Jan 25, 2018 - Politics & Policy

Senate Judiciary to release Trump Tower witness transcripts

Image: Drew Angerer / Getty Images

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley said Thursday that he believes the committee's interviews with the witnesses of the Trump Tower meeting are complete, and that he hopes to officially release the transcripts as soon as possible.

Why it matters: Grassley said that Sen. Dianne Feinstein's unilateral release of the Glenn Simpson transcript "spooked" other witnesses, so the Trump Tower section of the investigation is now done. The witness transcripts Grassley hopes to release include interviews with Donald Trump Jr., Rinat Akhmetshin, Ike Kaveladze, Anatoli Samochornov and Rob Goldstone.

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Kia Kokalitcheva, Sara Fischer
18 mins ago - Economy & Business

Competitors ready to pounce on TikTok bans

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Growing security and privacy concerns over Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok have given a lift to alternatives like Byte and Dubsmash, which have seen spikes in downloads from smartphone users recently, according to data from SensorTower.

Why it matters: If TikTok's meteoric rise in popularity among U.S. youth gets slowed by rising tensions with China, or ended by a threatened ban by the Trump administration, American teens will still have to get their hits of meme-laden video somewhere.

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Ina Fried
34 mins ago - Technology

U.S. pushes homegrown drone industry amid China battle

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Alarmed at the prospect of relying on Chinese-made drones for public safety and monitoring critical industries, U.S. investors and the federal government are newly backing a domestic drone industry of hardware and software companies.

The big picture: The moves come as the industry continues to be led by DJI, a Chinese hardware maker — and as concerns grow both in China and the U.S. about reliance on the other country's technology.

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Sara Fischer
47 mins ago - Economy & Business

Exclusive: The N.Y. Times doubles down on TV and film ambitions

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

One of the country's oldest and most established media companies is starting to look more like a Hollywood studio than a traditional newspaper.

Driving the news: The New York Times has 10 scripted TV show projects in development, as well as 3 feature documentaries coming out this year and several other documentary projects in development and production, executives tell Axios.

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