President Biden used campaign donations to help pay his legal bills last year during the special counsel's probe into his handling of classified documents, Axios' Alex Thompson writes.

• Why it matters: The payments — made through the Democratic National Committee — are at odds with the Biden campaign's recent attacks on Donald Trump for spending his campaign funds on legal fees.

The DNC, which has been collecting the biggest donations to Biden's re-election effort, paid more than $1.5 million to lawyers or firms representing Biden during the probe, according to the committee's financial filings.

• From July 2023 to February 2024, the DNC paid $1.05 million to Bob Bauer PLLC — the professional limited liability company for Biden's lead attorney, Bob Bauer.

The Biden team increasingly has attacked Trump for using campaign donations to pay for his myriad legal fights.

• DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd told Axios: "There is no comparison — the DNC does not spend a single penny of grassroots donors' money on legal bills — unlike Donald Trump, who actively solicits legal fees from his supporters."

🥊 Reality check: Trump almost certainly has spent many times more of his campaign money on legal fees. His legal costs have topped $100 million since he left office, according to a New York Times tally.

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Summer hasn't started, but oil markets are already making things uncomfortably hot for President Biden, Axios' Ben Geman writes.

• Why it matters: With Republicans trying to make the presidential race all about prices and the border, the West Wing is acutely aware that gas prices are an indicator Americans feel instantly and see constantly.

🖼️ The big picture: Average gas prices are up 24 cents per gallon over the last month to $3.63, according to AAA.

• Gas prices typically rise in the summer, driven partly by driving demand.

Threat level: Middle East turmoil has already pushed up oil — and that's without any real supply disruption.

• Prices could soar if things escalate. A huge fear: Iran's possible responses to Israel's strike on an Iranian compound in Syria.

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"About a tenth of the world's residential property by value (potentially $25 trillion) is under threat from global warming," The Economist writes in this week's cover story.

• Why it matters: "The severe weather brought about by greenhouse-gas emissions is shaking the foundations of the world's most important asset class."

Zoom in: "It is a huge bill hanging over people's lives and the global financial system. And it looks destined to trigger an almighty fight over who should pay up."

Axios Markets co-author Felix Salmon points to two extremes:

1. High-end real estate in places like Miami is bought by folks who don't worry about insurance costs. If they end up having to pay for damage to their home, they'll do that.
2. Low-end real estate in places like New Orleans or the Carolinas is already slowly being abandoned, and that process will likely continue.

Few events have singularly consumed America's attention — freezing activity everywhere — like the Bronco chase and murder trial of O.J. Simpson, who died yesterday at 76.

• Why it matters: Smartphones have obliterated can't-miss communal moments. There's no need to find a TV or radio at the big moment — we can catch the highlights whenever.

Take a look at this N.Y. Times article from the day Simpson was found not guilty nearly three decades ago and imagine what would spark similar behavior today:

• In Washington: "President Clinton left the Oval Office ... to catch the verdicts in his secretary's office with several of his aides." Messengers handed notes to Supreme Court justices during oral arguments.
• In Miami: "Tellers stopped counting bills and the lines of impatient customers evaporated as everyone turned, tantalized, to the television on the wall."
• At Atlanta's airport: "When a Delta agent with poor timing tried to start her boarding instructions for a Louisville flight just as the verdicts were being read, a hundred passengers shouted her down."
• In New York: 745,000 more television sets than usual were turned on in New York City, according to ConEd. Doormen locked doors to watch the news.
• On landlines: "AT&T experienced a few of the strangest minutes in its history." For five minutes during the verdict, long-distance calls fell 58% below normal.
• In the Persian Gulf: The USS Independence — an aircraft carrier — temporarily lost a satellite feed. Someone called the Navy public affairs office in Washington, which helped pipe in audio from their TV set.

WashPost columnist Eugene Robinson: "As theater and as a legal circus, Simpson's murder trial has never been surpassed ... Its characters were vivid to the point of being indelible. Eager-to-please Judge Lance Ito, dutiful but overmatched prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, slick and razor-sharp defense lawyers Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and F. Lee Bailey. Houseguest Brian "Kato" Kaelin. Simpson friend and counselor Robert Kardashian, progenitor of all things Kardashian. Racist detective Mark Fuhrman. In a nonspeaking role, the bloody glove." (Gift link — no paywall)

• Key players: Where are they now? Kato Kaelin launched a loungewear line.
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FBI director Christopher Wray told the House Appropriations Committee yesterday that there's an increasing "potential for a coordinated attack" similar to last month's Moscow shooting that killed more than 140 people:

• "I would be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once."

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Kicking off a special weekly Future of Health Care edition for Axios Vitals subscribers, Axios' Caitlin Owens isolates these huge trends:

1. The new era of health insurance. Insurers have become bigger than ever while rising out-of-pocket costs erode the value of coverage.
2. The hospital squeeze. Care has never been more expensive, yet the business model is threatened.
3. Breakthrough drugs. Society may be on the cusp of a new era of medicine. But existing payment models aren't built to absorb it.
4. The health care casino. Patients' experience with the health care system increasingly depends on where they live and what coverage they have.
5. The gray trap. The aging population is creating profound problems, including the availability and affordability of long-term care.
6. The mental health crisis. Americans' mental health is worsening without great solutions.
7. The drug epidemic. 100,000+ Americans are dying annually from drug overdoses.
8. Labor strife. A shortage of health care workers is expected to grow, setting up conflict with employers.
9. Tech fusion. New and emerging technology has the potential to accelerate new treatments and improve care, while deepening existing inequities or raising costs.
10. Haves vs. have-nots. The wealthy have access to more sophisticated and precise care. The disadvantaged are falling further behind.

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Nearly 40% of renters worry they'll never be able to buy a home — up from 27% last summer, Axios' Brianna Crane writes from a new Redfin survey.

• Out-of-reach home prices, difficulty saving for a down payment and high mortgage rates are among the top reasons renters say they won't become homeowners anytime soon.

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A 36-page criminal complaint accuses Dodger star Shohei Ohtani's longtime interpreter of stealing $16 million to cover gambling debts, and ends with a stunning admission:

• "Technically I did steal from him. it's all over for me," the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, who was also Ohtani's close personal friend, texted his bookmaker.

Why it matters: The complaint points to a sprawling multi-year scheme to steal from Ohtani's account and appears to absolve baseball's biggest star of wrongdoing.

• The complaint alleged Mizuhara made about 19,000 wagers between December 2021 and January 2024, averaging roughly $12,800 per bet.
• He allegedly had a net balance of negative $40 million.

In another text, Mizuhara told his bookmaker: "I'm terrible at this sport betting thing huh? Lol . . . Any chance u can bump me again?? As you know, you don't have to worry about me not paying!!"

• Read the complaint ... Go deeper.