrown criminals next," Trump told Bukele at the meeting. "I said homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You gotta build about five more places."
• The president also asserted that Attorney General Pam Bondi is "studying" sending U.S. citizens to foreign prisons.
• "If we can do that, that's good," Trump said Monday. He later added that he wants to send "violent people. I'm talking about really bad people. Really bad people. Every bit as bad as the ones coming in."

Go deeper: Timeline: The case of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) met with Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday as the GOP lobbies the Georgia Republican to run for Senate in 2026.

Why it matters: Georgia is a top pickup opportunity for Senate Republicans, and the popular Kemp is seen as the party's strongest potential candidate.

• Thune was joined at Monday's lunch in Atlanta by NRSC Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), according to two people familiar with the meeting.
• Kemp's wife, Marty, also attended.

The intrigue: Kemp has a complicated relationship with President Trump, who attacked the governor for not overturning his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.

• But the Trump-Kemp relationship appears to be on the mend. The two appeared side-by-side during the 2024 election, and Kemp invited Trump to appear at a recent Republican Governors Association meeting.

Between the lines: Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is a formidable fundraiser, and has been cited by the NRSC as an example of how Democrats are drawing large sums ahead of the midterm election.

• Kemp, a two-term governor, also has a major fundraising network and an established grassroots operation.
• Scott told Axios in March he expects Kemp to make a decision soon, and that the party has been in touch with other possible candidates in the event the governor doesn't run.
• "If [Kemp] runs, he wins," Scott said.

Go deeper: The making of Brian Kemp

A storied civil rights legal group that helped desegregate U.S. public schools seven decades ago is suing the U.S. Department of Education over its efforts to stop diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in K-12 public schools.

Why it matters: The federal lawsuit by the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) on behalf of the NAACP is the latest challenge to the Trump administration's attempts to end DEI programs and limit discussions of racism in schools.

The big picture: The lawsuit comes at the Trump administration is using a broad reinterpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on "anti-white racism" rather than discrimination against people of color.

• It also follows some recent embarrassing missteps by agencies erasing — then restoring — websites dedicated to Black historic figures like Jackie Robinson and Harriet Tubman amid a massive DEI purge.
• President Trump's executive order ending federal DEI initiatives has caused confusion and several legal challenges across multiple agencies.

Catch up quick: Earlier this month, the Department of Education sent letters to state K-12 agencies requiring them to comply with the Trump administration's anti-diversity policies to maintain their federal funding.

• State officials were given a certification form, due within 10 days, to vouch that their policies aligned with federal directives against DEI practices.
• In February, the Department of Education warned academic institutions in a "Dear Colleague" letter that it may cut federal funding for those with policies related to race or diversity.

Zoom in: The LDF said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. that the moves will "chill lawful activities known to benefit Black students" and eliminate obstacles that unfairly hurt Black students.

• The lawsuit said the Department of Education's demands contained factual inaccuracies and misinterpretations of civil rights laws and threatened to terminate critical public education.
• The lawsuit also alleged that the department was intentionally discriminating against Black students through its efforts to defund federal grantees based on erroneous facts and interpretations of law.
• It names the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor.
• The lawsuit seeks to stop the department from enforcing its threats to pull federal funding from schools that maintain their DEI programs and keep books on Black history.

A Department of Education spokesperson did not immediately respond to Axios about the lawsuit.

What they're saying: "These threats seek to undo decades of progress towards equality for all in public education," Katrina Feldkamp, assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, said in a statement.

• "The current administration's attacks are a threat to longstanding efforts to ensure truthful, inclusive curricula and instruction."

Context: U.S. public schools are growing more separate and unequal even though the country is more racially and ethnically diverse than ever.

• Federal data examined by the UCLA Civil Rights Project and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University tool reviewed by Axios found that in the years after Gen X left public schools, the districts began to resegregate and today have returned to 1960s segregation levels.
• The typical Black student in 1990 attended a school with a student population that was 34.7% white. By 2021, the average Black student went to a school that was only 24.5% white.
• In 1988, only around 7.4% of schools were intensely segregated, which means students of color represented more than 90% of their student bodies. By 2021, the percentage of intensely segregated schools skyrocketed to nearly 20%.

Between the lines: Educators and advocates have argued that diversity and racial equity programs help keep Black, Latino and Native American students engaged and assist with graduation rates.

Some legal scholars are warning that Trump administration's reluctance — or outright refusal — to comply with court orders is setting the stage for a full-blown constitutional crisis.

Why it matters: In several instances, federal judges have said that the Trump administration is not taking sufficient steps to adhere to rulings. Courts aren't powerless. They can punish the executive branch in an effort to force compliance, experts say.

Case in point: The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man erroneously deported to El Salvador. Officials have contended that doesn't mean they have to return him, even after losing several appeals.

• "The argument that they're in compliance with the Supreme Court's order and the district court's subsequent orders is ridiculous," said, David Noll, a law professor at Rutgers Law School.
• "They're essentially thumbing their nose at the court," Noll said.

The other side: White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement to Axios that "The Administration remains fully compliant with Supreme Court rulings. The Court's decision was clear to any impartial observer: U.S. courts lack the authority to compel the President to force a foreign nation to return an MS-13 terrorist alien."

• He added, "As seen publicly yesterday, President Trump discussed the matter with President Bukele, who firmly stated that El Salvador will not return the individual. The issue is resolved."

Yes, but: If a federal judge determines the matter is not resolved, they could opt for contempt proceedings. Here's how that would work, and some steps judges can take when they determine an order hasn't been followed:

Could a judge hold Trump admin in contempt?

Federal courts have broad discretion to determine whether a party is in contempt of court, according to the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute.

• The process would start with a judge issuing an order to show cause, Noll said, which would essentially direct the government to explain why they appear to not be complying with an order.
• In Abrego Garcia's case, he said, the court would likely have to first take steps to develop a record about who is making the decisions.

Context: There are two kinds of contempt proceedings: Civil and criminal.

• Civil contempt, which is outside of the president's pardon power, seeks to force a party to comply, Noll explained. Trump is familiar with the concept.
• Criminal contempt, on the other hand, is more about "punishing disrespect" of court authority — but it is subject to a presidential pardon. Trump has experience with this, too.

Zoom out: The federal government's compliance with court orders is often "imperfect and fraught," according to a 2018 Harvard Law Review article by law professor Nicholas R. Parrillo.

• But the federal judiciary is willing to issue contempt findings against agencies and officials, he wrote.
• Even when higher courts have intervened "to rescue an agency from incurring a budget-straining fine," contempt findings have a "shaming effect" with substantial deterrent power.

But, but, but: "We don't have a lot of precedent of what happens when ... the power of shame breaks down," Noll said, referencing Parrillo's findings.

Who enforces court orders?

In civil contempt proceedings, Noll said, the court has "really wide discretion" to choose remedies, which could include setting fines, freezing assets and, ultimately, ordering an arrest.

• Arrests would typically only occur when other remedies have been tried but failed.

Friction point: "Although civil contempt can involve being jailed until the person complies with the court order, that is enforced by the United States Marshals, who are part of the Department of Justice and thus under the president's control," wrote Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law in a New York Times op-ed.

• Retired federal judge Nancy Gertner expressed a similar sentiment to NPR's "Morning Edition," saying, "if Trump wanted to fully not comply, he could direct the Department of Justice not to comply. At that point, you have a full-on constitutional crisis."
• Such a directive, Noll told Axios, would be "completely unlawful."

What we're watching: If an improper effort to block the Marshals from conducting their duty occurs, there is a rarely used authority that allows a court to deputize different law enforcement offers to carry out their orders.

• But he noted, "You have to really sort of go back to the wild west" or the early 20th century "to find cases where private parties or law enforcement officers other than the Marshals were being used to enforce federal court orders."

Go deeper: Trump's GOP allies bombard judges with impeachment threats

President Trump held a meeting on Tuesday morning in the White House situation room about the ongoing nuclear deal negotiations with Iran, two sources with direct knowledge told Axios.

Why it matters: The high-level meeting with all of the Trump administration's top national security and foreign policy officials present was focused on discussing the U.S. position in the next round of talks planned for Saturday, the sources said.

• Ahead of the meeting Trump spoke on the phone with the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq and discussed the Omani mediation between the U.S. and Iran.
• "The two leaders discussed ways to back these negotiations to achieve the desired outcomes," the Omani state news agency said.

Behind the scenes: Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA director John Ratcliffe and other top officials participated in the situation room meeting on Tuesday.

• The meeting took place amid intense debate within the administration over the way forward in the negotiations and the compromises the U.S. should or shouldn't make.
• Vance and Witkoff think diplomacy could lead to a nuclear deal and think the U.S. should be ready to make some compromises in order to get it.
• Other senior members of the administration, including Rubio and Waltz, are highly skeptical and support a maximalist approach to the negotiations.

Trump himself is sending mixed messages. He has said he wants a deal and thinks the nuclear crisis is solvable through diplomacy but has also threatened Iran with a military strike.

• The White House declined to comment.

Driving the news: On Monday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Iran has to move fast in the negotiations and stressed that Iran "might be tapping us along" in the nuclear talks.

• Trump threatened again to use military power against Iran. "If we have to do something very harsh we will do it," he said.
• On Monday evening, Witkoff said in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News that the first round of talks with Iran last Saturday in Oman was positive.

Zoom in: Witkoff said the U.S. position is Iran would have to stop enriching uranium to the level of 20% and to the near weapons-grade level of 60%, but didn't rule out that the Iranians would be able to continue enriching uranium to the level of 3.67% that is needed for a civilian nuclear energy program.

• Witkoff added that any nuclear deal would have to verify Iran's enrichment levels and that it doesn't build ballistic missiles that can deliver a nuclear weapon or build triggers that can detonate nuclear bombs.

Witkoff's remarks were very different from what Waltz said in recent weeks about the need to dismantle the entire nuclear program.

• His remarks also contradicted what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his meeting with Trump last week about the need to fully dismantle Iran's nuclear program, like what he claimed happened in Libya in 2003.

On Tuesday morning, Witkoff clarified his remarks and wrote on X that "any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East — meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program."

The other side: Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday during a meeting with top government officials in Tehran that the first round of talks with the U.S. was "satisfactory."

• Khamenei said he is "neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic" about the negotiations and stressed he is "very skeptical of the other party, but confident in our own capabilities."

What to watch: The next round of talks between the U.S. and Iran on Saturday was supposed to take place in Rome.

• The U.S., Iran and the Italian government confirmed it and visas have been issued for the Iranian delegation.
• But on Monday evening the Iranian foreign ministry said the venue for the next round of talks has been moved back to Muscat. U.S. officials haven't confirmed the change in location.
• Sources with knowledge of the issue said one of the reasons for moving the talks from Rome was that Vance is expected to be there over the weekend and the White House wanted to avoid the overlap.

President Trump is taking one of the pandemic's most harmful, unintended economic consequences — supply chain chaos — and morphing it into official U.S. policy.

Why it matters: There is no deadly virus forcing a near halt to global commerce or the subsequent scramble to respond to surging reopening demand.

• Even if the magnitude is smaller, economists warn tariffs might result in a similar negative shock, with high levies that destroy supply chains.

What they're saying: "There's a fundamental fear that we might be on the edge of going back to conditions like 2021 or 2022 — where inflation is raging out of control and costs are on everyone's mind," Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee told the Economic Club of New York last week.

• Manufacturers tell Goolsbee that "'maybe this is going to take us back to the 2020 kind of experience with supply disruptions, and we can't get components,'" he added.

Driving the news: The U.S. is probing the national security effects from imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, according to notices filed Monday by the Commerce Department.

• Trump has already suggested that the investigation might result in tariffs on such goods, though it's unclear how high they will be or when they might take effect.

The intrigue: Top White House economic officials believe the pandemic exposed a national security threat — the fragility of U.S. manufacturing supply chains — a belief shared by their Biden-era successors.

• The difference is that the Trump administration says the shock justifies aggressive tariff policy. It is a "stick" of sorts to prod companies into onshore production.
• "One of the things we've learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that it exposed critical vulnerabilities and choke points in global supply chains, and this has undermined our ability to maintain a resilient domestic industrial base," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement announcing auto sector tariffs last month.

Yes, but: The pandemic also exposed the economic damage that can occur when manufacturers can't get key inputs from abroad and there's no domestic capacity for substitution. Tariffs risk the possibility of a repeat.

• China has retaliated against the U.S. with export controls that could choke off manufacturers' supply of rare earth minerals necessary to produce electric vehicle motors, fighter jets and more.

Threat level: "If there is another COVID or [more] tariffs, there will be shortages in certain medical supplies," Benedikt Brueckle, chief executive of health care firm CompuGroup Medical, told Axios at an economic forum for global executives in Phoenix last week.

• Brueckle said companies sprang up to fill the supply gap of personal protective equipment when supply chains broke down at the height of COVID.
• "But what happened after COVID is most of these companies went bankrupt because there was no more demand," he said, pointing to the consequence of a short-term policy focus on domestic manufacturing.

Meta has a long history of acquiring or building copycat apps and features that have ultimately failed and shuttered in less than a few years.

• But the unprecedented success of two of its biggest bets have regulators concerned its tactics are anticompetitive.

Why it matters: Faced with a historic antitrust lawsuit, Meta argues its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp weren't meant to stifle smaller competitors, but help it remain relevant to users as the social media landscape evolved.

• The Federal Trade Commission disagrees, but faces an uphill battle in trying to convince a federal judge that Meta should be broken up.

State of play: In a landmark antitrust trial that began Monday in Washington D.C., the FTC called for the unwinding of Meta's 2012 acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion, and its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion.

• Lawyers alleged Meta illegally used a "buy or bury" strategy to cement its social networking monopoly.
• They pointed to an email sent between CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-Facebook executives that suggest its Instagram deal wasn't just about adopting new photo features, but stopping other apps from leapfrogging Meta while it struggled to transition from desktop to mobile.

The other side: In a surprise move, Zuckerberg showed up to testify for roughly three hours on the trial's opening day.

• His main defense was that as social networking evolved, Meta needed to adopt new features to stay competitive.
• In its opening statement, Meta pointed to TikTok and YouTube's "Shorts" feature as examples of areas where it faces stiff competition.
• "It's reached a point where the vast majority of the experience is more around exploring your interests, understanding what's going on around the world, entertainment," Zuckerberg said.
• His testimony is expected to continue Tuesday.

Zoom out: Meta is also arguing that by revisiting both deals, which were already approved by the FTC, the government is sending a broader message to corporate America that no deal is ever final.

• The FTC argues that the social landscape has evolved significantly since it approved both deals.

The big picture: There's no question that Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have helped the tech giant remain competitive over the past decade.

• Instagram is expected to make up more than half of Meta's overall U.S. revenue this year.
• With an estimated 3 billion monthly users, WhatsApp is one of most popular messaging services in the world. While it doesn't drive as much revenue today, it is expected to play a critical role in helping Meta expand to new, lucrative areas around business messaging services.

What to watch: Recent efforts by Meta to curry favor with the Trump administration haven't swayed FTC officials, sources told Axios, but that hasn't stopped the company from trying.

• Last week, Axios reported that Meta added Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump administration official and prominent banker, to its board.

The campaign arm of Senate Democrats is launching its first advertising campaign of the 2026 election cycle, targeting two incumbent Republicans on Social Security.

Why it matters: Democrats plan to make the Trump administration's targeting of Social Security a central issue of the party's bid to take back a Senate majority.

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) will launch a digital ad campaign against Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Susan Collins (D-Me.) on Tuesday, Axios has learned.
• The ads highlight the Trump administration's plans to cut phone services for Social Security — a move the White House has since backed off.
• The digital ads, which will be placed on Meta, are meant to reach seniors and those who would be impacted by cuts to Social Security in North Carolina and Maine.

The big picture: Collins and Tillis are just two of the many Republicans who will likely face a year of Democratic attacks over possible cuts to social safety net programs.

• On top of the White House's targeting of Social Security services, congressional Republicans are moving forward with a budget reconciliation bill which could include cuts to Medicaid.
• "In 2026, voters will hold Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, and Senate Republicans accountable for their toxic plan to slash Social Security in order to pay for a tax giveaway to billionaires," DSCC Communications Director Maeve Coyle said in a statement.

Between the lines: Collins was the author of the Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law by President Biden and restored full benefits for millions of public sector workers.

• Top congressional Republicans have said they have no plans to reduce Social Security benefits.

Zoom out: Maine and North Carolina are the best opportunities to flip a Republican-held Senate seat next year.

• Outside of Collins and Tillis, there are limited pickup opportunities for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has a narrow path to regaining his majority.

The White House is happy to pick fights with most of its allies, from Canada to Germany, but on Monday it singled out two Latin American countries — El Salvador and Argentina — for praise and support.

Why it matters: The meetings underscore the way in which the Trump administration likes to reward countries with right-wing leadership.

• In that sense, El Salvador and Argentina are the Latin American versions of Hungary and Slovakia in Europe.

Driving the news: While El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, the self-described "world's coolest dictator," was in the White House giving his full support to President Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was down in Buenos Aires, greeting Argentine President Javier Milei with a big hug.

For the record: "Secretary Bessent affirmed the United States' full support for President Milei's bold economic reforms," the official readout of the meeting says. It describes how he "emphasized the United States' trust in President Milei to continue advancing Argentina's positive economic momentum."

Between the lines: Bukele and Milei are the avatars of a populist right in Latin America, taking every opportunity to make deals with Trump.

Where it stands: Argentina on Friday signed a $20 billion IMF deal that came with $12 billion up front, money desperately needed in a country struggling with anemic foreign reserves and an overvalued currency.

• As the largest IMF shareholder, the U.S. was critical to getting the deal approved. The deal lets Argentina float its currency, which promptly depreciated 11% to about 1,200 pesos to the dollar.
• That's actually toward the strong end of Argentina's new exchange rate band that keeps the number of pesos per dollar between 1,100 and 1,400.

Zoom in: Martin Guzman, a former finance minister of Argentina, said in a speech at the Vatican this month that the country's new IMF loan looks as though it was "politically motivated."

• If the IMF disburses such large amounts in the face of political pressure, he said, that will act to "compromise the fund's ability to fulfill its core mission."
• Yet Trump is openly flirting with leaving the IMF entirely. If that's really his intention, he's all the more likely to want to reward an ally on his way out.

What they're saying: A White House official tells Axios, "President Trump welcomes the IMF's loan to Argentina, which will support President Milei's groundbreaking and urgently needed economic reforms that will drive growth for Argentina and the region at large."

• "This moment also creates new opportunities to deepen the U.S.-Argentina partnership and shared prosperity."

The bottom line: If you want to be on good terms with Trump, it helps to be an iconoclastic populist right-winger.

The Trump administration's abrupt walk back of tariff exceptions for cell phones, computers and chips has Wall Street guessing, but it made sense to those who understand the president's thinking: He doesn't like the "E" words.

• "Exceptions and exemptions are weakness," said a Trump adviser who has discussed tariff policy with him. "Trump is for strength."

Why it matters: President Trump's determination not to appear weak — or wrong — on tariffs and his erratic, real-time tweaking of his policy have confused investors, deflated the dollar and shaken the stock market.

• Investors and the nation's financial system crave stability and predictability — the opposite of what Trump's delivering.

Zoom in: The president's trade policies revolve less around traditional economic theories and more around semantics — and his desire to project power.

• "What's the real policy? Who knows?" the exasperated editorial board of the Wall Street Journal asked Sunday when it grappled with the mystery of what it labeled "Trump's Exceptional Tariff Weekend."

Trump is still talking about tariff exceptions, as he did Monday for car companies. He just doesn't use an "E" word, and tries to frame the matter in a way that connotes control.

• "Look, I'm a very flexible person," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I don't change my mind. But I'm flexible."

The timeline: Trump's tariff two-step began at 10:36pm ET Friday, when Customs and Border Protection issued a bulletin that spared cell phone and computer makers such as Apple from crushing tariffs on Chinese imports. The document used the word "exception" three times.

• 9:20pm Saturday: The White House posts a video clip on X of the president on Air Force One ducking a question when asked about exceptions for iPhones and other electronics. "I'll give you that answer on Monday," he said. "We'll be very specific."
• 9am Sunday: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on ABC's "This Week" and explains that the technology items are "exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs" Trump wants to levy. "This is not like a permanent sort of exemption," Lutnick said.
• 3:36pm Sunday: "There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday," Trump posted on Truth Social, ignoring the administration's repeated use of the word in its Friday bulletin.

The intrigue: Trump's comment bolstering Lutnick's remarks was partly aimed at the pundits and Wall Street execs who believed Lutnick was countermanding the president.

• Behind the scenes, White House officials asked Lutnick to go on TV on Sunday to push back against the idea of "exceptions." Reports about them were annoying Trump.
• "Trump didn't like the coverage about exceptions and exemptions. He didn't want to look like he was giving in to Apple," a White House official said.

Flashback: Trump's aversion to exemptions and exceptions in his tariff policy stem partly from his first term, when he thought his U.S. trade representative then, Robert Lighthizer, "granted too many exceptions and didn't drive enough hard bargains," a Trump adviser said.

• The adviser added that Trump is happy with his current trade rep, Jamieson Greer.
• Even so, some supporters of Trump's trade and tariff policies hope Lighthizer makes a return. One financial specialist called him "the godfather of tariffs and getting tough on China."

What's next: Trump's signal that he was open to temporary tariff relief for carmakers came amid concerns that his plan would force layoffs in the auto industry.

• "I'm looking at something to help some of the car companies with it. They're switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places, and they need a little bit of time, because they're going to make them here," Trump said.

Aides and allies are trying to divine a signal in the noise.

• One person involved in the tariff talks in the White House said Trump is clearly watching the markets, despite his denials, but he's using their reactions to "fine tune" his plans.
• So rather than a gradual rollout of his tariff scheme, he began with "broad and sweeping tariffs," saw the markets panic, and modified the plan in response.
• "If you were to on day one say, 'We're gonna tax semiconductors 30% across the board,' the market would have reacted terribly," the insider said.
• "But now, in the grand scheme of things — because everything seems so crazy — once you kind of whittle it in and you rein it in a little bit, everybody's kind of happy about it. That's the thinking."

Average federal tax refunds by state range from about $2,700 to nearly $4,000, per IRS data.

Why it matters: Millions of taxpayers have received or are expecting refunds as tax filing season ends Tuesday.

By the numbers: Florida (about $3,900), Texas ($3,800) and Wyoming ($3,700) had the biggest average tax refunds for tax year 2022, the latest data available.

• Maine ($2,700), Wisconsin ($2,700) and Oregon ($2,800) had the smallest.

How it works: That's among filings for those owed a refund and who chose not to apply that refund to their next year's taxes.

• Differences between states are tied to residents' income levels, withholding selections and other variables.
• Pandemic-era job losses, stimulus checks and tax breaks also had an impact in the past few years.

The big picture: Nearly 68% of federal tax filings resulted in a refund in tax year 2022.

Between the lines: While many people eagerly await their tax refunds as a kind of bonus, it's really just money you temporarily loaned to the government at 0% interest.

• Some personal finance pros encourage folks to set up their paycheck withholdings to get the smallest possible refund.
• Any difference can be saved or invested elsewhere for better potential returns.