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National

President Trump has repeatedly sought to conceal the details of his face-to-face conversations with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin from senior officials in his own administration, the Washington Post's Greg Miller reports.

Details: After meeting with Putin in Germany in 2017, Trump reportedly took notes from his own interpreter and instructed them not to discuss the contents of the conversation with other administration officials. This is just one example of what Miller reports is "a broader pattern" of Trump shielding his communications with Putin from the public as well as senior government officials — a pattern that has resulted in there being "no detailed record" of his face-to-face meetings with the Russian leader at "five locations over the past two years." 

The big picture: Trump's 2-hour closed-door meeting with Putin in Helsinki over the summer has drawn scrutiny from Democrats in Congress, after Trump appeared to side with Putin over the findings of the U.S. intelligence community about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), new chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Post that the meeting will be a target for investigators now that Democrats have taken control of the House. While in the minority, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee attempted to subpoena Trump's interpreter, but were blocked by Republicans.

Go deeper: FBI reportedly probed whether Trump was secretly working for Russia

WaPo: Trump sought to hide details of conversations with Putin from admin officials

He reportedly took notes from his own interpreter and told them not to discuss the conversation with other officials.

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Photo: Mikhail Svetlov via Getty Images

Politics

Donald Trump Russia

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World

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

Finish Line

Axios Finish Line

If Main Street is going to be saved, enduring American vanity will be among the primary reasons.

Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios

What's happening: Nail and waxing salons — in addition to pet grooming shops, cosmetics stores, tattoo parlors and gyms — stand out as improbable avatars of the future of retail, surviving and thriving amid the decades-long annihilation of mom-and-pop apparel, book and hardware stores. 

Between 1990 and 2017, the number of nail salons for every 100,000 Americans nearly tripled, from fewer than 2 to nearly 7.

Pet grooming surged by one-and-a-half-times, and cosmetics almost doubled.

A common theme among the victors: The offerings can't be easily replicated online.

The big picture: The mainstays of retail — the mall and Main Street — have been picked apart by Walmart, discount chains like Dollar General, and, of course, Amazon. Now brick-and-mortar stores are stabilizing, and the industry is climbing out of the rubble to survey what has worked.

They are aggressively curating inventory, meticulously upgrading existing shops, adding entertainment features like trampoline parks, free food and drink and, of course, providing hair, nail and cosmetic services.

"The stores that will do well are the ones that know how to get you to leave your house.”

 Natalie Bruss, partner at Fifth Wall Ventures, a retail investment firm

Nordstrom Local, a new concept by the Los Angeles department store, has no inventory — you shop online and just pick up in store — but draws clients with free beer, wine, and consultations with personal stylists.

Kellogg’s has opened a pop-up cereal bar in New York City.

Away, the new luggage brand, puts up elaborate sets that serve as the perfect backdrops for Instagram photos.

Noteworthy: The boom in nail salons has been accompanied by labor abuses and human trafficking.

Retail's risky obsession with wealthy millennials

Indie bookstores flourish in an Amazon world

Deep Dive: How vanity will save retail

Future

Deep Dive - Future of Retail

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Business

Retail

Axios Pro: Deals

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

If you are one of the tens of millions of Amazon Prime members in the U.S., it’s easy to presume that online shopping will be future for everyone.

Data: Dollar General, U.S. Census Bureau; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios

But over the next five years we will see an America that is divided by how and where we shop, with low income and rural Americans depending on discount outlets like Dollar General and Family Dollar, where the primary value proposition is not convenience but price — a fact that isn't likely to change.

In a new survey by Axios/SurveyMonkey, 71% of respondents with a household income of less than $50,000 a year said they preferred shopping in a store over online, compared to only 54% of those in households with income over $100,000.

"To shop [online] at Old Navy, you need to spend $50 for free shipping. And if you don't spend that much, there is a $5 shipping charge, which is half of one additional item.... It’s material for some consumers," Kimberly Greenberger, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, tells Axios.

Even Walmart has a $35 minimum for free delivery, a threshold that is too high for many consumers.

The bottom line: Online shopping will continue to grow in popularity with higher and middle-income shoppers, but won't compete with the flexibility and rock bottom prices of dollar stores.

The dollar store future

Low-income and rural Americans depend on discount outlets, where the primary value proposition is not convenience but price.

For two decades, Amazon has grown like wildfire, eschewing profit, pouring all its revenue back into itself, and leaving a wake of destruction in retail. Now it's going in for the kill.

Amazon has launched more than 100 private-label products, by market research firm Gartner L2's count. “That’s going to be a major part of what we think of as the future of retail," says Donald Ngwe, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.

The massive amounts of data Amazon has on its consumers give it unparalleled insights into what shoppers really want, says James Thomson, a former Amazon executive who now advises brands that sell on the platform.

By selling more of its own products, Amazon is competing against the sellers on its own marketplace — and starting to catch the attention of regulators and anti-trust lawyers.

Physical stores: At the beginning of 2018, Amazon made waves with its announcement of "Go" — a cashierless convenience store. By the end of the year, it had opened six of them across the country, with plans for as many as 3,000 more by 2021.

Add those to Amazon's bookstores — 18 and counting — and "4-star" stores, where it sells goods that earned over 4 stars on its site.

Tack on the more than 450 Whole Foods stores that Amazon also owns plus its reported plans to open even more of them.

All told, the e-commerce giant is well on its way to establishing a brick-and-mortar presence in every major city in the country.

“There is an important difference between horizontal breadth and vertical depth. We operate in a diverse range of businesses, from retail and entertainment to consumer electronics and technology services, and we have intense and well-established competition in each of these areas. Retail is our largest business and we represent less than 1% of global retail and around 4% of U.S. retail. In addition, Amazon’s private label products are less than 1% of our total sales. This is far less than other retailers, many of whom have private label products that represent 25% or more of their sales.”

Note: This story was updated on January 14 with a quote from an Amazon spokesperson.

The next five years of Amazon

The tech giant's treasure trove of data gives it unparalleled insights into what shoppers want.

Shopping cart with three dollar signs flickering

Technology

It turns out that even Amazon can't automate a community.

The big picture: As Amazon fueled the collapse of chain bookstores, independent bookstores were quietly thriving. In the last 10 years, independent bookstores have grown by nearly 50% across the country, from 1,651 to 2,470 stores. 

Bradley Graham, a co-owner of  D.C. based bookstore Politics & Prose, told Axios: "You have to attribute this renewed interest in bookstores to a sense of community, a sense of neighborhood-ness."

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Bradley Graham as "a member of the famous Graham family." We apologize for the error.

Amazon accounts for over 50% of book sales. But independent bookstores have an edge with consumers.

Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro announced his bid for the presidency on Saturday, the New York Times reports.

"When my grandmother got here almost a hundred years ago, I’m sure she never could have imagined that just two generations later, one of her grandsons would be serving as a member of the United States Congress and the other would be standing with you here today to say these words: I am a candidate for president of the United States of America." 

Details: Castro announced an exploratory committee one month ago, and said he'd be making an announcement today. His first campaign stop will be Puerto Rico, meeting with those recovering from Hurricane Maria. 

Castro is the former mayor of San Antonio, Texas. If elected in 2020, he'd be the third-youngest president ever elected, the Times reports. 

He previously told the Times that it doesn't bother him to not be considered a front-runner: "In my whole life, I don’t think I’ve ever started out as the front-runner. ... So I’m not going to concern myself with who people think of as the front-runner and who they don’t." 

Julián Castro announces 2020 presidential run

The former housing secretary joins an already-crowded Democratic field.

Julián Castro. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Julián Castro

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Data: Congressional Research Service; Chart: Axios Visuals

The shutdown over President Trump's demand for border wall funds has broken the record for the longest stoppage in U.S. history. Today is Day 22, edging out the previous record of 21 days in 1995-96 under Bill Clinton.

The big picture: This could go on for a long time. Early in the 1995 shutdown, Clinton and Republican leaders were already talking about a deal to end their budget battles. But Trump isn't talking to Democrats anymore. And he's sounding less enthusiastic about the exit strategy he's been considering — declaring an emergency to build the wall without Congress — as Republicans have expressed serious doubts about it.

Here's the latest on the impact of the shutdown:

800,000 federal workers who are either furloughed or working without pay missed their first paychecks this week.

The U.S. economy has lost about $3.6 billion so far because of the shutdown, according to estimates by S&P Global Ratings.

Three federal employee organizations have sued the Trump administration over having to work without pay.

Hundreds of TSA agents have called in sick to at least four major airports after being forced to work without pay, and the Miami airport was forced to close one terminal early for 3 days due to TSA absences.

FBI agents said the shutdown could be a threat to national security.

The Food and Drug Administration has suspended all routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities.

Emergency aid for farmers hurt by the trade war between the U.S. and China could be delayed.

All the ways Americans are feeling the effects of the shutdown

Trump tells GOP leaders he won't sign short-term spending bill

The government shutdown is now the longest ever

Government shutdown

Axios AM

Joe Biden has told some top Democrats he’s definitely running for president, and even threw out Jan. 15 as a target announcement date.

"If I’m walking, I’m running," he has told friends winkingly.

What they're saying: His youngest brother, Frank Biden, thinks the former vice president is in. Ditto for some advisers. Several Democrats, including Michael Bloomberg and Terry McAuliffe, are watching him as their most formidable potential competitor.

Biden is "closer than he ever was in 2016" and "serious in his discussions with potential supporters," one confidant tells me.

Yes, but: Jan. 15 will come and go with no Joe-mentum — I'm told no chance of an announcement by then. No staff has signed up for a campaign, or been given a commitment of a job.

We're told authoritatively that Biden hasn't decided. So who knows where his head winds up. But we sure know where his heart is.

Go deeper: Our tracker for the 2020 elections

Joe Biden is running — most days

But no staff has signed up for a campaign, or been given a commitment of a job.

Joe Biden with Sen. Claire McCaskill. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Axios

Saturday's top stories

WaPo: Trump sought to hide details of conversations with Putin from admin officials

Deep Dive: How vanity will save retail

The dollar store future

The next five years of Amazon

Indie bookstores flourish in an Amazon world

Julián Castro announces 2020 presidential run

The government shutdown is now the longest ever

Joe Biden is running — most days

Record shutdown hits Trump states hard

Whole Foods' hermit crab strategy

NYT: FBI probed whether Trump was secretly working for Russia in 2017

The new age of hostage diplomacy

SpaceX is laying off 10% of its workforce