TikTok's new U.S. entity would lease its algorithm from Chinese owner ByteDance under a proposed deal between the U.S. and China, a senior White House official tells Axios' Dan Primack, Sara Fischer and Ben Berkowitz.

• Why it matters: There had been talk that ByteDance would be required to sell the algorithm to satisfy a 2024 law demanding TikTok be controlled by Americans or face a ban.

A pure sale, however, wouldn't allow ByteDance to continue operating TikTok in countries outside the U.S., which it plans to do.

• President Trump is expected to sign an executive order later this week to approve the proposed deal. The White House official told us the deal for a qualified divestiture of TikTok in the U.S. "will allow the application to continue to operate safely and securely for all Americans."

🔎 Zoom in: The current plan would be for ByteDance to create a duplicate copy of the TikTok algorithm, which would be leased to a new joint venture controlled by a U.S. investor group led by Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake and Oracle.

• Oracle would retrain the algorithm and protect U.S. user data.
• U.S. users wouldn't need to redownload the app.
• The White House official says that the Chinese government approved the terms during a bilateral meeting last week in Madrid.

Between the lines: Some in Congress may object to the lease, given that the legislative language prohibited "cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm."

🔍 The intrigue: Several existing ByteDance investors remain in the dark. Even some sources close to the deal are unsure about all the specifics.

• The U.S. government wouldn't have a board seat or equity stake in TikTok U.S. Both were discussed at one point.

The new board would consist of new investors, existing ByteDance investors and one ByteDance representative.

• Trump said during a Fox News interview aired yesterday that the investor group is expected to include Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch and Michael Dell. Axios is told Trump was using shorthand for Murdoch-controlled Fox Corp. and a firm affiliated with Dell, BDT & MSD Partners.

👀 What to watch: Trump is extending his enforcement pause by 120 days to finalize details.

• TikTok was supposed to be sold or banned by this past January, but Trump has kicked the can several times. Now he's giving himself another four months.

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Charlie Kirk's memorial service in Glendale, Ariz., yesterday left little doubt that his Turning Point USA organization would outlive him as a force in conservative politics — but with more attention than ever to a supercharged evangelical Christian message, Axios' Marc Caputo writes.

Why it matters: The five-hour service, webcast to millions and broadcast at one point by all major networks, was a call to action more than to grief. It canonized the 31-year-old conservative icon as not just a martyr to free speech, but to his faith as well.

• "Charlie Kirk was a prophet," said Kirk's friend Andrew Kolvet, Turning Point USA's spokesperson, and executive producer of "The Charlie Kirk Show."

🖼️ The big picture: One word was repeated again and again at the memorial — revival. Conservatives believe Kirk's assassination has galvanized and energized the religious right as the political world begins organizing for next year's midterms.

• "He always said to me: 'If we could just figure out how to bring the Holy Spirit into a Trump rally.' Think you've done it," Kirk's close friend and fellow Turning Point exec Tyler Bowyer told the crowd of tens of thousands in the packed Arizona Cardinals' football stadium near Phoenix.

Erika Kirk, Kirk's wife and his successor as CEO of Turning Point USA, said: "These past 10 days after Charlie's assassination, we didn't see violence. We didn't see rioting. We didn't see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country: We saw revival."

• President Trump drew laughs by joking that Kirk "didn't hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them. I'm sorry."

🏟️ The scene: Known for large, energetic events with high-production values and even pyrotechnics, Turning Point made sure the service for its slain founder reflected that. People in various sections of the stadium waved signs in American flag colors bearing Biblical quotes.

• Around 95,000 people filled the stadium and an overflow arena, with countless more outside, Turning Point said.

Musk-Trump handshake ... Coverage by Axios Phoenix.

Erika Kirk — the new CEO of Turning Point USA, and the mother of two young children — drew extended applause at yesterday's memorial service with a tearful onstage declaration of forgiveness for Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing her husband.

• "My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life," the 36-year-old widow said. "That young man. That young man. On the cross, our Savior said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' That man. That young man. I forgive him!"
• "I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us."

Erika Kirk then vowed that "every part of our work will become greater": "Charlie and I were united in purpose. His passion was my passion, and now his mission is my mission. Everything that Turning Point USA built through Charlie's vision and hard work, we will make 10 times greater through the power of his memory."

• Watch: Erika Kirk's full speech.

Vice President Vance said: "I have talked more about Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than I have my entire time in public life. And that is an undeniable legacy of the great Charlie Kirk."

• Vance called Kirk "a hero to the United States of America. And he is a martyr for the Christian faith."

President Trump, speaking behind a heavy shield, said: "Charlie's murder was not just an attack on one man or one movement — it was an attack on our entire nation ... The gun was pointed at him, but the bullet was aimed at all of us." Watch Trump's remarks.

Donald Trump Jr. said Kirk's "legacy must be that when they took his life, a million more Charlies stepped up to fill the void."

• "Charlie's message, like Christ's, was an invitation," he added, spelling out points of the MAGA agenda that could appeal to a broad swath of Americans. "If you are not already seated at this table, we have a seat prepared for you."

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Kirk's opponents "cannot conceive of the army that they have arisen in all of us!

• "You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk?" Miller said. "You have made him immortal!"

Andrew Kolvet — a close friend of Kirk's who's the Turning Point USA spokesman, and executive producer of "The Charlie Kirk Show," which will go on — took mourners behind the scenes of the founder's stunning bandwidth.

• "At the end of every show," Kolvet said, "I had a little ritual ... I would go into the sent folder of [email protected] [the address Kirk gave to listeners]. And sure enough, every single show, I would find debates that he was having with his audience [who] disagreed on some minor point. There'd be email chains, six or seven emails long, all while Charlie Kirk was hosting his own show."

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American businesses are facing an annual $14 billion bill to hire foreign skilled workers with President Trump's new $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas, the Financial Times reports.

• More than 141,000 new H-1B visas were issued last year. Lawyers tell the FT that the surprise move could face a court challenge.

Advocates of Trump's plan say it'll encourage employers to hire Americans.

• Go deeper: 20 companies using the most H-1B visas — mostly IT and consultancy firms + Big Tech (FT gift link).

Leaders and diplomats from more than 140 countries will convene today at the UN in Manhattan to advocate for a Palestinian state and peace in Gaza.

• There will be three notable holdouts: Israel, the U.S. — and Palestinian leaders themselves, because the Trump administration banned them, Axios' Barak Ravid writes.

Why it matters: Recognition of a Palestinian state by a wave of countries, including the U.S. and Israel's closest allies, will be the dominant topic this week at the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

• President Trump will be the only major world leader still standing by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's side. Trump arrives in Manhattan this evening.

The intrigue: Netanyahu, who vehemently opposes a Palestinian state, will visit Trump in Washington after the assembly to seek his blessing for a strong response. The most extreme option under discussion is the annexation of most or all of the occupied West Bank.

Yesterday, the U.K., Canada and Australia jointly announced recognition of Palestinian statehood. They were joined later by Portugal, bringing the total number of countries now recognizing a Palestinian state over 150.

• French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to follow suit today, when he co-chairs a peace summit alongside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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President Trump and his top health officials are expected to draw a link between autism and the use of Tylenol during pregnancy at a White House event this afternoon, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes.

• Why it matters: The mention of a connection, first reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, would revive a medical controversy over the use of Tylenol's active ingredient, acetaminophen, early in pregnancy.

🔬 Zoom in: Trump is due to appear at 4 p.m. ET with Kennedy, CMS administrator Mehmet Oz and other officials for "an announcement on Significant Medical and Scientific Findings for America's Children."

• Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said: "We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism."

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Energy Secretary Chris Wright — in an exclusive interview with Axios' Amy Harder and Ben Geman for today's launch of Axios Future of Energy — said he sees a brighter future for solar power than wind, an energy source President Trump famously dislikes.

• Why it matters: Wright is powerful in Trump 2.0 — a point man for the White House "dominance" agenda on fossil fuels, powering AI data centers, and shredding Biden-era climate playbooks.

🕶️ Zoom in: "Solar will continue to grow," Wright said, responding to a question about whether solar and wind play a part in the "energy dominance" agenda.

• Wright cited solar's "energy density" edge over wind: "It's cheaper, faster to assemble. ... It has a role."
• "Wind, with the end of subsidies, you probably don't see a lot of wind get built," Wright said.

Full interview ... Sign up for Future of Energy, our daily newsletter by Ben Geman and Amy Harder with a new focus on the people, companies and technologies that are shaping — and pulling back — the energy transition.

Hundreds of people jumped into the Chicago River yesterday for the first organized swim in the river in almost a century.

• Why it matters: The swim, which organizers have been trying to put together for years, comes after decades of industry neglect and even more decades of cleanup, Axios Chicago's Justin Kaufmann notes.

Open swims and races in the Chicago River were once popular events in the early 1900s.

• The race this year raised money for ALS research.

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