Axios AM

April 26, 2024
🥂 Happy Friday, and welcome to White House Correspondents' Association dinner weekend. Party guide by Axios' Mimi Montgomery and Sara Fischer.
- Smart Brevity™ count: 1,394 words ... 5 mins. Thanks to Noah Bressner for orchestrating. Copy edited by Bryan McBournie.
🦾 Breaking: Sam Altman of OpenAI and the CEOs of Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet are among tech leaders joining a new federal advisory board at the Department of Homeland Security, the AI Safety and Security Board, The Wall Street Journal reports.
1 big thing — Scoop: Biden's walkers
Left: President Biden walks to Marine One solo on Jan. 5. Right: He walks to the helicopter with aides on April 18. Photos: Chip Somodevilla, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Biden has introduced a change to his White House departure and return routine: Instead of walking across the South Lawn to and from Marine One by himself, he's now often surrounded by aides.
- Why it matters: With aides usually walking between Biden and the press' camera position outside the White House, the visual effect is to draw less attention to the 81-year-old's halting and stiff gait, Axios' Hans Nichols and Alex Thompson report.
Some Biden advisers have told Axios they're concerned that videos of Biden walking and shuffling alone — especially across the grass — have highlighted his age.
- Weeks ago, the president told aides that he'd prefer a less formal approach, a White House official told Axios. He suggested that they walk with him.
White House staffers and reporters alike noticed the sudden change in Biden's walk routine beginning in mid-April, after more than three years in which he'd typically walked solo.
- Senior aides — including deputy chiefs of staff Bruce Reed and Annie Tomasini, and close adviser Mike Donilon — are among those who've walked with the president across the lawn to and from the helicopter.
- Since the change, some advisers think the images of Biden's walks to and from the helicopter are better, and they expect him to continue to have aides join him.
🧮 By the numbers: In March, Biden's five walks to and from Marine One at the White House were by himself, or with family members.
- Starting April 16, Biden was joined by staff or lawmakers nine out of 10 times he walked to and from Marine One.
🖼️ The big picture: Biden's team has focused on changing voters' perceptions about his age in recent months.
- The White House has taken steps to prevent the president from tripping, as he did last summer on a stage at the Air Force Academy.
- Biden increasingly has worn shoes with extra support, including a pair of black Hoka sneakers.
Between the lines: His doctor has disclosed that the president suffers from "mild sensory peripheral neuropathy of the feet," which has contributed to his stiff gait.
- His doctor declared Biden "fit for duty," and released far more information about his health than Donald Trump's team has revealed about the 77-year-old ex-president.
2. 🏛️ Court probes assassinations and coups

Could a president really have political opponents assassinated or carry out a coup in the U.S. without facing a criminal trial?
- That "absolute immunity" claim was what Donald Trump's lawyer argued before the Supreme Court. The justices appeared unwilling to go that far — but still seemed poised to hand the ex-president a partial victory, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.
📜 Why it matters: The immense gravity of the case weighed heavily on the high court yesterday, with justices across the ideological spectrum expressing fears of the new order they could unleash.
- The immediate question is whether Trump will face trial in his Jan. 6 criminal case before the 2024 election. But the conservative-led court's decision will shape history well beyond November.
- "We're writing a rule for the ages," Justice Neil Gorsuch observed.
For now, Trump seems likely to win at least a delay from the high court. Several justices expressed skepticism of the charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

🔎 Zoom in: Liberal justices tested the limits of Trump lawyer D. John Sauer's immunity argument with a series of provocative hypotheticals.
- "If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military to assassinate him, is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?" Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked.
- "How about if the president orders the military to stage a coup?" asked Justice Elena Kagan.
In both scenarios, Sauer responded that it depends on the circumstances — but that they could well be "official acts" protected by presidential immunity.
3. 🎓 USC ceremony shock

USC seniors — who started college at the height of the pandemic — missed high school graduations, took Zoom classes and struggled with social isolation.
- Now their college commencement ceremony is canceled, too.
Why it matters: USC became the first major university to cancel a graduation ceremony over Pro-Palestinian protests yesterday, potentially opening the door for other schools to follow suit, Axios' April Rubin writes.
🥊 Quote of the Day: "They Entered College in Isolation and Leave Among Protests ... The Class That Missed Out on Fun," The Wall Street Journal calls the Class of '24.
4. 🎒 Mapped: America's best high schools

5. 🤖 AI stock boom


Both Microsoft and Google reported strong earnings yesterday in the middle of a fierce AI race that has jolted both companies — and offered investors the hope that there's still room for these giants to grow bigger, Axios' Scott Rosenberg writes from the Bay Area.
- Why it matters: Traders punished Meta a day earlier when it made clear its AI investments would take time to pay off. But Microsoft and Google both found more favor with the market.
The big picture: The huge "frontier models" that lead the AI race — like OpenAI's GPT-4, which Microsoft uses, and Google's Gemini — cost a fortune to train and operate.
- But Microsoft and Google can balance their investments in AI development with revenue from hosting other firms' AI work.
🔢 By the numbers: Microsoft's Azure and other cloud services grew 31% last quarter, Microsoft said. AI accounted for 7 of those 31 percentage points of growth.
- Google parent Alphabet chose this moment to issue its first-ever dividend to stockholders.
💰 Meanwhile: Elon Musk's startup xAI is raising $6 billion in a funding round that values the company at $18 billion, The Information reports ($).
6. 🛰️ AI space race
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
A raft of startups, companies and governments are trying to develop new chips to unlock AI's power in space, Axios Science author Alison Snyder writes.
- Why it matters: The harsh conditions of space have limited the use of AI on board satellites that play a critical role in the space economy.
AI could help fuel growth in the space industry, which some predict will be worth as much as $1.8 trillion by 2035 — on par with the semiconductor industry.
- But right now the space industry is in "the Dark Ages," says former NASA administrator Dan Goldin.
- "If we want to have a real space industry, not a foo-foo space industry, we've got to put AI up there," he says.
7. 📚 Flint's 10-year crisis
Cover: Rowman & Littlefield
"We the Poisoned," a new book timed to the 10th anniversary of the Flint water crisis, reveals "the real story behind how the government poisoned a major American city — and how they are actively getting away with it."
- Investigative journalist Jordan Chariton includes stunning details of a last-minute attempt by the city's water plant manager to avert what turned into a lead poisoning disaster.
Zoom in: The Michigan city switched the source of its water supply to save money on April 25, 2014 — unleashing one of America's largest public health crises.
- "In a state that could decide who wins the White House — and a majority Black city Democrats depend on for turnout — Flint is one to watch in November," the book announcement says.
Javelin's Matt Latimer, who represents Chariton, said: "This book is a passion project for me. I grew up in Flint and watched my family live with the effects of this catastrophe."
8. 🏈 1 for the road: NFL's offense bonanza

Quarterbacks were selected at a record pace — six of the first 12 picks — in the first round of last night's NFL Draft.
- Why it matters: It's one of the most offense-heavy first rounds in the draft's history. No defensive player was selected until the 15th pick.
Caleb Williams, the Heisman Trophy-winning QB from USC, was picked first overall by the Chicago Bears.
- The next two picks were also quarterbacks: LSU's Jayden Daniels was picked by the Washington Commanders, and UNC's Drake Maye went to New England.
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