Axios Homepage

Donald Trump's legal team argued four key points during its defense of the former president on Friday — all focused on process.

The big picture: The lawyers delivered a swift defense in which they called the House charge that the former president incited the Jan. 6 insurrection a "preposterous and monstrous lie." In their presentation, the defense team asserted that the trial itself is unconstitutional; there was no due process; convicting Trump violates his First Amendment rights; and impeachment fails to unify the country.

The Biden administration has ruled out requiring negative COVID-19 tests for passengers on domestic flight for now, per multiple reports on Friday.

Driving the news: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told "Axios on HBO" earlier this month that the U.S. was considering the possible mandate. But the White House said Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is "not recommending required point of departure testing for domestic travel" at this time, per Bloomberg.

1. Education: CDC releases guidelines on safely reopening schools — Experts say school closures are hurting teens' mental health.
2. Health: What pregnant people face during COVID-19 — The pandemic's racial disparities extend to nursing homes — Coronavirus infections are plummeting.
3. Vaccine: Why vaccine production is taking so long — Pentagon approves 20 more military vaccination teams.
4. Politics: Biden blasts Trump's vaccination efforts.
5. World: WHO team in Wuhan says it's "extremely unlikely" COVID-19 came from lab incident.

Executives at the center of the GameStop trading saga — including from Reddit and Robinhood, plus hedge funds Melvin Capital and Citadel — will testify before Congress next week, the House Financial Services committee announced on Friday.

Why it matters: The virtual hearing is the first since the fallout of the Reddit stock trading frenzy that pushed stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment to meteoric heights — and the first time some of these executives will speak publicly about it.

The Senate passed a bill Friday to award Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal for his actions in response to the deadly Jan. 6 siege.

Driving the news: Goodman has been widely praised for leading the mob of pro-Trump supporters away from members of Congress during the riot. New footage of the siege released by House impeachment managers on Wednesday showed Goodman directing Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to safety.

Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt is resigning from the group's board amid a series of scandals that has rocked the high-dollar anti-Trump super PAC, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Schmidt, a veteran Republican operative, is the latest and most high-profile departure from the group, which is reeling from revelations that another co-founder, John Weaver, used offers of professional advancement in a series of attempts to solicit sex from young men.

LinkedIn is building a creator management team to help grow its community of content creators on the platform, according to an announcement from the company's editor in chief.

Why it matters: The success of platforms like TikTok, OnlyFans and Substack has led to a mad dash of investments from tech companies into the creator economy. Facebook and Snapchat have launched TikTok competitors, and Twitter bought a newsletter platform.

School reopenings should be contingent on community transmission rates and should be a priority over restaurants and other nonessential businesses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Friday.

Why it matters: America's educators have been calling on the health agency to issue clear and useful guidance for schools, following mixed signals sent by the Trump administration last year.

SoftBank's Vision Fund went from being in the red, with an annual operating loss of $18 billion at one point, to an $8 billion net profit in its most recent quarter — thanks in no small part to the past year's unexpected events.

Why it matters: While the Vision Fund's bet on a global shift to digital services is likely correct, it's hard to believe its financial performance would have rebounded so quickly had 2020 gone differently.

A top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Democratic lawmakers that the administration rebuffed their request for data on coronavirus deaths in nursing homes because they feared it would "be used against us" by federal investigators egged on by then-President Trump, according to a leaked tape obtained by the New York Post.

Why it matters: Cuomo has been under fire for his handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes early in the pandemic. He's now facing new allegations of his administration actively withholding data on coronavirus deaths in nursing homes in order to delay potential investigations.

Tesla is riding high these days, but two developments could create reputational risks for the world's most valuable car company.

Driving the news: Tesla is beginning to face criticism over the climate effects of its big new investment in bitcoin and the decision to accept it as payment — even though electric vehicles are lower-CO2 alternatives to gasoline vehicles.

Donald Trump's legal team will focus entirely on process on day four of the former president's impeachment trial, seeking to wrap up the proceedings as soon as possible given the beating they’re taking from the media and the strength of the Democrats’ presentation.

The big picture: Trump is unlikely to be convicted on the House's single charge of "incitement of insurrection," as only a handful of Republicans have signaled their intention to vote against the party's most popular figure. But the House managers' presentation of chilling, never-before-seen security footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol assault may make that vote more difficult.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said that she does not believe former President Trump will run for federal office again in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, telling Politico in an extensive profile: "I don't think he can. He's fallen so far."

Why it matters: Haley has left little doubt that she will run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. The profile by Politico's Tim Alberta painted the picture of a staunch Republican who has wavered between defending and condemning her former boss — who still holds massive influence within the party's base.

Tennis fans will be prohibited from attending the Australian Open as the state of Victoria prepares for a five-day lockdown in response to new COVID-19 cases.

Why it matters: The lockdown comes after an outbreak at a Holiday Inn near Melbourne Airport that was being used to house returned travelers.

New data on Americans' finances suggests the extension of enhanced unemployment benefits and direct payment checks would provide a significant boost to the economy.

Driving the news: A new report from the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Institute finds that the increased payments for unemployment "played an important role in maintaining household spending and wider macroeconomic stability."

The Biden administration will soon slowly begin allowing asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexican border towns under former President Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy to enter the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday.

Why it matters: President Biden has promised to end the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols program, as it is formally called, which forced tens of thousands of migrants into dangerous, squalid conditions in Mexico as they awaited court proceedings. DHS estimates that there are about 25,000 migrants in the MPP program who have active immigration court cases.

Microsoft and Google, longtime peaceful competitors, have turned on each other in what has recently become a heated battle over the future of news.

Details: Google on Thursday clawed back at Microsoft, arguing that the Seattle tech giant's support of an upcoming Australian news law is flawed and self-serving.

COVID-19 vaccine makers are under intense pressure to rev up production, but the scale of the challenge is unprecedented — and the speed of production is limited.

Why it matters: Even with help from the federal government and outside companies, vaccine-making is a complex, time-consuming biological process. That limits how quickly companies like Pfizer and Moderna can accelerate their output even during a crisis.

Donald Trump's legal defense will focus entirely on process, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The attorneys representing the former president know it's fruitless to continue defending his actions preceding the Capitol attack. Instead, they'll say none of that matters because the trial itself is unconstitutional — an argument many Republican senators are ready to embrace.

Facebook's new moves to dial back the volume of political content in users' news feeds represent the latest lurch in the social network's erratic handling of its role as the world's digital public square.

Driving the news: Facebook, having captured a vast chunk of the digital ad business and trained users to view its stream of posts as a one-stop shop for all their informational needs, now says it plans to limit its distribution of posts about politics and broaden its situational bans on political ads.

President Biden on Thursday slammed his predecessor for "not doing his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans."

Driving the news: Biden's remarks at the National Institutes of Health came not long after his administration signed final contracts with Pfizer and Moderna to purchase an additional 200 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines.

Biden administration officials are weighing nominating prominent Republicans to ambassadorships — including Cindy McCain and former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake — to highlight the importance of bipartisanship in U.S. foreign policy, according to people familiar with their thoughts.

Why it matters: President Biden hasn't put any Republicans in his Cabinet, but a move like this would symbolize a return to the Truman-era adage that partisan politics stops "at the water's edge."

Political transparency groups are asking the White House to disclose information about the people who participate in virtual White House meetings, according to a letter obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: President Biden has committed to releasing White House visitor logs on a quarterly basis. But good-government advocates say disclosure of in-person meetings isn't sufficient with COVID forcing so much remote work via teleconference.