Democracy Now!

Protests in Bolivia are demanding the resignation of Rodrigo Paz, the country's first right-wing president in decades. Since Paz took office in November 2025, the country has been placed under austerity measures that have led to a surge in poverty rates for much of Bolivia's rural and working-class population. We speak to Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network in Cochabamba, Bolivia, about the monthlong protests. Bolivia is a country where, for 19 years, Indigenous people and social movements enjoyed equal rights and political inclusion," she explains. There's a huge break between what Paz promised and what he's done in practice, which is select a white, upper-middle-class Cabinet with only two women, reject any genuine dialogue, reject interaction with the Bolivian social movements, or even have any empathy for people and what they're going through day to day."Ledebur also discusses the Paz administration's growing ties with the Trump administration as the U.S. seeks to expand its so-called war on drugs throughout Latin America.

A jury in Chicago has ordered Boeing to pay nearly $50 million to the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old who was one of a total of 346 people killed in a pair of Boeing 737 MAX jet crashes less than a decade ago. Stumo died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019, just months after another 737 MAX jet, a recently introduced model at the time, crashed in Indonesia. They knew that there was a malfunction with the plane. The plane crashed in Indonesia, and then somebody inside the company decided to keep flying the plane and did not fix whatever it is that was wrong," says Stumo's mother, Nadia Milleron.Milleron adds that while her family welcomes the latest settlement, she plans to continue pursuing legal action and serious scrutiny of Boeing's safety practices. This trial that we just had was not about accountability," she explains. This idea that they can just pay money and then continue on with the same behavior, that's what we object to, and that's why we want to expose what they're actually doing in the company that could have caused these crashes."

We get an update on protests at Newark, New Jersey's Delaney Hall, an ICE facility owned and operated by the private prison company GEO Group, where hundreds of immigrant detainees have been on a hunger and labor strike for the past week demanding their immediate release. New Jersey Congressmember Analilia Mejia recently toured the facility and spoke to people who described being arrested and detained after attending routine ICE check-ins, being held for months in appalling conditions even after signing voluntary deportation orders, and being hospitalized after they were beaten and pepper-sprayed by armed ICE agents. What we need to understand is that this is a for-profit model, and they are failing human beings," she says. The reality is that this is a rogue administration that has handed undue power to agencies, to ICE agents and to entities like GEO Group [that] are now acting with impunity."Meanwhile, says Li Adorno, a community organizer with the immigrant rights group Movimiento Cosecha, protests outside the facility in solidarity with the strike have grown increasingly contentious. Local investigative journalist Bob Hennelly explains that the Trump administration's targeting of Newark for immigration enforcement has escalated since federal agents arrested and charged Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and New Jersey Congressmember LaMonica McIver with trespassing after inviting them into Delaney Hall last May. Hennelly says there's a much broader implosion of the administration of law in New Jersey ... [and] a collapse of federal law enforcement in Newark."

Iran Won't Confirm Trump Administration's Claim That a Peace Deal Is Very Close", Netanyahu Orders Israel's Army to Seize 70% of Gaza Strip, Israel Bombs Beirut and Expands Assault on Southern Lebanon, U.N. Adds Israel to Blacklist" for Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, Protesters Target New York Real Estate Expo over Sale of Illegal Israeli Settlements, NATO Stands Ready to Defend" Its Territory After Russian Drone Strikes Romanian Apartments, Six Arrested as Protests Continue Outside For-Profit ICE Jail in New Jersey, U.N. Warns Global Heating Is on Track to Exceed 1.5C Threshold by 2030, Blue Origin Rocket Explodes in Major Setback to Jeff Bezos's Spaceflight Ambitions, U.S. Inflation Hit 3.8% in April, Its Highest Rate Since 2023, Pentagon Awards Dell a Contract Worth Nearly $10 Billion After Trump Purchases Shares, Massachusetts Formally Recognizes Union of Ride-Share Drivers, Guatemala Denies Reports It Agreed to Allow U.S. Strikes Against Narcotraffickers, Philadelphia Community Access Media Founder Gretjen Clausing Dies at 61

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.In 2019, Carroll published a memoir describing an encounter in the 1990s when she says Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store. When Trump denied the account, Carroll sued him and won $5 million in damages, with a unanimous New York jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. After Trump made disparaging remarks about Carroll, she sued him again and won a second defamation judgment for over $83 million. (She has yet to collect any money pending appeals by Trump.)The use of the Justice Department to go after E. Jean Carroll in this way is completely unprecedented," says law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer, who says the probe is part of an obvious vendetta" by Trump. It's frankly galling."See our interview with director Ivy Meeropol about her documentary Ask E. Jean.

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. Human Rights Watch found evidence that the private military contractors were in El Fasher in October 2025, when the RSF seized the key city and committed widespread massacres and rape. The report adds to evidence of the UAE's involvement in the war in Sudan, despite the government's repeated denials.UAE's apparent support to the RSF is part of a broader pattern whereby the UAE has been intervening in neighboring conflicts for over a decade ... to project its political and economic influence abroad," says Human Rights Watch researcher Joey Shea. The UAE still has not received any accountability and has not yet been called out by name by the international community. And in the context of Sudan, we're still relying on these ambiguous and weak statements calling out 'external actors' fueling the war, rather than naming names and calling out the UAE."

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. out of that deal in 2018 was a completely reckless and absurd one," with the Trump administration renegotiating many of the same issues, as well as pushing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran did not previously control. We should never have been in the position we're in now."

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. The Israeli government has repeatedly not only violated the laws of war, but continues to declare its intention to commit more atrocities ... And they're able to do so because there's no restraint on the Israeli military."

Trump Threatens to Blow Up Oman as U.S. Strikes Southern Iran, Israel Intensifies Attacks on Southern Lebanon, Expanding Evacuation Orders, Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 10 Palestinians in Gaza During Eid al-Adha Holiday, Pentagon Says It Blew Up Another Ship in Eastern Pacific, Killing Two People, WHO Warns DRC Faces a Catastrophic Collision" of Disease and Conflict, Immigrants Continue Hunger Strike at ICE Jail Known as Delaney Hall, AP: At Least 10 Immigrants in ICE Jails Died by Suicide Since Trump Returned to White House, Justice Department Launches Criminal Probe into Writer E. Jean Carroll, FBI Arrests Senior CIA Official, Finding Gold Bars Worth More Than $40M in His Home, CBS Declines to Renew Contract of 60 Minutes" Journalist Sharyn Alfonsi

We speak with political scientist Jeffrey Winters about his new book, The Blind Spot: How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies. Winters argues that democracy's failure to address wealth inequality is by design. While voters have a say on some issues, oligarchs, who succeed in maintaining economic inequality by fighting against wealth redistribution, have more power.Liberal democracies around the world are now among the most unequal societies ever to have existed in human history," says Winters. He explains that in Imperial Rome, the wealth gap was about 16,000 to one. Take the average person in the Forbes 400 compared to the median person in the United States. That has exploded to 140,000 to one."

Two officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021, have filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the creation of a $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund. Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges are bringing the lawsuit because the fund could be used to compensate the Capitol rioters who attacked them and their colleagues. Both officers say they have faced continuous credible threats since that day.This slush fund is going to be used to pay the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers," says Brendan Ballou, CEO of the Public Integrity Project, who is representing officers Dunn and Hodges. It is going to give a presidential endorsement to these people, saying that not only ... will they be put beyond the reach of the law, but they will actually be financially rewarded for doing so." Ballou is also a former federal prosecutor who spent two years prosecuting January 6 Capitol rioters.

Around 300 immigrants detained at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, have been on a hunger and work strike since Friday to protest inhumane conditions and due process violations. Delaney Hall is operated by the private prison company GEO Group. Since the hunger strike was launched, immigration advocates have been staging a solidarity protest outside Delaney Hall to promote the detainees' demands for freedom. Protesters and ICE agents have clashed outside the jail, and three people have been arrested. Tensions escalated on Sunday when ICE removed a hunger strike organizer, Martin Soto, prompting protesters outside the ICE jail to block a van being used to transport him. Masked ICE agents responded by firing tear gas and pushing people to the ground. Soto was ultimately transferred to an ICE jail in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and is now facing criminal charges for allegedly assaulting an ICE officer.We speak to Gabriela Soto, Martin Soto's wife, and Li Adorno, an organizer with the group Movimiento Cosecha. Both have helped lead the protest outside Delaney Hall.Gabriela Soto says that she started the protest in conjunction with the detainees' strike so that the media could see how ICE is destroying families and separating them." Soto says that when she was blocked from seeing her husband during visiting hours on Saturday, a guard asked her why she was spreading lies" and talking to the press. He said, 'Why are you telling people that we're feeding them worms? Why are you telling people that we don't give them medical care?' I said, 'Because it's true.'"

Trump Blasts U.S. Media Outlets, Saying They Would Portray Iran Surrender as a Masterful and Brilliant Victory" Over the U.S., Israel Kills New Head of Hamas's Military Wing, Mohammed Odeh, Israeli Strikes in Southern Lebanon Kill at Least 31 People, U.S. Military Carries Out Strike on a Vessel in the Eastern Pacific, Killing One Person, Hundreds of Immigrants Detained at ICE Jail Known as Delaney Hall Continue Their Hunger Strike, NPR: Trump Admin Expedites Use of Mass Immigration Hearings to Order More Deportations, SCOTUS Blocks Free Speech Lawsuit Involving Federal Immigration Judges, Mass Anti-Government Protests Continue in Bolivia, WSJ: Trump Admin Preparing to Deploy Public Health Officials to Kenya for U.S. Citizens Exposed to Ebola, Trump Admin Pushes NDAs for All Federal Workers, Federal Court Blocks Alabama from Using New Congressional Map, Trump-Backed Paxton Defeats Incumbent Senator Cornyn in Texas GOP Senate Primary

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." Per Tennessee's lethal injection protocol, witnesses can only see inside the execution chamber once the injection process has begun. Carruthers, who has long struggled with mental health issues and represented himself in his trial, was convicted of triple homicide in 1996. He has always maintained his innocence, but courts have thus far blocked his requests for modern-day crime scene analysis that could lead to his exoneration. Tennessee resumed capital punishment last year, following a three-year moratorium put in place to review the state's lethal injection protocols. Since its resumption, three people have been executed by the state, all by lethal injection. Carruthers would have been the fourth.

I could hear screaming the whole time." Our guests Alex Colston and Haitham Arafat spent days in Israeli custody after being abducted from a humanitarian mission sailing to Gaza. They share accounts of violence, abuse and torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers. The process that they have there in the jail was designed to break you as a human," says Arafat, a Palestinian American activist born in Gaza who has taken part in multiple missions attempting to break Israel's long-standing siege. Over 100 members of his family have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. While incarcerated, the activists were visited by Israel's minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was recently banned from France after publicly ridiculing flotilla members. They call us provocateurs, or they say we're terrorists ... and yet, whenever Ben-Gvir shows up to these things, he's the one provoking us," says Colston, a journalist who was previously detained by Israel while sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla last year.

We get an update on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran from journalist Negar Mortazavi, following the Pentagon's so-called self-defense strikes on two Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz Monday despite an official ceasefire and ongoing peace negotiations. The chaotic" ceasefire has been violated from day one," says Mortazavi, who notes that Israel's continuous attacks on southern Lebanon are delaying attempts to end the war - and that this is exactly the intention of the Israeli government. Clearly, Netanyahu doesn't want this war with Iran to end," she says. Every step of escalation is definitely going to harm the final outcome and narrow the path to a final agreement." Mortazavi also comments on the new political reality for Iran's Gulf neighbors in the aftermath of Iranian strikes on U.S. military bases hosted in the region. The Iranian message is: If war comes to us, it will not stay inside our borders."

U.S. Attacks Southern Iran as Ceasefire Negotiations Continue, Israel Attacks Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, Killing 12 People, Israeli Strikes Kill at Least Five Palestinians at a Refugee Camp in Gaza, Police Officers in Spain Attack Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla at Bilbao Airport, New Jersey Police Arrest 10 Activists Attempting to Stop Ammunition Shipment to Israel, 300 Detainees at Delaney ICE Jail Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Inhumane Conditions, Federal Judge Dismisses All Criminal Charges Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, USCIS Says Most Green Card Seekers Must Apply from Home Countries, Bystander Is Wounded as Secret Service Service Kills Alleged Gunman Outside White House, Russia Warns Foreigners and Diplomats to Leave Kyiv After Deadly Weekend Assault, WHO Warns Ebola Is Spreading Faster Than Efforts to Contain It, Pope Leo Issues Encyclical Warning Artificial Intelligence Must Serve Humanity

A special broadcast: Highlights from Democracy Now!'s 30th anniversary celebration at the historic Riverside Church, featuring Angela Davis, Patti Smith, Mosab Abu Toha, Michael Stipe, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Nermeen Shaikh and a surprise appearance by Bruce Springsteen.

We speak with journalist Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI, about the Trump administration's alliance with tech billionaires, efforts to regulate artificial intelligence technology, and rising local opposition to data centers across the United States.In 2025, these data center protests successfully stalled over $100 billion worth of these facilities," says Hao. It really does cut across political lines."Hao recently launched The AI Resist List with a group of fellow journalists, researchers and technologists. It's a collaborative project to track and reshape how artificial intelligence is deployed around the world.

Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert has ended his 11-year run as host of The Late Show on CBS. His program's cancellation removes one of President Trump's most vocal critics from the airwaves and comes after the comedian criticized his own employer for agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump. The settlement came as CBS parent company Paramount was seeking the Trump administration's approval for a merger with Skydance, which the Trump administration approved just one week after CBS announced Colbert's ouster. Trump's FCC Chair Brendan Carr has openly gloated about the administration's attacks on critics in the media and the defunding of outlets like PBS and NPR, which no longer receive federal money. Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance is seeking another megamerger with Warner Bros. Discovery, which would further concentrate media control in the hands of the billionaire Ellison family that has a long history of supporting Trump.We see this over and over again, where the Trump administration is weaponizing its power over mergers to try to get what it wants in the media space," says David Sirota, editor-in-chief of The Lever and host of the Master Plan podcast.

The deadly Ebola outbreak spreading across the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed at least 177 people, with more than 750 suspected cases reported in the DRC and neighboring Uganda, according to the World Health Organization. Health officials believe the virus may have been spreading undetected for months before the outbreak was identified, raising concerns that the scale of transmission could be far greater than initially understood. The epidemic has spread hundreds of miles away to South Kivu province, now under the control of the Alliance Fleuve Congo, which includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.Jimmy Munguriek, country director for the Democratic Republic of Congo at Resource Matters, tells Democracy Now! that poor road access, insufficient medical facilities and local stigma about the disease are making it hard to respond to the crisis. Ebola outbreak is really, really a very urgent issue in the Mongbwalu region," he says from Kinshasa.We also speak with Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Center for Global Health Policy and Politics at Georgetown University, who says U.S. international aid cuts and the Trump administration's withdrawal from the World Health Organization have hampered the response to Ebola. This is not just an outbreak of a virus. This really is a politically driven ... epidemic."

GOP Leaders Delay Vote on Iran War Powers Resolution Until June, I'll Be the One That Does It": Trump Says He's Ready to Attack Cuba, Syrian Child and Paramedics Are Victims of Latest Israeli Strikes on Lebanon, Deported Global Sumud Flotilla Activists Describe Torture and Abuse by Israeli Captors, Greenlanders Protest as U.S. Opens New Consulate in Nuuk, Senate Delays Vote on ICE Funding as GOP Revolts over Trump's Ballroom and $1.8B Slush Fund", Advocates Demand Release of Karla Toledo, Tucson Activist Jailed by ICE, Immigrants at For-Profit ICE Jail in California Launch Hunger Strike Against Inhumane Treatment, Charges Dropped Against Chicago Anti-ICE Protesters Over Gross Misconduct" by Prosecutors, Colorado Democrats Censure Gov. Jared Polis over Clemency for 2020 Election Denier, DNC Faces Backlash over Post-Election Autopsy That Makes No Mention of Gaza Genocide, Thousands Attend Funeral for Victims of Massacre at Islamic Center of San Diego, Death Row Prisoner Tony Carruthers Wins One-Year Reprieve After Tennessee Botches His Execution

As colleges hold graduation ceremonies across the country, many schools are attempting to silence pro-Palestine speech at the commemorations, including canceling speakers and eliminating live speeches by students altogether. There will be no live student speakers at the City University of New York's School of Law or at New York University's school-specific ceremonies after former students gave speeches that included expressing support for Palestine and criticism of Israel. Rutgers University canceled biotech CEO Rami Elghandour's commencement speech at its School of Engineering's convocation, citing complaints about his social media posts on Israel and Palestine. And the University of Michigan's president issued a public apology after professor Derek Peterson praised pro-Palestine students during his commencement address.Our students are being told that your families, your Palestinian families, are expected to suffer and die, and you should be OK with it," says Noura Erakat, a Palestinian human rights attorney and professor at Rutgers University. Erakat adds that Rutgers professors have been asked not to teach about the conditions in Gaza. We are asked to betray the empirical record, including the one on genocide and apartheid, and we refuse to do that."This will be the third graduation and commencement ceremony in a row where we do not have a student speaker, we do not have a faculty speaker and we do not have a live-stream commencement," says Shivani Desai, a member of CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine. They took all of that away from us, and they took that away specifically because of Palestine repression."

The decades-old U.S. humanitarian aid agency USAID was largely dismantled in the early days of President Trump's second term by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. The authors of a new study in the journal Science conclude, The abrupt withdrawal of USAID led to a significant and sustained increase in conflict across Africa's most USAID-dependent regions."We are joined by Austin Wright, one of the study's authors and a professor of public policy at the University of Chicago. What we found is that that shutdown had these large effects," says Wright. These are often double-digit percentage increases in the incidence, severity and lethality of violence across Africa in the affected regions."

The Trump administration is advancing plans to resettle an additional 10,000 white South Africans in the United States as refugees. Under President Trump's proposal, which was submitted to Congress on Monday, the U.S. would lift its record-low refugee admissions figure from 7,500 to 17,500, with the additional openings reserved for Afrikaners. This comes as the administration continues to block the entry of refugees from other countries. The U.S. has resettled just over 6,000 refugees between October and April - all except three were from South Africa. Trump has said Afrikaners face racial persecution and genocide in South Africa, claims that have been rejected by the U.N. Human Rights Office, among others. Last year, he cut off aid to the country and boycotted the G20 summit in Johannesburg.Whiteness is being recast as endangered," says Lebohang Pheko, a professor of practice at the University of Johannesburg. There is a move towards the alt-right, the MAGA discourse, which is about replacement theory, and which is absolutely about displacing the idea that anything other than whiteness is normative." Pheko also suggests that Trump's actions toward South Africa are retribution for the genocide case it brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice.We are processing resettlement cases for white Afrikaners at a record pace," adds Sharif Aly, president of the International Refugee Assistance Project, which is currently litigating a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's dismantling of the United States refugee program. This program has never been a fast program, and it's being expedited for just this one population." While Afrikaners are being quickly resettled, thousands of other people who have went through years of vetting, who have went through years of persecution and violence," are being blocked from entering the U.S., says Aly.

Iran Announces Controlled Maritime Zone" in Strait of Hormuz, 20 Million in Sudan Face Acute Hunger as Rival Military Factions Continue Deadly Strikes, Cuba Promises Fierce Resistance" as USS Nimitz Arrives in Southern Caribbean, Israel Continues Attacks on Lebanon Even After Agreeing to Extend Ceasefire", Israeli Settlers Erect Illegal Outpost and Burn Palestinian Vehicles in Occupied West Bank, Israeli Drones and Bullets Kill Four Palestinians in Gaza, Video Shows Israeli Security Minister Ben-Gvir Taunting Handcuffed Gaza Flotilla Activists, Elon Musk's SpaceX and OpenAI Confirm Plans to Go Public, Meta Lays Off 10% of Workforce and Assigns Thousands to New AI Initiatives, Sen. Sanders and Rep. Lee Unveil New Bill to Abolish Super PACs, Colbert Signs Off Tonight on the Final Broadcast of The Late Show", Demonstrators in Bolivia Call for President Paz to Step Down

Amnesty International's 2025 report on the global use of the death penalty finds that executions have surged to their highest recorded number in over 40 years, driven largely by the expanded use of political executions in Iran to create a climate of fear and intimidation in the society and deter dissent." Amnesty recorded 2,707 executions in 2025. But the data excludes China, believed to be the world's top executioner, because its government does not release any public data on executions. While the majority of countries around the world have banned the use of the death penalty, Raha Bahreini, who contributed to the report, says the 17 countries that carried out executions last year keep insisting on the use of the death penalty as a tool of control and repression."

In the latest escalation of the decadeslong U.S. pressure campaign against Cuba's communist government, the Trump administration is expected to unseal an indictment against Raul Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba, later today. The charges stem from the 1996 shootdown of four pilots with Brothers to the Rescue, the U.S.-based anti-Castro organization formed by Cuban exiles and dissidents. Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba specialist at the National Security Archive, says that the indictment will send a clear warning" to Cuban leaders and provide justification for a possible future attempt to capture or assassinate Castro. Military options are on the table and coming soon," says Kornbluh. It is absolutely clear that the U.S. military is preparing contingency operations in case Trump's impatience runs out because Cuba has not met his imperial demands fast enough."

In Havana, we speak to journalist Ed Augustin, who calls the Trump administration's strict fuel blockade of Cuba, in place since the beginning of 2026, the collective punishment of a population, particularly targeting poor communities, pregnant women, children and the elderly." Augustin shares stories of hardship faced by everyday Cubans who are increasingly forced to go without electricity, drinking water and medical care.

In a shocking and unprecedented move, the Justice Department issued a memo Tuesday saying the IRS is forever barred" from investigating past tax returns of President Trump, his family, company and related companies." It came just a day after the department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion anti-weaponization" fund to compensate" people prosecuted for supposedly political reasons by the Biden and Obama administrations - a move expected to benefit January 6 insurrectionists, other Trump allies and even Trump himself. It's all part of an agreement between the Department of Justice and President Trump's personal attorneys in exchange for Trump dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over leaked tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche - President Trump's former personal attorney - will appoint the commission overseeing the Justice Department's new fund. This is dictatorship in action," says reporter David Cay Johnston. He calls the anti-weaponization" fund a slush fund to pay a criminal enforcement arm, a violent arm of Trump supporters to intimidate people" and says the order to not investigate the Trump family's dealings screams that Donald Trump is, in fact, a criminal-level tax cheat."

Iran Threatens War Will Spread Beyond Middle East If Trump Resumes Attacks, Lebanon's Health Ministry Says at Least 22 People Killed in Israeli Attacks Despite Ceasefire, Israeli Forces Intercept Last Remaining Boats with Gaza Sumud Flotilla, Abducting Over 400 Activists, Israel's Far-Right Finance Minister Smotrich Says ICC Seeks Arrest Warrant Against Him, Victims of Islamic Center Shooting in San Diego Identified, DOJ Forever" Bars IRS from Probing Trump, His Sons and Their Family Business, Democratic Senators Grill Transportation Secretary Duffy About Reality TV Road Trip Project, WHO: 600 Cases of Ebola and 139 Suspected Deaths in Congo and Uganda, Nigeria's Military Confirms Joint Strikes with U.S. Against Islamic State, Killing 175 People, Trump Admin Plans to Resettle 10,000 Additional White South Africans in the U.S., Federal Jury Rejects Elon Musk's $150B Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman, GOP Congressmember Massie Loses Primary to Trump-Backed Challenger Gallrein, Biotech CEO Rami Elghandour Speaks at The People's Convocation for Palestine" at Rutgers University

State prosecutors in Minnesota have filed criminal charges against an ICE officer who allegedly shot a Venezuelan immigrant in north Minneapolis in January, then lied about what happened. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced Monday that federal agent Christian Castro will face four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime when he allegedly shot Julio Sosa-Celis through a door. Federal authorities have refused to cooperate with the investigation, as well as separate probes into the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, executive director of the Minnesota-based social justice organization Unidos MN, welcomes the charges as a victory for civil society and the rule of law. That is what democracy looks like. It looks like separation of powers and getting material consequences [for] wrongdoing," she says.

President Donald Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to toss two verdicts against him resulting from civil litigation brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. In 2019, the famous advice columnist published a memoir describing an encounter in the 1990s when she says Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store. When Trump denied the account, Carroll sued him and won $5 million in damages, with a unanimous New York jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. After Trump made disparaging remarks about Carroll, she sued him again and won a second defamation judgment for $83.3 million. Federal courts have upheld both verdicts, but now Trump's attorneys are asking the Supreme Court to overturn them, asserting he has absolute immunity" as president.Carroll's life and her legal fight against Trump are the focus of a new documentary, Ask E. Jean, by award-winning filmmaker Ivy Meeropol. This is an incredible opportunity for audiences to see what really goes on when a woman brings a case like this, especially against a powerful man," Meeropol says.

Two teenage gunmen in California fatally shot three people on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the city. Among the dead was a security guard - Amin Abdullah, a father of eight - whom police credit with preventing more casualties. The 17- and 18-year-old suspects were found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a car near the scene. Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime. The Council on American-Islamic Relations noted the attack comes as anti-Muslim bias complaints reached their highest level since they began tracking them in 1996, with 8,683 complaints filed nationwide.This is a mosque that has opened its doors to the community," says Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, co-founder of the Muslim rights and advocacy group MPower Change. This is the epitome of a mosque that shows our true values as Muslims, in community and in solidarity. So, it's just devastating, and no house of worship should have to ever experience this."

Trump Says He Called Off A Very Major Attack Tomorrow" to Give Iran Negotiations More Time, U.S. Imposes Entry Ban on Travelers from DRC, Uganda and South Sudan as Ebola Deaths Top 130, World Leaders Condemn Israel's Abduction of Activists from Gaza-Bound Aid Flotilla, Teenage Attackers Kill 3 at San Diego Islamic Center in Suspected Hate Crime, Charges Filed Against ICE Officer Who Shot a Venezuelan Immigrant in Minneapolis, Report: 100,000+ Children in U.S. Have Had a Parent Detained in Immigration Crackdown, DOJ Announces $1.776B Fund to Compensate Trump Allies, EPA Proposes to Kill Drinking Water Limits for Four Forever Chemicals, Long Island Rail Road Strike Ends After MTA and Unions Reach Tentative Agreement, NYC Mayor Mamdani Announces City's First Municipally Owned Grocery Store in the Bronx

Donald Trump on Monday dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over a leak of his personal and business tax records, a bizarre case of a sitting president suing his own government and essentially acting as both plaintiff and defendant. This comes amid reports that Trump's Department of Justice was considering settling the case in exchange for the creation of a $1.7 billion fund to compensate victims of so-called weaponization of the DOJ under the Biden and Obama administrations. Trump allies who participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol could file claims and be compensated.They want a $1.7 billion slush fund, which comes to a million dollars a head in terms of Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the insurrectionists, with $100 million left over of taxpayer money to spread around in different ways," says Congressmember Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, who spoke with Democracy Now! shortly before news broke of Trump dropping the IRS lawsuit.Raskin last week introduced the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which is geared toward curbing the president's profiteering from public office. Corruption is the whole purpose of the Trump administration," says Raskin. It's not like some eccentric peripheral thing; it's a vast money-making operation."

Thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Sunday for Rededicate 250," a taxpayer-funded Christian evangelical service backed by President Trump. The eight-hour lineup featured songs, prayers and remarks by top government officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The event included religious leaders like evangelist Franklin Graham and Cardinal Timothy Dolan.Nothing was Christian about what we saw yesterday," says Bishop William J. Barber II. This is idolatry. This is heresy. This is a form of religious nationalism. This is Trump worship. This is trying to make someone a messiah figure." Barber, the president of Repairers of the Breach and founding director of the Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy, took part in a counter-event on Sunday called Redirect 250.This is really a battle for the soul of America," says Sarah Posner, author of Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind. The Supreme Court has eroded the separation of church and state in recent decades, particularly under President Trump, adds Posner. She also notes that evangelicals, for decades, have been marinating in Christian Zionist theology and ideology, which holds that, in their view, America has a biblical duty to defend Israel, and in particular defend Israel from aggression, both nuclear and otherwise, from Iran."

The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Saturday due to the rapid spread of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Ebola causes severe hemorrhagic fever and is often fatal. There's no approved vaccine for the strain of Ebola responsible for the current outbreak, known as the Bundibugyo variant. The WHO said in a statement that the outbreak is potentially much larger than what is currently being detected and reported."Public health professor and emergency room physician Dr. Craig Spencer, who is an Ebola survivor, says this Ebola outbreak could be the fourth largest in history. This is going to be a really difficult outbreak to manage and respond to," says Spencer. The ability of healthcare workers to address the outbreak in eastern Congo, given the violence and conflict, is anything but ideal."Spencer adds that cuts to USAID and the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization have increased the likelihood for viruses to spread nationally and internationally, citing outbreaks of measles in the U.S. and Ebola and hantavirus abroad. This is not all just a coincidence," says Spencer. This is a consequence of us cutting back our support."

Trump Escalates Threats Against Iran as Ceasefire Negotiations Remain Deadlocked, Israel Kills at Least Six People in Southern Lebanon, Including Three Paramedics, Israel Assassinates Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the Head of Hamas's Military Wing, Israeli Cabinet Approves Plans to Build Military Compound at Former UNRWA Site, Israeli Forces Begin Intercepting Ships with the Global Sumud Flotilla, World Health Organization Declares Ebola Outbreak a Global Health Emergency, GOP Senator Cassidy Loses Primary After Trump Backs His Opponent, New Financial Disclosures Show Trump Made Between $220M and $750M in Securities Trades in 2026, U.S. Government Officials Participate in Taxpayer-Funded Christian Gathering on National Mall, U.S. Supreme Court Ends Redistricting Bid by Virginia Democrats, Thousands Rally in Alabama to Protest Lost Voting Rights, Long Island Rail Road Workers Strike After Wages Fail to Keep Pace with Inflation

We speak to two prominent Israeli thinkers, historian Omer Bartov and journalist Gideon Levy, about the founding beliefs of Zionism. Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, is the author of the new book Israel: What Went Wrong? Bartov says the early Zionist movement had liberatory intentions, aiming to emancipate the persecuted Jewish minority in Europe and modeling itself after other contemporary ethnonationalist movements. He then argues that while Israel had the opportunity to become a normal state" and issue a constitution that would provide equality to all its citizens, would define its borders and create a legal framework" that could also acknowledge and redress the Nakba, it chose another path. Instead of remedying its foundational violence, he says, the modern Israeli state has become increasingly militaristic, centralized, expansionist, racist and, as we've seen since October 2023, genocidal." Though Bartov does not identify as an anti-Zionist, he says Israel must discard Zionism, it must put it on the garbage heap of history, and it must redefine itself, going all the way back to 1948."Levy, on the other hand, says Zionism has never been reformable, because the movement, from its very beginning, started wrong, without the belief or the conviction that we can live together." He contests Bartov's assertion that early Zionist intentions became warped over the 20th century, and says instead that the violent dispossession of Palestinians is embedded into the premise of the movement. This very same attitude, this very same policy never stopped ever since '48," Levy contends. His latest piece in Haaretz is titled Zionism Didn't Go Wrong, It Was Always Built This Way."Both Bartov and Levy also respond to the Israeli government's threat to file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times for publishing a column by longtime opinion writer Nicholas Kristof about systemic sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. That has become the policy of the country - to abuse, to humiliate, to rape systematically," says Bartov. Levy explains Israel's reaction is to attack the messenger."

Palestinians around the world are marking Nakba Day, 78 years after their forced mass displacement led to the establishment of the Jewish-majority state of Israel. Decades later, Palestinians still face widespread oppression and violence from the Israeli state as it continues its expansionary project. Israel tried, since 1948 until today, to destroy us as a people, as a group, and they failed at it. Our people are still there, resilient," says Palestinian writer Muhammad Shehada, who was born in Gaza and now lives in Denmark. Shehada discusses the ongoing process of the Nakba, including its latest intensification after October 7, 2023. Now this veneer of civility has fallen off. The mask was taken off. And now it's a matter of national pride in Israel to brag about annihilating Palestinians."Shehada also describes current conditions in Gaza - still under Israeli blockade and occupation - and what he calls the disarmament trap" of unfairly weighted negotiations designed to strip Palestinians of political autonomy. The 'realistic' proposal that Israel is putting on the table is surrender, capitulate, become fully defenseless, weaponless, and entrust the very army that carried out a genocide against you to be merciful towards you once you are an easier target than you ever were before."Finally, he responds to the Israeli government's recent threat to file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, after the paper published a column by longtime opinion writer Nicholas Kristof about systemic sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. It's the newspaper of record. It'll be spread and disseminated widely to an American audience," says Shehada about the allegations levied in Kristof's piece. So we see, basically, an Israeli panic attack in return."

House Narrowly Rejects Latest War Powers Resolution to End Trump's Attacks on Iran, CENTCOM Commander Denies U.S. Killed Civilians in Iran: No Way That We Can Corroborate That", Iran's Foreign Minister Asks BRICS Nations to Unite Against U.S. Bullying", Trump Departs China Without Agreements on Taiwan, Iran or Strait of Hormuz, CIA Chief Travels to Havana as Cuba's Oil Reserves Run Dry Amid U.S. Fuel Blockade, UNICEF Says Israeli Attacks Have Killed or Wounded 59 Children in a Week, Despite Ceasefire Deal, Israeli Nationalists March Through Jerusalem's Old City, Chanting Death to Arabs", 24 Killed as Russian Missile Slams into Kyiv Apartment Building, Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks, Who Oversaw Mass Deportation Campaign, Abruptly Resigns, Court Orders Trump Administration to Return Colombian Woman Deported to Congo, Supreme Court Preserves Broad Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone, ABC: Trump Set to Unveil $1.7 Billion IRS Compensation Fund" to Benefit MAGA Allies, Boeing to Pay Family of Samya Stumo Nearly $50M over Fatal Crash of 737 MAX Jet, Bolivian Unions Lead Nationwide Strikes Demanding Ouster of President Paz, Richard Glossip Freed on Bond After Nearly 30 Years on Oklahoma's Death Row

We speak with the acclaimed artist and author Molly Crabapple about her new book, Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. Although largely forgotten today, the Jewish Labor Bund was once a powerful secular, socialist revolutionary party that fought for freedom and dignity for Jews in Europe. The movement formed in the waning days of the Russian Empire in an atmosphere of intense antisemitism, but it rejected, from the very start, calls to create a Jewish ethnostate in Palestine," Crabapple says. They felt that Zionism was a capitulation to the same bigots that wanted to kick Jews out of Europe."Bund members - known as Bundists - navigated profound historical changes from the founding of the movement in 1897 until its ultimate destruction in the Holocaust. But Crabapple, who learned Yiddish for the book, says the Bund is not just Jewish history.This is a history that belongs to all rebels. It belongs to everyone who believes in the necessity of human solidarity," she says.

U.S. President Donald Trump is in Beijing for a highly anticipated summit with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping. It is the first U.S. state visit to China since 2017, during Trump's first administration. Trade, the Iran war, artificial intelligence and the fate of Taiwan are some of the issues being discussed, although it's not clear if any new agreements are likely. Trump traveled to China with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, along with a delegation of top U.S. executives including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Elon Musk of Tesla and Jensen Huang of Nvidia.The summit comes after years of rising hostility between the two superpowers, but leaders recognize the importance of improving the bilateral relationship, says Zhao Hai, director of international political studies at the Institute of World Economics and Politics in Beijing. This is a very critical historical moment [at] a crossroad, and both sides now are working together to establish a stable relationship that will have a global ramification," he says.We also speak with Jake Werner, a historian of modern China and director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He says the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the resulting economic chaos have strengthened China's position.China has ties to all the countries in the region. It has acted in the past to help broker the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran," says Werner. So it has some experience in this realm, sort of acting as a broker towards peace."

Xi Jinping Warns U.S. of Potential Conflict" over Taiwan After Beijing Summit with Trump, Senate Narrowly Rejects Iran War Powers Resolution for Seventh Time, Children Among the Dead as Israel Continues Bombing Lebanon Despite Ceasefire, Israeli Police Kill Palestinian Attempting to Scale West Bank Wall to Find Work, Study Finds Israel Increased Attacks on Gaza After Halting Strikes on Iran, Judge Temporarily Blocks U.S. Sanctions Against U.N. Expert on Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israeli Prime Minister Claims He Made Secret" Visit to the UAE in March, U.S. Senate Votes to Confirm Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve Chair, Trump Admin Withholds $1.3 Billion in Medicaid Reimbursement Payments from California, Former Private Prison Official to Be Named Acting Director of ICE, Louisiana Police to Pay More Than $4.8 Million to Settle Wrongful Death of Ronald Greene, U.N. Warns Drones Cause More Than 80% of Civilian Deaths in Sudan, Mexican President Denies Reports CIA Officers Assassinated Cartel Members, Israel Qualifies for the Eurovision Song Contest Final Amid Protests and Calls for Boycott

Salah Sarsour, a prominent Palestinian immigrant, green card holder and president of Wisconsin's largest mosque, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, has been locked up in an ICE jail since late March. Despite his lawful permanent resident status, the government says he could be subject to deportation for failing to disclose a conviction by Israeli military authorities when he was a teenager in the occupied West Bank. Sarsour says he never understood the charges presented against him in Hebrew and that he was tortured in Israeli custody. Supporters view the case as an escalation of the Trump administration's crackdown on Pro-Palestinian speech. Munjed Ahmad, a member of Salah Sarsour's legal team, says, Salah's case will be a litmus test. Will we allow the administration to gut those rights and to strip people from their free speech?"Ahmad is joined by Sarsour's son Kareem, who calls Trump's federal immigration agents kidnappers" and says his family initially had no idea what had happened to his father. While incarcerated, Salah Sarsour missed the birth of his ninth grandchild. He's a community pillar," says Kareem Sarsour. The entire thing shook us as a family."

As the supercharged" construction of new data centers to power artificial intelligence blankets the country, a growing resistance movement to these massive corporate projects amid a lack of public oversight is not far behind. As organizer Astra Taylor explains, local fights across the country are leveraging this industry chokepoint" to force important questions, from the distribution of land, water and energy resources to democratic governance over an industry currently driven by a billionaire Big Tech agenda." While AI boosters frame the technology as inevitable, Taylor says, I think that many people are more skeptical than that. ... That's part of what it means to have democratic governance over AI, to say, 'No, we don't need this technology to take over every facet of our existence.'"

Trump's commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Martin Makary, has resigned. During Makary's 13-month tenure, he attempted to split the difference between Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again agenda and a more traditional approach to regulation, ultimately angering both camps. Nobody was happy with what he did," says Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.Shortly before his resignation, Makary had drawn the ire of President Trump for attempting to block the approval of fruit-flavored vapes, and anti-abortion groups for not placing harsher restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. But even before Makary took the helm, mass layoffs and the loss of scientific expertise had already thrown the FDA, which has oversight powers extending to more than a fifth of the U.S. economy, in turmoil.The FDA's deputy commissioner for food, Kyle Diamantis, will now assume Makary's position in an acting capacity. Diamantas, a personal friend of Donald Trump Jr., does not have a background in medicine. The abrupt leadership shakeup is worrisome for the future of health and medicine in the United States, says Dr. Robert Steinbrook, the health research director at watchdog organization Public Citizen. We need a strong public health agency," he explains. [But] when you pick them apart for particular theories and the idiosyncrasies of the Health and Human Services secretary, you destroy things which take years, if not decades, to rebuild."

Pentagon Comptroller Says Cost of Iran War Has Risen to $29 Billion, U.S. Inflation Rate Rose to 3.8% in April, WSJ Receives Subpoenas for Records of Journalists Reporting on Internal Discussions of Iran War, Peace Activists Disrupt Politico Defense Summit, Confronting Iranian Opposition Leader Reza Pahlavi, Israeli Attacks Kill 8 in Lebanon in Latest Breaches of U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Senators Grill FBI Director Kash Patel over Reports of Excessive Drinking, U.S. Negotiates with Denmark to Open New Military Bases in Greenland, CNN: CIA Officers in Mexico Are Directly Involved in Targeted Assassinations" of Cartel Members, Immigration Lawsuits Surge Under Trump's Mass Deportation Campaign, House Field Hearing in Palm Beach Brings Epstein Survivors to The Scene of the Crime"

We were hearing, every day, the screams of other Palestinians who were being tortured inside this investigation center."Spanish citizen Saif Abukeshek, an activist of Palestinian origin, speaks with Democracy Now! about spending 10 days in Israeli detention after he was abducted in international waters. He was among 175 international activists sailing to Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has for years tried to breach Israel's maritime blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians.Abukeshek and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila were the only flotilla members detained for questioning" inside Israel, where they say they faced severe physical abuse in detention. Abukeshek, speaking from Turkey, says being dual nationals provided them some protection because of international attention. Imagine how Palestinians are being treated. Imagine the violations that people from Palestine are receiving," he says.