Speaker Mike Johnson (R) behind Elon Musk (L) at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Elon Musk is aiming his ire, and massive online following, at House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Why it matters: In private, Musk failed to save the electric vehicle tax credit from being axed by the Trump budget bill, our colleague Marc Caputo scooped earlier today. Now he's trying to nuke the entire bill.
In the process, Musk is giving fodder for Democratic ad-makers next fall.
Embattled Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is about to have another new chief of staff, we scooped today.
Cabelle St. John, Fetterman's deputy chief of staff, will take over for Krysta Sinclair Juris, who succeeded Adam Jentleson as chief of staff last year.
Why it matters: For the first time in seven years, Wells Fargo is free to expand its business — take in more deposits, lend more to businesses and make acquisitions — in ways that might help it better compete on Wall Street.
Elon Musk's brutal attacks Tuesday on President Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" instantly became a centerpiece of Democratic messaging.
Why it matters: The recently departed Trump lieutenant blasted the bill as a "disgusting abomination" as Trump and GOP leaders are struggling to get it across the finish line in the Senate.
Elon Musk unloaded on President Trump's signature tax-and-spending bill Tuesday, declaring that he could no longer stay silent on what he called a "disgusting abomination."
"Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Musk wrote on X.
Why it matters: Musk's scathing criticism of the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill," passed by the House last month, comes just days after the former head of DOGE departed the Trump administration.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is demanding documents and other information from Attorney General Pam Bondi about the Justice Department's decision to charge Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The investigation marks a new chapter in Democrats' growing conflict with the Trump administration over its efforts to prosecute officials from other branches of government.
Elon Musk blasted President Trump's legacy legislation Tuesday, casting it as a bloated mess. But two sources who have spoken to Musk say he was frustrated at failing to win favorable treatment in the bill and the administration at large.
Why it matters: Musk's post on X calling Trump's "big, beautiful bill" a "disgusting abomination" of pork spending blindsided Trump's team when it was posted during a White House press briefing — and signaled the escalating tension that shadowed Musk's departure from government last week.
The federal Bureau of Prisons must continue to allow hormone therapy for transgender inmates, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The big picture: The decision temporarily bars the bureau from enforcing President Trump's executive order that prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender people in federal prisons.
The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded guidance telling health providers who perform abortions in emergency cases that they're protected under federal law even if bans exist in their states.
Why it matters: The directive was issued by the Biden administration to give legal assurances to physicians and other providers facing questions about what qualifies as an emergency under a state ban.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) on Tuesday became the latest Democrat to enter the increasingly crowded race to become ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
The group responsible for overseeing Democratic Party state efforts is strongly encouraging all its state campaigns to use a single digital ad tech platform from a company called TargetSmart.
Why it matters: The move aims to help Democrats streamline their ad buys and save money, but some critics say the one-vendor mandate is anticompetitive and limits innovation.
The Democratic National Committee is commandeering a taco truck to mock Trump's apparent fury at the slogan "Trump Always Chickens Out," or "TACO," Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Democrats clearly think they have found a way to get under the president's skin.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka sued a top Trump lawyer Tuesday for "false arrest and malicious prosecution" after he was detained during a visit to an ICE detention center in the city.
Why it matters: Baraka alleges that Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, has explicitly used her position to target Democratic politicians, including Sen. Cory Booker and Gov. Phil Murphy.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are pressing their Republican counterparts for a hearing with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem after an aide to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) was handcuffed by a DHS officer.
Why it matters: Nadler and Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) are arguing that the staffer's detention was not an isolated event.
The Department of Education is pausing the plan to garnish the Social Security benefits of those in default on their student loans, a White House spokesperson confirmed to Axios Tuesday.
Why it matters: It's a welcome bit of relief for older Americans who are in the awful position of still owing money for school loans and already receiving Social Security benefits.
California, New York and Texas have the greatest shares of the approximately 1.1 million international college students nationwide, per data from NAFSA, an international education nonprofit.
Keysight Technologies will receive U.S. antitrust approval for its $1.5 billion purchase of British telecom testing firm Spirent Communications, after agreeing to divest three of Spirent's businesses.
Why it matters: Remedies appear to be back, after a Biden-era antitrust regime that focused more on injunctions.
Three months later, Zelensky played a hand no one saw coming.
Why it matters: Ukraine's audacious drone operation, which destroyed nuclear-capable bombers deep inside Russian territory, delivered a strategic gut punch to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Many Americans say companies support Pride Month more for profit or pressure than principle, according to Pew Research Center data.
Why it matters: Some companies are pulling support for Pride and related events as they roll back diversity and inclusion initiatives amid pressure from the Trump administration and broader skepticism of corporate Pride.
Efforts to arrest and remove unauthorized immigrants appear most aggressive in five southern states with Democratic-leaning cities, while deeply red, rural states are seeing less activity, according to an Axios analysis.
Why it matters: Our review of removal orders, pending deportation cases and agreements between immigration officials and local law enforcement agencies sheds light on where the Trump administration is dispatching resources to support its mass deportation plan.
John Thune sketched an ambitious timetable for passing a compromise budget bill, telling members of the Finance Committee on Monday night that they need to move quickly to meet a July 4 deadline for President Trump's signature.
Why it matters: Pens need to be put down soon. The Senate GOP leader is signaling to his conference that debating and drafting will need to end if they want to meet their self-imposed deadline.
"The leadership is going to try to hit the president's goal of getting this done by July 4, which means things are going to have to move much faster," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Jewish lawmakers are worried by a growing spate of attacks aimed at Jews — with some openly saying they may be next on the target list.
The big picture: Concerns about Jewish safety spiked again this week after a man yelling "free Palestine" threw Molotov cocktails at attendees of a Boulder, Colorado, rally advocating for the release of hostages held by Hamas.
"The Jewish people across America — and all Americans — should be horrified, and we are in great pain," Schumer said Monday on MSNBC. "Unfortunately, as we have seen, it's not an isolated incident."
GOP leaders are making fresh noise about moving forward with sanctions on Russia following Ukraine's unprecedented drone strikes deep inside Russia this past weekend.
Why it matters: As we told you last Monday, Senate Republicans are seizing on President Trump's growing frustration with Vladimir Putin to unstick fresh penalties against Moscow.
Thune said Monday that senators "stand ready to provide President Trump with any tools he needs to get Russia to finally come to the table in a real way" and that the chamber could vote this month on a broadly bipartisan sanctions bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters he'd not discussed the issue with Trump but "there are many members of Congress that want us to sanction Russia as strongly as we can, and I'm an advocate of that."
Freshman Sen. Ruben Gallego(D-Ariz.) is already making moves to appeal to moderates and boost his national profile with an eye toward a possible 2028 presidential run.
Why it matters: Gallego's 50% Arizona approval rating in May is higher than President Trump's and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs', according to new polling by Noble Predictive Insights, a Phoenix-based nonpartisan polling firm.
Gallego kept his Arizona seat in Democrats' column last November despite Trump's victory there.
Zoom in: Gallego criticized the Democratic Party last month for "kicking people out of the tent" ahead of the 2024 election.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday sketched an ambitious timetable for passing a compromise budget bill, telling members of the Finance Committee they need to move quickly to meet a July 4 deadline for President Trump's signature.
Why it matters: Pens need to be put down soon. Thune (R-S.D.) is signaling to his conference that debating and drafting will need to end in order to meet their deadline.
Freshman Sen. Ruben Gallego is already making moves to appeal to moderates and boost his national profile barely five months after winning his seat.
Why it matters: Gallego (D-Ariz.) — like a growing number of Senate Democrats— is positioning himself for a possible 2028 presidential run as his party looks to build a fresh bench after their devastating loss in November.
Jewish members of Congress are worried by a spate of attacks aimed at Jews — and are openly saying they may be next on the target list.
Why it matters: There has been a sharp rise in antisemitism and threats against lawmakers in recent years. For some Jewish representatives, the two trends are eerily correlated.
Bill Gates will spend most of his wealth on improving health and education services in Africa over the next 20 years, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder pledged Monday.
The big picture: He announced last month plans to spend more than $200 billion through the Gates Foundation that he established with ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, 25 years ago. Once "virtually all" of the fortune of the former world's richest man is gone, he said the Seattle-based philanthropic organization would close on Dec. 31, 2045.
