President Trump tells Axios it's the "hottest ticket that I've ever seen," Axios' Alex Isenstadt writes.

• Trump is talking about UFC Freedom 250, the Ultimate Fighting Championship night on the White House's South Lawn on June 14.

Why it matters: Donors, lobbyists, members of Congress and well-connected fans are clamoring for tickets.

• But in a Trumpian twist of marketing, the tickets' elusiveness is building buzz for the event on the president's birthday, and Flag Day, in the runup to America's 250th on July Fourth.

🖼️ The big picture: While Trump deals with a war in Iran and rising gas prices at home, the president seems downright giddy that UFC Freedom 250 gives him a night of pageantry despite the optics.

• There'll be 5,000 VIP seats around the UFC's famed Octagon. But many will go to military personnel, leaving perhaps just a couple thousand — and far fewer cageside — for the well-connected.

Top lobbyists and White House-connected operatives are inundated with requests, sources said. One of them told us they're sick of being asked about the fight.

• Republicans began flooding the White House with inquiries about VIP tickets almost immediately after the event was announced last summer.
• One senator asked if they and their entire family could attend.

A GOP fundraiser close to the White House received dozens of direct messages on social media asking how they could get in.

• Trump himself has been fielding ticket requests, a person familiar with the event prep said.

🔎 Zoom in: UFC CEO Dana White announced last week that 85,000 tickets will be given away to the public for an outdoor viewing experience with big video screens on the Ellipse, just south of the White House grounds.

• Six UFC fights will be held at the event, which will be streamed on Paramount+.
• White has been meeting with Trump every few months to discuss plans for the event.

Between the lines: How the Trump team chooses who gets the prized seats will speak volumes about who has juice in the Trump network.

• Big donors to Trump's ballroom project, his allied super PAC and his inaugural committee almost certainly will get a crack at seats, Republican operatives predict.
• The same goes for Trump's closest Capitol Hill allies and his longtime close friends.

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Former counterterrorism official Joe Kent has been under FBI investigation for months on suspicion he leaked classified information, three sources familiar with the case tell Axios' Marc Caputo.

• Why it matters: Kent propelled himself into national headlines Tuesday when he resigned his post and blamed Israel for tricking President Trump into launching the Iran war even though it posed "no imminent threat" to the U.S.

Immediately after his resignation, administration officials said he had been "a known leaker" and had been cut out of briefings with the president.

• Semafor reported that Kent, who led the National Counterterrorism Center, had been placed under investigation before his resignation, which Axios independently confirmed.
• One of the sources said Kent was suspected of leaking to Tucker Carlson and another conservative podcaster. That source said the FBI was also examining leaked intel related to Israel and Iran.
• "He left quite an online paper trail and he has been monitored for months," one source familiar with the investigation told Axios.

🐦 Zoom in: Kent gave a two-hour interview yesterday to Carlson, an ally and fellow critic of the war and of Israel.

• Carlson defended Kent on his show and said he was paying the price for previously predicting that war with Iran would be a disaster.
• "Joe Kent was right. Therefore, Joe Kent must be destroyed," Carlson said. "And there is, of course, this ongoing effort to do that, to dismiss Joe Kent as a tool of the Islamists, or a leaker."

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Most Americans will likely soon be paying over $4 per gallon as the war in Iran drives one of the sharpest gas-price surges in recent history, Axios' Dave Lawler writes.

• Why it matters: Gas prices could become a scoreboard on every street for many Americans — a daily barometer of how the Iran war is going.

Vice President Vance acknowledged yesterday there could be a "rough road ahead of us for the next few weeks."

• White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told us: "President Trump has been clear that these are short-term disruptions. Ultimately, once the Iranian regime is neutralized, oil and gas prices will drop rapidly again."

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President Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point of his second term — slipping to 40% as the war with Iran weighs on public opinion, according to data from Nate Silver.

• More numbers.

Olivia Walton — co-founder of the Heartland Summit, held annually by Heartland Forward, a nonprofit focused on America's midsection — tells me states and employers need to be leaders in fixing a dire American crisis in maternal health.

• "It was more dangerous for me when I gave birth to my kids than when my mom gave birth to me in the '80s," Walton said in a phone interview from Bentonville, Ark. "That's nuts, it's inexcusable, and it doesn't have to be that way."

Why it matters: Maternal mortality in the U.S. has more than doubled since the early 1980s. The U.S. has the worst maternal death rate in the developed world, with 84% of those deaths considered preventable, Heartland Forward says.

Heartland Forward's Maternal & Child Health Center for Policy & Practice is launching a five-year national initiative to address the maternal health crisis.

• New findings by Aaru show that a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses: "Credibility rests on clinical expertise delivered through state-level channels."
• Walton told me: "A national effort would be less well received. Ours is a state roadmap that attempts to leverage trusted stakeholders."

Continuing the close-to-home theme, Walton said employers can play a big part: "Employers need to set the gold standard for what benefits and real support should look like, before and after birth. They also play a role in raising awareness."

• Go deeper: "Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America."

New sexual abuse allegations about César Chávez are prompting a swift and emotional reckoning with the legacy of one of the most iconic figures in Latino civil rights, Axios San Antonio's Madalyn Mendoza writes.

• Why it matters: Chávez, who died in 1993, has long stood as a central symbol of Mexican American identity and labor activism — a legacy now being reassessed, with ripple effects already emerging in local governments, universities and beyond.

A New York Times investigation published yesterday (gift link) uncovered allegations that Chávez sexually abused women and girls as young as 12.

• Dolores Huerta, Chávez's longtime collaborator and labor leader, also said she was sexually assaulted by Chávez and became pregnant with two of his children.

Hours after the story was published, annual celebrations honoring Chávez in California, Arizona and Texas, including in Houston and Austin, were canceled. San Antonio's Chávez march was canceled earlier this month.

• Govs. Greg Abbott in Texas and Katie Hobbs in Arizona said their states won't observe César Chávez Day.
• At UC Berkeley, faculty are already drafting demands to remove Chávez's name from a student center.

Go deeper: César Chávez Day events renamed, postponed, canceled.

The federal government is trying to clear a regulatory path for new types of vehicles that drive themselves and don't have a steering wheel or pedals, Axios Future of Mobility author Joann Muller writes.

• Why it matters: Fully automated robotaxis don't need driver controls, but the law still requires them. Updating federal standards could determine who leads the global race in autonomous vehicle technology.

Despite the lack of federal legislation on autonomous vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just announced several policy actions to try to advance the technology.

• It's fast-tracking its review of a petition by Amazon-owned Zoox to deploy up to 2,500 purpose-built robotaxis with no steering wheels.
• NHTSA also wants to toss out motor vehicle standards that don't apply much to AVs, starting with requirements for windshield wipers, defrosters and defoggers.

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Polymarket is opening a "Situation Room" pop-up bar near downtown D.C. Friday for a weekend-long run — the "world's first bar dedicated to monitoring the situation," Axios D.C.'s Anna Spiegel writes.

• Think "live X feeds, flight radar, a Bloomberg terminal, and Polymarket screens," said a post on X that Polymarket cited as inspiration.

The sports bar for the situationally obsessed — a viral meme — is taking over Proper 21 near Foggy Bottom, reps confirm to Axios.

Polymarket organizers tell Axios they've secured nearly 80 screens, a six-foot globe and interactive touch tables.

• It's open to the public at 8 p.m. Friday, then from 11 a.m. to close on Saturday and Sunday.

Polymarket growth strategist Josh Tucker tells Axios that after this weekend's D.C. pop-up, the concept will go on the road "wherever the situation needs monitoring."

• Get Axios D.C.