Axios AM

April 27, 2026
βοΈ Good Monday morning! Smart Brevityβ’ count: 1,391 words ... 5 mins. Thanks to Noah Bressner for orchestrating. Edited by Andrew Pantazi and Bill Kole.
π¬π§ Situational awareness: Buckingham Palace says King Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive in Washington today as planned for a four-day state visit despite the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
- Their majesties are scheduled to arrive at the White House at 4:15 p.m. ET for tea with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump. The visit includes stops in Virginia and Manhattan. The royal itinerary.
1 big thing: Trump's 24-hour truce

One uncomfortable question was all it took for President Trump to resume hostilities with the Washington pressΒ β less than 24 hours after their shared brush with death, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.
Why it matters: In just a few years, the president, the press and the country have metabolized an entire generation's worth of political violence. Trump, more than anyone, has stopped treating these moments as extraordinary.
- "I wasn't worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world," he told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell on "60 Minutes" in his first sit-down interview since a gunman stormed the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday.
The big picture: Trump waved off the notion that he β a president who has now survived three assassination attempts in two years β could do anything to change the trajectory of political violence in the United States.
- "You go back 20 years, 40 years, 100 years, 200 years, 500 years, it's always been there. β¦ And I'm not sure that it's any more now than there was," Trump said.

π Zoom in: Trump waxed statesmanlike in the immediate aftermath of Saturday's shooting, hailing the "tremendous amount of love and coming together" as he bantered with journalists in the White House briefing room.
- The president had come to the First Amendment dinner ready to attack. "I was all set to really rip it," he said. "I don't know if I could ever be as rough as I was going to be."
- "There was spirit in that room," Trump said. "I mean, it was like the whole country was together. It was pretty amazing. It made a big impression."
The truce didn't last long. Asked by O'Donnell whether the near miss would change his relationship with the media, Trump pivoted to attacking Democrats β calling them and the press "almost one and the same."
- He erupted when she read him a passage from the alleged shooter's manifesto. "You read that crap from some sick person?" he continued, telling O'Donnell she should be "ashamed."

More on the manifesto: The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old California man, referred to himself as a "Friendly Federal Assassin" in writings sent to family members minutes before the attack.
- The writings made repeated references to Trump without naming him, and alluded to grievances over a range of administration actions.
- Authorities uncovered what a law enforcement official described as numerous anti-Trump social media posts linked to the suspect.
Watch the segment, "Shots Fired" ... Full interview transcript ... Share this story.
2. π Hilton security scrutinized

To breeze into the Washington Hilton on Saturday, all you needed was fancy attire and a paper ticket β less stringent requirements than big ballgames or even after-parties hosted by NBC and MS NOW, which required a QR code.
- Why it matters: Six of the top seven officials in the presidential line of succession were in the ballroom. Yet the dinner wasn't a Secret Service-designated National Special Security Event β like the inauguration, Super Bowl, State of the Union or political conventions β which would have vastly hardened security.
A Secret Service statement said: "The strength of our layered security posture was evident, with a myriad of countermeasures still ahead" before the gunman could reach the dais.
- Go deeper on the security flaws (WSJ gift link).
3. π Scoop: Trump's Iran huddle
Intel from Axios' Barak Ravid: President Trump is expected to hold a Situation Room meeting on Iran today with his top national security and foreign policy team, according to three U.S. officials.
- A source said Trump's team will discuss the stalemate in the negotiations and potential next steps.
π’ The latest: Iran gave the U.S. a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, according to a U.S. official and two sources with knowledge.
- The talks are at a stalemateΒ β and Iran's leadership is divided over what nuclear concessions should be on the table. The Iranian proposal would bypass that issue en route to a faster deal.
4. π Charted: $1 trillion in 4 weeks


Nvidia's market cap has climbed by $1 trillion in the last four weeks βΒ pushing the company's valuation past $5 trillion, Axios' Emily Peck writes.
- Semiconductor stocks are driving a market rally, thanks to the AI boom. Investors think these companies are insulated from fallout from the Iran war.
5. π± Apple's new product blitz
Bloomberg's Apple guru Mark Gurman, who mystifies Apple executives with his years-long parade of spot-on disclosures, writes in his weekly Power On newsletter:
Apple's CEO transition from Tim Cook to John Ternus on Sept. 1 is timed to make him the face of the company's biggest launch in a decade: a foldable iPhone,Β set to be announced later that month.
- Why it matters: "Even though none of the upcoming products will be as groundbreaking as the original 2007 iPhone, the pace and volume of what's coming are remarkable," Gurman writes.
The foldable iPhone will be the first of roughly 10 new product categories the company will enter over the next few years with Ternus at the helm.
- Those include smart glasses to rival Meta's Ray-Bans, camera-equipped AI AirPods that scan a user's surroundings and an AI pendant worn as a necklace or pin.
- 6 more new products (Bloomberg gift link)
π» In-office AI: Apple named Ternus, the current hardware chief, as the next CEO at the exact moment the Mac Mini faces 12-week shipping delays because developers are stacking them to run AI locally. That's not a coincidence β it's a thesis, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes in his new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.
- Why it matters to you: Apple just told the world where it thinks the AI war gets won β not in a data center, but on a desk or in a pocket.
- The CEO math: Training is Big Tech's heavy upfront cost to improve AI. Inference is AI actually doing the work. Every query and token is a recurring bill. Apple wants to win the inference war.
π If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Ask to join Jim's new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.
6. π° Truce in Fed fight
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he'll no longer block Kevin Warsh's confirmation as Fed chair βΒ ending a standoff holding up President Trump's pick to lead the central bank, Axios Macro author Courtenay Brown writes.
- The Justice Department said last week that it's dropping the investigation of Fed chair Jerome Powell, satisfying the key Republican's conditions for supporting Warsh.
7. πΏ Biggest biopic ever

"Michael" β the big-budget biopic about Michael Jackson β arrived in theaters as an "instant sensation," with $97 million in domestic ticket sales, Variety reports.
- That's the best domestic start ever for a biopic, surpassing "Oppenheimer" ($80 million), "Straight Outta Compton" ($60 million) and "Bohemian Rhapsody" ($51 million).
Jaafar Jackson, the late pop star's nephew, portrays Michael Jackson. Some members of the Jackson family oppose the film.
8. β±οΈ 1 for the road: Marathon milestone


A pair of African distance runners yesterday took down what was once among the most unthinkable barriers in sports: the two-hour marathon (26.2 miles).
- Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, bettering the previous men's world record by an astonishing 65 seconds.
- He beat Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha, who in his first marathon also broke two hours, finishing in 1:59:41.

Why it matters: The 2-hour barrier β a nice, even number at a distance that has been around since ancient times β has been in the sights of the world's greatest runners (and shoe companies) for about the last 20 years.
- Shoe companies have raced to reinvent the running shoe using carbon-fiber plates and other materials to make them lighter and springier.
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