The Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Thursday took its first step in its new investigation of the White House's handling of former President Biden's health: Demanding testimony from his doctor and his top advisors.

Why it matters: The probe comes amid a renewed focus on Biden's age and fitness for office after his cancer diagnosis and the release of "Original Sin," a new book by Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper.

• Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) said Wednesday he will launch a parallel investigation into Biden's health, Axios' Stef Kight first reported.

Driving the news: House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) sent letters to Biden's personal physician, Kevin O'Connor, and former White House officials Neera Tanden, Anthony Bernal, Annie Tomasini and Ashley Williams seeking testimony.

• In the letter to O'Connor, Comer cited his February 2024 assessment that Biden was "robust" and "fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency," as well as Axios reporting about Biden's cognitive struggles.
• "The Committee seeks information to ensure accurate information was provided to the American people and your health reports were not subject to any improper influence," Comer wrote.
• In letters to aides, Comer questioned "who made key decisions and exercised the powers of the executive branch during the Biden Administration."

Between the lines: Republicans have tried to make Biden's age a fruitful area of inquiry since 2023, but they see the flurry of events around Biden in recent weeks as providing a new opening.

• Comer previously sought testimony from Bernal, Tomasini and Williams in October 2023, though his requests to O'Connor and Tanden, the former director of Biden's Domestic Policy Council, are new.
• Comer also fought for the release of the audio of Special Counsel Robert Hur's interview with Biden after the publication of his report last year.

What to watch: Comer said he is seeking responses by May 29 and testimony scheduled between June 2 and 25.

• A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Iran threatened on Thursday to move its nuclear material to undeclared sites to protect it from a potential Israeli military strike.

Why it matters: The threat, made in an official letter from Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to the UN secretary-general and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general, signal the risk of an unprecedented escalation in the Iranian nuclear crisis.

• The IAEA is currently able to access and monitor Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles, which are stored in declared sites.
• If that material is moved, it will be much harder to know whether Iran is building a nuclear weapon or not.

Driving the news: The threat comes after CNN and Axios reported that Israel has been making preparations to swiftly strike Iran's nuclear sites if U.S.-Iran nuclear talks break down in the coming weeks.

• One source told Axios that Israel believes its operational window for a successful strike could close soon.

What they are saying: "Under conditions wherein threats made by the Zionist fanatics persist, the Islamic Republic of Iran shall be left with no recourse but to implement special measures for the protection of its nuclear facilities and materials, the relevant particulars of which shall thereafter be communicated to the IAEA," Araghchi wrote.

Driving the news: Araghchi and White House envoy Steve Witkoff will hold a fifth round of nuclear talks in Rome on Friday, with Oman's foreign minister mediating.

• The negotiations have hit a roadblock over the fact that Iran says it will only sign a deal that allows a domestic enrichment capability, and the U.S. has said enrichment is its red line.
• Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and the director of Israel's Mossad spy agency David Barnea will meet Witkoff in Rome on Friday on the sidelines of the nuclear talks, two Israeli officials said.
• The officials said Dermer and Barnea are traveling to Rome to coordinate positions with Witkoff and be briefed immediataely after the talks.

State of play: The Israeli intelligence community has shifted just in the past few days from believing a nuclear deal was close to thinking talks could soon break down, Israeli sources say.

• Hence the urgency behind Israel's preparations to strike fast if President Trump gives a green light.
• A U.S. official told Axios the Trump administration is concerned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might make his move even without approval from Trump.
• Trump spoke to Netanyahu on Thursday and they "agreed on the need to ensure that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons," per the Israeli readout.

The other side: Araghchi wrote in his letter that Iran "will take all necessary measures to protect and defend its citizens, interests, and facilities against any terrorist or sabotage actions."

• "Iran strongly warns against any adventurism by the Israeli Zionist regime and will respond decisively to any threats or unlawful actions by this regime. We also believe that if any attack is carried out against the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Israeli regime, the U.S. government will be complicit and bear legal responsibility," the Iranian foreign minister wrote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that if he does not "make a serious proposal for an immediate ceasefire" with Ukraine, the Senate will pass new sanctions against the Russian government.

Why it matters: Thune (R-S.D.) is increasing pressure on Putin by signaling the Senate is willing to act on a bipartisan bill that would authorize new Russian sanctions and tariffs.

• "If Russia is not willing to engage in serious diplomacy, the Senate will work with the Trump administration to consider additional sanctions to force Putin to start negotiating," Thune said Thursday.
• This comes the same week Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned senators in a hearing that if "you start threatening sanctions, the Russians will stop talking."
• "I think it's a next week horizon," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told Axios about the timing of a sanctions bill. "We need to make it very clear to Vladimir Putin that we're going to increase the pressure on Russia to get them to the table to resolve the war in Ukraine.

Zoom in: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have a bill, with 80 cosponsors, that would hit Russia with more economic sanctions if Putin refuses good faith negotiations with Ukraine or launches another attack after any peace deal is reached.

• The bill also would set a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil.

Zoom out: Thune has previously indicating he was ready to move, but would wait for the signal from the White House.

• Some Republican senators have been urging more immediate action against Putin.
• "I've waited long enough," Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told Semafor's Burgess Everett, adding, "And it's pretty clear to me that Putin has been jerking us around for months."

President Trump's Make America Healthy Again Commission blamed factors including bad diets, chemical exposure and unnecessary medication for causing childhood chronic illness in a highly anticipated report released Thursday.

Why it matters: The 68-page document from a panel led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seeks to lay out a unifying theory around what's causing conditions like obesity, autoimmune conditions and behavioral disorders in kids.

• But it was developed in little more than three months and seeks to strike a balance between protecting consumers and promoting economic interests, especially when it comes to pesticides and chemicals commonly used in agriculture.
• "This is not, in any way, an attack on the American farmers or industry," NIH director Jay Bhattacharya, a member of the commission, told reporters Thursday. "What this is is a commitment to get excellent answers, excellent science, so that we can enable people to do the right thing."

The big picture: As with Kennedy's broader health care philosophy, the report blends mainstream ideas with highly controversial elements, including doubts about the current childhood vaccine schedule.

Here are the key takeaways:

1. Ultra-processed foods. The commission, in the first and longest section, acknowledges that popular snacks and beverages save Americans time and money, but cites research that suggests ultra-processed foods are linked to chronic diseases and says children need more "whole foods."

• "I think everybody wants to prioritize the ultra-processed food crisis and try to reduce our reliance on ultra-processed foods and try to improve the quality of the food," Kennedy said on Thursday.

2. Chemical exposures. Potential toxins in the environment are a big concern, but the Trump administration is treading lightly.

• Farm groups worried ahead of the report's release that it would target pesticides like glyphosate, which are widely used in agriculture.
• "American farmers rely on these products, and actions that further regulate or restrict crop protection tools beyond risk-based and scientific processes set forth by Congress must involve thoughtful consideration of what is necessary for adequate protection, alternatives, and cost of production," the report states.

3. More "gold-standard science." The report also portrays research on chemical exposure and chronic disease as a necessary competitive advantage for the U.S.

• Understanding potential links between chemical exposure and chronic illness "cannot happen through a European regulatory system that stifles growth," the report says. Rather, it should happen through science done by the federal government and "through unleashing private sector innovation."

4. Overuse of medicine. The commission calls out kids' "overmedicalization" — and continues to cast doubt on childhood vaccines.

• It cites a 1,400% increase in antidepressant prescriptions for American adolescents between 1987 and 2014, as well as increased prescribing of stimulants, antibiotics and asthma drugs.
• Long-term research on the impact of commonly used drugs for kids is limited, but there are "contributory human data that raise important questions" about antidepressants, stimulants and other treatments, the report says.
• The commission also questions the current U.S. childhood vaccine protocol and says vaccines would benefit from "more rigorous clinical trial designs." Vaccines are already studied in large trials and subject to ongoing safety surveillance.

5. Corporate influence. The role of corporate interests features prominently in the report, despite assurances that it's not anti-industry.

• Misaligned incentives in federal regulations and significant scientific funding from food, pharmaceutical, tech and chemical companies contribute to the rise of chronic disease, the report claims.

Zoom in: The secretaries of agriculture, education and housing, as well as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal officials, sit on the 14-member commission.

• White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is a member, along with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, who co-authored the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025.

What's next: The commission now has about 80 days to create a strategy for how the federal government should respond, per Trump's original February order.

• Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that updated dietary guidelines will likely be released before this fall.
• "What you're going to see is a whole new day on dietary guidelines where federal nutrition advice will be sound. It will be simple, and it will be clear," Rollins said.

Around the world, investors are sending a clear-as-glass signal: After years of profligate debt issuance, the world's major economies are now facing the bill.

The big picture: A sell-off in bond markets over recent weeks is signaling that the long-term trajectory for interest rates is higher than it has been in decades. The drop in long-term bond prices means a rise in the interest rates governments must pay to borrow money.

• The anticipated multitrillion-dollar widening of U.S. deficits due to the tax cut and spending legislation that passed the House early Thursday morning is part of the story, as is the Moody's downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating last week.
• But it's really a bigger, global phenomenon — suggesting a step-shift in what savers demand to tie up their money in the long term across major advanced economies.

Driving the news: The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond yield touched 5.13% at one point Thursday morning, the highest since 2007. On Wednesday, an auction of 20-year bonds showed surprisingly soft demand.

• In Japan, with the highest ratio on Earth of debt to the size of its economy, long-term bond yields have hit new all-time highs this week. The nation's 40-year bonds were yielding 3.69% Thursday, up more than a percentage point from early April.
• Long-term rates in the U.K., Canada and Europe have similarly marched upward, if less dramatically.

State of play: Moves in shorter-term bonds have been more modest, meaning what has changed is not investors' near-term expectations for the economy, inflation, and monetary policy, but rather the riskiness of locking their money in at low rates.

• In general, a steeper yield curve — higher long-term rates than short-term rates — implies a stronger growth outlook. But there are reasons to think something else is afoot.
• In a volatile world economy — one in which globalization marches backward or other negative supply shocks arrive — central banks might need to crank rates higher in the coming decades to keep inflation from taking off.
• Moreover, investors worry there will be more government debt issuance in the coming decades than savings to absorb that debt.

What they're saying: "This rise has taken place not for virtuous reasons around faster growth but rather because of risks around higher inflation and the need for higher interest rates to compensate for holding long-dated dollar-denominated assets," wrote Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, in a note.

• "The risks and opportunities around holding such debt are part of the explanation," he added. "A structural change is taking place in the market, forcing a general repricing of risk."

The long-term bond sell-off has serious implications for both ordinary American borrowers and the nation's long-term fiscal picture.

Zoom out: Because rates on Treasury securities form the bedrock costs for all other forms of borrowing, these higher costs will eventually show up in the form of more expensive mortgages and car loans.

• The good news is that those forms of lending are anchored to shorter-duration rates. Even if you take out a 30-year mortgage, for example, lenders know it will likely be paid off long before that as you move or refinance.
• And shorter-duration rates aren't up much.

Yes, but: If bond investors are correct about the long-term trajectory of rates, there will be higher borrowing costs and more lending activity crowded out by the government in the years and decades ahead.

Zoom in: If the higher long-term rates hold, it implies meaningfully higher debt service costs for the U.S. government's existing debt pile. That could squeeze the government's ability to pay for other priorities, whether national defense or maintaining the social safety net.

The bottom line: "Everybody I have talked to in financial markets, they are staring at the [big, beautiful] bill and they thought it was going to be much more in terms of fiscal restraint," Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said Thursday morning on Fox Business.

• "The markets are looking for a little more fiscal discipline," Waller said. "They are concerned."

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the Department of Education while a lawsuit challenging the move proceeds.

Why it matters: The judge's preliminary injunction said that President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon don't have the power to shutter the agency — and that its closure runs contrary to federal laws.

• U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun of Massachusetts also ordered the administration to reinstate the jobs of terminated Education Department employees.
• "Defendants have not pointed to any case that indicates that the Secretary's effective dismantling of the Department is within her reorganization powers," Joun wrote.
• The Trump administration will challenge Joun's ruling "on an emergency basis," Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann said in a statement.

Zoom in: The judge said the administration didn't provide research to support why certain employees were terminated, why certain offices were reduced or eliminated, or how those changes further the "purported goals of efficiency or effectiveness of the Department."

• He added that students with disabilities would be particularly harmed by reductions at the agency.

The other side: "President Trump and the Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education clearly have the authority to make decisions about agency reorganization efforts, not an unelected Judge with a political axe to grind," Biedermann said.

• She said Joun "dramatically overstepped his authority."

Catch up quick: Trump in March signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department, but shuttering a federal department requires congressional action.

• Also in March, nearly 50% of the department's workforce was slashed.

Go deeper: Education Department cuts threaten to deepen local schools' woes

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details throughout and an Education Department statement.

The upper bound of "middle class" in America is often pegged at an annual income of between $150,000 and $250,000, but looking at legislation being drawn up by Republicans in Congress, it seems to be much, much higher.

Why it matters: Some of the proposals for the forthcoming budget raise income cutoff levels to as high as $2.5 million per year.

Driving the news: The House is considering allowing state and local tax deductions of as much as $40,000 for people making up to $500,000, Axios' Hans Nichols reported this week, a sign that some blue-state Republicans consider $500,000 to be a middle-class income.

Between the lines: President Trump considers an annual income of $1 million too modest to justify higher income taxes, per Nichols, but is fine with the idea once household income reaches $2.5 million.

• The current incarnation of the bill also raises the level at which the estate tax starts being levied from $15 million to $30 million.

Where it stands: To be in the top 10% of individual earners, a U.S. worker has to earn $2,905 per week, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is $150,000 per year.

• To be in the top 10% of households in 2024, you had to earn $235,000.
• The middle class tops out at $169,800 for a family of three in 2022 dollars, which is $188,400 in 2025 dollars, according to Pew Research Center.

How it works: Some government policies only apply to people making less than a certain amount, on the grounds that the rich are already comfortable enough not to need any extra help from Uncle Sam.

• Looking at where that line gets drawn provides an indicator of where the upper middle class ends and the upper class begins, at least in the eyes of Congress.

Flashback: Trump, in his first term, sent out stimulus checks to those making $198,000 per year or less for married households filing jointly. People earning more than that amount were considered rich enough not to need the checks.

• Conversely, the net investment income tax — a tax on the rich — kicks in only once a married couple filing jointly makes over $250,000 per year.
• For President Biden, $400,000 was the key number, the level below which he said he would never raise taxes, and above which he wanted a new tax to help pay for Medicare.

The bottom line: Now that home values and retirement balances regularly make their way into seven-figure territory, we've solidly entered a world of middle-class millionaires.

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were identified Thursday as the two people killed in a shooting Wednesday night outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

The big picture: The suspect, who authorities believe acted alone, was arrested by a museum security guard after he entered the building following the shooting. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino called the shooting an "act of targeted violence" in a post to X.

• The Metropolitan Police Department identified the suspect as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago.
• Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said in a press briefing that Rodriguez chanted "free, free Palestine" while being arrested.

State of play: Lischinsky, 30, and Milgrim, 26, both worked for the Israeli Embassy, the Israel Foreign Ministry said in a statement shared to X.

• The pair met while working at the Embassy and were soon to be engaged, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter said at a press briefing.
• Lischinsky and Milgrim were set to travel to Israel on Sunday, Milgrim's father, Robert Milgrim, told the New York Times. While there, she was going to meet his family for the first time and Lischinsky had planned to propose, he said.

Here's what we know about the victims so far:

Yaron Lischinsky

Lischinsky was a research assistant at the Israeli Embassy in D.C. since September 2022, according to his LinkedIn.

• He was previously a desk officer at the Population and Immigration Authority in Jerusalem.

Lischinsky received a Bachelor's degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he studied international relations and Asian affairs.

• He also received a Master's degree in government, diplomacy and strategy from Reichman University with a focus on diplomacy and conflict studies.

Zoom out: Originally from Germany, Lischinsky moved to Israel at 16, per the New York Times.

• The German Embassy did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters Lischinsky was an Israeli diplomat and held German citizenship.
• He grew up with a Jewish father and a Christian mother and was a practicing Christian, the New York Times reported.

Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to Germany, called Lischinsky "bright, curious, engaged" in a post to X.

• Prosor said he had taught Lischinsky when he was a student at Reichman University and also worked with him as a diplomat.
• "He was a Christian, a true lover of Israel, served in the IDF, and chose to dedicate his life to the State of Israel and the Zionist cause," Prosor wrote.

Nissim Otmazgin, the Dean of Humanities at Hebrew University, told CNN that Lischinsky's "dream was to become a diplomat."

• "In many ways, I think for me, he symbolizes the hope of Israel," Otmazgin said, adding that he was "idealistic" and "trying to do good for their country."
• "So in this sense, it is not only a personal tragedy, it's also kind of public tragedy," he said.

Sarah Lynn Milgrim

Milgrim had been working at the embassy since November 2023 in its Department of Public Diplomacy, according to her LinkedIn.

• She previously worked at Tech2Peace in Tel Aviv, where she focused on "the role of friendships in the Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding process," per LinkedIn.
• She obtained a Bachelor's degree in environmental studies from the University of Kansas. Her LinkedIn also showed two Master's degrees — one from the University for Peace and the other from American University.

KU Hillel, a Jewish student group at Kansas University, said in a statement that Milgrim's "bright spirit and passion for the Jewish community touched everyone fortunate enough to know her."

• "Those closest to her describe her as 'the definition of the best person," the statement continued.

Zoom in: Her father said he saw news alerts for the shooting Wednesday night and his wife checked their daughter's location, only to see it at the crime scene.

• "I pretty much already knew," he told the New York Times. "I was hoping to be wrong."

Go deeper: 2 Israeli Embassy staff killed near Capital Jewish Museum in D.C., officials say

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

OpenAI will partner with United Arab Emirates to build Stargate UAE, a massive new Middle East data center that's part of the company's OpenAI for Countries push, the deal's participants announced Thursday.

Why it matters: The deal is a huge AI bet by the Emirates, which will also secure ChatGPT Plus subscriptions for its entire population, making it the first country to do so.

Driving the news: OpenAI and its partners will build a one gigawatt AI computing cluster in Abu Dhabi, with 200 megawatts of that expected to go live next year.

• This new cluster will be part of the larger 5 gigawatt Abu Dhabi data center that Trump and Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed announced last week.
• Also, for every dollar the UAE invests in Stargate UAE and the broader data center project in Abu Dhabi, UAE will invest an additional dollar in U.S. AI infrastructure as well — including Stargate.
• A source tells Axios' Dan Primack that the new UAE investments, via Emirati-based AI investment vehicle G42, could total $20 billion, with expected outlays in the Gulf and the U.S. at $8 to $10 billion each.

The deal is a partnership with Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, SoftBank and G42, a Middle East-based AI startup backed by Microsoft and others.

• The U.S. government, which has a say over such deals via its export control authority, also gave its approval to the effort.

The big picture: Trump's trip to the Gulf brought a slew of AI infrastructure announcements intended to forge a new AI alliance between the U.S. and the region's energy-rich powers.

• The Trump administration sees these deals as opportunities to spread U.S. power and counter Chinese influence.
• Critics fear the flow of American chips and know-how into nations like UAE — which has had close ties to China — will make it easier for China to gain access to U.S. technology.

What they're saying: "By establishing the world's first Stargate outside of the U.S. in the UAE, we're transforming a bold vision into reality," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. "It's a step toward ensuring some of this era's most important breakthroughs — safer medicines, personalized learning, and modernized energy — can emerge from more places and benefit the world."

Chris Lehane, OpenAI vice president of global affairs, told Axios that OpenAI hopes the deal will help "lead as many countries as possible onto the U.S. rails, into the U.S. AI system. This is a real moment in time to do that — this is an important first brick in the road. There are two countries in the world that can build this at scale, and the U.S. has a lead."

What's next: OpenAI says it wants the UAE deal to be the first of many such arrangements.

• OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon will kick off a road show across the Asia Pacific region next week, meeting with governments and potential private-sector partners.

The House voted Thursday to pass President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" after weeks of Republican infighting that repeatedly threatened to tank the GOP-only legislation.

Why it matters: It's a major step toward getting the hulking fiscal package signed into law, though the Senate is likely to make substantial changes that could be difficult for House GOP hardliners to swallow.

• The vote was 215-214.
• The bill would extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts and aims to cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending, including through Medicaid work requirements and the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits.
• It took considerable wrangling by House Republican leadership to get to this point, with members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus threatening to oppose it as recently as Wednesday.

State of play: The vote came after a marathon congressional session in which some lawmakers stayed up for days.

• The House Rules Committee met early Wednesday morning to markup the bill only ending late Wednesday night.
• House Democrats gummed up the works with several procedural votes, pushing the vote time back to around 6:30 am ET on Thursday.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says he's convinced of two things: The U.S. will make a long list of trade deals by mid-summer, and the tariffs forcing those deals won't raise retail prices.

Why it matters: Investors, business leaders and consumers are praying he's right.

Driving the news: Lutnick, a billionaire Wall Street CEO before entering government, was nothing but optimistic in an interview with Axios' Mike Allen at the Building the Future event in Washington.

• Asked how many of the U.S.'s 18 key trading partners would have a deal by the time a tariff pause ends July 8, he said, "I think most countries, we'll have an idea of what we want to do with them."

The big picture: Lutnick is at the forefront of the Trump administration's sweeping efforts to rewrite the rules of global trade, a campaign that has disrupted the U.S. and international economies and created deep uncertainty for businesses and consumers.

• The president's argument: The U.S. has been treated unfairly by the world for decades, at the cost of valuable American jobs — a situation that can only be fixed by a more aggressive approach.

Between the lines: Over the last few days, the single most important question about the tariffs has been what they'll do to the American consumer.

• Lutnick recently decried "silly arguments" that tariffs raise prices. A few days later, Walmart said they'd do exactly that, and a number of other companies have hinted at the same since.
• The commerce secretary didn't flinch, though. "The president has to stand strong, and you can't fix things in a day, and that's still going, but I would expect that prices in America will be unaffected."

Reality check: Notwithstanding Lutnick's certainty, retail executives expect cost pressures to build week by week, with price increases getting much more noticeable by late June or early July. 

The intrigue: While U.S. trade relations work through their biggest disruption in nearly a century, Lutnick and Trump are pushing a different incentive for foreign business leaders: a $5 million "gold card" that would confer permanent U.S. residency.

• The website, trumpcard.gov, will launch within a week
• "Everyone I meet who's not an American is going to want to buy the card if they have the fiscal capacity," he said.
• "This is for people who can help America pay off its debt. Why wouldn't you want a Plan B that says, God forbid something bad happens, you come to the airport in America and the person in immigration says, 'Welcome home.'"

With its multibillion-dollar purchase of Apple design legend Jony Ive's startup, OpenAI is doubling down on a bet that the AI revolution will birth a new generation of novel consumer devices.

Why it matters: Just as the web first came to us on the personal computer and the cloud enabled the rise of the smartphone, OpenAI's gamble is that AI's role as Silicon Valley's new platform will demand a different kind of hardware — and that Ive, who played a key role in designing the iPhone and other iconic Apple products, is the person to build it.

What they're saying: An OpenAI promo video features Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman strolling through San Francisco's North Beach to meet for coffee at Francis Coppola's Zoetrope cafe.

• Ive tells Altman that we're still using "decades old" products, meaning PCs and smartphones, to connect with the "unimaginable technology" of today's AI — "so it's just common sense" to work on "something beyond these legacy products."

Between the lines: Altman has long pursued a strategy of shaping AI through devices as well as software.

• He was an early investor in Humane, whose Ai Pin device flopped, and is a co-founder of World (formerly Worldcoin), which is deploying its eyeball-scanning Orbs to verify human identity in a bot-filled world.
• At OpenAI's first-ever developer conference in 2023, Altman told Axios that major platform shifts usually usher in a new type of computing device. "If there's something amazing to do, we'll do it," he said.
• Late last year, OpenAI relaunched a hardware and robotics team, hiring former Meta executive Caitlin Kalinowski.
• Ive and Altman announced last year that they were collaborating on a hardware side project but have been tight-lipped about what their startup, named io, is working on, though Altman told Axios in an onstage interview last year that it wouldn't be a smartphone.
• The company may be pursuing "headphones and other devices with cameras," per the Wall Street Journal.

Altman loves a big bet, and this one is huge: billions in stock in exchange for Ive's talents and those of the rest of the team at io — which includes three other veteran Apple design leaders.

By the numbers: OpenAI said Wednesday it will pay $5 billion in stock to acquire the parts of io it doesn't already own.

• It already had a 23% stake in the company thanks to an exclusive partnership it signed in the fourth quarter of last year.
• Once the deal closes, which is expected to happen later this summer, the 55-person team behind io will join OpenAI, to be led by Peter Welinder. (Kalinowski will now report to Welinder rather than Altman.)
• Ive and his design firm, LoveFrom, will take on a major design role for OpenAI, though LoveFrom will remain independent and continue working on some other projects.

The big picture: Other big tech companies have also been investing in a post-smartphone hardware future.

• While investor interest in the metaverse has cooled, there's still a competitive market in VR headsets and a growing field of smart glasses as a delivery device for AI services.
• Meta has its Ray-Ban smart glasses. Google demonstrated its own prototype glasses, which include a small display. And Apple is reportedly working on augmented-reality glasses, too.

The intrigue: OpenAI's deal further seals Ive's exile from Apple, which started in 2019, and fully ties him to an emerging competitor.

Our thought bubble: Ive famously spent his career at Apple as Steve Jobs' creative partner.

• OpenAI's video presents the new Ive-Altman pairing as the natural successor to that team — with Sam as the new Steve and Apple left behind as a peddler of "legacy products."

What's next: OpenAI said that it will share the first fruits of its new hardware efforts next year, though there's no promise that anything will be shipping that soon.

Prices are going up, that's clear now — but the nation's biggest retailers are taking very different approaches to what they say on the impact of tariffs publicly.

Why it matters: President Trump's trade war is stirring echoes of the inflation that took hold of the economy just three years ago.

• Unlike the COVID era, the increase in prices was entirely foreseeable this time.

The big picture: Over the last week, the warning lights have started to flash.

• Walmart, the world's largest retailer, said last week it couldn't hold the line anymore and would have to raise some prices.
• Target said it would "offset the vast majority" of tariff impacts to consumers and remain "price competitive."
• Home Depot doesn't plan to increase prices "broadly" because of tariffs, but said some items might disappear from store shelves.
• Those comments came after the CEOs of all three met with Trump in April and warned the president that tariffs would soon lead to empty shelves, higher prices and shortages.

State of play: Trump has, for years, steadfastly insisted that Americans don't pay for tariffs — the costs, somehow, are absorbed overseas.

• But over the weekend, he demanded Walmart "eat the tariffs," which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged the company could only do for so long.
• It was, in its way, a concession of the reality that almost all of the tariff cost is borne domestically. (A reality backed up by the government's own data, per a recent Apricitas Economics note.)

Zoom in: Target and Home Depot both spoke about pricing this week, notably after Trump came down on Walmart.

• We don't see broad-based price increases for our customers at all going forward," Billy Bastek, Home Depot's executive vice president of merchandising, said Tuesday.
• Target was less certain: "We have many levers to use in mitigating the impact of tariffs and price is the very last resort," CEO Brian Cornell said Wednesday.

Between the lines: Zacks Investment Research analyst Sheraz Mian told Axios Twin Cities' Nick Halter he doubts Target will be able to fully absorb the tariffs.

• "They don't want to publicly acknowledge it and get into the unfavorable kind of political limelight by speaking the truth," Mian said.

The intrigue: Americans seem to only have a vague grasp of the mechanics of tariffs, even if they get the ultimate impact.

• A new report from consumer insights platform Zappi finds just 22% of people fully understand how tariffs affect the prices of goods — and only 20% think their household is ready to absorb those higher prices.
• But one way or another, they get something is coming — the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey found year-ahead inflation expectations surging to 7.3%, the highest since the early 1980s.
• "If these pre-tariff strategies have run their course, we're about to see some changes in prices, and then we're going to learn how consumers are going to respond to that," Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic told reporters at a conference this week.

The bottom line: Customers may see certain items exiled from store shelves if they're impacted too much by tariffs.

• "There'll be some things that don't make sense that just end up going away," Home Depot's Bastek said.

The "gold card" website allowing people to buy U.S. permanent residency for $5 million will launch within a week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday at an Axios Building the Future event in Washington.

Why it matters: President Trump has suggested the U.S. could sell 1 million of the cards — enough to retire the national debt.

Catch up quick: Trump announced the gold card in late February, offering permanent U.S. residency to anyone who shelled out the $5 million fee.

• It was meant to replace the EB-5 investor visa, which gives out green cards in return for a much smaller investment in the U.S. economy.
• Other countries have tried similar so-called golden visa programs, but wound them down after limited interest.

What they're saying: Lutnick told Axios' Mike Allen the site, trumpcard.gov, would initially allow people to register their interest in buying one of the cards.

• "All that will come over a matter of the next weeks — not month, weeks," he said.

Between the lines: Lutnick positioned the card as a safety option that also helped the U.S. fund its growing debt obligations.

• "Everyone I meet who's not an American is going to want to buy the card if they have the fiscal capacity," he said.
• "This is for people who can help America pay off its debt. Why wouldn't you want a Plan B that says. God forbid something bad happens, you come to the airport in America and the person in immigration says, 'Welcome home.'"

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments by Lutnick.

Two Israeli Embassy staff were fatally shot at close range while leaving an event Wednesday night at the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C., the embassy's spokesperson in Washington, Tal Naim Cohen, told Axios.

The big picture: The suspect, who was apprehended by a museum security guard minutes after the shooting, chanted "free Palestine" as he was arrested, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a press briefing.

• The victims were identified by the Israel Foreign Ministry on Thursday morning as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.

• Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter called them a "beautiful couple" and said Lischinsky had "purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem."
• Police identified the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, Illinois and said they believe he acted alone.

The latest: Attorney General Pam Bondi visited the shooting scene Thursday and told reporters that the suspect "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

• "No parents should have to be called and told that their children were violently murdered leaving a religious event at the Jewish Museum. That should never happen in this world and not in our country," she said.
• Bondi did not offer any updates on the case and would not confirm if the Justice Department would seek the death penalty.

What they're saying: President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Thursday, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

• Trump expressed "deep sorrow over the shocking murder in Washington of two Israeli embassy staff members," and Netanyahu thanked Trump for his efforts to combat antisemitism in the U.S., the statement said.
• Trump had previously offered condolences to the victims' families in a Truth Social post, saying "These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA," he said.
• Netanyahu has ordered the strengthening of security at Israeli missions around the world and for state representatives in response to the shooting.

Details: Smith said police were alerted just after 9pm ET Wednesday about a shooting in the area around the museum in downtown D.C., which is near government buildings including the FBI's Washington Field Office and tourist attractions.

• "Prior to the shooting, the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum," Smith said.
• Rodriquez was not previously known to the police, Smith said at the briefing.
• A LinkedIn page shows Rodriquez is an employee of American Osteopathic Information Association (AOIA). The company wrote in a statement that they are "shocked and saddened to learn that an AOIA employee has been arrested as a suspect in this horrific crime."

Zoom in: The FBI assisted on the scene and its deputy director Dan Bongino said on X early Thursday that the suspect was being interviewed by the Metropolitan Police Department with the Bureau's Joint Terrorism Task Force team while he, the U.S. Attorney's office and other officials were "reviewing the evidence to determine additional actions."

• He added, "Early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence."
• D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the briefing, "We will not tolerate any acts of terrorism, and we're going to stand together as a community in the coming days and weeks to send a clear message that we will not tolerate antisemitism."

Zoom out: The American Jewish Committee was hosting at the museum the annual Young Diplomats Reception, which "brings together Jewish young professionals ... and the D.C. diplomatic community for an evening dedicated to fostering unity and celebrating Jewish heritage," per a post by the Jewish advocacy group advertising the event.

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

President Trump said Wednesday he's "giving very serious consideration" to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giants, public.

The big picture: Trump said on Truth Social he'll speak with officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, about the matter "and will be making a decision in the near future."

• He added, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned!"

Why it matters: These two companies combined support some 70% of U.S. mortgages.

Between the lines: Messing with the structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac poses risk to the economy — and at the very least could raise mortgage rates even further, per Axios' Felix Salmon and Emily Peck.

Flashback: Before Trump took office, there was a broad-based desire to wrest Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from federal control and the Biden Treasury Department and Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the two companies, released a roadmap for how privatization could work.

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

House Republicans made a last-minute change to the $1,000-per-baby MAGA Accounts in their sweeping tax bill: Calling them "Trump Accounts" instead.

Why it matters: It's the latest in a series of attempts by congressional Republicans to display their loyalty to the president through legislation — and the one that is most likely to be signed into law.

• House Republicans have introduced bills to put Trump on the $100 bill, rename Dulles International Airport after him and allow him to run for a third term.
• Republicans have also pushed to codify his proposed land-grabs with bills allowing him to negotiate the purchases of Greenland and the Panama Canal. One proposed renaming Greenland to "Red, White and Blueland."

Driving the news: House Republicans tucked the renaming into an 11th-hour amendment to their "One, Big Beautiful Bill" — a hulking fiscal package to extend the Trump tax cuts and cut $1.5 trillion in spending.

• House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is moving to hold a vote on the package as early as early Thursday morning after GOP hardliners softened their opposition on Wednesday.
• The Trump Accounts would seed $1,000 for every American baby born starting in 2026. The original name — MAGA — stood for "money account for growth and advancement."

The other side: Democrats railed against the late-stage change at a Rules Committee hearing on the amendment.

• "You all would be screaming bloody murder if we named savings accounts after Barack Obama," said Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.).
• Said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.): "Why don't we call it the Trump Diaper Savings? It could be TDS, because I think the only way you end up with a stupid name like this is if you have TDS."

Tune into Axios' event looking at the evolving trade landscape's ripple effect on the global economy, the optimism of business investors, and AI's increasing role in building supply chain resilience.

Featured speakers include Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, 26th Sec. of the Army Dan Driscoll, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), deputy dir. of the CIA Michael Ellis & Bayer CEO Bill Anderson.

President Trump on Wednesday repeated false crime numbers, shared misleading images and doubled down on a debunked "white genocide" conspiracy theory in South Africa during his tense Oval Office meeting with that nation's president, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Driving the news: Trump used a video made by political activists who oppose Ramaphosa to emphasize his claims about white Afrikaners facing racial violence by the majority Black population — claims that are widely disputed and rooted in white nationalist conspiracy theories.

Catch up quick: Trump ambushed Ramaphosa during a tense meeting in which Trump vowed to help white South African farmers get asylum in the United States.

• Ramaphosa kept his cool as Trump showed him a video that included images of white crosses along a South African road. Trump said they represented "over 1,000" white farmers killed.
• The video also showed Black South African activists purportedly calling for violence against white farmers.
• "We have dead white people, dead white farmers, mostly," Trump said, repeating unproven claims that white people in South Africa are disproportionately affected by the nation's high crime rates.

The latest: One image Trump shared that he claimed showed genocide against white people in South Africa was actually a screenshot of a February YouTube video from the Democratic Republic of Congo, per AFP.

• It features "Red Cross workers responding after women were raped and burned alive during a mass jailbreak in the Congolese city of Goma," AFP notes.
• The video of what Trump said was a "burial site" of "over a thousand" white farmers appeared to be taken from a 2020 tribute to Glen and Vida Rafferty, a white farming couple who were murdered, and a display of "support in the fight against farm murders," per The Bulletin's caption of the incident.

South Africa-based CNN correspondent Larry Madowo said almost everything Trump said was "inaccurate or immediately debunked."

• He said he'd looked into the data and found no evidence of a white genocide in South Africa. "I don't think it's possible that 1,000 farmers could've been killed and buried along the roadside and there's thousands of cars paying respects without anybody noticing it," Madowo said.

Reality check: South African officials, scholars, journalists and others say there's no evidence of "thousands" of white farmers being killed in that nation, or targeted in the way Trump claimed.

• They say farmers of all races have been victims of violent home invasions in South Africa, which has a murder rate of 45 victims per 100,000 residents, the second-highest among countries that publish crime data, according to the UN Office for Drugs and Crime.
• 225 people were killed on South African farms during the four years ending in 2024, per the New York Times. Those victims included 101 Black current or former workers living on farms and 53 farmers, who are usually white, the Times reported.
• Most of the nation's violent crime occurs in cities where Black residents make up the majority, officials report.

State of play: The Trump administration welcomed a small number of white South African refugees into the U.S. this month. It also announced it was ending deportation protections for refugees from Afghanistan.

• The admission of Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority that dominated South African politics during apartheid, is in response to Trump's call to "prioritize U.S. refugee resettlement of this vulnerable group facing unjust racial discrimination in South Africa," the State Department said.
• The Trump administration said white South Africans are victims of a controversial new law aimed at countering the lingering impact of apartheid.

The backstory: Some of the tension surrounding South Africa's farms stems from its new Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take some land and redistribute it as part of a long-running effort to lessen the economic disparities created by apartheid.

• Under apartheid, which ended in 1994, South Africa's white minority government prevented Black people from owning land or enjoying basic rights for nearly a half-century.
• Three decades later, South Africa's president and many other leaders are Black. White people make up 7.3% of South Africa's population while owning 72% of the farmland, a disparity that continues to ripple through the economy.

Yes, but: South Africa's new law is designed to work something like eminent domain in the U.S. It allows the government to take land from private parties if it's in the "public interest," and allows that to be done without compensation — but only if negotiations for a reasonable settlement fail.

• The nation's leading farmers' union says there've been no land confiscations since the expropriation law was passed last year.

More from Axios:

• How false "white genocide" claims became central to Trump's view of South Africa
• Trump's open door to white South Africans buys into conspiracy theory

Editor's note: This article has been updated with details of findings debunking President Trump's genocide claims.

The top priority for the CIA's new leadership is China, and in particular helping U.S. companies maintain "a decisive technological advantage" in areas like AI, chips, biotech and battery technology, Deputy Director Michael Ellis told Axios' Colin Demarest in a rare interview.

Why it matters: Ellis and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have pledged to restructure the agency and shift its priorities. Ellis offered insight into how exactly they plan to go about it.

Breaking it down: "China is the existential threat to American security in a way we really have never confronted before," Ellis said.

• Russia will still be a challenge and a collection priority, Ellis said, along with adversaries like Iran and North Korea.
• But Ellis said the CIA will put much more emphasis on drug cartels, elevating the counter-narcotics division that had been something of an internal backwater.

Zoom in: Ellis also contended that the CIA's workforce and the tactics it employs need to evolve to fit the times and President Trump's priorities.

• Cold War-era human intelligence techniques may still have some role, but they're getting much harder to use successfully due in part to adversaries' surveillance tech, Ellis said.
• "We need more people with technical backgrounds," Ellis said. "More STEM grads."

The intrigue: Ellis mentioned inviting Elon Musk to visit the CIA, and said there were "a lot of efficiencies that we can gain" by learning from private sector leaders like him.

• Ellis said looming staff cuts were "actually an opportunity in some ways" to "reshape" the workforce.
• "We cannot have weaponization or politicization of the intelligence community," Ellis said, in an apparent reference to Trump's repeated claims that the "deep state" had been working against him.
• It's time to "really get rid of the distractions and biases that I think may have existed in the past," Ellis said, without offering specific examples. Other senior officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have railed against "woke" ideology in their departments.