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Republicans across the U.S. are siding with President Trump over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — big time — according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll.

The state of play: A majority of Republicans still think Trump was right to challenge his election loss, support him, don’t blame him for the Capitol mob and want him to be the Republican nominee in 2024.

President Trump didn't earn his historic second impeachment just by inciting a riot on a single day. He laid its foundation event by event during the two months preceding it.

Why it matters: Uneasiness built to rage among some Republicans as the president challenged the election results, blocked important legislative accomplishments and cost the party its hold on the Senate.

Utah's Mitt Romney is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to how fellow Republicans view him. But the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee is crushing it with Democrats, the Axios-Ipsos poll found.

Jonathan Fahey, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has resigned after leading the agency for two weeks, though it is unclear what prompted his departure, an ICE spokesperson confirmed to Axios Wednesday night.

Why it matters: Fahey's exit, first reported by Buzzfeed's Hamed Aleaziz, comes after the previous acting director, Tony Pham, abruptly left the post in December and amid a wider shakeup in the Department of Homeland Security.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced a new "zero tolerance policy" toward unruly airline passengers, who could face fines of up to $35,000 and imprisonment for interfering with crew members.

Why it matters: The crackdown comes after the agency saw a "disturbing increase in incidents" of passengers disrupting flights with "threatening or violent behavior" stemming from their refusal to wear masks and recent violence at the U.S. Capitol.

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty in an investigation into the Flint water crisis, according to Genessee County District Court records and multiple local reports on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Flint saw its drinking water contaminated with high levels of lead in 2014, spurring a public health disaster. The lead-contaminated water was blamed for an outbreak of Legionnaires disease that killed at least 12 people.

President Trump condemned political violence in a video Wednesday evening exactly one week after a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol in a deadly siege, and hours after the House voted to impeach him for a second time.

Why it matters: The video, posted to the White House's official Twitter account, came as the president faces an impeachment trial in the Senate after 10 Republicans voted with House Democrats for impeachment.

Senate Republicans are heeding calls to protect national security, agreeing to hold a confirmation hearing Friday for Joe Biden's nominee for director of national intelligence.

Why it matters: The president-elect's transition team has argued swift confirmation hearings — especially for its national security nominees — are crucial following last week's attack on the Capitol, threats of violence surrounding next week's inauguration and global political tensions.

10 Republican lawmakers voted to impeach President Trump on Wednesday, one day after GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) became the highest-ranking House Republican to do so.

Why it matters: Trump's second impeachment in the House is the most bipartisan in U.S. history, garnering support from more members of the president's own party than ever before. House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment that accuses Trump of inciting insurrection against the U.S. government, after a mob of his supporters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The House voted 232-197 to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection" after a violent pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol last week while Congress met to count the Electoral College vote.

Why it matters: Trump is now the only president in history to have been impeached twice — his first impeachment happened just over a year ago in December of 2019. He has just one week left in his term before President-elect Biden is sworn-in on Jan. 20.

Several corporations and tech giants are restricting or suspending political contributions after the siege on the Capitol.

Why it matters: The politics of pandering to the mob have become too dangerous for many of America's business leaders.

Affirm, a “buy now pay later” company led by PayPal co-founder and former CEO Max Levchin, went public today at a valuation of nearly $15 billion — and then saw its share price more than double.

Axios Re:Cap goes deeper with Levchin, to discuss the IPO, why he believes credit cards are “flawed” and the growing centrality of fintech.

1. Health: What you need to know about the coronavirus variants.
2. Vaccine: 47% of Americans say vaccinations are moving too slowly.
3. Politics: How Biden could help speed up vaccinations.
4. Energy: It's unclear if U.S. oil production will ever go back to normal.
5. Economy: José Andrés: Restaurant industry survival is key for economic recovery — Millions of Americans find themselves on the front lines — Crises are turning CEOs into wartime leaders.
6. Sports: Stadiums are being used as vaccine hubs.
7. Future: The raging trust crisis and its consequences.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), while making his case against impeaching President Trump for a second time on Wednesday, noted that Trump "bears responsibility" for a mob of his supporters breaching the U.S. Capitol last week.

Why it matters: The core accusation of House Democrats in their article of impeachment against Trump is that he incited insurrection against the U.S. government by urging his supporters to breach the U.S. Capitol.

President Trump urged the American public on Wednesday to refrain from violence ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, again calling for a peaceful transition of power.

Why it matters: The statement was released as the House debated whether to impeach Trump for a second time, after the president was accused of inciting the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol and left five dead last week.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell will not consent to reconvening the Senate on Friday under emergency authorities, delaying the start of President Trump's likely impeachment trial until Jan. 19 at the earliest, McConnell's team confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: If the House votes to impeach Trump for incitement of the Capitol riot on Wednesday, as is expected, the trial will likely not take place until after President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.

Qualcomm said Wednesday it will pay $1.4 billion to buy Nuvia, a chip startup founded by former Apple employees.

Why it matters: The move gives Qualcomm fresh ideas for chip designs as the company faces intense competition from Intel, AMD and others.

Last week's riot at the Capitol was many things, but perhaps chiefly it was the culmination of four years of information warfare waged against the country from within the Oval Office.

Why it matters: A sprawling disinformation campaign led by President Trump — and buttressed by his allies in the media, online and in Congress — has severely destabilized the U.S. and makes further acts of violence and would-be insurrection a near certainty.

Following last week's violent Capitol siege by Trump supporters during the counting of the Electoral College vote, troops from the National Guard have been sent to secure the House and downtown Washington, D.C., as warnings of possible violent demonstrations continue.

The state of play: Capitol Hill prepares for President Trump's second impeachment on Wednesday. If the House votes to impeach Trump, as they are expected to do, he would be the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

Israel plans to lobby the incoming Biden administration to avoid confrontations over human rights and other contentious issues with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, senior Israeli defense officials tell me.

Why it matters: President-elect Biden has promised to put human rights and democracy at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy, and he skipped over all three when placing phone calls to the leaders of 17 countries after his election victory. He was particularly critical of Saudi Arabia during the campaign over the war in Yemen and human rights issues.

Google informed its advertising partners Wednesday that beginning Jan. 14, its platforms will block all political ads, as well as any related to the Capitol insurrection, "following the unprecedented events of the past week and ahead of the upcoming presidential inauguration," according to an email obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: Political ad bans are designed to curb confusion and misinformation surrounding highly sensitive events. Google says a limited version of its "sensitive event" policies went into effect after the violent events in the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Now in control of Congress, Democrats are looking to give the U.S. financial system a progressive overhaul, incoming Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown said Friday. It will be a tall task.

What we're hearing: "This committee in the past has been about Wall Street," Brown told reporters. "As chair I’m going to make it about workers and their families and what matters to their lives."

Top Republicans want to bury President Trump, for good. But they are divided whether to do it with one quick kill via impeachment, or let him slowly fade away.

• A House impeachment vote, which would make Trump the first president to be impeached twice, is expected in mid-afternoon.

The big picture: Sources tell Axios Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be more likely than not to vote to convict Trump — a green light for other Republican senators to follow.

Elon Musk is under siege by fellow billionaires at Amazon and Dish as he tries to get his fledgling space-based broadband service off the ground, with clashes involving airwave overload and the threat of satellite collisions.

Why it matters: Musk's Starlink service could extend broadband to unconnected customers in hard-to-reach rural areas. But competitors are pressing the Federal Communication Commission to stymie Musk's plans.

In the last year, Americans have worked through a deadly pandemic, social isolation, racial injustice protests, a presidential election and, now, an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Why it matters: Laboring through this string of crises is exacerbating employee burnout and pushing CEOs to turn into wartime leaders.

Americans are losing trust in leaders across every area of their lives — and the information coming from every source of their news, according to the 21st annual Edelman Trust Barometer, out Wednesday, which measures trust in institutions globally.

Why it matters: The sobering report shows that people crave facts more than ever, but most have bad habits and a growing distrust of everything from journalists to vaccines and contact tracing.

School segregation between Black and white students has returned to 1968 levels, even as the nation grows more diverse.

Why it matters: Black and white school segregation has deepened toward pre-Civil Rights Movement-era numbers despite decades of strides.

Joe Biden's ability to improve coronavirus vaccinations across the U.S. will largely depend on stronger partnerships with the states, experts said.

Why it matters: The next several months will present a new, whack-a-mole set of problems, all with tough tradeoffs.

Lisa Montgomery became on Wednesday the first female inmate to be executed since 1953, per AP.

The big picture: The 52-year-old Kansas woman was declared dead at 1:31am after having a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, following a Supreme Court ruling late Tuesday.

In a vote of 223-205, the House of Representatives on Tuesday night approved a resolution calling on Vice President Pence to remove President Trump from office by invoking the 25 Amendment.

Why it matters: The resolution — introduced by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) — is highly symbolic, as it does not bind Pence to take action, but it looks to pressure the vice president.

YouTube said Tuesday that it has taken down newly posted video content from President Trump for violating its policies against inciting violence. In addition, it has assessed a "strike" against the account, which means the president can't upload new videos or livestream to the account for a minimum of 7 days.

Why it matters: YouTube has been under pressure to take action after Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account and Facebook instituted a 2-week ban.

In a court filing late Tuesday, Amazon said it booted right-wing social network Parler from its AWS cloud service after flagging dozens of pieces of violent content starting in November.

Why it matters: Parler is suing Amazon, saying its expulsion violates antitrust laws. In its response, Amazon cites the violent content as well as its protection under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act among its defenses.

There's a better than 50-50 chance that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would vote to convict President Trump in an impeachment trial, sources tell Axios.

What they're saying: "The Senate institutional loyalists are fomenting a counterrevolution" to Trump, said a top Republican close to McConnell.

The freshmen class of House Republicans has been fighting since last Wednesday's Capitol assault, creating a clear split just over a week after being sworn in.

What we’re hearing: On Tuesday, Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) got in a tart back and forth on a text chain with all freshmen GOP members, according to sources who've read the text messages.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday night to immediately call on Congress to pass $2,000 stimulus checks for the American people as a sign of congressional unity, according to a letter obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: Rubio has supported such payments before, but in asking the incoming president to "break the paralysis in Washington by delivering desperately needed relief," the possible 2024 presidential candidate is presenting himself as a practical partisan. Biden already supports the payments.

Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday that he will not invoke the 25th Amendment t0 remove President Trump from office because it would "set a terrible precedent."

Why it matters: Although Pence's announcement was expected, it paves the way for House Democrats to move forward with impeachment legislation.

The Supreme Court granted a Trump administration appeal on Tuesday and reinstated a federal requirement obligating women seeking an abortion pill to obtain the drug from a hospital or medical center in person.

Why it matters: It's the court's first ruling on abortion since the arrival of the conservative Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett.