Axios

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing new pressure from a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee to walk back his appointments of two controversial right-wing lawmakers to the panel.

Why it matters: The appointees – Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) – both have major blemishes on their records that have led lawmakers in both parties to question their fitness for the committee.

A House vote on holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress is in severe danger of being pulled by GOP leadership, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Canceling the vote would be a letdown for conservatives who have pounded the table for the vote — and showcases the weakness of Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) thin House majority.

Former President Trump is set to return to Capitol Hill on Thursday for the first time since leaving office, with plans for strategy sessions with House and Senate Republicans about the upcoming election and his 2025 agenda.

Why it matters: The meetings are part of an effort to boost GOP ranks in Congress and help Trump get a jump on his policy agenda should he win back the White House in November.

Former President Trump will meet with Republican senators Thursday afternoon in D.C., according to a copy of an invitation sent to senators on Monday and multiple sources familiar.

Why it matters: Trump will share his summer plans, and senators will be able to pitch their ideas for a "strategic governing agenda in 2025," according to the invite.

House Democrats are pointing to Hunter Biden's guilty verdict as a body blow to Republican claims that the judicial system is rigged against conservatives.

Why it matters: It's an attempt to blunt a multi-pronged Republican effort to chip away at the the perceived legitimacy of former President Trump's guilty verdict in his New York hush money case.

President Biden said in a statement Tuesday that he would accept the outcome of his son Hunter's trial and conviction.

Why it matters: Biden is seeking re-election as his son possibly faces prison time after being found guilty on all charges in his federal gun trial.

A new book takes readers deep inside the world of gun smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico, a major contributor of violence south of the border.

Why it matters: It's estimated that up to half a million weapons are smuggled every year from the U.S. to Mexico, which has seen spiking gun violence despite strict regulations.

• There were more than 30,000 homicides in Mexico last year, and at least 70% were committed with firearms, according to Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography.

Zoom in: Ieva Jusionyte's recently released "Exit Wounds: How America's Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border" tells the story of how guns make it into Mexico and the effects it has on the nation, especially in its northern regions.

1. Colombia will no longer send coal to Israel, President Gustavo Petro announced this weekend.

• The South American nation is Israel's biggest coal supplier.
• Colombia broke off bilateral relations with the Israeli government last month.

2. Chile's government said it plans to take over the land of the former "Colonia Dignidad," set up by a German preacher in the 1960s.

• People in the colonia were subjected to torture and sex abuse, and leaders of the site were also party to forced disappearances and human rights abuses committed by the 1973-1989 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Former President Trump will huddle with House Republicans on Capitol Hill during his visit to Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: It comes as Trump is plotting with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hit the ground running with a Republican policy agenda if he retakes the White House in November.

Florida's restrictions on gender-affirming care for both minors and adults are unconstitutional and cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Why it matters: The decision lifts restrictions for transgender adults and overturns a ban on trans children seeking care such as hormones and puberty blockers — considered necessary, sometimes life-saving health treatment by the mainstream medical establishment.

A group of House Democrats is launching a task force to take on Project 2025, a sprawling policy roadmap for how right-wing groups envision a second Trump administration.

Why it matters: The Biden campaign and other Democrats have already seized on the Heritage Project plan for its proposed restrictions on abortion and contraception, among other culture war pushes.

A new book takes readers deep inside the world of gun smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico, a major contributor to violence south of the border.

Why it matters: It's estimated up to half a million weapons are smuggled every year down to Mexico, which has seen spiking gun violence despite strict regulations.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden was found guilty on all charges Tuesday in his federal gun trial that began earlier in June, making him the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime.

Why it matters: The president's son now faces sentencing, and possibly prison, as his father seeks reelection.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and one of his lead prosecutors in the New York criminal case against former President Trump will testify to a GOP-controlled House panel in July, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Republicans are engaged in a multi-pronged strategy to undermine Trump's historic felony conviction in his New York hush money case, and that includes investigating the prosecution.

A growing part of the Latino electorate is relating less to the Democratic Party and more to the GOP because of blue-collar economic issues, an anti-Trump Republican consultant says in an upcoming book.

The big picture: The gradual shift makes Latinos the new "Reagan Democrats" — moderate Democrats in the 1980s who supported President Ronald Reagan — and may change assumptions of race and politics that both parties aren't prepared to face, author Mike Madrid argues.

The Biden and Trump camps will engage in a long-distance economic showdown on Thursday, as both sides try to sell corporate America on their vision for 2025 and beyond.

Driving the news: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will defend President Biden's approach at the Economic Club of New York, where she'll argue that tax cuts for the wealthy and deregulation for big business aren't the best ways to grow the economy.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) are slated to meet with former President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on June 17, two sources familiar with their plans told Axios.

Why it matters: House Republicans are working with a razor-thin majority and face an uphill climb to retain control of the chamber next year.

Attorney General Merrick Garland made an impassioned plea Tuesday for an end to attacks on the Justice Department that he said have become routine and undermine democracy in the U.S.

Why it matters: Threats against the Justice Department and its employees have ramped up in recent weeks and the department is "under attack like never before," Garland wrote in a Tuesday Washington Post op-ed.

Ancestry.com will release a new collection of newspaper records related to enslaved people in the U.S. that will be searchable thanks to AI, the company announced Tuesday.

Why it matters: The new records show how enslaved people were bought and sold or how some tried to escape, helping Black Americans locate the painful pasts of individual ancestors.

The Port of Baltimore's main shipping channel fully reopened on Monday after a massive cleanup effort following the Francis Scott Key Bridge's deadly collapse.

The big picture: Traffic had been restricted in the port, one of the busiest in the U.S., since the bridge collapsed and killed six construction workers on March 26.

Bipartisan talks in the Senate over possible sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) have hit a standstill, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Deciding how strongly to respond to the court's decision to seek an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a politically thorny issue ahead of the 2024 election.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) appears to be looking for a way to hold influence over the Democratic Party, even as he's on trial on federal corruption charges.

Why it matters: That's what Democratic insiders in New Jersey now think of Menendez's surprise independent bid to retain the Senate seat he's held since 2006.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Former President Trump on Monday told a Christian group that has vowed to "eradicate" abortion that if he's re-elected, "you're going to make a comeback like no other group."

Driving the news: That was about as bold as Trump got, however — his comments to the pastors and churchgoers of the Danbury Institute were brief, pre-taped and did not include the word "abortion."