Axios

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is facing strong headwinds – including opposition from House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) – as she tries to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Why it matters: Senior Democrats say that while Ocasio-Cortez is seen as the favorite over Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the race is still in play.

There were no undercover FBI employees at the U.S. Capitol or rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a new watchdog report that further debunked conspiracy theories that law enforcement instigated the deadly riot.

The big picture: The report from Inspector General Michael Horowitz undercuts the false claim among President-elect Trump's supporters and allies that a covert intelligence effort facilitated the infamous attack to ensnare the MAGA movement.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has called for the drones spotted flying over New Jersey and other parts of the northeast to be shot down "if necessary" as the mystery continues over who is responsible for the unmanned aerial vehicles.

Why it matters: The call for potential action comes as the White House said the drones have not been involved in any malicious activity, but lawmakers from the impacted states have grown frustrated by a lack of answers amid safety concerns.

A surfer dressed as Santa Claus rides with a surfer with Down syndrome last weekend in Dana Point, Calif.

• 🏄‍♂️ Surfing Santa is an annual benefit for Surfers Healing, a surf camp for children with autism.

A Senate committee vote to nominate Caroline Crenshaw for another term as a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission was stymied Wednesday in a round of political gamesmanship.

Why it matters: The delay complicates the chances that Crenshaw, a Biden appointee whose renomination is opposed by the committee's current GOP ranking member, will see a vote before President-elect Trump is sworn in.

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) edged out a crowded field to score the highly coveted House Financial Services Committee gavel.

Why it matters: Hill, who won the GOP steering committee's backing Thursday, will help lead the House's efforts to collaborate with President-elect Trump's administration on cryptocurrency, banking policy, the pot industry and a range of other issues.

Missing American traveler Travis Timmerman was found outside of Damascus, Syria, after being imprisoned for months.

Why it matters: His capture in Syria earlier this year was not widely known, but his discovery and release from prison followed the stunning collapse of the Assad regime earlier this week.

All that stands between Congress and its holiday recess is the rapidly approaching deadline to keep the federal government operating into the new year when Republicans will reign in both chambers.

Why it matters: While lawmakers in both parties expect the government to stay open past the Dec. 20 deadline, passing spending measures to keep the government's lights on in the past have been bruising exercises for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, along with 25 other Republican governors, said in a Wednesday statement that he'd use "state law enforcement or the National Guard" to help with President-elect Trump's mass deportation plans.

Why it matters: The federal government doesn't have enough resources to carry out Trump's goal of deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants from the U.S. without cooperation from state and local police.  

The Bible's Book of Revelation has influenced U.S. immigration policy, with interpretations of America as the New Jerusalem and unwanted migrants as the castaways meant for Hell, a New Testament scholar says in a new book.

Why it matters: White American evangelicals continue to shape U.S. policy by using strict interpretations of the Bible as a guide, and Yale Divinity professor Yii-Jan Lin argues this has always been the case around immigration.

Migrant and refugee crackdowns worldwide amid war, violence, climate change, technological surveillance and the rise of authoritarian rulers are giving fuel to a new genre in literature — the dystopian immigration novel.

Why it matters: Dystopian fiction around climate chaos and neo-fascist, theocratic regimes has boomed since the 2010s, but in recent years, more writers have tackled dystopian visions around human migration that serve as warnings.

Giving Ukraine a green light to launch missiles into Russia was "a foolish decision" by the Biden administration, President-elect Trump said in an interview with Time magazine.

Why it matters: Trump's comments suggest that he could end the Biden administration's support for Ukraine's offensive.

President-elect Trump did not commit to pursuing a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict, telling Time magazine in a new interview that it's only one of several options in the region.

Why it matters: Trump presented a peace plan in January 2020 that was based on a two-state solution. But he did not recommit to that proposal as his second term approaches.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) will run for reelection to Congress rather than mount a bid for governor in 2026, his campaign spokesperson told Axios.

Why it matters: Dozens of House members are eyeing potential runs for higher office, but the House GOP's bare-thin majority next year is causing some of its members to rethink their ambitions.

President-elect Trump floated the disproven claim that vaccines cause autism in his TIME magazine interview published Thursday.

The big picture: Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an open vaccine skeptic, to head the Department of Health and Human Services, prompting some health experts to warn of his lack of experience and how he could deliver setbacks to American health care.

President-elect Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his inauguration ceremony, incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.

Why it matters: Trump's outreach comes after he threatened imposing major tariffs on the country and tapped a bevy of China hawks to join his incoming administration.

President-elect Trump told Time magazine he will ensure the FDA will not block access to abortion pills on his watch, the first time he has made such a commitment.

Why it matters: Medication abortions account for nearly two-thirds of all abortions nationwide. Anti-abortion groups and some Trump allies see limiting access to abortion pill mifepristone as a top priority in the new term — but, for now at least, Trump does not.

President-elect Trump suggested in a TIME magazine interview published Thursday that Vice President Harris should have known she wasn't up to the challenge of running for president.

Why it matters: Following a neck-and-neck race, Trump exceeded expectations in the 2024 election, trouncing Harris in all seven swing states and cinching the popular vote for the GOP for the first time in 20 years.

President-elect Trump pointed to his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as a relative who could carry on the Trump political dynasty in his TIME "Person of the Year" interview published Thursday.

Why it matters: Trump, 78, has reshaped the modern Republican Party, and though his upcoming White House term will be his last at least one family member has signaled openness to running for political office.

President-elect Trump brushed aside concerns about conflicts of interest involving his adviser Elon Musk, insisting the world's richest man would put the country first.

Why it matters: Musk has Trump's ear on a broad range of government functions that directly impact his space, auto and social media businesses —and those of his competitors, too.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a leading progressive, said at an Axios event Thursday the Democratic Party needs to move away from its "seven state strategy" and reach out to a broader swath of voters.

Why it matters: Democrats are looking for ways to dig themselves out of their losses this November, with progressives arguing the party needs to do more to appeal to the working class.

Sen.-elect Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said at an Axios live event Thursday that the price tag for mass deportations will be "well worth it" under the Trump administration.

Why it matters: Congress will likely have to fund President-elect Trump's plan for broad deportations of undocumented immigrants, and it could be quite pricey.

President-elect Trump said in his TIME "Person of the Year" interview out Thursday that he would be open to using camps to hold detained immigrants in the U.S.

Why it matters: Cracking down on undocumented immigrants, including via mass deportations, was a cornerstone pledge of Trump's 2024 campaign.

Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) threw his support behind Senate Republican leadership's plan to move a border package as the party's first big legislative push at an Axios event on Thursday morning.

Why it matters: The plan from top Senate Republicans has split the party. Key House conservatives want to move one big package that also includes a major tax bill.

President Biden on Thursday commuted the sentences of 1,500 Americans who were placed in home confinement during the pandemic and pardoned another 39 people in what the White House said is the record for clemency in a single day.

Why it matters: Several members of Congress in both parties had pushed Biden to make broader use of his clemency powers in the wake of his highly unpopular decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden.

President-elect Trump will return to the Oval Office backed by a new team of senior officials and Cabinet members who are committed to exposing supposed conspiracies within the "deep state" they will now help run.

Why it matters: Trump bounded into politics with the racist "birther" conspiracy, crafted the '"Big Lie" to explain away his 2020 loss, and was swept back into office after falsely claiming Haitian immigrants were eating family pets in Ohio. Key players in his second administration share his conspiratorial worldview and are ready to act on it.

Time magazine named President-elect Trump as its "2024 Person of the Year" on Thursday.

The big picture: Presidential-election winners are often the honorees, and although Time rarely picks the same person twice, Trump was also selected in 2016.

The notorious Question 61 on the green card application form, about "the public charge ground of inadmissibility," has finally been fixed.

Why it matters: People filling out the new I-485 form are much less likely to inadvertently perjure themselves, which would open them to the possibility of harsh penalties.

The vitriol directed at health insurers following the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson could prompt more scrutiny of an industry thought to be facing a favorable regulatory outlook in the second Trump administration.

The big picture: Parent UnitedHealth Group's plummeting market value this week suggests investors fear a regulatory crackdown in response to the public outcry over coverage denials and corporate indifference.

Governance, media, business and global geopolitics are all being reordered at breakneck speed — all simultaneously.

• It's the Great Upheaval.

Why it matters: We're witnessing more change ... across more parts of life ... at more speed ... than ever before.

President-elect Trump's nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health has drawn scorn for his views on herd immunity and COVID, but Jay Bhattacharya's arrival would put renewed focus on why a research institution with a nearly $48 billion budget doesn't have more breakthroughs.

Why it matters: The controversial Stanford professor could rattle the scientific establishment and turf-conscious lawmakers in Congress, but also satisfy skeptics' calls for a serious look under the hood at how NIH works.

Meta donated $1 million to President-elect Trump's inaugural fund, Trump representatives and the social media giant confirmed.

Why it matters: Big Tech CEOs have been working to gain access and influence with Trump since he won the election last month, per Axios' Ivana Saric.

President-elect Trump said Wednesday the next head of the agency in charge of Voice of America will appoint former television news anchor Kari Lake to serve as director of the federally funded broadcaster.

The big picture: Lake will work with the next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media "to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media," Trump said of the MAGA loyalist on Truth Social.

The director of the Israeli Mossad met with Qatar's prime minister in Doha on Wednesday for talks about a hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal, according to two sources familiar with the visit.

Why it matters: The Mossad director's trip to Qatar was part of an effort to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas before the inauguration of President-elect Trump in January.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down the Nasdaq's diversity disclosure rules for companies listed on the stock exchange, which were designed to boost the representation of women and minority directors on boards.

The big picture: The conservative-majority New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Securities and Exchange Commission did not have the power to approve the rule that required companies to ensure women and minority directors were on their boards or provide an explanation of why this was not the case.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson has decided to elevate Micah Yousefi to lead the NRCC for the 2026 cycle.

Why it matters: By promoting Yousefi, who served as the deputy executive director in the 2024 cycle, Hudson is signaling continuity at the organization he'll now lead for a second cycle.

Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) delivered their potentially final rebuke to outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today, surprising him with two "no" votes on a nomination that was deeply important to their old party.

Why it matters: Schumer is closing out the Biden presidency the same way he started it: Wondering if he can count on Manchin and Sinema.

Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is telling colleagues that negotiations to allow the Washington Commanders to return to the RFK Stadium site are making progress — and a deal could be included in the short-term spending bill, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Schumer still wants Maryland, the NFL and the Commanders to reach an agreement that satisfies all parties. It's not clear that they have done so.