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National

Special counsel Jack Smith is wrapping up his criminal investigation into whether former President Trump mishandled classified documents, having interviewed virtually every employee at his Mar-a-Lago home, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it matters: This is the probe widely believed to pose the most serious threat to Trump's freedom. Based on the publicly reported evidence, Republicans may struggle in their efforts to defend Trump and undermine Smith's credibility in the way they've tried to do with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who slammed Bragg's indictment last month as an "abuse of prosecutorial power," warned last week that Trump could be "very exposed" legally in the Mar-a-Lago case.

"I think this is a tight obstruction case," former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb also told CNN last week. "Yes, I do think he will go to jail on it."

What we know: The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago last August on suspicion that Trump had not returned all of the government documents in his possession, even after months of requests and a subpoena in May.

Trump's lawyer, Evan Corcoran, was forced to testify after a judge determined Trump may have used him to lie to prosecutors — piercing traditional attorney-client privilege with a "crime fraud exception."

Corcoran's remarkably detailed notes indicated he warned Trump that he could not keep the documents after the subpoena — and that Trump asked if they could push back against the Justice Department, according to The Guardian and CNN.

Between the lines: Proving that Trump deliberately took the documents and resisted giving them back — despite being told the law required him to — will be key to making Smith's case iron-clad.

Trump appeared to hand prosecutors a gift by confirming in his CNN town hall this month that he knowingly "took the documents" because he was "allowed to" — citing an inaccurate interpretation of the Presidential Records Act.

He also claimed the documents became "automatically declassified" when he took them.

The National Archives recently gave the special counsel 16 records showing Trump and his top advisers were aware of "whether, why and how" he could declassify documents — potentially undercutting that defense.

The big picture: Trump's indictment in Manhattan led to a surge in GOP support and fundraising, as Republicans — including Trump's rivals for the nomination — rallied to defend the former president and attack Bragg.

Some of Trump's associates are preparing to fundraise off of Smith's potential prosecution, according to the Journal, but it remains to be seen whether federal charges would elicit the same GOP rallying effect.

Meanwhile, the judge presiding over Trump's criminal case in Manhattan today set a March 25, 2024, trial date — smack dab in the middle of the GOP's presidential primaries.

What Jack Smith knows

This is the investigation widely believed to pose the most serious threat to Trump's freedom.

Smith presides during a 2020 war crimes hearing at The Hague for former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi. Photo: Jerry Lampen/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Mar-a-Lago

Politics & Policy

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign during a Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk on Wednesday night, two sources confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: Twitter has become the center of gravity for conservatives ever since Musk, who's increasingly become cozy with Republicans, took over the platform. 

Driving the news: A source close to the governor’s campaign told Axios that there will be a “special Twitter Spaces on Wednesday, March 24 at 6:00 PM ET.”

Two others with knowledge of DeSantis' plans confirmed the announcement will be made on Twitter tomorrow.

NBC News first reported that while Musk and DeSantis will co-host the virtual audio event, the conversation will be moderated by David Sacks, a Musk confidant who supports DeSantis. 

News outlets and personalities like The Daily Wire and ex-Fox host Tucker Carlson have recently announced efforts to bring their shows to Twitter. 

In positioning himself as a free speech absolutist, Musk has been able to curry favor with many conservatives who for years have argued that Big Tech censors their views. 

The big picture: DeSantis has been long expected to enter the 2024 race. 

Thought bubble from Axios' Dan Primack: Political observers can differ on the DeSantis campaign strategy, but this is a surefire coup for Musk, as he tries to expand Twitter's user base.

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

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DeSantis plans to announce presidential campaign on Twitter

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to guests at the Republican Party of Marathon County Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser on May 6 in Rothschild, Wisconsin. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

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Elections 2024

Space

Axios Space

NASA's flagship program to get people back to the Moon is at risk in the debate over the country's budget.

Why it matters: The Artemis program has survived two presidential administrations and has bipartisan support in Congress.

Both administrations have worked to reduce the political risk of the multibillion-dollar program, awarding multiple contracts to commercial companies in multiple states and partnering with international space agencies.

What's happening: Efforts to insulate Artemis from possible cuts, delays and cancellation are facing a major test with the current budget fight on Capitol Hill.

If NASA's funding is stalled at the 2022 enacted level or reduced, agency administrator Bill Nelson has warned Artemis II and Artemis III could be delayed. The current launch dates are 2024 for Artemis II and 2025 for Artemis III.

Nelson also said in a March letter to Congress that NASA would need to make deep cuts to other parts of the program, potentially canceling contracts.

"How is Artemis going to survive this kind of active budget slashing?" the Planetary Society's Casey Dreier tells Axios. He says the program's survival hinges on lawmakers on both sides of the aisle working to preserve it.

Between the lines: NASA on Friday announced a $3.4 billion contract with Blue Origin to build a crewed lunar lander for the Artemis V mission that aims to bring astronauts to the lunar surface by 2029.

The Blue Moon lander is expected to dock with a small, yet-to-be built lunar space station called Gateway. NASA astronauts will arrive on Gateway via the Orion capsule and then be transported to the Moon's surface by Blue Moon.

SpaceX also has a contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander based on its Starship vehicle for the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions, which will bring the first NASA astronauts to the Moon since Apollo. 

Flashback: Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator under former President Trump, worked to insulate the Artemis program from political whims when it was announced in 2019 by partnering with commercial companies and international partners early

"When we left, we had an international coalition. We had apolitical, bipartisan support. We had a program that sustained," Bridenstine told Axios in April at the National Space Symposium.

The big picture: All of NASA's partnerships with private companies and international agencies — a Canadian crew member will fly around the Moon for Artemis II and the European Space Agency is a major partner for the Gateway station — make for a complex program. 

Instead of a relatively simple mission structure like Apollo — which used the Saturn V rocket and one type of lander to send each crew directly to the lunar surface — Artemis makes use of multiple redundant systems and sprawling partnerships.

But those points of connection and inter-reliance have created a program that can potentially last.

"Getting to the Moon is really freaking hard," Dreier said, adding that even if the mission plans look a little patchwork, that could actually benefit NASA when it comes to creating a sustainable program.

NASA return to the Moon could be imperiled by politics

The space agency worked to insulate Artemis from political whims.

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San Antonio

Axios San Antonio

More Uvalde families are in need of mental health support as the trauma of the school shooting intensifies for some people one year after the tragedy.

What's happening: About 2,000 Uvalde residents have sought mental health support from the Ecumenical Center since the shooting, and the organization saw increase of about 20% in the number of people reaching out as the one-year mark approached, CEO Mary Beth Fisk tells Axios.

Ecumenical Center and Family Service, two San Antonio-based nonprofits providing services, are trying to ensure on-demand help for residents tomorrow by pulling in additional counselors or having staff on standby.

Alejandra Castro, rural services director for Family Service, tells Axios the provider's Uvalde office has also seen an uptick in visitors in recent weeks.

In addition to experiencing anxiety and trauma, many community members are dealing with financial stress as parents have missed work to help their children through their concerns, Castro says.

The Ecumenical Center started offering a range of therapies including play therapy, art therapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing last June. 

The big picture: Jessica Gomez, executive director of the Momentous Institute and a licensed psychologist based in Dallas, says mental health providers everywhere are increasingly encountering people struggling with trauma and chronic stress from violence in their communities. How they're treated — which is a challenge in view of the shortage of mental health professionals — varies by person, Gomez adds.

"Some people, it might be talk therapy, but for others it might be music therapy, art therapy, movement, and so we have to adapt to how the person processes trauma, because we know that trauma is trapped in the body, it needs to find a way out."

Trauma from a mass shooting can be exacerbated around the date of the incident, she adds.

"What you'll see is the person leading up to the date can start to almost become a little bit more irritable or a little bit more numb. It just depends where they are on the spectrum of symptoms."

"My deep worry right now — and what I'm hearing just from the school and the mental health programs that we do at Momentous Institute — is the chronic stress that people are experiencing. Just when we think we recover from one thing, there's another one."

While the one-year mark in Uvalde is a significant milestone, the groups have had a presence there since the day of the shooting

Uvalde is an hour from the Mexican border. About 80% of the 15,000 residents are Latino.

Of note: The Ecumenical Center also supported the Sutherland Springs and El Paso communities following the shootings in those cities in 2017 and 2019, respectively. 

Fisk says many people aren't immediately ready to start counseling.

"We want to remind everyone that everybody's got an individual grief journey and they're going to be ready to visit with a counselor at a different time. It may not be the first year, it may be the third year," she says.

Zoom out: Mental health professionals outside of Uvalde are also preparing, especially in San Antonio where residents share personal ties to the town.

UT Health San Antonio psychiatrist Dr. Giancaro Ferruzzi says parents should evaluate what their children know before sharing information that may not be age-appropriate and remaining open for questions.

Axios' Astrid Galván contributed to this report.

Go deeper: Listen to the Axios Today podcast, where Emily Peck, filling in for host Niala Boodhoo, and Madalyn Mendoza discuss the mental health support for the people of Uvalde.

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Mental health help on standby for Uvalde a year after shooting

Trauma from a mass shooting can be exacerbated around the date of the incident.

Axios

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