All the time and effort poured into prosecuting President-elect Trump only ended up putting him — and every future president — further above the law, Axios Supreme Court reporter Sam Baker writes.

• Efforts to prosecute Trump for his first-term conduct are officially on ice. He's entering his second term with the knowledge that it'll be extraordinarily difficult for anyone to prosecute him for anything he does this time around.

⚖️ State of play: Special counsel Jack Smith moved yesterday to drop two cases against Trump — for subverting the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents.

⚡️ By far the most significant outcome of all of the state and federal charges against Trump was the Supreme Court's ruling that former presidents are immune from prosecution for "official acts."

• The courts won't fill in the details of what constitutes an "official act" until the next time a former president is indicted. That could be a while.
• But the Supreme Court's initial definition was broad enough to give Trump, and presidents who come after him, a whole lot of confidence that hardly anything they do while in office will land them in prison later.

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Israel's Security Cabinet today approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• Why it matters: The agreement, which was also approved by the Lebanese side, will end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. It will allow hundreds of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border to gradually return home.

💡 The deal doesn't end the fighting in Gaza, which seems all but certain to carry into the Trump presidency.

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1. ✍️ The incoming Trump administration signed a long-delayed agreement to formally begin the transition process. The move allows incoming officials to meet with the agencies they will lead. Go deeper.
2. 📱 Threads says it has seen 35 million new sign-ups this month. The social media app is considering a new feature that would let users see a feed of posts only from the people they follow, as X and Bluesky users can. Go deeper.
3. 🇲🇽 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico would impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods if Trump follows through on his new tariffs. Go deeper.

Travelers wait in the security line at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, ahead of what's expected to be a record-setting travel season.