National

If news is the first rough draft of history, then this week's front pages won't be quickly forgotten. 

Why it matters: On Monday, former President Donald Trump made history as the first U.S. president to be indicted not just once, but in four separate cases.

Driving the news: A Georgia grand jury capped off a years-long investigation by indicting Trump and 18 allies in the most sweeping and complex case yet against the former president.

The next day's front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured portraits of Trump and his associates centered below a bold, uppercase headline. 

The iconic A1 recalls another historic newspaper front page, one from nearly 50 years ago: the Mar. 2, 1974, edition of the New York Times announcing a grand jury's indictment of seven aides to then-President Nixon.

It marked a peak in the Watergate scandal that would, just months later, lead to Nixon's resignation. 

Trump, meanwhile, continues to lead the pack in the GOP presidential primaries as he makes another bid for the White House. 

For the record, here's Wednesday's NYT front page, also featuring photos of those charged in Georgia. 

Go deeper: Trump legal peril enters new phase

All the President's Men, nearly 50 years apart: Nixon and Trump front pages

A Georgia grand jury charged Trump and 18 allies on Monday.

Photo: New York Times/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Donald Trump

Politics & Policy

The head of the U.S. Marine Corps has ordered a two-day aviation stand-down after crews on Monday located a "debris field" in South Carolina linked to a stealth fighter jet that went missing in a "mishap" over the weekend.

Driving the news: The order follows two other major aviation mishaps in recent weeks, Gen. Eric M. Smith, acting commandant of the Marine Corps, said in a statement Monday evening.

Smith said leaders would use the stand-down to discuss safety fundamentals and flight procedures with their Marines. 

"This stand down is being taken to ensure the service is maintaining operational standardization of combat-ready aircraft with well-prepared pilots and crews," Smith said.

Some aircraft — such as those deployed abroad — can delay the order, but still need to stand down in the days ahead, officials told NBC News.

The Navy is investigating this week's incident, a Marine Corps spokesperson told Axios.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are also scrutinizing the incident as more information emerges. 

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said in a statement Monday night that he and his colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee "will be considering whether congressional action is needed to address this and other recent aviation mishaps."

Backstory: On Sunday, Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina asked for the public's help in locating an F-35B Lightning II jet after the pilot ejected during the "mishap." 

The base said the pilot was safe and that its personnel were working with Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort to track down the stealth jet, worth upwards of $80 million.

On Monday evening, JB Charleston said crews had "located a debris field in Williamsburg County," roughly two hours northeast of the base.

The base told nearby community members to avoid the area "as the recovery team secures the debris field," and said the Marine Corps would begin a "recovery process."

The intrigue: It's unclear what the "mishap" was or how, exactly, the stealth fighter went missing. 

"The Department of the Navy has a well-defined process for investigating aircraft mishaps," U.S. Marine Corps Captain Joseph Leitner said Monday. "We are unable to provide additional details to preserve the integrity of the investigatory process."

Go deeper: Three U.S. Marines killed in aircraft crash in Australia

Editor's note: This story was updated with additional information throughout.

Three U.S. Marines killed in aircraft crash in Australia

Marine Corps grounds planes after debris from missing U.S. fighter jet found

The fighter jet went missing over the weekend after its pilot ejected during a "mishap."

An F-35B Lightning II launches aboard the USS Essex in preparation for the F-35B's first combat strike in 2018. Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Freeman/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

Marine Corps

The head of the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="U.S. Marine Corps" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/08/27/marines-crash-australia-helicopter-osprey" data-vars-content-id="42895a4f-e874-4a20-a156-a243f1af2f8a" data-vars-headline="Marine Corps grounds planes after debris from missing U.S. fighter jet found" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/08/27/marines-crash-australia-helicopter-osprey" target="_self">U.S. Marine Corps</a> has ordered a two-day aviation stand-down after crews on Monday located a &quot;debris field&quot; in South Carolina linked to a stealth fighter jet that went missing in a &quot;mishap&quot; over the weekend.Driving the news: The order follows two other major aviation mishaps in recent weeks, Gen. Eric M. Smith, acting commandant of the Marine Corps, said in a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="statement" data-vars-click-url="https://www.marines.mil/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Display/Article/3529618/marine-corps-orders-aviation-safety-stand-down/" data-vars-content-id="42895a4f-e874-4a20-a156-a243f1af2f8a" data-vars-headline="Marine Corps grounds planes after debris from missing U.S. fighter jet found" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.marines.mil/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Display/Article/3529618/marine-corps-orders-aviation-safety-stand-down/" target="_blank">statement</a> Monday evening.

For decades, the scale of the relationship between a major global bank and the former German Nazi regime has remained unclear, with investigations lacking the necessary funding and resources.

Yes, but: Two confidential reports released Tuesday shed new light on the connections between the Nazis and Credit Suisse, revealing that the bank held nearly 100 accounts linked to German Nazis and members of Nazi-linked groups in Argentina — in some cases, until recent years.

The bank didn't close an account belonging to a former Nazi commander sentenced during the Nuremberg trials until 2002, the reports found.

It wasn't the only account the bank maintained into the 21st century: In another case, the bank held an account for a Nazi-linked official in Argentina until 2020. 

Why it matters: Jewish advocates have long argued that the Zurich-based bank played a larger role in supporting the Third Reich and its top officials than was previously known — and that the bank could still hold money the Nazis looted from Jewish victims during the Second World War.  

Today, Credit Suisse ranks among the 50 biggest banks in the world, and the historic revelations are likely to intensify pressure on the institution to further investigate its role in supporting Nazis both during and after the war.

Driving the news: The Senate Budget Committee released the two reports on Tuesday — Holocaust Remembrance Day — as part of an investigation into Credit Suisse's own efforts to probe the Nazi-linked accounts.

"Credit Suisse appears to have maintained accounts, the vast majority of which have not previously been disclosed, for at least 99 individuals who were either senior Nazi officials in Germany or members of Nazi-affiliated groups in Argentina," the committee said in a press release.

"Seventy Argentine accounts with plausible links to Argentina-based Nazis were opened with Credit Suisse after 1945, and at least 14 of those accounts remained open into the 21st century—some even as recently as 2020."

Background: In 2020, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, revealed that an Argentinian investigator had discovered a war-era list of 12,000 Nazis in the country.

The unearthed records, the SWC said, showed that many of those people "had contributed to one or more bank accounts at the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt," Credit Suisse's predecessor. 

Argentina's pro-Nazi rulers both in the early days of the war and the years after made the South American country a popular destination for Germans fleeing justice. 

What they did: Credit Suisse hired a forensic research firm to investigate the claims, and retained veteran attorney Neil Barofsky to oversee the review, the senators said in a press release. 

But things took a turn earlier this year, when Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, "received credible allegations of potential wrongdoing related to Credit Suisse’s internal investigation, including specifically the questionable removal of Mr. Barofsky in late 2022."

That's when Grassley and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the committee chair, started taking a closer look. With both parties on board, the committee issued its first subpoena in more than 30 years to obtain Barofsky's unreleased report. 

During the course of its investigation, the committee also received the report from AlixPartners, the research firm tasked with the initial review. 

What they're saying: "[T]he information we’ve obtained shows the bank established an unnecessarily rigid and narrow scope, and refused to follow new leads uncovered during the course of the review," Grassley said in a statement.

The SWC said in a statement that the committee's work "shines light on a dark and troubling past that has remained outside the historical record."

The other side: Credit Suisse downplayed the findings, saying that the AlixPartners probe showed that the SWC's claim that "many" names on the Argentinian list held accounts at the bank didn't hold up. 

In a lengthy statement Tuesday, the bank said that it views the dozens of post-war Argentinian accounts "as not relevant to the context of the issues raised by the SWC."

It added, "The investigation also found no evidence that eight long closed accounts identified in this period contained assets from any Holocaust victims."

The bank did, however, acknowledge that AlixPartners had identified one new war-era Nazi account from a separate list of high-ranking Nazis provided by SWC, as well as 12 post-war accounts.

What's next: Credit Suisse has agreed to expand the scope of its review, the senators said, and AlixPartners will perform "a supplementary review" to address some of the still-unanswered questions — such as the value of assets in some of the post-war Nazi accounts. 

The bank has "committed to further investigate its apparent role in supporting Nazis fleeing from justice after WWII," the senators said. 

"The Committee intends to continue its oversight of this matter," they added.

Go deeper: UBS agrees to buy Credit Suisse for $3.2 billion

revealed that an Argentinian investigator

UBS agrees to buy Credit Suisse for $3.2 billion

Swiss bank held nearly 100 Nazi-linked accounts, senators say

An account for a former Nazi commander wasn't closed until 2002.

Nazism

For decades, the scale of the relationship between a major global bank and the former German Nazi regime has remained unclear, with investigations lacking the necessary funding and resources.Yes, but: Two confidential reports released Tuesday shed new light on the connections between the Nazis and <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Credit Suisse" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/15/why-we-should-care-about-credit-suisses-problems" data-vars-content-id="462a4a96-6ced-484d-8ea1-6c35baa0472f" data-vars-headline="Swiss bank held nearly 100 Nazi-linked accounts, senators say" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/15/why-we-should-care-about-credit-suisses-problems" target="_self">Credit Suisse</a>, revealing that the bank held nearly 100 accounts linked to German Nazis and members of Nazi-linked groups in Argentina — in some cases, until recent years.

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Ukraine's corruption prevention agency on Thursday added Bacardi to its list of international war sponsors, arguing that the liquor company is expanding its business in Russia as the invasion wears on. 

Why it matters: Ukrainian authorities say Bacardi, the world's largest privately held liquor company, has scored billions more in profits as other booze brands have stopped doing business in Russia.

Bacardi's millions in subsequent tax payments have helped pad Russia's coffers as its widely condemned war in Ukraine drags on, authorities said.

Representatives for Bacardi did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Zoom in: With less competition in the Russian alcohol market, Bacardi's Russian division "imported goods worth $169 million during the year of the war in Ukraine," the National Agency on Corruption Prevention said in a statement Thursday.

The statement said Bacardi Rus' net profits spiked to 4.7 billion rubles last year — 206.5% more than the year before.

As a result, the company paid Russia more than $12 million in income tax, according to the statement.

"Bacardi Limited continues to pay significant taxes to the budget of Russia, support its economy and sponsor aggression against Ukraine," the statement said.

The big picture: The anti-corruption agency's decision comes two days after a Wall Street Journal story detailed how Bacardi's business in Russia has grown as other liquor companies have made costly exits. 

Bacardi, famous for its namesake rum, initially paused exports to Russia in response to the invasion, the WSJ reported. 

Since then, however, business has resumed — and the company is hiring new staff. 

The company — which also owns the Grey Goose vodka brand — says on its website that it has "committed USD 1 million to Red Cross and Mercy Corps to support humanitarian efforts on the ground" in Ukraine.

Go deeper: Zelensky says war is "returning" to Russia after Moscow drone attack

Zelensky says war is "returning" to Russia after Moscow drone attack

Ukraine slaps Bacardi with war sponsor label over Russian business

Ukrainian authorities say Bacardi's profits in Russia have skyrocketed.

A bottle of Bacardi Rum. Photo: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russia

Ukraine

<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Ukraine" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/world/axios-explains-ukraine" data-vars-content-id="55c70e02-1c1e-4831-9842-8d86429207c8" data-vars-headline="Ukraine slaps Bacardi with war sponsor label over Russian business" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/world/axios-explains-ukraine" target="_self">Ukraine</a>&#x27;s corruption prevention agency on Thursday added <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Bacardi" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/retail-deals/2023/05/31/bacardi-nears-deal-to-buy-ilegal-mezcal" data-vars-content-id="55c70e02-1c1e-4831-9842-8d86429207c8" data-vars-headline="Ukraine slaps Bacardi with war sponsor label over Russian business" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/retail-deals/2023/05/31/bacardi-nears-deal-to-buy-ilegal-mezcal" target="_self">Bacardi</a> to its list of international war sponsors, arguing that the liquor company is expanding its business in <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Russia" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/world/russia" data-vars-content-id="55c70e02-1c1e-4831-9842-8d86429207c8" data-vars-headline="Ukraine slaps Bacardi with war sponsor label over Russian business" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/world/russia" target="_self">Russia</a> as the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="invasion wears on" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/30/zelensky-moscow-drones-war-returning-russia" data-vars-content-id="55c70e02-1c1e-4831-9842-8d86429207c8" data-vars-headline="Ukraine slaps Bacardi with war sponsor label over Russian business" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/30/zelensky-moscow-drones-war-returning-russia" target="_self">invasion wears on</a>. Why it matters: Ukrainian authorities say Bacardi, the world&#x27;s largest privately held liquor company, has scored billions more in profits as other booze brands have <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="stopped doing business in Russia" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/03/global-business-russia-ukraine" data-vars-content-id="55c70e02-1c1e-4831-9842-8d86429207c8" data-vars-headline="Ukraine slaps Bacardi with war sponsor label over Russian business" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/03/global-business-russia-ukraine" target="_self">stopped doing business in Russia</a>.

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday released photos of crews recovering large pieces of the Chinese balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean on the weekend, offering the closest look yet at the high-altitude aircraft that has further strained relations between the two countries.

Why it matters: Previous photos offered only grainy depictions of the balloon, spotted high in the skies over the continental U.S. last week, leading to much speculation about its capabilities and purpose.

The Chinese government has claimed the balloon was a civilian aircraft used largely for monitoring weather — something the Pentagon has firmly rebuffed.

"This surveillance balloon purposefully traversed the United States and Canada," a senior U.S. defense official said Saturday. "And we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites. Its route over the United States, near many potential sensitive sites, contradicts the PRC government's explanation that it was a weather balloon." 

On Monday, a top U.S. air force general said the balloon was around 200 feet tall and carried a payload approximately the size of a regional jet plane. 

Catch up quick: A U.S. fighter jet fired a missile into the balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday after the Chinese aircraft had floated across several states.

Though President Biden authorized the take-down on Wednesday, defense officials said they delayed the strike until the balloon reached the ocean for safety reasons, due to the potential for large debris falling below.

"In accordance with the President's direction, the Department of Defense developed options to take down the balloon safely over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities," Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement Saturday. 

"This action was taken in coordination, and with the full support, of the Canadian government," Austin added.

The latest: Crews have been pulling the balloon debris from the waters near Myrtle Beach, S.C.

U.S. Navy sailors recover pieces of the Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C, on Monday. Photo: Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

Photo: Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

Go deeper: Everything we know about the China balloon

Navy releases first photos of Chinese balloon debris

The photos offer the closest look yet at the high-altitude aircraft that has further strained relations between the two countries.

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon on Feb. 5, 2023, off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Photo: Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

China

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday released photos of crews recovering large pieces of the Chinese balloon <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="shot down" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/04/chinese-balloon-shot-down-us-military" data-vars-content-id="abc9f57f-a8ee-4cbd-9fcd-2d964f0622c9" data-vars-headline="Navy releases first photos of Chinese balloon debris" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/04/chinese-balloon-shot-down-us-military" target="_self">shot down</a> over the Atlantic Ocean on the weekend, offering the closest look yet at the high-altitude aircraft that has further strained relations between the two countries.Why it matters: Previous photos offered only grainy depictions of the balloon, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="spotted high in the skies" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/04/what-we-know-china-balloon" data-vars-content-id="abc9f57f-a8ee-4cbd-9fcd-2d964f0622c9" data-vars-headline="Navy releases first photos of Chinese balloon debris" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/04/what-we-know-china-balloon" target="_self">spotted high in the skies</a> over the continental U.S. last week, leading to much speculation about its capabilities and purpose.

Emma Loop

Stories

Marine Corps grounds planes after debris from missing U.S. fighter jet found

All the President's Men, nearly 50 years apart: Nixon and Trump front pages

Ukraine slaps Bacardi with war sponsor label over Russian business

Swiss bank held nearly 100 Nazi-linked accounts, senators say

Navy releases first photos of Chinese balloon debris