Axios

Immigration is a winning issue for President Trump, while his historic tariffs have plummeting favorability among voters, polls show.

The big picture: Trump has made sweeping changes on both the immigration and economic fronts — two key areas he campaigned on and won voters' support. But now that he's implemented some of his promised policies, the poll numbers shows mixed reviews.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing the government after a federal agency referred her for potential criminal prosecution for alleged mortgage fraud.

Why it matters: It's the latest example of the administration following through on President Trump's pledges to seek retribution against his political enemies.

The Trump administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status, multiple outlets reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.

Why it matters: The Trump administration is escalating its retaliation against the Ivy League university after it refused to comply with the administration's list of demands.

President Trump told Fox Noticias that he "doesn't know what to believe" about a pair of assassination attempts against him during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Why it matters: The president's comments, which included a suggestion that he might release more investigative findings to the public, indicate that Trump isn't yet satisfied with what he's been told about law enforcement's probes.

Chris Krebs, a top cybersecurity official in the first Trump administration, is leaving his role at SentinelOne to focus on fighting the new government investigation into his time in public service.

Why it matters: Krebs made the announcement in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, his first since President Trump opened a probe into Krebs' time leading the country's top cybersecurity agency.

Chips sector sentiment soured Wednesday amid signs that the semiconductor industry is facing further export restrictions on advanced AI products.

Why it matters: The global AI race is colliding with the trade war between the U.S. and China — and chip makers are caught in the middle.

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) is the latest Democrat trying to organize an official congressional delegation to El Salvador, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: There is a flood of interest among Democratic lawmakers to travel to the central American country, where the Trump administration has been sending deportees to a maximum security prison.

The government of El Salvador denied a request from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to see or speak to his Maryland constituent who was mistakenly deported there, the senator said during a visit to the country on Wednesday.

The big picture: Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is being held at a high-security prison for terrorists in El Salvador as the Trump administration evades courts' orders to facilitate his release, despite conceding that he was deported in an "administrative error."

President Trump fired the two Democrats on the three-member board of the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates the nation's credit unions.

Why it matters: These latest firings, on the heels of similar dismissals at other agencies believed to be independent, is sparking concern that the Federal Reserve's independence is under threat — a matter of enormous consequence to the stability of financial markets.

A federal judge said Wednesday that he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for defying his order to halt deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.

Why it matters: The Trump administration's defiance of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's order last month has sparked a high-stakes legal battle that could test the limits of President Trump's deportation powers.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is seriously considering a run for governor of New York after withdrawing her nomination for ambassador to the United Nations, two sources familiar with her thinking confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: It could set up a clash between the former House Republican Conference chair and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who has long been teasing a gubernatorial run.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the unusual step of publicly contradicting one of his own agencies' autism studies on Tuesday, suggesting at a press conference that "environmental factors" including drugs, not improved screening, were causing a spike in confirmed cases.

Why it matters: Kennedy's assertion that researchers and the media are engaging in what he called "epidemic denial" around the condition could further stoke vaccine skepticism and broader public trust in science, experts say.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is suing Maine's education department Wednesday after the state refused to bar trans athletes from girls' sports in accordance with an order from President Trump.

The big picture: The standoff deepened last week when Maine's attorney general refused to sign an agreement to force the state education agency to change its policy on transgender athletes. Maine argues Title IX does not prohibit schools from allowing transgender girls to participate in girls' sports.

A dozen swing-district and centrist House Republicans are warning Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that they won't vote for a budget reconciliation package that cuts Medicaid too deeply.

Why it matters: It puts Johnson in a vise as members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus demand steep cuts to the health program for low-income individuals.

Democrats are rushing to organize trips to El Salvador as President Trump refuses to comply with a Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of a Maryland resident who was erroneously deported to the country.

Why it matters: It's not just about one deportee, or even immigration policy, lawmakers say. "This is about a president of the United States defying the Supreme Court and wanting to be a king," said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that his state plans to sue in an attempt to block President Trump's sweeping tariff regime.

Why it matters: California, the fifth-largest economy in the world, could lose billions in Trump's trade war with China. The lawsuit marks the first time a state has sued Trump over his massive, market-rattling levies that sent ripples through the global economy.

There's probably room for the EU to buy even more U.S. oil and gas, but the $350 billion target President Trump floated to bargain down new tariffs would be a heavy lift.

Why it matters: Trump sees U.S. fossil fuels as a negotiating point with countries in Europe and Asia — a merger of his trade and "energy dominance" agendas.

U.S. courts have the potential to be the biggest threat yet to the central tenet of President Trump's economic agenda.

Why it matters: Legal groups representing Main Street businesses want judges to block some tariffs as lawsuits against the levies make their way through the judicial system.

Worries are growing over funding for Head Start, the decades-old federal program that provides childcare, nutrition assistance and other services to the nation's poorest families.

Why it matters: Shuttering the program — something the White House is reportedly considering — would be "catastrophic," says Casey Peeks, senior director of Early Childhood Policy at the liberal Center for American Progress.

President Trump's wide-ranging executive order aimed at lowering pharmaceutical costs revives policies from his first term and alters programs started during the Biden administration — including making a drug industry-backed change to Medicare drug price negotiations.

The big picture: The order that Trump signed on Tuesday may be sweeping, but consists largely of ideas that have already been floated or even tried before.

Beyond tariffs and court battles over Trump policies, two pieces of White House palace intrigue emerged Tuesday:

1. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspended two top Pentagon officials, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, as part of an investigation into who leaked word of a planned top-secret briefing on China for Elon Musk.
2. Axios learned that Musk or Hegseth didn't just decide to call off that briefing after the leak. President Trump himself ordered staffers to kill it.

Harvard's decision to push back against President Trump's pressure tactics shows other institutions targeted by his administration that there's an alternative to swift capitulation.

Why it matters: Harvard is an international brand with a $53 billion endowment — a rare institution with the resources and willpower to withstand an onslaught of funding cuts and investigations from the government.

If the Maryland man erroneously deported to El Salvador manages to return to the U.S., he will be detained and removed from the country, the Department of Justice said in a court filing Tuesday.

The big picture: The Trump administration is resisting the court's orders to return Kilmar Armando Ábrego García from a notorious Salvadorian prison, despite conceding that he was deported in an "administrative error" — and a federal judge later Tuesday wouldn't rule out holding the government in contempt of court, per multiple reports.

The Pentagon placed two top officials on administrative leave on Tuesday as part of an investigation into leaks at the Defense Department, a department official confirmed.

The big picture: Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was escorted out of the Pentagon building as part of an "unauthorized disclosure" investigation, Reuters first reported.

Two U.S. service members were killed and another seriously wounded in a military "vehicle accident" in New Mexico on Tuesday, per a United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM) statement.

The big picture: "Three service members deployed in support of Joint Task Force Southern Border were involved in a vehicle accident" around 8:50am near Santa Teresa, N.M., some 13 miles northwest of El Paso, Texas, NORTHCOM said.