It took two presidents who can't stand each other to make a deal between Israel and Hamas, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• President-elect Trump swiftly claimed the victory for himself. President Biden retorted sharply when a reporter asked if he or Trump really deserved the credit: "Is that a joke?"

Why it matters: Officials from the U.S., Israel and Qatar tell Axios the deal to free the hostages and end 15 months of war wouldn't have been possible without unprecedented coordination between their administrations.

While Biden laid out the parameters of this deal way back in May, and spent months pushing the parties to agree to it, Trump's public and private involvement "was the 10 cents missing for the dollar," a U.S. official told Axios.

• Both Israel and Hamas had far more incentive to sign on once they knew it was a deal with the incoming president, not just the outgoing one, another official acknowledged.

🎥 Flashback: On Dec. 2, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) went to Mar-a-Lago for a round of golf with Trump. "I told him that if he issues a statement about the hostages in Gaza it will be a big deal," Graham told Axios.

• Trump agreed and started dictating to his press team. The resulting Truth Social post said that if the hostages were not freed by Jan. 20, "There will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge."

Several days later, Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk traveled to Israel and met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister told them he wanted a deal on Trump's timeline.

• Sullivan, McGurk and CIA director Bill Burns all traveled to Doha to launch a final push for a deal.
• But as McGurk returned home for Christmas, it looked like the window was closing.

Trump decided to dispatch his incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region after talks picked back up in the New Year and began to show some momentum.

• Witkoff joined a meeting between Netanyahu and his chief negotiators. McGurk also dialed in. Over the next hour, the envoys from the two administrations probed the areas on which the Israelis were willing to be flexible.
• Graham told Axios that all the players involved understood that Witkoff speaks for Trump, and "people in the region don't want to start on a bad foot with Trump."
• From Israel, Witkoff traveled back to Doha and joined McGurk for 96 hours of intense diplomacy.

🤫 Behind the scenes: The final sprint in the negotiations took place at a Qatari government official residence. Hamas representatives were on the first floor, with the Israelis on the second and the Qatari and Egyptian mediators shuttling between them.

• Negotiations often dragged on until 3 a.m., and resumed in the morning after a few hours of sleep, a U.S. official said.
• On Wednesday morning, Hamas raised three new demands, according to a U.S. official. "We had to flex a muscle to get them to back off, and we did," the official said.

Yesterday afternoon local time, Hamas gave its official positive response. "Only then, we were sure we had a deal," the U.S. official said.

• The Qatari prime minister made the announcement: "We saw two U.S. administrations working together ... what the U.S. did led to this moment."

📱 Netanyahu called Trump and thanked him for his help in getting the deal. Only then did he call to thank Biden.

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CEOs are enjoying a hot speech winter — one where speaking out in outrageous ways carries no cost, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.

• Why it matters: CEOs of old would generally wield their power and authority with judiciousness and restraint. A new breed appears to be reveling in the fact that President-elect Trump has ripped off those fetters.

🖼 The big picture: Trump's superpower has always been that he's able to say truly outrageous things and suffer no real repercussions.

• Elon Musk has followed in his footsteps. Now others are jumping on the bandwagon, most prominently Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

🎙Between the lines: The new "cultural elites," Zuckerberg said on Joe Rogan's podcast recently, are the "voices that are being authentic" and are viewed by the public as "the people who give it to me straight."

• Zuckerberg himself clearly aspires to being part of that new uninhibited elite, musing on "masculine energy."

Zuckerberg is far from alone. Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves gave a press conference Monday where he called both China and Japan "evil."

• A "top banker" told the Financial Times this week (but only on condition of his anonymity) that he feels "liberated" because he can now say shockingly vulgar things (which we won't repeat here) without fear of cancellation.

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Vanity Fair is out with a new

piece outlining how Axios will cover incoming President Trump — and how Jim VandeHei and I view the new Washington.

• VandeHei tells media reporter Natalie Korach that some organizations want to cover Trump's term as a "celebration" — and others want to cover his presidency as a "crime beat." Axios aims to cover him "like a doctor, clinically."

Why it matters: Washington is now ground zero for politics, business, media and even culture. Our job is to bring you news, illumination and insight of this new governing coalition.

That's why we hire well-wired experts — including Florida-based Marc Caputo, a Trump expert — and focus laser-like on the collision of Washington and business, technology, media and rhetoric world. Caputo "knows these players, is in constant communication with them, knows how they think, knows how MAGA world acts," I told Vanity Fair.

• It's also why we launched the nightly Axios Hill Leaders, a new lens into the top four leaders and power on Capitol Hill, and invest so heavily in a roster of true subject matter experts across policy, AI, health care, defense, energy and business.

The information ecosystem is shattering into dozens of pieces. Our chunk is smart professionals who need blunt, clear-eyed, deeply reported insight.

• "It's hard to get people to pay attention to anything," VandeHei says. "If you aren't breaking news, if you're not offering a new analytical or conceptual framework, you're just writing stuff, and the market for stuff is gone."

Read the interview.

Parts of the U.S. will see temperatures around 35 degrees colder than mid-January averages next week, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.

• Cold air is spiraling down from Canada in a powerful Arctic outbreak tied to the polar vortex.

❄️ Forecast snapshot: Inauguration Day will be frigid in D.C. (high of 28°F) and around the country.

• Temps will get down to 20°F in Dallas. Parts of the South can expect snow next week.

Keep reading.

Big corporate donors to Trump's inaugural committee could soon find themselves in the crosshairs of his trade policy, Axios' Brittany Gibson reports.

• Why it matters: Ford, GM, Stellantis, Stanley Black & Decker and Apple's Tim Cook all have written seven-figure checks for Trump's inauguration — even though Trump's tariffs plans could seriously disrupt their bottom lines.

📦 Trump has promised a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada, tariffs of up to 60% on products from China and a universal tariff of at least 10%.

• He claims those tariffs will protect U.S. businesses, create jobs, and help pay for tax cuts.

🤨 Some companies that gave to Trump's inauguration and have manufacturing plants abroad aren't so sure.

• Stanley Black & Decker CEO Donald Allan said on an earnings call before the election that it's "unlikely" that tariffs would bring more manufacturing back to the U.S.

👀 First look: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will roll out its annual "State of American Business" program today — and it includes a three-part wish list for Trump, Axios Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown write.

1. Roll back Biden-era regulations.
2. Extend Trump's tax cuts and incentives.
3. Stay away from sweeping tariffs.

What they're saying: "There are targeted tariffs that have a good use in global trade negotiations and then there are blanket tariffs that we think would be bad for American families and communities," Chamber CEO Suzanne Clark told Axios in an interview ahead of her speech today in Dallas.

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Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump's pick for Treasury, will tell the Senate Finance Committee at his confirmation hearing this morning that he sees "a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans."

• Why it matters: Bessent (pronounced BESS-ent), a South Carolina billionaire, is respected on Wall Street and has been called the "quiet killer" for his finesse with massive trades.

"I was born and raised in the South Carolina Low Country," Bessent says in his opening statement. "My father fell into extreme financial difficulty when I was young. When I was 9 years old, I started working two summer jobs and I haven't stopped working since."

• "My life has been the 'only in America' story that I am determined to preserve for future generations."

Bessent will say the U.S. "must secure supply chains that are vulnerable to strategic competitors, and we must carefully deploy sanctions as part of a whole-of-government approach to address our national security requirements. And critically, we must ensure that the U.S. dollar remains the world's reserve currency."

• "[W]e can usher in a new, more balanced era of prosperity that will lift up all Americans and rebuild communities and families across the country."

⏰ Other hearings today: Scott Turner for HUD ... Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) for EPA ... North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for Interior.

• More on Bessent.

Anduril Industries announced this morning that it'll build its Arsenal-1 arms megafactory in Columbus, Ohio — propelling its plans to pump out tens of thousands of drones, sensors and weapons, Axios' Colin Demarest and Tyler Buchanan report.

• Why it matters: This is a make-or-break moment for the California-based upstart, which has big plans to overhaul defense manufacturing and pump ultra-high tech hardware into the Pentagon's pipeline.

Keep reading ... See the release.

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In a 17-minute, prime-time farewell address to the nation, President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. capped 52 years of public service by warning of "the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultrawealthy people":

"Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead."

🕶️ The long game: At age 29, Biden became one of the youngest Americans to be elected U.S. senator. Half a century later, he'll leave the White House on Monday at 82 — the oldest sitting president.

🗽 "Now it's your turn to stand guard," Biden concluded. "May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it, too."

• Read the address.