President-elect Trump is asking the Supreme Court to halt Friday's sentencing in his New York hush money case, according to a new court filing.

Why it matters: If the high court intervenes, it could hand Trump another legal win by delaying the hearing or blocking the lower court from proceeding with levying a punishment for his historic felony conviction.

Catch up quick: Trump's legal team made the request to the Supreme Court after Judge Juan Merchan denied his latest bid to halt his sentencing. An appeals judge rejected his request to dismiss his conviction, as well.

• Merchan has said he does not intend to sentence Trump to jail time — but the president-elect's legal team is demanding to have his sentencing stopped altogether.
• Trump is scheduled to be sentenced just days before his presidential inauguration.

Editor's note: This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

Meta announced Tuesday that it will end its fact-checking program on its platforms in exchange for X-style community notes as part of a slate of changes targeting "censorship" and embracing "free expression."

Why it matters: It's part of a growing trend among online platforms, which are shifting away from policing misinformation and content amid charges of bias. The shift will have consequences for digital safety and young users.

• The changes echo calls from the right to walk back "censorship" on social media and coincide with President-elect Trump's return to the White House.

Driving the news: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined in a Tuesday post a series of content moderation reforms, impacting billions of users across Instagram, Facebook and Threads.

• Beyond replacing its fact-checkers, Meta will bring back more political content to its platforms and end restrictions on certain topics "out of touch with mainstream discourse," Zuckerberg said, "like immigration and gender."
• It will also adjust filters scanning for policy violations to only tackle illegal and "high severity" violations. Those include topics like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams, per a Tuesday release.
• Additionally, Zuckerberg said, the company's U.S. content review team will be moved to Texas from California, contending it will help Meta "build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams."

What they're saying: Joel Kaplan, Meta's chief global affairs officer, said on Fox & Friends on Tuesday that Meta's third-party fact-checkers have demonstrated "too much political bias."

• Kaplan, a prominent Republican, replaced Meta's policy chief Nick Clegg last week.
• Rules governing content on Meta's platforms have "become too restrictive over time," Kaplan said, "including about those kind of sensitive topics ... that people want to discuss and debate, immigration, trans issues, gender."
• He added, "If you can say it on TV, you can say it on the floor of Congress, you certainly ought to be able to say it on Facebook and Instagram without fear of censorship."

Context: Dropping fact-checking is also another step toward embracing MAGA for Meta.

• The company was quick to pledge a $1 million donation to Trump's inauguration.
• The company on Monday added three people to its board, including close Trump friend Dana White.

Flashback: Meta began to ramp up its fact-checking efforts following the 2016 U.S. election, when it was criticized for misinformation on its platform.

• It relied on a network of fact-checking partners that were part of a third-party consortium called the International Fact-Checking Network to do the fact-checks.
• By 2019, it had nearly quadrupled the number of fact-checking partners it worked with to combat misinformation globally.

Yes, but: Those efforts soon became politicized, with critics arguing its fact-checking partners were biased.

Zoom out: Meta did a lot to appease critics and dodge regulatory scrutiny during the first Trump era, even when those efforts were at odds with Zuckerberg's bigger vision of acting as a neutral platform for speech.

• The company invested millions of dollars in paying news partners globally, only to cut those investments when it changed its algorithm.
• Zuckerberg famously reversed the company's policies on Holocaust denialism following criticism.

The big picture: The politicization of fact-checking has contributed to a decline in the number of fact-checking sites globally, according to data from Duke Reporters' Lab, Axios has reported.

• In North America, the number of active fact-checking sites decreased from 94 to 90 from 2020 to 2023.

What to watch: In the U.S., fact-checking mostly serves as an exercise to ensure Meta doesn't get in trouble for allowing blatant political misinformation.

• But abroad, Meta's fact-checking network has been critical in stopping manipulation and abuses on its platforms, including posts that have led to real-world violence.

Go deeper: Meta deletes 2023 AI-generated profiles after uproar

Editor's note: This story was updated with additional details and context.

A chorus of European leaders is pushing back against Tesla CEO Elon Musk's meddling after he suggested Britain's prime minister should be imprisoned and questioned whether the U.S. should "liberate" its ally.

The big picture: Musk's influence looms large over U.S. politics with his MAGA alignment. Now he's casting a shadow over elections overseas, lambasting world leaders in recent days with his social media megaphone.

• Across dozens of posts over several days, Musk has attacked Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. On Sunday Musk turned on Nigel Farage writing that the Trump-aligned Reform Party leader "doesn't have what it takes."
• Musk threw his support behind Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is known for its anti-immigrant views.
• He's also gotten cozy with a number of right-wing populist politicians, including Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

Friction point: While Musk has found a home in the MAGA movement, other world leaders are telling him to stay in his lane.

• Starmer hit back against those he said were "spreading lies and misinformation" about child sex grooming gangs and investigations into child sex abuse in the UK, the subject of several of Musk's posts.
• In one post, Musk said another Labour minister, Jess Phillips, should be "in prison" for rejecting the idea of a national probe of historic child sexual abuse, which she said should be handled locally.
• Starmer told reporters Monday that when the "poison of the far right" led to threats against Phillips and others, "a line has been crossed," CNN reported.

What they're saying: Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Monday that "This is not the way things should be between democracies and allies," Reuters reported, pointing to Musk's attempted meddling.

• "I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries," he told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Zoom out: Other mainstream political leaders shared Støre's sentiment.

• French President Emmanuel Macron in a speech to French ambassadors wondered who a decade ago "could have imagined ... that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections."
• Macron, who in the past has enjoyed a civil relationship with Musk, did not mention the tech mogul by name — but there was little doubt for whom the jab was intended.
• Neither X nor the Trump transition team immediately responded to Axios's request for comment.

Between the lines: Some senior politicians across UK political parties have privately urged Trump's allies to rethink his relationship with Elon Musk after his comments this weekend, Bloomberg reported.

State of play: Musk's comments were met with outrage from German leaders, with Berlin accusing him of trying to influence the country's snap elections next month in his X commentary and an opinion piece he penned praising AfD

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he's staying "cool" amid personal digs from Musk, per the AP, but finds it "much more worrying" that Musk waded into German politics by "supporting a party like the AfD, which is in parts right-wing extremist, which preaches rapprochement with Putin's Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations."
• Robert Habeck, the German Green Party's chancellor candidate, cautioned Musk against interfering in the country's politics, telling Der Spiegel magazine, "Hands off our democracy, Mr. Musk!"

Go deeper: Musk & Milei: How an international bromance could shape Trump-era spending cuts

A New York judge rejected Monday President-elect Trump's latest attempt to halt sentencing for his felony hush money case conviction.

Why it matters: Judge Juan Merchan has already indicated Trump will not face jail time when he is sentenced just 10 days before his inauguration. But the president-elect's legal team is still trying to walk back his historic conviction.

• Merchan has repeatedly rejected Trump's attempts to toss his conviction based on presidential immunity claims, writing in a filing last week that the Supreme Court's ruling that presidents have immunity from prosecution for "official acts" does not apply to this case.

Driving the news: The court found that Trump's points are, for the most part "a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past," Merchan wrote in a Monday filing.

• The move effectively strikes down Trump's defense attorney's argument that sentencing should be paused pending the president-elect's appeal.

Catch up quick: While Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records would allow for a jail time sentence, Merchan wrote in a filing last week that was not inclined to impose such a sentence.

• Trump has the option to attend the sentencing in person or virtually.

The bottom line: The back-and-forth over Friday's sentencing came as a joint session of Congress gathered Monday to certify the results of the 2024 election — and on the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Go deeper: How prosecuting Trump backfired

Four years after President-elect Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol, Congress on Monday peacefully certified his 2024 victory with Vice President Harris overseeing her own loss.

The big picture: Though the electoral college certification proceeded peacefully, local law enforcement stepped up security around the U.S. Capitol out of an abundance of caution.

• Trump has repeatedly said pardoning the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters is something he will consider on his first day back in the Oval Office.
• Many prominent Republicans have followed Trump's lead in the four years since the attack to downplay the violence of the day.

Driving the news: In a stark juxtaposition from the certification of the 2020 election, there were no disturbances or objections during Monday's joint session of Congress.

• Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, who was present at Monday's certification, won the election with 312 electoral votes to Harris and Gov. Tim Walz's 226 votes.
• The whole count took roughly 30 minutes.
• Trump had called the certification "A BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY" in a Truth Social post before the process began.

Vice President Harris joined the small club of vice presidents throughout history who had to preside over the certification of their defeat — a duty she characterized as a "sacred obligation."

• "The chair declares this joint session dissolved," Harris said at the end of the session. "Thank you."
• She shook hands with members as she exited.

What they're saying: Former Vice President Mike Pence, who four years ago was the target of rioters' ire for refusing to interfere in the certification of President Biden's victory, applauded the peaceful count in a Monday X post.

• "I welcome the return of order and civility to these historic proceedings," he wrote, congratulating his former running mate and commending Harris as "particularly admirable" for overseeing the certification of her loss.

Zoom out: In response to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, Congress passed legislation to reform an 1887 law that determined how presidential elections are certified.

• The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 made it more difficult to contest electors and clarified the vice president's role in the counting as purely ceremonial among other changes.

Go deeper: Johnson, Jeffries duel over certifying 2024 election

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Harris and Pence.

A major winter storm sweeping much of the U.S. is producing heavy snow and ice as it threatens areas from the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic— leaving tens of millions under weather alerts Monday.

The big picture: The multi-day storm that's partially tied to the polar vortex prompted governors in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia to declare states of emergency and caused widespread power outages.

Road conditions are rapidly deteriorating across the southern coalfields and Tri-State Area. GIF #1 is Fry Dr. at US-119 in Logan, WV. GIF #2 is I-64 at Mud River in Cabell County, WV. #wvwx #kywx #vawx #ohwx pic.twitter.com/2yonWXXdST

— NWS Charleston, WV (@NWSCharlestonWV) January 5, 2025

Go deeper: "Major" winter storm ushers in severe Arctic outbreak across U.S.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with more photos and details from the winter storm.

In the wake of the New Year's Day attack that killed over a dozen people in New Orleans, officials are reckoning with how they protect against — and track — enemies within U.S. borders.

Meanwhile, a new congressional class faces a snowy start to its session and a sweeping agenda from the incoming president.

Here's what you may have missed when newsmakers hit the airwaves this Sunday, January 5.

1. Balancing threat surveillance and protected speech

Lone wolf attackers are "extraordinarily difficult to detect," said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

• That difficulty is further compounded when surveilling budding threats from Americans, Himes explained on CBS News' "Face the Nation."

The big picture: "If you're in this country, you have constitutional rights — meaning the FBI can't say, without a warrant, I want your Facebook posts, I want your e-mails," he said. "That's what makes this very hard."

Zoom out: The exact motivations and plan of the New Orleans attacker, identified as U.S. citizen and Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, are under investigation.

• But in several social media posts, Jabbar proclaimed support for ISIS, and an ISIS flag was recovered from the rented truck used in the attack.

Friction point: In the aftermath of the deadly attack, local leaders have been under scrutiny over whether they could have prevented the tragedy via physical security measures, leaving the crowded street less exposed.

On a broader level, the intelligence community faces the challenge of monitoring threats before an attack is implemented — in this case, when a threat actor begins showing signs of radicalization on social media.

Yes, but: It's not as easy as it may seem.

• "If somebody is standing out on the street corner right now saying, ISIS is the greatest thing in the world, and the president is a traitor ... people would say, boy, we should interview that person — that is constitutionally protected speech," Himes explained.
• Himes continued, "This individual in New Orleans did post some Facebook posts saying, I pledge allegiance to ISIS ... What if we had that debate? Should Facebook have instantly submitted that to the FBI? And if so, where's the line?"

Threat level: There "seem to be some real ISIS connections here that need to be followed up," Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on ABC's "This Week."

• He likened the attack to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, pointing to Jabbar's trip to Cairo, Egypt, which FBI officials said occurred in 2023.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said that beyond the threat of lone wolves, there are actors who have come across the border affiliated with outside groups that "still pose a threat to Americans and to the United States."

• Turner said the New Orleans investigation may uncover times when "we could have intervened."
• "Those will give us greater opportunities at which we'll look to how we might be able to, in the future, find others," he said.

2. The reconciliation bill(s) battle

Get ready for "one big, beautiful bill."

• At least, that's what House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says he and Trump are envisioning: a single reconciliation package that covers a myriad of MAGA goals, addressing the border, tax reform, the debt ceiling and more.
• If it comes to fruition, Axios' Mike Allen and Stef Kight report, it could be the biggest bill in American history.

State of play: The bill would harness the budget reconciliation process to push its way through. That method allows budget-related bills to bypass the Senate's filibuster (60 votes), with only a simple majority needed.

• The benefit of presenting a plethora of policies together, Johnson said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," is that there's something everyone can enjoy.
• "No one's going to love every element of a large package like that, but there'll be enough elements in there to pull everyone along," he said.

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said he's "for doing it in one bill" on CNN's "State of the Union."

• But he added he wants to see the Trump agenda done "as quickly as we can," whether that's in "one reconciliation bill, if it's two, if it's ten."

Yes, but: Not everyone loves the idea. Some Senate Republicans have voiced concern that pushing one massive bill through will slow down securing the border.

• "I'm very worried that if we don't put border first and get it done, it's going to be a nightmare for our national security," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox's Maria Bartiromo.

The bottom line: While the GOP will hold a Washington trifecta, Johnson faces a razor-thin majority in the House and Trump's one-bill vision could test party unity.

3. No snow day for Congress

Neither rain nor snow will keep Congress from working tomorrow, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

The big picture: Washington D.C. is forecast to see between 6 to 10 inches of snow on Monday, but federal law mandates Congress certify election results on Jan. 6.

What he's saying: "We encouraged all of our colleagues 'do not leave town, stay here,'" Johnson said.

• "Whether we are in a blizzard or not, we are going to be in that chamber making sure this is done," he said.

State of play: Other Republicans have weighed in on the weather, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posting to X that she "will walk to the Capitol" if she has to.

• "Unless @elonmusk has figured out how to control the weather it looks bad. If you are a Republican member of Congress I'd get to Washington," Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) wrote on X.

More from Axios' Sunday coverage:

• John Thune is still willing to challenge Trump
• "Major" winter storm to usher in severe Arctic outbreak across U.S.
• Klobuchar knows of no Democrats objecting to certifying Trump's win

New Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in an interview aired Sunday that he's willing to tell President-elect Trump if he thinks he's wrong.

The big picture: Trump has a storied history of rocky relationships with some Congressional leaders, and there is precedent for how the tone between the president-elect and Hill leaders has soured when Congress hasn't acted as Trump wished.

• Thune has issued in a new era for Senate Republicans, who were led by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for nearly two decades.
• McConnell's relationship with Trump was often contentious. What's yet to be seen is how Thune will navigate the water under the bridge between him and Trump as he oversees the GOP's slim majority in the chamber.

Driving the news: "We [Thune and Trump] have the same set of objectives; we want to get to the same destination, but I think, at times, there'll be differences in how we get there," the South Dakota Republican said on CBS News' "Face the Nation."

• He told Margaret Brennan he'll have to be able to "share and convey" to Trump the "unique aspects of how the Senate operates" and "help him understand ... what the contours are of what we can accomplish here in the Senate and what's realistic."
• In a separate interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Thune characterized his relationship with Trump as "evolving," saying the two have an "alignment of incentives."

Catch up quick: Thune publicly called on Trump to exit the race in 2016 in the aftermath of the infamous Access Hollywood Tape (but said he'd still vote for Trump shortly after) and condemned Trump's actions around the Jan. 6 attack as "inexcusable."

• Trump slammed Thune as a "RINO," or Republican in name only, and labeled him "Mitch's boy."
• Thune supported Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in the Republican primary race ahead of the 2024 election. Even after Trump became the party's nominee, Thune criticized his sweeping tariff proposals as a "recipe for increased inflation," per the South Dakota Searchlight.

Yes, but: Thune has recently worked to mend their relationship, meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

• Now, Thune says, the GOP is "united behind President Trump's agenda."

Go deeper: Who is John Thune, the new Senate GOP leader replacing Mitch McConnell

The pickup truck attack that killed 14 bystanders in New Orleans' French Quarter on New Year's is part of a persistent global trend of using vehicles as weapons.

The big picture: Vehicle attacks are becoming more common because they're incredibly simple and extremely difficult to prevent, experts warn.

• Experts told Axios that terror group ISIS, in particular, helped popularize using vehicles as weapons.

State of play: The New Orleans tragedy came less than two weeks after a car attack at a German Christmas market killed five and injured more than 200.

• According to the Mineta Transportation Institute's study of 184 vehicle attacks between 1963 and September 2019, 70% occurred after Jan. 1, 2014.
• While there is no one cause for the increase in attacks, one big factor stands out: Cars are abundant, readily available and can easily be used as a deadly weapon.

Catch up quick: While the exact motivations of the driver, 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, are unknown, an ISIS flag was found in the truck he rented.

• It's not clear if Jabbar, who died at the scene, had any formal affiliation with terrorist organizations, but he posted videos to social media indicating he was inspired by ISIS.

The rise of cars as weapons

Ramming attacks emerged as a terrorism tactic in the 1990s with Palestinian groups.

• At that time, groups like al-Qaeda favored spectacular, sophisticated mass casualty attacks, Javed Ali, a former counterterrorism official who teaches at the University of Michigan, said.
• ISIS' emergence presented a "very significant philosophical shift for jihadist operations" where attackers used "whatever means they could."
• In 2016, ISIS outlined how adherents outside the Middle East could attack using "vehicles that unexpectedly mount their busy sidewalks" in its online magazine, Rumiyah.

Recent attacks

The deadliest vehicle attack was in July 2016 when a driver killed 86 people on Bastille Day in Nice, France, using a rented 19-ton truck. ISIS called the driver its "soldier."

• After several similar attacks across Europe, Ali worried about that threat coming to America.

Then on Halloween 2017, an Islamic extremist from Uzbekistan drove a truck onto a New York bike path, killing eight.

Yes, but: These attacks are not just carried out by jihadist groups or sympathizers.

• One of the most prominent vehicle attacks in America occurred in 2017 when a white supremacist drove into a crowd of counter-protesters at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one.

Between the lines: Violent tactics can skip across ideologies, said Timothy Clancy, a researcher at the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

• Just days after a high-profile terror attack on London Bridge killed eight in 2017, a man influenced by far-right ideas drove a van into worshippers outside a London mosque.

What we're watching: Researchers speculated that the ISIS-inspired vehicular ramming "contagion" had "burned itself out" before the New Orleans tragedy, Clancy said.

• "But sometimes these scripts can last for years or decades, and you have another one pop up and sort of refill the reservoir," he said.
• These attacks followed a similar template, Clancy said: rent a vehicle, weigh it down, ram into a group of people, and then get out with weapons to inflict more damage.
• Jabbar drove a rented F-150 Lightning, which weighs over 1,000 pounds more than a conventional Ford pickup truck and provides instant acceleration.

Preventing the threat

There are significant challenges to preventing these threats because urban areas host millions of pedestrians — and vehicles.

• Experts recommend erecting temporary or permanent barriers where people or gatherings are the most exposed to reduce fatalities.
• Additionally, there have been calls for increased scrutiny of truck or large van rentals.

Despite precautions, the threat remains.

• About 400 police officers were in the French Quarter over Tuesday night, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday.
• A parked NOPD SUV had replaced malfunctioning bollards, but Jabbar swerved around it and onto the sidewalk to illegally enter the pedestrian-filled roadway.
• "We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it," Kirkpatrick told reporters.

The bottom line: Attackers adapt to new protections, "and then that adaptation becomes part of the new contagion," Clancy said.

• Preventing attacks often means finding those who are at high risk of being radicalized first — and checking in with those who seem to be going down a dangerous path.
• "Because these are so statistically rare, it's very hard to put in place a policy designed to specifically stop them that doesn't have an unintended consequence higher than the cost of the act itself," he said. "And that's a hard balancing act."

Go deeper: What to know about Turo, the app used by the New Orleans and

Federal, state and local authorities condemned the vehicular attack on a New Year's crowd at the famed French Quarter corner of Canal and Bourbon streets early Wednesday that killed at least 10 people and injured more than 35 others.

The latest: The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. Per the agency, the suspect died after exchanging gunfire with police.

• The FBI identified the suspect later Wednesday as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran from Texas.
• An ISIS flag, weapons and a potential explosive device were located in the Ford pickup truck he was driving, which appears to have been rented, the FBI said.
• New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said a male pickup-truck driver, since identified as Jabbar, was "hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage he did."
• The New Year's Day attack came hours before college football's Sugar Bowl, which was set to kick off Wednesday around one mile from the scene of the attack. The game has been postponed for 24 hours.

What they're saying: Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry described the situation as "fluid" in a Wednesday statement, urging people to avoid the French Quarter amid an active investigation.

• "We understand the concerns of the community and want to reassure everyone that the safety of the French Quarter and the city of New Orleans remains our top priority," he wrote.

President Biden said that he's directed his team to ensure law enforcement has resources as they "work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible."

• He condemned the violence that unfolded as victims and bystanders were "were simply trying to celebrate the holiday."

President-elect Trump in a Truth Social post suggested "criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country." Though there were not clear details on the deceased suspect's citizenship status at the time of Trump's statement, Jabbar has since been confirmed to be a U.S. citizen.

• "The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!" Trump added.

Zoom in: New Orleans officials highlighted the city's historic resilience in the face of tragedy.

• Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), who represents the congressional district that includes most of the New Orleans, said in a statement that the community "will rise again, stronger and more united."

State of play: The city's security and crowd control measures have received heightened attention recently as it prepares to host the NFL's Super Bowl in February.

• The NFL said in a Wednesday statement that it has been working with local, state and federal agencies over the past two years to develop "comprehensive security plans" ahead of Super Bowl LIX.
• The league said it is "confident attendees will have a safe and enjoyable Super Bowl experience."
• Regional economic development organization GNO Inc. — the CEO of which was tapped to lead local Super Bowl preparations — said in a statement it had "full confidence" that law enforcement "will quickly restore safety, and be able to update us all on this tragedy."

Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley announced at a Wednesday press conference that the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game will now kick off Thursday evening.

• "All parties ... agree that it's in the best interest of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours," he said
• Ahead of Wednesday's Peach Bowl in Atlanta, police there said in a statement that specialized units and additional personnel will be deployed to parts of the city "as an added precaution."

Go deeper: New Orleans prepares to host Super Bowl 2025

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

Around 15% of Puerto Rico is still without power after a staggering "island-wide" outage cast the population into darkness Tuesday.

The big picture: The island has grappled with a faulty power grid and repeated outages for years, sparking frustration and protests.

• Energy company LUMA, which took over control of the U.S. territory's power transmission and distribution in 2021, said in a statement the exact cause of the New Year's Eve blackout remains under investigation.
• Early investigations pointed to a fault on an underground power line, the company reported.

The latest: As of LUMA's most recent update Wednesday morning, just over 85% of customers have had their service restored.

• The company reported Tuesday that power had also been restored to the Centro Médico and el Hospital Municipal de San Juan.
• LUMA initially predicted it would take one to two days to return power to every customer on the island.
• At the outage's peak, nearly 90% of 1.47 million LUMA clients were in the dark.

State of play: Puerto Rico's Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said Tuesday that President Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm assured the island it would have federal assistance in "continuing and speeding up" the reconstruction of its electric system.

• In a separate Tuesday post, Pierluisi wrote that he is "demanding answers and solutions" from LUMA and Genera PR, another company that handles private electricity production on the island.
• Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón, who is set to be sworn in Thursday, wrote in a Tuesday post that stabilizing the island's energy grid will be her top priority once she assumes office.
• "We can't keep relying on an energy system that fails our people," she wrote. "Today's blackout and the uncertainty around restoration continue to impact our economy and quality of life."

Catch up quick: The U.S. territory's energy was privatized after Hurricane Maria ravaged the grid in 2017, leaving hundreds of thousands in prolonged darkness.

• Operational control was transferred to LUMA, in hopes it could help remedy the damaged system. But the challenges have persisted.

Go deeper: Puerto Rico's grim outlook

President-elect Trump promised Tuesday that his Justice Department will "vigorously pursue the death penalty," one day after President Biden announced he had commuted sentences for most of the people on federal death row.

The big picture: The Trump administration set records with a spree of executions during his first term, and he appears poised to reverse Biden's moratorium on federal use of capital punishment once he's sworn into office.

• Biden, in a statement announcing he would commute the inmates' sentences to life without the possibility of parole, said he could not "stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."

Driving the news: "As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters," Trump wrote in a Christmas Eve Truth Social post.

• He added, "We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!"

Context: Biden emphasized in a statement that he does "condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss."

• The three men who did not receive a commutation are the convicted gunman in the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting, the Tree of Life synagogue shooter and the surviving Boston Marathon bomber.
• The Biden administration in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment pending a study of policies and protocols.
• The president said his Monday commutations were in line with the standard of the administration's moratorium, which applies "in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder."

Flashback: The first Trump administration announced in 2019 that it would instruct the Federal Bureau of Prisons to reinstate the death penalty after a 16-year hiatus.

• There were 13 federal executions during Trump's first term. They mainly occurred toward the end of his White House tenure.

Zoom out: Trump has previously said he plans to expand the use of the death penalty to drug crimes.

• "We're going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts," Trump said during his official announcement of his 2024 presidential candidacy.

Go deeper: Biden commutes sentences of 1,500 Americans in single day record

Former President Clinton was discharged from the hospital Tuesday, his spokesperson said in a statement.

Driving the news: Clinton, 78, was admitted to be treated for the flu a day earlier after developing a fever, Angel Ureña, his deputy chief of staff, said on X.

• Clinton received care at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Flashback: Clinton was previously hospitalized in California in 2021 when an infection spread to his bloodstream.

• He has had two heart procedures — a quadruple bypass in 2004 and the insertion of two stents into an artery in 2010. Both were performed at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Editor's note: This story was updated with news that Clinton has been discharged.

Congress' long-simmering debate over the age of its members has resurfaced over revelations that Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) has been living in an independent living facility in Texas.

Why it matters: The retiring former House Appropriations Committee chair's absence from votes since July has led some of her colleagues to raise concerns.

The latest: Granger acknowledged in a Sunday statement to Axios that she has "been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year."

• "Since early September, my health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable."
• Granger's son Brandon told the Dallas Morning News that she has been "having some dementia issues late in the year."

Yes, but: Brandon Granger pushed back on a report from the Dallas Express – whose CEO Chris Putnam ran against Granger in 2020 – that his mother was living in a memory care facility.

• Instead, he said, she resides in the independent living facility of Tradition Senior Living in Fort Worth, which advertises itself as a "luxury senior living community."
• A source familiar with the matter told Axios that Granger moved into the independent senior living facility around July.

What they're saying: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) told Axios in a statement that the public "is entitled to far greater transparency about the health of the elected officials who represent them."

• "The incapacitation of an elected official is a material fact that should be disclosed to the public, rather than concealed by staff," he added.
• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called for term limits in a post on X, saying Granger's absence "reveals the problem with a Congress that rewards seniority & relationships more than merit & ideas."
• Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said in a post on X responding to the Dallas Express report that he is "more concerned about the congressmen who have dementia and are still voting."

Zoom in: A House Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity regarding Granger's absence, said it's "absolutely" worrying because her constituents "don't have a vote."

• The lawmaker said there's not enough political will yet to address Congress' age issue, but "there should be."

What we're hearing: The first source told Axios that Granger would have made different preparations had she known she would be unable to vote towards the end of the session, citing the unforeseen progression of her illness.

• Granger was also clear with leadership about her situation and said she would return to D.C. to vote if she was needed, the source said.
• The source also argued that her resignation would have left the seat vacant until January and still created a representation issue.

Zoom out: Granger stepped down as the Appropriations Committee chair in April and will retire on Jan. 3 when her term expires.

• Granger's status was highlighted by her missing a vote on Friday to avert a government shutdown, despite her past leadership of the panel that deals with government funding.
• She was, however, present at the Capitol in November when her portrait was unveiled to honor her long-standing work as a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
• Granger said in her statement on Sunday that, while in D.C. last month, she was able to hold "meetings on behalf of my constituents, express my gratitude to my staff, and oversee the closure of my Washington office."

Between the lines: While leadership may have been kept in the loop, several rank-and-file House members from both parties told Axios they were unaware of Granger's living situation until this weekend.

• Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), a member of Granger's delegation, said Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that he was not aware of Granger's condition but acknowledged there was "no doubt a lot of us knew she was gaining in age like a lot of members do."

Go deeper: Charted: Baby Boomers rule Congress

President-elect Trump suggested Sunday that he might let TikTok stick around in the U.S., boasting his success on the app.

Why it matters: The popular short-form video app could be banned in the U.S. in less than a month — but Trump, who threatened to boot the app during his first term, has suggested he'd offer TikTok a lifeline.

• TikTok is staring down a Jan. 19 ban. But before then, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the bipartisan law that forced the app's sale by its parent company is constitutional.

Driving the news: "We did go on TikTok and we had a great response with billions of views," Trump said to cheers at AmericaFest, hosted by Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action. He added, "They brought me a chart ... and as I looked at it, I said, maybe we got to keep this sucker around for a little while."

• Trump touted his success among young voters, who the campaign courted for months — in particular, they targeted young men with podcast appearances and macho man messaging.
• He's previously said he has a "warm spot" in his "heart for TikTok."

Catch up quick: Trump joined the embattled app in June and has since amassed 14.7 million followers.

• His TikTok-friendly tone is a sharp departure from his stance during his first White House tenure when he issued an executive order that would have banned U.S. companies from making transactions with Bytedance, the app's parent company.
• His TikTok flip-flop was a surprise given his bullish approach to China.

Reality check: It's unclear how Trump would intervene to stop the TikTok time bomb created through federal law and signed by President Biden.

• He'd likely receive pushback from members of his party who supported the legislation on Capitol Hill.
• Trump also doesn't take office until Jan. 20 — and a president-elect can't enact policy via speech or social media post.

Go deeper: Frank McCourt's Project Liberty advances bid for TikTok

Congress stopped the clock ticking toward a government shutdown early Saturday after the Senate followed the GOP-controlled House's lead in passing a stopgap measure that runs through March.

The latest: The resolution came after a Trump-backed plan to suspend the debt ceiling failed in the House Thursday and was nixed from the funding plan.

What he's saying: Despite President-elect Trump's Friday comment on Truth Social that "If there's going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden administration," Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), told reporters after the vote he was in "constant contact" with Trump.

• "He knew exactly what we were doing," Johnson said.

State of play: An earlier version of the stopgap measure lost 38 Republican votes and gained two Democratic ones before legislators pushed a revised bill through both chambers.

• The approved resolution will fund the government until March, provide about $100 billion for disaster aid and extend the farm bill for a year, but legislators nixed elements of the earlier plan that would have suspended the debt ceiling until January 2027.
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called it a "laughable proposal."

What was in the first bill?

Congressional leaders unveiled legislation Tuesday to keep the government funded until March, setting up a showdown — with Johnson in the central pressure cooker.

• It included around $100 billion in disaster relief, an extension of the farm bill and restrictions on investments in China. The 1,547-page bill includes wants from both Democrats' and Republicans' wish lists.
• But some measures raised eyebrows: Notably, a pay raise for members of Congress (their first since 2009), caught the attention of Musk and others bashing the bill.
• The mid-March extension date tees up another funding fight toward the end of Trump's first 100 days in office.

What's next, and what does it mean?

Lawmakers were able to push a deal through just after a midnight Saturday deadline, and Biden signed the resolution later Saturday.

• The legislative save means stopping a shutdown just as lawmakers were meant to go on holiday recess.

For thousands of non-essential federal employees, a shutdown would have meant they stopped working.

• During the last government shutdown (the longest on record) from December 2018 to January 2019, 420,000 federal employees were required to work without pay while another 350,000 were furloughed from their jobs without pay, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, a federal employee union.
• "Excepted" employees are those who keep working. Their responsibilities may include services like "emergency work involving the safety of human life or the protection of property," according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Federal employees would have been eligible for retroactive pay once funding was appropriated, per the OPM, and those who were furloughed could also have received unemployment benefits.

What government programs are impacted?

None now that the shutdown was avoided, but if legislators had failed, a number of government programs could have been impacted.

Social Security: Social Security and Medicare checks are still sent out during a shutdown, but some operations could have been impacted.

• A contingency plan shared in September said that benefit verifications and the issuance of replacement Medicare cards would have been among discontinued activities.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Food benefits via SNAP are mandatory. But a shutdown could have impacted the ability to renew benefit card licenses.

• Depending on the length of a shutdown, the timing of benefit issuances could have also been impacted.

Veteran benefits: Veteran benefits would continue to be processed and delivered, but some resources, like cemetery grounds maintenance, could have been restricted.

Passport issuance: The issuance of passports, along with visa and consular services, is expected to continue but could have been slowed depending on the length of a closure.

Education and student loans: Pell Grants and Federal Direct Student Loans would continue during a shutdown, per the Department of Education. But the longer a shutdown dragged on, the greater the chance of disruptions for borrowers.

• Most grantmaking activities, the department said in a contingency plan last year, would have been paused.
• Last time the government shuttered, students faced inter-agency issues when trying to access student aid, CNN reported, such as Internal Revenue Service closures that prevented them from accessing necessary tax documents ahead of the spring semester.

National parks and Smithsonian museums: Services at national parks and the Smithsonian museums in D.C. would close during a shutdown.

Go deeper: What a government shutdown could have meant for holiday air travel

Editor's note: This story was updated with new developments.

As mystery drone sightings popped up across the Northeast, federal officials assured the public there was nothing to fear. But the internet didn't buy it, and conspiracy theories began to fill the information void.

The big picture: The situation has the right components to feed conspiracy theories, experts say.

• A key force at play in driving conspiracy theory beliefs, especially in the internet era, is that stories are more likely to spread if they provoke emotion, said David Dunning, the University of Michigan's Walgreen professor of the study of human understanding.
• "And regrettably, the emotions that work the best in terms of promoting spread are negative ones: anger, contempt, fear," Dunning said.

The intrigue: The reports of drones have sparked an Orson-Welles-reminiscent hysteria on social media, and the theories have been both far-ranging and, in some cases, far-fetched.

• Some have suggested that the drones are secretly sniffing out radioactive materials, while others have questioned whether their origins are from another foreign power.
• The sightings have also sparked mentions of "Project Blue Beam," a conspiracy theory that the government or global elites would fake an alien invasion using futuristic NASA technology to implement a new world order and religion.
• Some claim they are aliens — and another sect of theories contends the sightings could be angels.

Zoom in: There's a trifecta at play to bolster the conspiracy theories about the drones, said Joanne Miller, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware.

• Americans are faced with an information vacuum, overlapping with a scary unknown and a political landscape where some elected officials are willing to peddle conspiracy theories, she said.
• That drives the search for an explanation and an "actionable response."
• But Miller and other experts say Americans are not more susceptible to conspiracy theories than others around the globe.

Some data suggests that those who are on the political extremes, have less education and are more socially isolated could be likely victims of conspiracy theories, Dunning told Axios.

• But "no one is protected," Dunning said. If a conspiracy theory could fit the plot of a Hollywood movie, it's more likely to gain traction, "and you can see how the drone situation can fit a Hollywood movie script."

Reality check: Just because something is trending on social media, Miller noted, that doesn't mean every view, like and post is a declaration of belief in a conspiracy theory: "Some of the most outlandish ones are shared because they're funny."

Yes, but: Federal officials have said they believe a large share of drone sightings stem from members of the public misidentifying small, legally operating manned aircraft as drones — or, they could be privately owned and legally flown drones.

• There have certainly been moments of mistaken identity: former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan fell victim, sharing a video online of the night sky that he said captured "what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky."
• A meteorologist in the comments responded "with immense respect," writing, "Mr. governor, this is the constellation 'Orion.'"

Go deeper: Chatbots can chip away at belief in conspiracy theories

Four federal charges were filed against Luigi Mangione in connection to the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to a federal complaint unsealed Thursday.

The big picture: The anticipated federal complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, piles onto state charges Mangione is already facing, including 11 counts in New York and 5 in Pennsylvania.

• Mangione was charged with murder through use of a firearm, two counts of stalking and a firearms offense, according to the federal complaint.
• The complaint was unsealed just after Mangione waived extradition to New York from Pennsylvania, where he had been held since his arrest last week.

Driving the news: The complaint alleged that the notebook authorities said Mangione possessed "contained several handwritten pages that express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular."

• Per the filing, an August 15 entry in the notebook says "the details are finally coming together" and that "I'm glad – in a way – that I've procrastinated," because it allowed "me to learn more about" a company name that was redacted by prosecutors.
• The notebook entry also stated that "the target is insurance" because "it checks every box." Prosecutors also allege the writings in the notebook referenced the investor conference Thompson was set to attend the day of his death.
• "This investor conference is a true windfall . . . and – most importantly – the message becomes self evident," an Oct. 22 passage read, per the complaint.

Catch up quick: The 26-year-old was arrested last week after a days-long search that drew nationwide attention.

• After being indicted by a New York grand jury on charges including first-degree murder, Mangione faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.
• The Manhattan District Attorney's office said in a statement that the New York case and the federal case will "proceed in parallel."

What's next: Mangione arrived in New York Thursday afternoon and is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later today.

Go deeper: America obsesses over Luigi Mangione's digital footprint

Luigi Mangione, who was indicted on the first-degree murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, waived extradition to New York Thursday, agreeing to be transferred from Pennsylvania.

The big picture: Beyond state charges, including an 11-count indictment from the Manhattan district attorney's office, the 26-year-old is also expected to face federal charges out of the Southern District of New York.

• The case sparked nationwide attention, culminating in Mangione's arrest in Pennsylvania last week days after Thompson was shot and killed in New York City.
• Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate and member of a wealthy Baltimore family, has been glorified by some social media users, a trend New York officials have condemned.

Driving the news: Mangione formally waived extradition Thursday in Blair County courthouse, per several reports after initially fighting the process. He'll be transported to New York without returning to Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania.

• He could appear in front of a New York City judge in just a matter of hours, CBS News New York reported.
• The 11 charges he faces in New York include one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as "killing as an act of terrorism."
• He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole, per Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office.

Go deeper: 41% of young voters say UnitedHealthcare CEO killing "acceptable": Poll

The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled Thursday to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from President-elect Trump's state 2020 election interference case over a conflict of interest.

Why it matters: It's another major legal victory for Trump, who has repeatedly accused Willis of impropriety due to a relationship with the lead prosecutor on the case.

• The Georgia 2020 election case is Trump's last remaining criminal case that was set to go to trial. Two federal cases against him have been dropped since his election win.
• Willis' disqualification casts the case into limbo, while Trump is also fighting to have his New York hush money case thrown out following his May 2024 conviction.

Driving the news: "After carefully considering the trial court's findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office," the Georgia appeals court said in its ruling.

• The court noted that "an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification," but said this is a "rare case" in which "no other remedy" but disqualification "will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings."
• The appeals court stopped short of throwing out the charges Willis' office brought against Trump in the case, writing in its ruling, "We affirm, however, the denial of the appellants' motion to dismiss the indictment."

What's next: The case appears headed to Georgia's Supreme Court after the state filed its notice of intent to appeal on Thursday, hours after the ruling came down.

• There is no timeline for when the case might be heard or when a ruling will be issued.

Catch up quick: Thursday's decision reverses an earlier ruling that Willis and her office could stay on the case if special prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she had a romantic relationship, stepped aside.

• Judge Scott McAfee in March ruled that despite the "appearance of impropriety, " Willis' relationship with Wade brought no conflict of interest. Defense lawyers had argued that she improperly benefited from Wade taking part in the case.

What they're saying: Trump said the Georgia case is "entirely dead" when speaking to Fox News Digital on Thursday.

• He added that the "wonderful patriots" involved in the case — the 18 co-defendants indicted alongside him — should "receive an apology."

Trump spokesperson Steven Chung said in a statement that Americans have "demanded an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system" and want a "swift dismissal of all the Witch Hunts against him."

The big picture: Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted in August 2023 over alleged efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results.

• The initial 41-count indictment has since been whittled down by McAfee, but Trump still faces eight charges in the case, down from the original 13.
• Several of the 19 co-defendants in the case accepted plea deals. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Editor's note: This story was updated with reaction, additional details from the ruling and background.