House Democrats are seething over what is, by all indications, a nationwide Republican effort to elevate Democratic primary candidates viewed as more beatable in November.
Why it matters: This once-rare practice is becoming commonplace. Democrats did it in 2022 and 2024, with one House Democrat telling Axios it "seems like the new normal."
CIA Director John Ratcliffe told President Trump and other senior officials that evidence gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies raises serious doubts about Iran's willingness to make the nuclear concessions the U.S. is seeking in any final deal, according to three sources familiar with those discussions.
Friction point: Ratcliffe isn't the only skeptic in Trump's top team. In internal discussions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth both expressed concerns and raised questions about the memorandum of understanding (MOU) announced Sunday, while Vice President Vance and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner advocated for it, according to two of the sources.
The U.K. plans to ban children under 16 from major social media platforms starting in 2027, joining a growing international effort to restrict minors' access.
Why it matters: Governments worldwide are increasingly pursuing social media restrictions for minors amid concerns about young people's health, wellbeing and online safety.
Data: Pew Research Center; Map: Danielle Alberti/Axios
At least 33 states and D.C. will give most state government workers a paid day off Friday for Juneteenth this year, according to the Pew Research Center.
Why it matters: States differ considerably on how to mark the day when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free.
President Trump is billing Washington, D.C.'s July 4 celebration of 250 years of American independence as a political rally for himself.
Why it matters: Turning America's birthday into a Trump rally underscores the tension in the nation's capital between bipartisan celebrations of U.S. history and the partisan spectacle of Trump's presidency.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday sent letters to four large infrastructure investors, requesting more information on their data center deals, Axios has learned.
She's specifically interested in possible overlaps between ownership of data centers and utilities (i.e., the demand and supply), but does not allege any wrongdoing.
Why it matters: There is growing political anxiety over data centers that underly the AI revolution, particularly as energy prices rise, and private equity's involvement pours populist fuel on the fire.
Boris Epshteyn is such a fixturein Donald Trump's White House that he's in Oval Office meetings when some attendees don't even know it.
Epshteyn, the president's senior personal counsel, speaks with "the boss" so often that Trump sometimes puts him on speakerphone without telling others in the room, two people familiar with the routine tell Axios.
Why it matters: In a White House where proximity to power is power itself, Epshteyn is one of the most influential people in D.C. — not just because he's listening in, but because Trump listens to him as well.
Former Federal Reserve governor Stephen Miran is returning to Hudson Bay Capital Management as a senior strategist in his first role since leaving the Fed in May.
The big picture: Miran returns to the hedge fund with a rare insider view of the White House's economic agenda and the Fed's interest rate-setting debates after serving as President Trump's top economist and the central bank's most persistent advocate for lower rates.
