Current and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers are growing increasingly concerned that the work they did slashing government programs and eliminating jobs will come back to hau...

Many of the problems the agency is facing now are not new, but staff and prisoners fear an exodus of officers could make life behind bars even worse.

Extra toilet paper is just one of the privileges the former Epstein associate is enjoying in prison.

President Trump's blowup with Marjorie Taylor Greene is just the latest spectacular split with a one-time confidante who held prized status in his inner sanctum. Why it matters: Since he entered politics more than a decade ago, the one constant of Trump's political orbit has been Trump himself. Those who have secured a spot as a trusted Trump lieutenant have often found that it doesn't last for long. Taylor Greene in recent days joined Elon Musk as this year's biggest victims of Trump's wrath. In his last administration, Trump severed ties with a string of one-time right-hand men: VP Mike Pence, personal fixer Michael Cohen and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. There's an entire graveyard of Trump appointees who became bitter enemies, from former White House chief of staff John Kelly to former national security adviser John Bolton to former Attorney General Bill Barr. The big picture: In contrast with past presidents who maintained close circles of advisers and worked with them for years, Trump's sounding board roster is shifting and sprawling. People in his ear on a given week might include CEOs visiting the Oval Office, golf partners or Mar-a-Lago guests. He credited a Nevada restaurant server for his no-tax-on-tips policy. Zoom in: Trump's not-for-long executive style already has been evident in his second-term administration. Of 24 Cabinet-level positions Trump filled this term, just three were in the first-term Cabinet and only Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, held the same role he's in now. His current chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is the fifth he's had in five years in office. Family members aren't immune from the cycle. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — fixtures in the first-term West Wing — found work outside of government this time around, though Kushner has recently resurfaced as a key figure in Middle East diplomacy. Key staffers who have bridged both administrations include top adviser Stephen Miller, Director of the White House Personnel Office Dan Scavino and Communications Director Steven Cheung. While Trump's family members are officially absent from his current administration, he is leaning on a couple longtime business community friends for key roles. Steve Witkoff is Trump's Middle East envoy, and Howard Lutnick is the commerce secretary. There are few public signs of fractures between Trump and his current set of White House advisers. Scarred by past appointments who weren't steadfastly loyal, Trump made sure to staff his second administration with true believers. Reality check: Despite the bitter acrimony during these public breakups — often accented by scorched earth Trump social media posts — there is a proven path back into the president's good graces. Musk attended the White House's state dinner Tuesday and was seated with Trump at Charlie Kirk's memorial. He had previously de-escalated their bare-knuckle social media brawl. Trump pardoned Steve Bannon in the final hours of his first presidency after going to war against "Sloppy Steve" over quotes Bannon gave Michael Wolff for "Fire and Fury" in which he suggested Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer was "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."

Saudi Arabia's leader on Tuesday downplayed the kingdom's role in the 9/11 attacks . But an ongoing federal court case is revealing new details about Saudi officials' alleged ties to the terror plot — and the potential liability that government faces. The lawsuit unearthed evidence showing one Saudi official — who acknowledges aiding two men who became hijackers — made a drawing of a plane and a mathematical formula that allegedly could have been used to fly into the World Trade Center. Why it matters: A crucial U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia's oil-rich kingdom was the first foreign sovereign to be sued in U.S. federal court under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act of 2016 for the attacks that killed 2,977 people. For 22 years, the kingdom has fought the New York lawsuit, the largest and longest-active case in the federal court system with 10,000 or so families of victims and insurers seeking damages in what's been called a trillion-dollar lawsuit. In August, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels determined that enough evidence exists to infer the kingdom employed two operatives to "assist the hijackers." The Saudis dispute this and are appealing. Driving the news: Asked Tuesday at the White House about 9/11 families' anger, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed empathy but tacitly denied his government was involved in the attack. "We have to focus on reality, reality based in CIA documents and based on a lot of documents that Osama bin Laden used Saudi people in that event for one main purpose ... to destroy the American-Saudi relation[ship]," he said. Known by his initials MBS, the 40-year-old prince was not in the Saudi government on Sept. 11, 2001. The CIA did conclude that in 2018 he ordered the killing of a Washington Post journalist who had criticized him — a claim MBS essentially denied Tuesday. President Trump defended him and criticized an ABC News reporter for asking tough questions directed at him and MBS. Zoom in: The 9/11 lawsuit alleges a dozen Saudi officials were involved in the attacks on behalf of the kingdom. Two of them stand out: Omar al Bayoumi and Al Fahad Thumairy. Both welcomed two of the eventual hijackers, Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar, in early 2000 when they arrived in Southern California. Bayoumi, an accountant on the Saudi payroll who lived in San Diego then, helped find housing and cash for al Hazmi and al Mihdhar, and introduced them to other Saudis who aided them. He got a raise from the Saudi government while helping the two men. Thumairy, an imam at a Los Angeles mosque, also was paid by the kingdom but played a lesser role in the alleged conspiracy, the judge found. "Thumairy and Bayoumi were not just acting as an imam and an accountant," the judge said in his ruling. He said evidence indicates the pair provided "knowing assistance to the 9/11 terrorists" as part of their jobs. Zoom out: Thumairy and Bayoumi now live in Saudi Arabia. They were deposed in the lawsuit and denied wrongdoing. They were mentioned dozens of times in the 585-page 9/11 Commission Report , published in 2004. But the report lacked three pieces of evidence that British police seized just 10 days after 9/11 at Bayoumi's residence in England, where he had moved: A plane sketch and an equation: In a deposition in the case , Bayoumi acknowledged drawing a picture of an aircraft and writing out a mathematical formula on a yellow legal pad that would help a pilot calculate a plane's altitude and distance from the horizon. Bayoumi also included a simple calculation: 52-8=44. Those numbers could help a hijacker figure out he's 44 miles away from the World Trade Center by passing a New Jersey beacon, 9/11 family attorney Gavin Simpson alleged during oral arguments. Bayoumi said in his deposition that he didn't remember why he wrote those numbers and couldn't explain why he made the calculations. "I'm somebody who likes to be exposed to things. Perhaps this was an equation that we studied before in high school," he said. "It's just an equation." "Most tellingly, the drawing of an airplane with equations," Judge Daniels wrote in his ruling , "facially connects Bayoumi with knowledge of the 9/11 attacks." 2. A "casing" video of the U.S. Capitol: Two years before 9/11, in June 1999, Bayoumi flew to Washington, met other Saudi officials and shot video of the U.S. Capitol and other D.C. landmarks in great detail, court records show . Bayoumi narrated the video for his "esteemed brothers," pointed out that Congress met there and at one point mentioned "the demons of the White House." Simpson called it a "casing" video, which one of the kingdom's attorneys, Michael K. Kellogg, tried to dispute in oral arguments in 2024 before the judge cut him off to draw attention to the "demons" remark. "It's not what I would expect any particular tourist to think is important to comment upon if they are simply there for the pretty buildings," Judge Daniels deadpanned. 3. A party video : On Feb. 17, 2000, Bayoumi organized a 29-man meet-and-greet for al Hazmi and al Mihdhar at their new apartment that was video recorded . The 9/11 Commission investigators didn't have a complete transcript of the meeting or know all the guests, which Simpson's team tracked. The guests, they said, included men who helped the terrorists buy a car; make phone calls to what became known as the "al Qaeda switchboard" in Yemen; and get a $5,000 al Qaeda payment from the nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammed, who is still held at Guantanamo Bay along with his nephew. The big picture: Regardless of who's been president, the U.S. government has consistently downplayed or suppressed information about any Saudi role in 9/11, though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Days after the attack, the U.S. government declined to question Bayoumi after U.K. police detained him. The evidence police had collected was either ignored by intelligence agencies or barely examined. Bayoumi flew back to Saudi Arabia. What they're saying: Brett Eagleson, a plaintiff and son of 9/11 victim Bruce Eagleson, told Axios that "MBS and Trump are deflecting the very fact Saudi Arabia is on trial for murder." The White House meeting and Trump's defense of MBS is "consistent with a larger pattern to always give the Saudis the benefit of the doubt when, in fact, they never deserve it," said Philip Shenon, author of "The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation." A White House spokesperson said Trump is a "proud New Yorker" who " witnessed 9/11 and will always pay tribute to those who tragically lost their lives on that horrific day, and thank the brave first responders who intervened — many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice — which is why he permanently authorized the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund during his first term."

Hollywood's biggest competition this year isn't at the box office, it's in the Warner Bros. Discovery board room. State of play: A trio of Hollywood power players submitted bids to buy all or part of WBD Thursday, launching what is sure to be a dramatic and historic media merger fight. Why it matters: In a hyper-competitive streaming environment, scale matters. And assets like WBD, which includes the nation's top-performing movie studio so far this year (Warner Bros. Pictures) and a prestige streamer (HBO Max), don't come up for grabs often. Driving the news: WBD's board set a Thursday deadline for takeover bids and received three different propositions, sources confirmed to Axios. Paramount, which already owns a top movie studio (Paramount Pictures), a major streamer (Paramount+), a broadcaster (CBS) and a slew of cable networks, has submitted a bid for all of WBD, including its cable channels like CNN and TBS. Netflix — which doesn't own a movie studio or TV networks, but has one of the largest subscription streaming bases in the world — submitted a bid solely for WBD's streaming and studio businesses. Comcast, which also owns a top movie studio in Universal, similarly is vying solely for WBD's streaming and studios businesses. Comcast currently owns a slew of cable networks including MS NOW and CNBC, but plans to spin them out into a separate publicly traded company early next year. Catch up quick: Before the deal talks, WBD's stock had languished amid a challenging environment for traditional media companies. Last month, the company said it would consider a sale while continuing to pursue a possible split that would separate its streaming and studio assets from its cable division. A split, the firm has argued, would create more shareholder value than keeping its assets together. It's now up to WBD's board to decide whether a takeover bid could drive even more shareholder value than a split. Follow the money: Paramount, which is currently valued at less than a third of WBD on the public markets, would need to raise money to support its bid. The company, as Axios has reported, submitted a cash and stock bid of $23.50 per share in October, offering a massive premium to WBD's pre-deal talk stock price. But WBD's board was looking for a price tag closer to $30 per share. Comcast would also need to raise debt to support its bid, but analysts feel confident it could raise cash, given its credit rating. Netflix, which is currently valued at $449 billion on the public market, likely wouldn't face financial challenges. WBD, Paramount, Netflix and Comcast did not comment. Reality check: While each bid presents its own unique regulatory challenges, WBD lawyers don't think any hurdles would be impossible to conquer in court should the Justice Department sue to block a deal. What's more likely is that WBD's board will have to weigh any time wasted on the possible regulatory setbacks of a particular bid against the its business value. Zoom in: President Trump is widely seen as favoring a Paramount bid over one by Comcast given his alliance with Larry Ellison, father of Paramount CEO and chair David Ellison, and his public disdain for Comcast boss Brian Roberts. The president could pressure the DOJ to sue to block a Comcast bid, but that doesn't mean the DOJ would win that fight in court. The DOJ famously lost its bid to block AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner in 2018, despite reported Trump pressure to block the deal. Paramount and Comcast both own major movie studios, and regulators could argue that the combination of Paramount Pictures or Universal with Warner Bros. Pictures would reduce competition. But that's a tough argument to make considering regulators approved a merger between Disney and Fox in 2019 that brought together two major studios. If regulators were to argue that the media market should be sized based on streaming subscriptions, Netflix — the largest subscription streamer globally — would be more vulnerable, but the DOJ would need to convince a judge that's the right way to evaluate a media market. The DOJ is unlikely to hang its case to block Paramount's deal based on the combination of its cable assets with WBD's, given cable is in terminal decline. The intrigue: Recent reports suggest Paramount has been in touch with Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to possibly raise money later to support its bid. Any foreign money used to support a bid could face scrutiny, but it's likely Paramount — or any bidder taking on foreign cash — would structure their bid to avoid crossing any foreign ownership threshold concerns. What's next: Sources told Axios that WBD's board is looking to make a decision about whether to accept a bid or continue its path to split by year's end, which would punt any regulatory approval processes to next year.

In their first full week back after the shutdown, lawmakers voted five times on measures to rebuke colleagues, eating up hours of floor time.

Some lawmakers want to repeal the sneaky $500,000 payout.

Israeli warplanes bombed tent encampments and displacement shelters while troops moved deeper into Gaza City, expanding the "yellow line" and seizing more territory.

On bloomin’ onions and the importance of being earnest.

A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to end its monthslong deployment of National Guard troops to help police the nation’s capital.