Axios

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will visit the White House Friday, a day later than originally planned, and he'll find a president in distress.

Why it matters: This is not how the new prime minister imagined his first meeting with President Biden. An hour before he was supposed to walk into the Oval Office, disaster struck in Kabul.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that the record-high surge in COVID-19 cases would have led to a statewide mask mandate if that authority still lay with him.

Why it matters: Kentucky's Supreme Court recently transferred authority over pandemic-related decisions, including masking, to the GOP-controlled state legislature, according to the Democratic governor.

The Capitol Police officer who killed Ashli Babbit during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection told NBC News that he shot her as a "last resort," but ultimately he knows he "saved countless lives."

Driving the news: Lt. Michael Byrd was cleared this week of any wrongdoing for killing Babbitt, whom he shot as she tried to make her way through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby, just off the House chamber floor.

Thousands of Indigenous people marched this week in Brazil, dancing and chanting outside the Supreme Court to urge for protection of ancestral lands.

Why it matters: The landmark ruling will decide whether Indigenous people have the right to reclaim land occupied prior to 1988, when Brazil's constitution was ratified.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul named state Sen. Brian Benjamin, a fellow Democrat, to succeed her as lieutenant governor Thursday.

Why it matters: Hochul, who hails from western New York and is running for governor in 2022, sought a running mate from the city, per the New York Times. Benjamin represents Harlem, Morningside Heights, Washington Heights and the Upper West Side.

President and CEO of Time's Up Tina Tchen announced her resignation Thursday amid revelations that leaders of the sexual harassment victims’ advocacy group advised former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on how to respond to harassment allegations.

Background: Tchen had led the organization since 2019 and co-founded Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund with attorney Roberta Kaplan, who also resigned. Tchen was previously chief of staff to former first lady Michelle Obama.

The U.S. Department of Education announced on Thursday that it would forgive federal loans for students who attended ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech) and left after March 2008 without getting a degree.

Why it matters: This announcement is part of an increased effort by the Biden administration to forgive student loan debt, and follows a federal investigation into alleged fraudulent recruitment practices at the for-profit college.

President Biden on Thursday said he has directed the Pentagon to develop plans to "strike" ISIS-K "assets, leadership and facilities" in response to the Kabul airport bombing.

What he's saying: "To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay," Biden said.

Video newly released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows evidence of extreme corrosion and overcrowded concrete reinforcement in the Champlain Towers South, or the Surfside Condo, that partially collapsed in late June, the Associated Press reports.

Why it matters: The toppling of the tower killed 98 people.

A new interactive experience in "Fortnite" is sparking discussion about whether featuring Martin Luther King Jr. in the game is simply too ridiculous.

Why it matters: "Fortnite" has proved that it can serve as a venue for entertainment beyond what it offers as a video game.

The United States will continue to evacuate people from Afghanistan after a terrorist bombing on Thursday killed 12 U.S. troops and an unknown number of Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport, Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said during a press conference.

Why it matters: The attack came just days before President Biden's full military withdrawal date of Aug. 31 and further complicated already-chaotic evacuation efforts.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday announced a statewide indoor mask mandate and vaccine requirements for state workers, including teachers and school staff.

Why it matters: The Democratic governor's latest restrictions come as COVID-19 cases across the state are on the upswing, largely driven by the Delta variant. "Unfortunately, we are running out of time as our hospitals run out of beds," Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday.

The House Intelligence Committee is planning to hold a second, classified briefing on Afghanistan when members return to Washington, D.C., in September, a committee official tells Axios.

Why it matters: The planning comes as several members of Congress demand more information from the Biden administration regarding the unfolding crisis abroad as the U.S. approaches its Aug. 31 deadline to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan. It also comes just hours after multiple U.S. service members and civilians were killed in Kabul Thursday morning.

The State Department is asking Capitol Hill staff to stop engaging in “uncoordinated messaging” by directing people in Kabul to the airport, according to an email obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: The message illustrates the level of confusion as the U.S. handles a developing situation following an explosion outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday that resulted in "a number of casualties" to civilians and U.S. troops.

The last U.S. Marine off the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon says the Afghanistan mission was too long, and he questions its purpose.

The big picture: Juan José Valdez's last-minute escape is recalled as Americans watch the images of Afghans rushing toward aircraft at the Kabul airport. The Mexican American master gunnery sergeant told Telemundo Noticias the anguish and despair seen in Afghanistan as the U.S. carries out a chaotic withdrawal is triggering memories of the similar scramble during his last days in Vietnam.

Seven Capitol Police officers filed a lawsuit against former President Trump, several of his associates and extremist group leaders on Thursday, alleging they organized a plot to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power that culminated into the violent Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Why it matters: The suit argues that Trump and the other defendants violated the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which in part prohibited conspiracies to overthrow the federal government.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is threatening to withhold millions in state funds from Maricopa County if it doesn't comply with the state Senate's partisan audit of the 2020 election, according to a new report sent to the County Board of Supervisors reviewed by Axios.

Why it matters: Nine months after Election Day, this represents an escalation of a fight by Donald Trump-aligned Republicans — in this case, backed by state laws involving taxpayer funds and the power of the Attorney General's office — to continue baselessly questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

Political fundraising platforms are being pressured to crack down on deceptive practices to lure in and hook campaign donors.

Driving the news: Fundraising vendors for political parties and campaigns are facing a three-pronged effort to weed out the bad actors: critical media coverage, scrutiny from federal regulators and, increasingly, demands from their own customers and clients.

It's just over two months until a pivotal United Nations climate summit, and if Capitol Hill's importance to the equation wasn't already clear, it sure is now.

Catch up fast: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released an analysis showing the Democrats-only reconciliation plan — and to a much lesser degree the bipartisan infrastructure deal — would essentially put the U.S. on track to meet President Biden's pledge under the Paris Agreement.

Western nations are warning of a serious security threat outside Kabul's airport and have urged citizens not to travel there.

Driving the news: The Biden administration said there was a "credible" threat at the airport in Afghanistan's capital from an ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, per the New York Times. The British and Australian governments issued similar statements Thursday of an "ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack" in the area.

Steve Coll plans a final volume in his panoramic and investigative series on the U.S. misadventure in Central Asia, Penguin Press says.

What's next: His new work will pick up from where the his latest work left off, to the fall of Kabul and beyond.

On Feb. 15, one of Nixon’s closest aides will break his silence.

The intrigue: Dwight Chapin, who went to prison as a result of Watergate, was Nixon’s body man and traveling companion in the 1960s ... a protégé of Bob Haldeman ... and as a White House aide was responsible for the logistics of events ranging from Nixon's meeting with Elvis to the opening to China with Henry Kissinger.

After assembling a team of tough-minded regulators to take on big technology companies, the Biden administration on Wednesday called on many of those same companies to work with the federal government to address a growing wave of cyberattacks.

Driving the news: A White House summit between President Biden and tech leaders Wednesday, including the CEOs of Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM, concluded with a raft of announcements of new cybersecurity projects and spending plans.

Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and fellow Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) from Colorado are urging President Biden to declare a drought disaster in the West.

Driving the news: The lawmakers wrote to Biden Wednesday, calling on his administration to support Western governors' Federal Emergency Management Agency drought disaster declaration request issued earlier this month, as they experience water cuts driven by rapidly depleting supplies.

President Biden signed a bill into law Wednesday that's designed to make service dogs more accessible to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions.

Why it matters: The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that an average of 18 vets die by suicide every day in the U.S. Research by Kaiser Permanente and Purdue University veterans with PTSD can benefit physiologically from using service dogs.

Experts studying the origins of COVID-19 for the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the study has stalled and the "window of opportunity" is closing to trace the virus' origins.

Why it matters: The scientists warn in an essay in the journal Nature that any further delay "will render some of the studies biologically impossible," hampering understanding of the origins of the pandemic.

Video obtained by AP shows a Louisiana police officer in 2019 beating Aaron Larry Bowman, a Black man, 18 times with a flashlight, as he is heard screaming, "I'm not resisting! I'm not resisting!"

Driving the news: Bowman was left with a broken jaw, three fractured ribs, a broken wrist and a gash to his head that required six staples to close. The officer, who was white, defended the beating by saying it was "pain compliance" to get Bowman into handcuffs.

Gov. Greg Abbott has issued an executive order banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates by any Texas government entity and urged state lawmakers to pass it into law during the ongoing special session.

Why it matters: The announcement comes as Texas grapples with a massive surge in coronavirus cases and as the state reported the most COVID hospitalizations since the pandemic began.