This column by Jim VandeHei & Mike Allen is a new twist on their "Behind the Curtain" (BTC), which digs deep into the topics of highest import. We call this a BTC Extra — a living update on a transcendent topic, referring back to deeper reporting.

The politics of immigration are shifting fast — again.

• Why it matters: Americans voted overwhelmingly in support of locking down the Southwest border. But now, with the border secure and deportations surging along with self-deportations, a strong majority are opposed to President Trump's tough-guy, kick-them-all-out approach to illegal immigration.

📊 A Gallup poll out yesterday shows about 70% of independents oppose Trump's approach. Only 30% of U.S. adults surveyed want immigration decreased — down 25 points from one year ago.

• A record-high 79% of those polled said immigration is good for the country, Gallup found.

🤔 The big picture: Trump recognizes it's problematic — politically and practically — to deport people who came here illegally but now work and pay taxes.

• But Trump's in a real jam with his MAGA base, which opposes amnesty for anyone here illegally, even if they hold jobs, pay taxes and commit no crimes after arriving.

Between the lines: That makes an easy compromise — like a way for those playing by the current rules to stick around — quite difficult for Trump. So it's unlikely he'll back down anytime soon — unless the politics grow truly untenable.

• Trump had second thoughts about Stephen Miller's maximalist approach after hearing from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and business leaders about the economic impact of the raids, Axios' Brittany Gibson reports.

Trump's current solution: Make it easier to bring in new temporary immigrants to wash dishes or pick vegetables and fruits. We've previewed this growing jam in two previous columns:

1. Trump's rising problem with businesses dependent on workers here illegally.
2. Trump would need to overcome 40 years of precedent to truly oust all undocumented immigrants, even those vital to service businesses.

⚡ Axios White House reporter Marc Caputo just detailed a workaround to please worried farmers and hospitality businesses: Speed up visas for new temporary, migrant workers.

• The administration hopes employers will make major use of the new program as mass deportations continue to thin unauthorized labor from the workforce. But it's not clear it'll be enough to mitigate business fears.

The bottom line: Axios' Stef Kight points out that polling shows Americans have more nuanced views about immigration than the political conversation reflects. And both parties struggle to find policies that don't lose the public.

• Share this column ... Explore Gallup's data ... Go deeper: "Behind the Curtain: Trump's deportation gut-check."

Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired more than 20 Justice Department employees who worked on cases involving the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and Donald Trump's handling of classified documents, sources tell Axios' Marc Caputo.

• Why it matters: The firings are part of a massive purge aimed at clearing DOJ of attorneys and support staff who took part in Special Counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Trump for Jan. 6 and possessing classified documents unlawfully.

The new dismissals bring the total Smith-related firings to about 35.

• About 15 more could face termination.

🔎 Zoom in: Reuters reported last night that nine staffers had been let go, but Axios sources said the number was 20 and as many as 37 people could ultimately be let go from offices in Washington, Virginia, Florida and other parts of the country.

• The 20 ousted Friday included lawyers, support staff and U.S. marshals, one Justice official said.
• The staffers were identified in an internal investigation by Bondi's "Weaponization Working Group," which she established shortly after taking office as part of an effort to purge entrenched political enemies of Trump.

The intrigue: Bondi initially planned for the firings to take place earlier this week.

• But they were delayed as the Trump administration dealt with the internal fallout from its announcement that Jeffrey Epstein didn't have a celebrity "client list," and that his death in his New York City prison cell in 2019 was a suicide, not murder.

👀 Inside the room: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was also instrumental in initially pumping the brakes on the terminations, sources said, because he wanted to be certain the department was only letting go of staffers who weren't in line with the Trump administration.

• Keep reading.

"It's me or her. ... She goes or I go."

• FBI deputy director Dan Bongino has made that provocative internal declaration about Attorney General Pam Bondi over the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Axios' Marc Caputo reports.
• Whether Bongino ultimately quits is anyone's guess.

Why it matters: An administration statement this week that contradicts conspiracy theories about Epstein infuriated many MAGA influencers, who say there's more to be known about the financier and sex trafficker's death.

• The imbroglio is Trump's biggest split with vocal members of his base since he took office. The fallout from the handling of the Epstein conclusions, reported first by Axios, has produced one of this term's nastiest ruptures among top Trump officials.

Behind the scenes: The controversy has pitted Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel against Bondi — who, as head of the Justice Department, is technically their boss.

• Caputo scooped yesterday that Bondi and Bongino clashed during a White House meeting on Wednesday, in Patel's presence. Bongino left angry, a source told us.

🎙️ With some in the administration speculating Bongino will quit, there's concern that he'd restart the lucrative, popular podcast that made him famous before he joined the administration (7 million followers on X) — and that he'd start firebombing Bondi via Rumble, a popular MAGA platform.

• "Dan isn't some no-name," a person familiar with Bongino's thinking told us. "He has a brand and a following. If Bondi thought she could just squash him, she's got the wrong guy."

👂 What we're hearing: Bongino hasn't decided whether to go, and might well stay. A source told us Patel spent yesterday morning trying to talk Bongino down and make peace. But Bondi is dug in.

• "He yelled at the wrong woman," an administration source told us. "If Bongino wants to make Trump choose, it's not a choice at all for her … It's the most important position in the cabinet for him, given his history with AG. He trusts her. He loves her."
• The situation might be so toxic that only Trump can order the feud to be quashed — internal peacemaking for a president preoccupied with ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Between the lines: The online right —the MAGA base and its influencers — is far more pro-Bongino than pro-Bondi.

• Charlie Kirk, a powerful MAGA podcaster, asked onstage yesterday at his Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa: "Who would you guys prefer, Bongino or Bondi?" The crowd roared back: "Bongino!"
• Kirk said: "It's 7,000 to zero."

Megyn Kelly, onstage with Kirk, told him: "They want Dan. ... Dan understands MAGA. ... And now it's a time for choosing."

North Carolina is the best state for business, according to a CNBC analysis of factors like workforce, infrastructure and business-friendliness.

• The top 10 spots are dominated by the South and Midwest:

1. North Carolina.
2. Texas.
3. Florida.
4. Virginia.
5. Ohio.
6. Michigan.
7. Georgia.
8. Tennessee.
9. Indiana.
10. Minnesota.

• See the full list.

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are diminishing supplies of air defenses and raising concerns at the Pentagon, and around the world, about insufficient stockpiles.

• Militaries are burning through interceptors, and everyone wants more. But demand outstrips production, Axios' Colin Demarest reports.

👀 Worries about stateside stashes were apparently so severe that they necessitated a review of weapons deliveries worldwide.

• The Pentagon recently froze shipments of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine, citing inventory concerns, before Trump at least partially reversed that move.

Driving the news: The U.S. Army has increased its acquisition goal for the most advanced variant of Patriot interceptors to almost 14,000.

• That's quadruple the previous level for those interceptors, the Lockheed Martin-made PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement.

Large exchanges can burn through stockpiles. The U.S. reportedly used 30 interceptors in one night shielding Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar from an Iranian attack.

• Keep reading.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told both President Trump and Iranian officials that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, sources familiar with those discussions tell Axios' Barak Ravid.

• Why it matters: Russia has been Iran's main diplomatic backer on the nuclear issue for years. But while Moscow publicly advocates for Iran's right to enrich, Putin has taken a tougher position in private in the wake of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

🔭 State of play: Israeli and U.S. strikes seriously damaged Iran's nuclear facilities but did not destroy all of Iran's highly enriched uranium. It's unclear whether any of Iran's centrifuges survived.

• Trump has made clear he wants a new nuclear deal with Iran. If negotiations take place in the coming weeks, zero uranium enrichment on Iranian soil will be one of the key U.S. demands, sources say.

Iran has long insisted that it must retain the ability to enrich under any deal.

• Read on.

David Richmond Gergen, a veteran of Washington politics and an adviser to four presidents in a career spanning decades in government, academia and media, died in Lexington, Mass., at 83.

• Gergen worked in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Over the years, he served as a speechwriter, communications director and counselor to the president, among other roles, AP reports.

Gergen was praised by both the Republican and Democratic administrations he served. He was the adviser who came up with the closing argument that helped Reagan win over former President Carter: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Reagan's chief of staff, James A. Baker III, told The Washington Post in 1981. "He's the best conceptualizer, in terms of communications strategy, that we have."

• Former Vice President Al Gore posted on X: "Of the countless ways that David Gergen contributed to our great country, what I will remember him for most was his kindness to everyone he worked with, his sound judgment, and his devotion to doing good in the world."

Gergen was also a journalist, serving as a top editor and columnist at U.S. News & World Report as well as political analyst for CNN.

• He was the founding director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School and remained there as professor of public service emeritus until his death.

💡 In his 2022 bestseller, "Hearts Touched with Fire: How Great Leaders are Made," Gergen wrote about leaders:

"The very finest among them make the difficult calls that can ultimately alter the course of history. Through courage and character, they motivate others to follow their lead; one single person can inspire the masses to act, to change the world for the better."

NYT obit (gift link).

Google's latest AI video tool, Veo 3, now generates short movies with sound based only on still photos and prompts, Axios' Megan Morrone writes.

• Axios test-drove the feature. The videos look almost-but-not-quite real — which isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering the rise of deepfakes.

🎥 How it works: Subscribers can upload a photo and describe the motion and audio they want in the video, including background music, ambient noise and dialogue.

• Gemini generates an eight-second, 720p resolution video clip in a downloadable file.

The tool takes two to three minutes to create the video.

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