Alex Saab, an ally and former minister of Venezuela's ex-President Nicolás Maduro, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to launder proceeds from a bribery and fraud scheme in Venezuela and the U.S., prosecutors said.
Why it matters: Federal prosecutors allege that Saab previously oversaw funding for Maduro, and his plea deal could bolster U.S. prosecutors' separate case against the former Venezuelan leader, who is awaiting trial in New York.
Lawmakers who want to regulate AI are doing something unusual as Congress barrels towards a lengthy recess with no tangible solution in sight: They're working across the aisle.
Why it matters: Bipartisanship is increasingly elusive on Capitol Hill of late, but it remains a crucial first step for action in a Senate that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation.
Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) filed a complaint against the top Republican and Democrat on the House Ethics Committee on Tuesday, accusing the lawmakers who investigated him of breaking their own rules.
Why it matters: Edwards is escalating his fight against the committee just two weeks after the House voted 413-2 to censure him over its findings that he violated House rules related to sexual harassment and a hostile workplace.
The Senate voted Tuesday to move forward with a sweeping college sports bill, clearing a key procedural hurdle.
Why it matters: After moths of negotiations and revisions — and with support from President Trump — the legislation finally won enough bipartisan support to clear the Senate's 60-vote threshold.
The Epstein files fight that consumed the House last year is threatening to engulf Republicans all over again.
Why it matters: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is now just one Republican away from having the support he needs to force another politically painful Epstein vote — and he and his allies are hunting for the final GOP signature.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told a conference Tuesday that while people were right to be afraid of the risks of AI, he was confident that the industry would be able to develop the technology safely.
Why it matters: His comments come as he and other AI leaders have been seeking to demonstrate that the industry understands the risks even as they acknowledge that the rapid trajectory of AI makes the stakes that much higher.
Why it matters: As with the last two times, the vote divided House Democrats. Some sided with Green, but others voted "present" or actively helped GOP leadership defeat the effort.
The Kennedy Center's board voted Tuesday to close the iconic performing arts center's main building for a renovation project championed by President Trump, multiple outletsreported and a source familiar confirmed to Axios.
Why it matters: Trump's attempts to put his name on the building, which memorializes former President John F. Kennedy, have fueled an ongoing legal and political battle.
A new GOP super PAC — with digital ties to the Senate Leadership Fund — is jumping into the Nebraska Senate race with an initial $1.4 million ad buy to help protect Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.).
Why it matters: The big buy in a small state is another sign that Republicans feel the need to spend in states President Trump won comfortably in 2024.
The Clarity Act failed to advance in a key Senate procedural vote Tuesday, a major setback for the long-sought crypto legislation and the industry that had made it its top policy goal.
Why it matters: The bill would create a new federal regulatory framework for the $2.3 trillion crypto industry, but has faced growing opposition from Democrats due to President Donald Trump's investments in the sector.
President Trump's longtime pollster is offering Republican candidates a detailed playbook for neutralizing Democratic attacks over AI data centers — down to what language they should and shouldn't use.
Why it matters: Republican strategists say GOP candidates have been all over the map in responding to the backlash to data centers.
President Trump's promised $5,000 checks lack widespread support, and there's skepticism about whether the president will actually deliver them, a new Economist/YouGov poll finds.
The big picture: Trump is dangling the checks ahead of the midterm elections at a time when Americans are frustrated by rising costs.
FBI Director Kash Patel was pushed to explain his agency's eyebrow-raising hiring guidance around prostitution and bestiality in a tense Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.
The big picture: The questioning on the topic from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) brings fresh scrutiny on an FBI leader who has had to answer forrepeatedcontroversies since taking office.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced a resolution Tuesday to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of defying Congress and illegally continuing the U.S. war in Iran.
Why it matters: The impeachment effort is a long shot in the GOP-controlled Congress, but Massie's resolution is privileged, meaning he can force a full House vote and put Republicans on the record over Hegseth's handling of the Iran war.
The Trump administration has a new villain in the battle over how fast AI development should move: effective altruism.
Why it matters: The philosophy, which promotes the use of evidence and reason to do the most good for humanity, has helped shape and fund parts of the AI safety movement.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Kennedy Center's latest attempt to put President Trump's name on the performing arts center violated his earlier order blocking its renaming.
The big picture: The order came just before the Kennedy Center's board, now composed of Trump loyalists, is set to weigh shutting down the building for renovations that members argue must include Trump being "appropriately recognized" on the structure.
President Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court on Tuesday after it struck down the president's mail-in voting order Monday night.
Why it matters: The president slammed the justices over rulings they've issued against him this year, suggesting without evidence that the three justices he appointed to the court are being controlled by the left.
Department of Homeland Security employees were instructed to access state voter databases in ways a whistleblower alleges violate state law, according to a new report.
Why it matters: The policy signals the Trump administration's persistence in trying to root out purported voter fraud by any means necessary.
New York City and five other Democratic-led local governments sued the Department of Homeland Security to block a new Trump administration rule they say will drive immigrants and mixed-status families away from public benefits they can legally receive.
Why it matters: The cities warn the rule could drive hundreds of thousands out of health, food and housing programs, worsening public health, increasing homelessness and shifting millions of dollars in costs to local hospitals and governments.
The U.S. military destroyed two Iranian small boats Monday after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tried to steal a Navy drone patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: The unusual incident shows how efforts to restore normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continues direct confrontation with Iran.
The U.S. military initially didn't disclose the strike, and Iranian media presented it as a drone strike on "fishing boats."
President Trump's claim that Ukraine agreed to halt strikes on Russian energy targets coincided with a pullback in oil prices and Treasury yields Monday.
Why it matters: Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia have crippled large swaths of the country's refining capacity, creating embarrassing shortages and prompting Russian officials to curtail exports to shore up domestic supplies.
Russia has long been one of the world's largest exporters of diesel, and its export ban contributed to a worldwide ripple of diesel fuel shortages and price spikes, including in the U.S., where the national average price for diesel jumped to $6 per gallon in recent days.
What they're saying: "Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise! The World's Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran. President DJT," Trump posted.
The other side: The Ukrainians sounded somewhat skeptical, with President Volodymyr Zelensky stating that "Ukraine is not convinced that Russia is willing to abide by any agreement."
"If our partners are ready to ensure that Russia genuinely refrains from striking our electricity system, other energy facilities, critical infrastructure, and food supply routes, then, of course, we are ready to ensure a corresponding halt to our strikes."
The bottom line: In any case, diesel prices, crude oil and Treasury bond yields declined after Trump's message.
Zoom out: The market moves were a potent reminder that Trump's online pronouncements can still matter for investors.
The product offers access — the cost is between $60,000 and $100,000 per month — to a data feed of "published and publicly available posts fractionally faster," according to Trump Media CEO Kevin McGurn, including those of the president and other top accounts on Truth Social.
Trump owns roughly 41% of the outstanding shares in Trump Media.
Friction point: The product is the focus of a lawsuit filed last month by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and nonprofit news organization The Intercept, which accuses the president and the administration of violating the First Amendment and profiting from selling government information.
"This scheme is profoundly corrupt. The President stands to gain financially by giving 'market-moving' government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company," the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint.
A Trump Media spokesperson said: "Information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs. One of those channels is Truth Social, which was founded as an uncancellable haven for free speech after the President was deplatformed. Now, left-wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Disclosure: In 2023, TMTG sued 20 media organizations, including Axios, for defamation. Litigation is ongoing.
House Democratic leadership is vocally opposing a Russia sanctions bill set to come to a vote this week, but not all of their members are comfortable taking that stance just yet.
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is investigating a Russian oligarch's reported financial involvement in a celebration related to Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Garcia is poised to be Congress' lead investigator if Democrats retake the House. This probe offers a hint of the direction he'll go in that role.
The second-most powerful man at the State Department put the brakes on a U.S. international exhibit featuring a bull statue because he worried it might look like Baal, a pagan god some associate with Satanic child sacrifice.
Why it matters: The anecdote illustrates the quirky interests of Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, according to department critics, who say he spends too much time on social media focusing on the unimportant.
President Trump declared war on the AI safety panic Monday, dismissing the industry's apocalyptic warnings as part of a "sick conspiracy" to sabotage America and his legacy.
Why it matters: Trump is rewriting a complex, years-long debate over AI's dangers in the partisan grammar that has defined MAGA for a decade — hoaxes, conspiracies, traitors and, at the center of it all, one man.
The big picture: The decision, which two justices publicly dissented from, is a major win for voting rights advocates and the states that challenged the administration's plan; it also reverses the Supreme Court's earlier green light for President Trump's mail-in voting order.
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is facing swift and intense anger from his Democratic colleagues after announcing plans to force a vote to impeach President Trump this week.
Why it matters: This is a messaging headache the party did not need going into the House's last week in session before midterm Election Day, frustrated House Democrats told Axios.
