National

In a matter of days, a grand jury in Manhattan could turn the 2024 campaign on its head by making Donald Trump the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.

Why it matters: The state investigation into Trump's alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 may be the tip of the spear when it comes to the many legal threats bearing down on the former president — the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination.

An Atlanta-based prosecutor is close to a charging decision in her investigation of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Special counsel Jack Smith is tightening the screws in his federal probes of Trump's role in Jan. 6 and his handling of classified information.

But moving first in such a sensitive situation carries enormous risks for a prosecutor — and legal experts have raised questions about the strength of the case being assembled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Zoom in: Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who testified Monday and Wednesday before the Manhattan grand jury, pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations in 2018 for arranging payments to two women with whom Trump allegedly had affairs, including Daniels.

Cohen has said he did so at Trump's direction and was reimbursed with what the Trump Organization categorized as "legal expenses." Trump denies having an affair with Daniels and says he was a victim of extortion.

If Bragg seeks felony charges against Trump, he likely would have to prove that the then-presidential candidate falsified business records to cover up another crime — in this case, Cohen's campaign finance violations.

Reality check: Former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz warned in his new book that if Bragg chooses to pursue that complex strategy, there is "a big risk that felony charges would be dismissed before a jury could even consider them."

Driving the news: Trump defense lawyer Joe Tacopina on Tuesday essentially dared Bragg to pursue charges.

"[I]f they bring this case, I believe this will catapult him into the White House," Tacopina said on MSNBC, his latest in a string of media appearances after the New York Times reported that Trump is likely to face charges soon.

Trump has promised to stay in the race if he's indicted, telling reporters ahead of his CPAC speech this month: "I wouldn't even think about leaving. Probably it will enhance my numbers."

He has a point: Polls suggest Trump received a boost among Republican voters after the FBI's search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and after his first and second impeachments.

The big picture: Victimhood and vengeance already are central themes of Trump's 2024 campaign. He has cast any and all investigations — even civil lawsuits — as a continuation of a "witch hunt" that he says began with the FBI investigation of his 2016 campaign's ties to Russia. 

Republicans of all stripes — including his chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DesSantis — quickly rallied around Trump after the FBI's Mar-a-Lago search last August, which also produced a surge in fundraising.

Charges from a Democratic prosecutor — let alone the Justice Department — could put a freeze on GOP infighting and reinvigorate support for Trump from disenchanted conservative media such as Fox News.

The bottom line: There's no telling how an indicted Trump would fare in a general election if he gets through "the prosecution primary," as Vice News has dubbed it. Either way, the U.S. political system is set to enter uncharted waters in the coming months.

Looming Trump charges threaten to inject chaos into 2024 campaign

"[I]f they bring this case, I believe this will catapult him into the White House," Trump's lawyer said.

Photo illustration of Trump standing in a field of gavel blocks, with a shadow of a gavel hammer looming overhead. 

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Donald Trump

Politics & Policy

Sneak Peek

Axios Sneak Peek

Former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti won a Senate vote on Wednesday to become President Biden’s ambassador to India, winning the support of 7 Republican senators to help him win a majority.

The big picture: Biden nominated Garcetti to be ambassador to India in July 2021. The ex-mayor's nomination was stalled over questions about how he handled allegations of harassment by his staff.

Why it matters: Nearly two years after he was nominated, Garcetti will now be ambassador to the world’s biggest democracy as his administration works to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Driving the news: The Senate confirmed Garcetti by a vote of 52-42. Three Democrats, Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.), voted against the ex-mayor.

Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Steve Daines (Mont.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Roger Marshall (Kan.) and Todd Young (Ind.) voted in favor of Garcetti's nomination. 

After picking up a Senate seat in the midterm elections, Biden decided to renominate the former co-chairman of his campaign.

Garcetti faced allegations that he was aware of sexual harassment and racist comments by a top former adviser, Rick Jacobs, but did not act on them.

He has denied any knowledge of inappropriate behavior.

Zoom out: India, which currently holds the G20 presidency and will host world leaders New Delhi in November, is in the middle of two geopolitical struggles that will help determine the international order in the coming decades.

At the outset of his presidency, Biden hosted a virtual summit of leaders of the so-called Quad — which includes the United States, Japan, Australia, and India — in a virtual summit as he looked to elevate the importance of alliances and partnership in Asia as a way to check China’s emerging dominance.

But the Biden administration has been frustrated by India’s reluctance to condemn or cut-off Russia, in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

With medical absences on both sides of the aisle – Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) remain out – the outcome of the Senate vote was far from certain.

Editor's note: This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

Embattled ambassador nominee confirmed with GOP support

President Biden nominated Garcetti to be ambassador to India in July 2021.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti attends the 2022 Los Angeles City College Foundation Gala at the Skirball Cultural Center on October 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti attends the 2022 Los Angeles City College Foundation Gala at the Skirball Cultural Center on October 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Eric Garcetti

Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Index

Data: Business Roundtable; Chart: Axios Visuals

Corporate America started the year slightly more optimistic about the economy, and had plans to hire and spend at rates that would keep growth humming, according to a survey of more than 100 chief executives of America's biggest companies by the Business Roundtable (BRT).

Why it matters: Executives' outlook suggests the U.S. is not plunging into a recession. But it does imply slow growth and wariness around hiring, sales and capital spending.

That aligns with what other data is showing. Hiring is strong, and economic activity is still holding up. But the risks that may ultimately emerge from the Fed's aggressive tightening campaign to whip high inflation may be only starting to become apparent.

However, CEOs were polled before the Silicon Valley Bank meltdown. It is too early to say whether the banking troubles will result in constrained credit or a broader loss of business confidence.

What they're saying: "This quarter's survey reflects continued caution resulting from high inflation and the policy measures the Federal Reserve is implementing to bring it under control," said Mary Barra, General Motors CEO and BRT chair, in a statement.

By the numbers: The latest CEO Economic Outlook Index, compiled by Business Roundtable, rose 6 points. That modest uptick is the first increase since the final quarter of 2021.

The CEOs expected the economy to grow 1.4% this year, below the long-term trend in the U.S., but not the kind of contraction you would expect to see in a recession.

Sub-indices that measure expectations for hiring and company sales over the next six months edged up. Some 68% of the CEOs expect higher sales this year, compared to 62% in late 2022.

A gauge of capital spending plans dipped slightly.

Where it stands: CEOs were polled between Feb. 8 and March 8, a period that included a run of hot data showing strong jobs and consumer spending figures, and more persistent inflation pressures.

The bottom line: For now, CEOs are not slamming the brakes on the type of activity that underpins the economy, including hiring and capital investments. But the survey suggests they are moving more prudently as a slew of risks — including a potential debt ceiling battle — loom.

"While the U.S. economy remains resilient, CEOs are cautiously approaching the next six months," said Joshua Bolten, the BRT's CEO, in a statement.

"Our members have been clear that the full faith and credit of the United States should not be put at risk and that we should take steps to address growing deficits and debt."

Editor's note: This story was updated with additional details.

Survey: CEO optimism was on the rise before Silicon Valley Bank meltdown

CEOs are feeling better, but they're still being cautious.

CEOs

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

The Department of Justice arrested fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, an associate of Steve Bannon, on Wednesday over multiple charges stemming from an alleged $1 billion fraud scheme.

Driving the news: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan allege Guo, who is also known as Miles Kwok, promised thousands of his online followers outsized returns if they invested in GTV and his other business entities.

Prosecutors said Guo and members of his family used the money to buy a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari and two $36,000 mattresses and for financing a $37 million yacht.

Guo was also charged for allegedly laundering hundreds of millions of stolen funds to conceal the conspiracy’s illegal activities and continue the fraud’s operations.

GTV, a media business linked to Guo, was previously fined millions of dollars by the Securities and Exchange Commission for illegally selling stock and digital assets.

By the numbers: The federal government seized approximately $634 million in proceeds from Guo's alleged fraud from 21 different bank accounts between September 2022 and March 2023, prosecutors said.

They also said law enforcement seized additional assets on Wednesday.

The complex scheme allegedly involved at least four different business entities, including a purported cryptocurrency website.

The big picture: Kin Ming Je, who prosecutors say is Guo's financier and was at large, was also charged with several crimes, including obstruction of justice.

Guo, a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party, is on China’s most-wanted list for alleged bribery, fraud and money laundering, though he has denied those allegations, according to the New York Times.

In addition to Bannon, Guo has also been associated with other pro-Trump allies and groups, including Gettr, the social media network founded by former Trump aide Jason Miller.

Guo has been linked to the targeted protesting of several Chinese dissidents across the U.S. and at least five other countries.

Flashback: Guo — without evidence — had publicly accused the dissidents, who fled China due to repression from Chinese authorities, of being spies for the Chinese government.

DOJ arrests Chinese billionaire over alleged $1B fraud scheme

Guo allegedly promised his online followers outsized returns if they invested in his business entities.

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon greeting Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui in France in July 2018.

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon greeting Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui in France in July 2018. Photo: Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Guo Wengui

Tel Aviv

Axios from Tel Aviv

Israel recently approved the export licenses for the possible sale of anti-drone jamming systems that could help Ukraine counter Iranian drones used by Russia during the war, three Israeli and Ukrainian officials said.

Why it matters: It's the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago that Israel has approved defense export licenses for possible weapons sales to Ukraine.

Israel has been careful not to give military assistance to Ukraine, fearing such a move could create tension with Russia and harm Israeli security interests in Syria.

Driving the news: After Russia started using Iranian-made attack drones during the war, the Ukrainian government increased its pressure for Israeli military assistance.

Ukrainian officials have claimed that providing weapons systems to Ukraine is in Israel's best interest because Iran is able to gain information about how the drones perform and then make improvements. 

Iran has acknowledged it delivered some drones to Russia before the war started, but denies doing so after the invasion began. Russia denies using Iranian-made drones during the war, despite growing evidence to the contrary. 

Behind the scenes: The approval of the export licenses by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen came in mid-February as Israel was conducting a Netanyahu-ordered review of its policy toward the war, the Israeli and Ukrainian officials said. That review has been completed but no new decisions have been made, according to Israeli officials. 

Cohen notified Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the approval during his trip to Kyiv on Feb. 15.

The licenses were approved for two Israeli companies — Elbit and Rafael — that develop anti-drone systems, Israeli and Ukrainian officials said.

A Ukrainian official told Axios that a delegation from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense visited Israel recently to get a presentation on the anti-drone systems. No deal has been signed yet.

The systems Israel proposed that Ukraine buy use electronic warfare to jam and down drones. The systems have a range of around 25 miles and can be positioned near power plants or other critical sites to protect them from drones. 

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry is interested in the systems, but they are viewed as less critical because Ukraine has been able to intercept the drones between 75–90% of the time, the Ukrainian officials said. 

"What we really need is a defensive system against ballistic missiles," a Ukrainian official told Axios.

What they're saying: Israeli officials claim the approval of the export licenses is not a shift in policy because the systems are defensive in nature and do not use any live fire that can kill Russian soldiers.

“Israel is assisting Ukraine in the defense and civilian fields. Every request is being reviewed according to the defense export policy to Ukraine. We don’t elaborate on that for national security and foreign policy considerations,” the Ministry of Defense said. 

Between the lines: A senior Israeli official told Axios one of the reasons Israel approved the licenses was to possibly see how the defense systems perform against Iranian drones. 

Scoop: Israel approves export licenses for anti-drone systems for Ukraine

Israel has been careful not to give military assistance to Ukraine, fearing such a move could create tension with Russia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a press conference in Kyiv on Aug. 19, 2019. Photo: Sergey/Xinhua via Getty Images

Israel

Ukraine

Russia

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

The U.S. government is in no rush to sell Silicon Valley Bank, but prospective bidders are circling.

The big buzz centers around Apollo Global Management, which was rebuffed by the FDIC last weekend when it offered to buy SVB’s loan book.

Apollo still wants the loans. As do several other private equity and credit firms, given the obvious pricing opportunity, per multiple sources.

The difference is that Apollo has been making inroads with a number of prominent venture capital firms, even floating the possibility of a co-investment (again, only for the loan book ... not for the core commercial bank).

Apollo first reached out to VC firms last weekend, to offer liquidity options were SVB deposits not protected. Despite the government's backstop, conversations continued.

In short, Apollo wants to learn more about the VC ecosystem where its current lending operation rarely plays, and also get literal VC buy-in that could foment future business.

For example, a group of VC firms might invest between $1.5 billion and $2 billion into Apollo's deal, giving them skin in the game, and in exchange pledge to do their lending business with Apollo (warehouse loans, portfolio company debt, etc.).

Apollo doesn't want to become a bank, per se. But it could hire a bunch of SVB's relationship bankers and get a big part of the commercial business without the deposits.

State of play: A new auction process could launch within days, although the FDIC hasn't disclosed when that window would open or end.

The FDIC's preference remains finding a single buyer for all SVB-related assets (sans a U.K. unit that was already sold to HSBC for just £1). That's also the preferred outcome of new SVB CEO Tim Mayopoulos, as expressed during a call yesterday with venture capitalists.

But that may be very difficult, particularly without liability protections. Not to mention Democrat antipathy to letting a big bank get bigger.

SVB's umbrella includes the flagship commercial bank, a private banking business and investment banking group. Plus a loan portfolio and venture capital investment portfolio that includes both company and fund stakes.

Apollo is said to be working with Emerson Collective and Credit Suisse (!?!?!) on this plan. 

It could proceed without any VC firm involvement, given that VC firms weren't on what it previously submitted to the FDIC. 

The FDIC may hate this, since it devalues the commercial bank it's still trying to sell.

The bottom line: All of this is still very, very fluid.

Silicon Valley is working with Wall Street to buy some SVB assets

The big buzz is about Apollo's talks with venture capital firms.

Illustration of the Silicon Valley Bank logo with a price tag.

Silicon Valley Bank

A top Russian official said Wednesday the country will attempt to recover the remains of the U.S. drone that was downed over the Black Sea after an encounter with Russian fighter jets, according to state news agency TASS.

Driving the news: The U.S. military said it was forced to bring down an MQ-9 Reaper drone on Tuesday after a Russian Su-27 jet struck its propeller.

"I don't know if we'll be able to get it or not, but it has to be done. And we will definitely do it," Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia's security council, said on Russian TV, TASS reported.

“I hope, of course, for success,” he added.

State of play: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley confirmed at a press briefing later Wednesday that they had both spoken to their Russian counterparts earlier that day.

Milley said that the U.S. knew where the drone had landed in the Black Sea and that the remains had likely broken apart and sunk, but that they had taken measures to prevent the loss of sensitive intelligence.

"There's probably not much to recover, frankly," he added.

The big picture: The U.S. said the incident was part of a "pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots while interacting with U.S. and Allied aircraft over international airspace."

Kirby told "CNN This Morning" Wednesday that the drone had not yet been recovered and may never be recovered.

"We did the best we could to minimize any intelligence value that might come from somebody else getting their hands on that drone," Kirby noted.

Russia will attempt to recover debris from downed U.S. drone

The U.S. military said it was forced to bring down an MQ-9 Reaper drone after a Russian jet struck its propeller.

An MQ-9 Reaper drone with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) awaits a mission

An MQ-9 Reaper drone awaits a mission in November 2022 at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Sports

Axios Sports

Every year, millions of Americans attempt to fill out a perfect bracket. And every year, they fail miserably.

By the numbers: The odds of going 63 for 63 are approximately 1 in 9.2 quintillion, according to the NCAA.

Those odds improve to a slightly more "reasonable" 1 in 120.2 billion if you "know a little something about basketball."

For context: The odds of getting struck by lightning in your lifetime are 1 in 15,300, according to the National Weather Service.

This is wild ... There are an estimated 7.5 quintillion grains of sand on Earth. If I picked one at random and had you guess which of the 7.5 quintillion grains of sand on the planet it was, your odds of being correct would be 23% better than your odds of picking a perfect bracket.

State of play: Since the NCAA started tracking online brackets in 2016, the closest anyone has come to perfection was in 2019, when an Ohio neuropsychologist nailed the first 49 picks before flaming out in the Sweet 16.

The odds of a perfect March Madness bracket: 1 in 9.2 quintillion

Your NCAA Tournament bracket may have more possible outcomes than the Earth has grains of sand.

Illustration of basketball as a crystal ball

Illustration of a basketball with a bracket pattern

Shifts in technology and media are changing the way we play, watch and understand sports. Business models are adapting and social change is forcing those in charge of teams and leagues to reconsider decades-old practices.

Markets

Axios Markets

The Federal Reserve doesn't just set monetary policy. It's also the primary regulator for many banks — including the failed Silicon Valley Bank. Now, progressives and the banking industry — unlikely bedfellows to be sure — are blaming the Fed for that bank's epic collapse.

Why it matters: Calls for tighter regulation typically follow any kind of big banking crisis, but details matter. With SVB's failure, one question is, was it the laws on the books that failed, or a lapse in their enforcement? The answer, in theory, helps prevent the next crisis.

We know the proximate cause of SVB's collapse — a record-breaking $42 billion bank run fueled by its highly concentrated depositor base of venture capitalists and startup founders. And we know that losses in the bank’s holdings of long-duration bonds, triggered by rapidly rising interest rates, caused the immediate cash crunch.

So why didn't the bank's regional supervisors or bank examiners at the San Francisco Fed catch these risk management issues before they ballooned into crisis?

What they're saying: One of the Federal Reserve's main jobs is overseeing banks — and they failed here, says Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at Brookings who worked on financial regulation at the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. 

His comments aren't dissimilar to those of the Bank Policy Institute, an industry advocacy group: "The failure of SVB appears to reflect primarily a failure of management and supervision," rather than a failure of the regulations on the books, the group said in an analysis released Tuesday. 

The San Francisco Fed was the bank's supervising regulator. They could have and should have looked at SVB's books and identified the risks, says Saule Omarova, a law professor at Cornell, whose nomination to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fell through in 2021 — partly due to her views on tighter regulation.

The risks were publicly reported, too, says Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, a nonprofit that advocates for tighter regulation, pointing to a November 2022 WSJ article highlighting risks to banks from rising interest rates that named SVB.

The other side: Bank examiner dealings are confidential, so we don't know what was happening behind the scenes.

Examiners might not have realized the level of risk at play. Previous to this crisis, uninsured bank deposits were viewed as only marginally riskier than accounts covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. No one had ever seen a bank run go viral on Twitter.

Meanwhile, until the end of 2021, the vice chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve, responsible for setting the agenda around supervision, was President Trump's appointee Randal Quarles. He’s been criticized for urging bank examiners to take a less adversarial approach.

Quarles tells Axios that the assessment simply isn't accurate. "It wasn't friendlier supervision," he says. "It was due process." The idea was to be fair.

Quarles also pushed through regulatory changes that eased certain standards. He says those moves wouldn't have changed the outcome for SVB. 

Separately, SVB's former CEO until last week sat on the board of the San Francisco Fed, one of three executives representing banks in the district. (During the financial crisis, the fact that executives of failed banks sat on these boards was a controversial issue.)

State of play: The Federal Reserve said on Monday that it's conducting a review of how its supervision of the bank was handled. (When contacted by Axios, a Fed spokesperson didn't comment beyond that announcement.)

But critics say an internal investigation may not be enough — especially if past probes are any indication. 

For example, an internal Fed investigation a few years ago failed to turn up an insider who'd been leaking information. "The FBI had to find it for them," Klein notes.

"The Fed simply cannot credibly do a thorough and independent investigation of itself," said Kelleher in a statement this week.

But, but, but: While it's easy to point the finger at regulators, Omarova and Kelleher both say the bank's failure is ultimately the fault of its own leaders. 

The intrigue: Getting more attention in the press right now is the Trump-era rollback of certain portions of Dodd-Frank rules that folks like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blame for what happened. 

That rollback, passed with a bipartisan vote, raised the bar on which banks would be categorized as systemically important. Previously, banks with $50 billion or more in assets qualified; now it's $250 billion. 

That meant SVB (which had assets of $209 billion at the end of last year) and banks like it were no longer subject to stringent stress tests and liquidity requirements — which are meant to ensure banks have at least 30 days of cash or cash-equivalents on hand to pay back depositors in case there's some kind of shock.

However, it's not clear if those requirements would have made any difference for SVB. The Bank Policy Institute says SVB would've passed these tests.

The bottom line: Omarova and Klein both pointed out that the law on the books and how it's implemented are two very different things.

Progressives and bankers find common ground in SVB crisis

Illustration of The Federal Reserve seal on a background exclamation

Data: S&P Global Market Intelligence; Chart: Axios Visuals

At most banks, roughly half of all deposits are uninsured. Silicon Valley Bank was not most banks.

By the numbers: At the end of the fourth quarter, a whopping 93.9% of its domestic deposits were uninsured, per an analysis from S&P Global. Signature Bank, which also failed last week, had a similarly high 89.7% ratio of uninsured deposits.

Why it matters: A bank whose deposits are insured by the FDIC is largely immune from a bank run. After all, insured deposits are safe even if the bank fails.

Conversely, a bank where the deposits are overwhelmingly uninsured is one where they are all likely to flee somewhere safer at the first sign of trouble — especially if they come from an industry like venture capital that is known for its herd mentality.

The bottom line: Not all deposits are equal, from a bank's point of view. Insured deposits are incredibly sticky. Uninsured deposits, not so much.

Why failed Silicon Valley Bank was an outlier

The ratio that made it more vulnerable to a run.

A chart showing percentage of domestic deposits that were uninsured.

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Axios Login

With Tuesday's release of OpenAI's new GPT-4, generative AI just got a lot more powerful — and we got a fresh reminder of just how unprepared we are to deal with these new machines.

When "scary good" AI gets even better

GPT-4, OpenAI's latest product, is bigger, smarter, and likely to be even more disruptive than its precessor.

Wednesday's top stories

Looming Trump charges threaten to inject chaos into 2024 campaign

Embattled ambassador nominee confirmed with GOP support

Survey: CEO optimism was on the rise before Silicon Valley Bank meltdown

DOJ arrests Chinese billionaire over alleged $1B fraud scheme

Scoop: Israel approves export licenses for anti-drone systems for Ukraine

Silicon Valley is working with Wall Street to buy some SVB assets

Russia will attempt to recover debris from downed U.S. drone

The odds of a perfect March Madness bracket: 1 in 9.2 quintillion

Progressives and bankers find common ground in SVB crisis

Why failed Silicon Valley Bank was an outlier

When "scary good" AI gets even better

Nonprofit hospitals save more in tax exemptions than they provide in charity care: KFF

Google flexes its health care AI muscle

First look: Young and unaffiliated Latino voters surge across U.S.

San Francisco supervisors open to reparations proposal

Environmental groups sue Biden administration over Alaska oil project