Axios

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took $50,000 from an associate of a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire at the center of a sprawling scheme of illegal foreign campaign contributions, federal prosecutors revealed Wednesday.

Why it matters: LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois and a member of President Obama's Cabinet, agreed to repay the money, pay a $40,000 fine and cooperate with prosecutors to settle the matter. The Justice Department detailed the illicit campaign donation scheme in a statement on Wednesday.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services leadership is asking employees to describe the immigration agency's mission in three words to help them rewrite its mission statement, according to an internal email obtained by Axios sent Wednesday afternoon.

Why it matters: In 2018, the Trump administration rewrote the statement, controversially removing the words "nation of immigrants." The recent email is another sign of the Biden administration trying to change the tone on immigration post-Trump. USCIS also urged officials to use "more inclusive" terms to describe immigrants.

The floodgates are open. Almost a week after a bill that curbs voting access in Georgia became law — and nearly one month after it passed the state's House — a slew of corporations have come out against voter suppression.

Why it matters: In an era where businesses are more outspoken (and being pressured to be that way), their silence on this issue had been deafening.

Witness Charles McMillian, 61, broke down Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors played police bodycam video of George Floyd saying over and over that he couldn't breathe and calling for his mother.

The big picture: The reaction captured what we've seen from witness after witness — the trauma of reliving those harrowing moments on global television as America reckons all over again with one of its worst moments.

Democrat Rita Hart dropped her challenge on Wednesday against Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' razor-thin victory in an Iowa House race.

Why it matters: Hart's withdrawal comes after she faced growing skepticism from Democrats about her push to overturn the certified results of the race for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, a contest she lost by six votes.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam wants to legalize possession and growth of small amounts of recreational marijuana starting this July, according to changes he proposed Wednesday to legislation passed in February.

Why it matters: That proposed deadline is roughly three years earlier than what's been suggested in the state's legislature — which, if passed, would make Virginia the 16th state in the U.S. and first southern state to legalize the drug.

The Pentagon plans to provide gender-affirming healthcare to transgender Americans serving in the military, as part of its rollback of the Trump administration's ban on trans service members, press secretary John Kirby announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: The Biden administration is returning to an Obama-era rule to cover medical costs for service members' gender transition as it engages in a broader effort to more vocally support the trans community.

The 19-year-old Cup Foods cashier who accepted George Floyd's counterfeit bill testified at former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial Wednesday that if he had "just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided."

Between the lines: Christopher Martin's words echo a recurring sentiment expressed by witnesses called to the stand, several of whom were minors when they watched Floyd die in front of them.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Fox News Wednesday called the sexual misconduct allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) "serious" and suggested that Gaetz could face repercussions if the allegations prove true.

The big picture: On Tuesday Gaetz told Axios that he was under federal investigation for sexual activity with women, and fears being criminally charged. He also said the allegations are untrue.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday signed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana for all adults over the age of 21.

Why it matters: New York is the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana and is expected to quickly become one of the largest markets for legal cannabis in the country.

The carried interest loophole is beginning to look immortal.

Driving the news: President Biden today will unveil a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that the White House hopes to pay for via changes to the corporate tax code. But it will not include any changes to individual income taxes, including on capital gains.

Wisconsin's Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers' (D) statewide mask mandate on Wednesday by ruling against multiple emergency declarations made during the pandemic, AP reports.

State of play: The court ruled that the governor overstepped his powers by issuing multiple emergency declarations for the pandemic, lasting longer than 60 days, without approval from the state legislature. The ruling invalidates the current mask mandate in the state, which was set to expire next Monday.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian condemned Georgia's new election law as "unacceptable" in a memo circulated to staff on Wednesday, claiming that the "entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie" about widespread voter fraud in 2020.

Why it matters: The Atlanta-based airline is one of the largest employers in Georgia and was facing calls for a boycott over its stance on the Republican-crafted law, per the Washington Post.

Two U.S. Capitol Police officers sued former President Trump Tuesday for physical and emotional injuries caused by what they describe as his "wrongful conduct" in inciting the riots on Jan. 6, which killed at least five people.

Driving the news: Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby are seeking damages of at least $75,000 each, along with other punishments they did not specify. It's the first suit filed by law enforcement who defended the Capitol from Trump's supporters.

The U.S. currently lags way behind Europe and China in offshore wind, a fact the Biden administration hopes to change with plans to spur the development of 30 gigawatts of offshore U.S. wind generating capacity by 2030.

Why it matters: While several big commercial-scale projects along the Atlantic Coast are already in the works, there's only one small project in operation off Rhode Island as of now.

President Biden issued a statement to formally celebrate Wednesday as Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), an international day first marked in 2009 as a way to commemorate trans lives and accomplishments.

Why it matters: Biden is the first sitting U.S. president to issue a proclamation in observance of the day. It comes as a record number of state legislatures — predominately led by Republicans — introduce bills to regulate how trans youth play sports and receive gender-affirming healthcare.

President Biden's attempt to steer huge energy infrastructure plans through Congress and his wide-ranging executive agenda are together creating intense lobbying and advocacy efforts to shape the policies.

Why it matters: The new proposal for an energy infrastructure package is vastly larger than the roughly $90 billion for clean energy in the 2009 stimulus, and the constellation of interests in play is huge.

Over 50 bills in 28 states have been introduced this year that would exclude transgender youth from playing sports on teams that align with their gender identity.

Driving the news: In the past three weeks alone, Republican governors from three states — Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas — have signed such bills.

72 Black executives signed onto an open letter Wednesday demanding corporate America take action to fight GOP-led legislation that would restrict voting access in at least 43 states.

Why it matters: "The campaign appears to be the first time that so many powerful Black executives have organized to directly call out their peers for failing to stand up for racial justice," the New York Times writes.

The New York Police Department said a suspect has been arrested and charged with felony assault as a hate crime for a brutal attack on an elderly Asian woman in New York City that was captured on a surveillance video and released by authorities Monday.

Why it matters: The video, in which bystanders can be seen watching as the assailant kicks the 65-year-old woman multiple times, has sparked a wave of outrage, writes the New York Times. It comes during a period of increased incidents of violence against Asians and Pacific Islanders across America.

Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly agree on one thing: Social media had at least some responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to new survey data from Harris Insights shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: 71% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats say social media platforms bear responsibility for the Jan. 6 events — a stark sign of the growing animosity toward them from both sides of the aisle.

The National Institute for Early Education at Rutgers University (NIEER) on Wednesday released a plan that shows how the U.S. could have universal high-quality preschool within the next 30 years.

Why it matters: "At its current pace and without federal government leadership, the U.S. won’t reach all children with free preschool before 2100," said NIEER Founder and Senior Co-director Steven Barnett.

President Biden will ask Congress Wednesday to spend $2 trillion on an infrastructure plan over eight years, and pay for it by increasing taxes on corporations for nearly twice as long.

Driving the news: The package, which he will unveil during a speech in Pittsburgh, seeks to fulfill a range of promises he made on the campaign trail to fix the country’s crumbling infrastructure, slow the growing climate crisis and reduce economic inequality.

On a flight Tuesday from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, Ind., two leaders in the House Republican conference discussed a memo that argues that their party's future demands they "embrace our new coalition" because "President Trump's gift didn’t come with a receipt."

Why it matters: The document, titled "Cementing GOP as the Working Class Party," leaves no doubt that Republicans — at least in the House of Representatives — will be doubling down on Donald Trump for the foreseeable future.

A Texas grand jury has indicted two former sheriff's deputies from Williamson County, Texas, on second-degree manslaughter charges over the death in custody of Javier Ambler, a 40-year-old Black man.

The big picture: Former Williamson County deputies Zachary Camden and James Johnson were with a crew from the since-canceled A&E reality TV show "Live PD" when they pursued the father of two on March 28, 2019.

19 of the 22 people killed by a French airstrike at a Mali wedding earlier this year were unarmed civilians who were "protected against attacks under international humanitarian law," a new United Nations report has found.

Why it matters: The findings that only three of those killed were suspected militants contradict France's claims that the targets in the Jan. 3 strike near the village of Bounti, central Mali, were militants — an assertion French officials stood by after the UN report's release Tuesday.

New York state lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older.

Why it matters: The bill would expunge records for thousands of people who have past marijuana-related convictions. Black and brown people represented 94% of marijuana arrests in New York City in 2020.

A non-disclosure agreement signed by a 2016 Trump campaign staffer cannot be enforced because it's too vague, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Why it matters: The case of former Hispanic outreach director Jessica Denson, who in a separate suit in 2017 alleged she experienced discrimination and harassment on the campaign, is one of several where Trump "went after former aides that criticized him or his campaign" in order to "silence" them, the New York Times notes.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), one of the nation's rising-star conservative firebrands, told Axios he is under federal investigation for sexual activity with women, and fears being criminally charged.

What he's saying: "The allegations against me are as searing as they are false," Gaetz said in a 13-minute phone interview with Axios. "I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know when I was a single guy."

G. Gordon Liddy, the former FBI agent who helped orchestrate the Watergate break-in that resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon, has died, the Washington Post first reported. He was 90.

Details: Liddy, who was also a lawyer, talk show host and actor, died Tuesday at his daughter's home in Fairfax County, Virginia, his son Thomas Liddy told WashPost.