President Trump said Wednesday he authorized the CIA to secretly conduct operations in Venezuela, including possible strikes against drug cartels.
Why it matters: The announcement follows rising tensions with Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, as the U.S. military targets boats allegedly carrying drugs.
Nearly every Pentagon reporter from almost every major media outlet in America turned in their press badges Thursday, after refusing to endorse the Defense Department's new rules that they say would make it impossible to do their jobs independently.
Key Senate Republicans pressed U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer about struggling soybean farmers as President Trump moves forward with a bailout for Argentina.
Why it matters: Trump's now-$40-billion bailout for Argentina is exacerbating GOP trade war fears.
Israel on Wednesday told the Trump administration that Hamas isn't doing enough to recover the bodies of dead Israeli hostages, and the Gaza deal can't move into the next phase until that changes, two Israeli officials and one U.S. official tell Axios.
Why it matters: The agreement stipulates that Hamas must make a "maximum effort" to return the bodies of the 28 dead hostages, among them two American citizens. Israel claims Hamas is not abiding by those terms.
MAGA voices are heralding the newly minted ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza as a victory not just for President Trump, but for the America First cause.
Why it matters: For MAGA, Monday's historic images are the best argument yet against opponents who cast their movement as a medley of blundering isolationists incapable of getting a complex foreign policy win.
The U.S. is working on a multibillion-dollar rescue plan for Argentina funded by the private sector, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a group of reporters on Wednesday.
Why it matters: Bessent said the $20 billion facility — aimed at shoring up Argentina's debt market — would work alongside the Trump administration's measures announced last week.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that China's plans for harsh export controls risk violating a trade pact struck earlier this year, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned "they can't be trusted."
Why it matters: The Trump administration is signaling a new flare in the U.S.-China trade war, with higher import taxes on the horizon without a new truce in tensions.
There is a "clever and generous" bailout coming for farmers as soon as the government shutdown ends, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said at an Axios News Shapers event on Wednesday.
Why it matters: The trade war has crushed the farm community, especially soybean farmers, who've seen their top export market — China — close completely.
Families across Israel — and beyond — have waited for more than 700 days for the return of their loved ones whose remains are still held in Gaza.
The big picture: Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is required to hand over the bodies of more than two dozen deceased hostages. However, they have claimed they don't know where all the remains are, setting the stage for the first test of the fragile peace deal, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.
