Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have become key players in early planning for a second Trump administration's transition team, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.

• The brothers will focus on vetting potential officials and staffers for ideology and loyalty, campaign aides and close allies to their father tell Axios.

Why it matters: Neither brother would officially run Donald Trump's transition team. They'll take a lead in making sure government jobs are filled by highly vetted Republicans who promise fealty to Trump.

• Don Jr.'s goal "is to keep the John Boltons of the world outside a second Trump administration," a person close to him told Axios — referring to Donald Trump's hawkish former national security adviser who wrote a bestselling book lambasting the former president.

🔎 Plot twist: Their father is frustrated by other Republican groups, including the Heritage Foundation, being portrayed as leading the charge on scrutinizing the backgrounds of possible appointees.

• The groups aim to pre-vet potential contenders for Cabinet-level and lower staff positions, to aid Donald Trump's desire to remake the government in his image. His inner circle wants to preempt the internal resistance he faced during his presidency.

Between the lines: Don Jr. asked his father to let him take on a more significant role in planning a transition team this year than in 2016, the last time Donald Trump built such a team.

• Eight years ago, Don Jr. largely focused on the Interior Department, given his love for the outdoors and hunting.

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Donald Trump's allies have found a target in Matthew Colangelo, the Manhattan prosecutor who delivered the opening statement in the historic hush-money case against the former president, Axios' Stephen Neukam writes.

• Why it matters: Trump frequently jabbed at Colangelo before a gag order theoretically muzzled the ex-president. A barrage of attacks from Trump supporters in Congress and beyond has filled the void.

This week, top Trump allies on Capitol Hill claimed that Colangelo, a former attorney with President Biden's Justice Department, left the DOJ specifically to go after Trump.

• "Joe Biden's former No. 3 official at the Department of Justice left D.C. to help go after President Trump in New York," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told Axios.
• House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) accused Colangelo of being "part of the far left's witch hunt to wrongfully prosecute President Trump."
• Such comments continued a pattern of Trump and his backers trying to link cases that aren't in federal courts to Biden, even though the Justice Department isn't involved in them.

🥊 Reality check: Former DOJ official Michael Zeldin told Axios it's not unusual for a federal prosecutor to leave for a gig at the Manhattan DA's office.

• Zeldin said federal prosecutors who want to handle more cases go to Manhattan for the bigger caseload.

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The Senate sent President Biden the long-delayed foreign aid package with tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — as well as a potential ban on TikTok.

• Why it matters: Eight months after Biden requested tens of billions in emergency funding, and four months after he promised he wouldn't "walk away from Ukraine," he can make good on his promise.

The bill passed the Senate 79 to 18, with 15 Republicans against, Axios' Stef Kight reports.

• The House passed it during a rare Saturday session.
• Biden said last night: "I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week."

📱 The bill includes a potential ban on TikTok if the Chinese-owned ByteDance doesn't sell the app within a year.

• A source close to TikTok told me: "TikTok has beaten the government both in federal and state court twice on these types of actions. They will likely challenge in court. Significant constitutional issues, particularly First Amendment."

How senators voted ... TikTok Q&A.

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker — the first witness in the Manhattan hush-money trial — told jurors yesterday that he committed to being Donald Trump's "eyes and ears" during the 2016 campaign.

• "I said I would run positive stories about Trump, and I would publish negative stories about his opponent," he told the jury.

Why it matters: Pecker's two-hour-long testimony placed Trump at the center of a deliberate strategy to pay for exclusive rights to any potentially damaging story about him while he ran for president, Axios' Sophia Cai writes.

Pecker said the infamous cover story (pictured above) that connected Sen. Ted Cruz's father with the JFK assassination was fabricated.

• "We mashed the photos and the different picture with Lee Harvey Oswald. ... And that's how that story was prepared — created I would say."

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A sizable share of Republican primary voters in Pennsylvania cast a ballot for Nikki Haley yesterday — even though former President Trump clinched his party's nomination over a month ago, Axios' Erin Doherty writes.

• Why it matters: Pennsylvania, which President Biden won by 80,500 votes in 2020, could decide November's election.

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Tesla has reversed waning investor confidence — for now — despite a 55% drop in profits from a year ago and few specifics about its future product lineup.

• The bad quarter was expected after Tesla revealed a delivery slump weeks ago, Axios' Ben Geman writes.

The company's stock, which has tumbled all year, jumped 13% in post-market trading after Tesla announced plans to accelerate new model launches — including a cheaper car.

• Tesla said an affordable model will be among the products arriving before the second half of 2025. But Musk didn't offer a specific price.

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Sara Kehaulani Goo, executive editor of Axios Live, is part Native Hawaiian, and her family is from Maui. She writes:

This summer, I'm taking my husband and kids back to our family roots in Hawai'i. But we won't be visiting the island of Maui.

• Why it matters: If we visited Maui, we'd need a place to stay — most likely a condo or home rental for our family of five. But Maui needs all its housing for locals, not visitors like me.

The Maui wildfires in August killed 101 people and destroyed homes for more than 6,000 residents, most of whom still haven't resettled somewhere permanent.

• More than 1,500 people whose homes were burned down have left Maui for lack of housing, according to the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.

The critical lack of affordable housing — which many U.S. communities experience — is exacerbated in Hawai'i, where local people compete with the world's billionaires, who are gobbling up acreage.

• Since the fire, the median home price on Maui has increased to $1.3 million. The average resident who works at the hotel or local school can't come anywhere close to affording that.
• There's plenty of housing on Maui. It's just mostly owned by people who don't live there. And it's being rented out to vacationers who can afford the $500/night prices.

The bottom line: Maui still needs tourism to keep its local economy strong.

• But as much as I'd love to visit my aunties, uncles and cousins — some of whom saw the flames get dangerously close to their house — I can't stomach using a short-term rental right now.

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Move over, seltzer: The cola wars are back, as young consumers reach for pretty cans of soda in oddball flavors, Axios' Jennifer A. Kingson writes.

• Why it matters: Startups are trying to disrupt Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Keurig Dr Pepper, which dominate the market for soft drinks purchased in supermarkets and convenience stores.

There's been an explosion of new soda flavors and brands that seek to cater to Gen Z and Gen Alpha customers, who crave culinary novelty and intense flavors.

• Some newer sodas — Olipop, Poppi, Culture Pop, Vina and Mayawell — make "functional" claims, usually related to gut health.
• Others, including United Sodas of America and Zevia, describe themselves as "premium" and "better-for-you" because of their natural ingredients.

That cool packaging? Consumers want products they can pose with on Instagram and TikTok.

• Keep reading.