Today's Liberal News

The Brazenness of DOJ’s Reported Investigation of E. Jean Carroll

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
No White House is immune to hypocrisy. What makes the Trump administration’s approach to justice so astonishing is not just the depth of the hypocrisy but its brazenness.
Last night, CNN reported that the Department of Justice is pursuing a criminal investigation against E.

A ‘Promising Democracy’ That Can’t Stop Fighting Itself

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here.
In April 1948, after the assassination of the populist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, crowds poured into the streets of Bogotá. Buildings burned. Churches were looted. Armed mobs seized parts of the capital.

The U.S. Is Winging This Ebola Outbreak

By the time African health officials confirmed the world’s latest Ebola outbreak, the epidemic had already spilled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into neighboring Uganda. Within two days, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public-health emergency of international concern. Less than two weeks later, the potential case count has risen past 1,000, including more than 230 deaths, and 10 other African countries have been designated at risk of being swept into the crisis.

Words of War

Decades ago, it was a truism that the 24/7 news cycle exercised a malign influence on policy making. It kept senior leaders fixated on a flickering television screen when their time would have been better spent weighing evidence, debating alternatives, and considering opposing views. All true. But today we contend with 24/7 commentary, which is so ubiquitous that we barely notice it, even as it causes a kind of dry rot of our good judgment.

The TACO Equilibrium

The whole world expects President Trump to end the Iran war any day now. Trump keeps insisting that he’s in no rush to do so. Through it all, the oil markets remain surprisingly calm. These facts are all related.  
When the war broke out, experts warned that if the Strait of Hormuz remained closed for more than a few weeks, oil prices would spike to $150 or $200 a barrel. The strait has now been closed for three months.

Trump’s Enemies List: DOJ Launches “Egregious” Criminal Probe into Trump Accuser E. Jean Carroll

The Justice Department has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into the writer E. Jean Carroll, who successfully sued Donald Trump twice, for sexual abuse and defamation. According to CNN, The New York Times and other outlets, the investigation is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in a deposition, even though a federal appeals court upheld the rulings in 2024.

“From Bogotá to El Fasher”: How UAE Trained Colombian Mercenaries to Fight Alongside RSF in Sudan

Colombian mercenaries accused of committing war crimes in Sudan were trained on military bases in the United Arab Emirates, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. The group’s investigation outlines how, since 2024, the Abu Dhabi-based security company Global Security Services Group hired hundreds of Colombian private military contractors, who were then deployed to Sudan to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces.

Ex-Nuclear Negotiator on U.S.-Iran Talks, Abraham Accords & Trump’s Threat to Blow Up Oman

Nearly two months after the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, are the two sides any closer to a lasting peace deal?
We speak with Robert Malley, the Middle East program director at the International Crisis Group, who worked in multiple Democratic administrations and helped negotiate the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal with Iran. He says Trump’s decision to pull the U.S.

No End in Sight: Israel Expands War on Lebanon, Orders Evacuation of 14% of Country

Amid stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks, Israel has intensified its attacks across Lebanon and on Wednesday issued an evacuation order for all areas south of the Zahrani River — about 14% of the country. That includes Tyre, one of Lebanon’s largest cities.
“It’s hard to see an end in sight,” says Ramzi Kaiss, researcher at Human Rights Watch, who notes that nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the April 16 U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

“He Was in Agony”: Tennessee Issues 1-Year Stay for Tony Carruthers After Botched Execution Attempt

Tennessee death row prisoner Tony Carruthers was issued a one-year stay of execution last Thursday after prison officials were unable to find a backup injection vein in a botched execution attempt that left Carruthers suffering and in pain for over an hour. Nashville reporter Steven Hale attended the execution and describes his and fellow witnesses’ confusion as they heard the sounds of what Carruthers’s attorneys are calling “torture.

The Lag Between an Iran Deal and Lower Oil Prices

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
For months, Donald Trump has been desperate for Iran to loosen its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Now he says it’s happening; a deal to reopen the waterway “has been largely negotiated,” per a Truth Social post on Saturday.

‘We Have Not Seen Ugly Yet’

Two things are as certain as bluebonnets in spring now that Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee for the Senate in Texas: Democrats have a better-than-usual chance of winning statewide. And the next 23 weeks are going to be hideous.
Paxton’s big win comes days after President Trump stuck his finger into the wind, determined that incumbent, John Cornyn, was toast, and gave the attorney general his last-minute support.

No Way to Make a Deal

President Trump skipped his eldest son’s wedding and held staff back in Washington over the holiday weekend, expecting that a deal with Iran that he said on Saturday was “largely negotiated” would soon be ready. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was on a four-day trip to India, said on Sunday that a deal could come that day. Then he said the same thing on Monday. Yesterday, Rubio suggested the deal could take a “few more days.