Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings, watch full episodes here, or listen to the weekly podcast here.
Opposition to President Trump’s continued attacks on Iran is growing—not only from resentful European allies and Democratic Party leaders, but also from parts of his MAGA base.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee walked out of a closed-door briefing on the Epstein files with Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, less than an hour after it began Wednesday, after Bondi repeatedly declined to say whether she would comply with a subpoena requiring her to appear for a sworn deposition on April 14.
Experts are calling it “the worst voter suppression bill ever seriously considered by Congress.” As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a Trump-backed voter ID bill known as the SAVE Act, millions of citizens who lack easy access to its required forms of documentation are now at risk of disenfranchisement. “Republicans are singularly focused on making it harder to vote and pursuing this MAGA fever dream,” explains Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones.
As Israel continues to pummel Lebanon in its resumed war against the country and the Hezbollah paramilitary, we get an update from Associated Press reporter Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut. “If you compare this particular war to the last one, less than two years ago, what happened in the past three weeks is what happened in the past seven or eight months,” says Chehayeb, who describes masses of displaced people and fears of an imminent ground invasion.
A major New York Times investigation details the late co-founder of the United Farm Workers Cesar Chavez’s sexual abuse of women and girls. The revelations about Chavez’s history of grooming and abuse have sent shockwaves through the labor movement and California, where officials are already moving to cancel or rename public celebrations planned in his honor. Chavez is also accused of sexually assaulting fellow labor rights icon and United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, now 95.
The Trump administration is escalating threats against news organizations, with President Trump suggesting outlets should face “treason” charges for disseminating false information. Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has also threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses over their coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. This all comes as allies of President Trump consolidate their control over several major media outlets.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee walked out of a closed-door briefing on the Epstein files with Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, less than an hour after it began Wednesday, after Bondi repeatedly declined to say whether she would comply with a subpoena requiring her to appear for a sworn deposition on April 14.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned a “new stage of war” has begun after Israel bombed Iran’s South Pars gas field — the largest known natural gas reserve in the world. This comes as the price of oil has spiked to $118 a barrel, a 60% jump since the U.S. and Iran attacked Iran on February 28.
Professor of Gulf studies Laleh Khalili lays out the global economic implications of the effective closing of one of the world’s “major choke points for oil,” the Strait of Hormuz.
In a major escalation in the war in the Middle East, Israel has bombed Iran’s South Pars gas field, the largest known natural gas reserve in the world, leading Iran to attack energy sites across the Gulf. Iranian American professor of international affairs Vali Nasr says that Iran is prepared for a much longer war than the U.S. and Israel anticipated.
A jury in Texas has convicted eight people in the first federal anti-terror case since the Trump administration declared “antifa” a terror group. Nine defendants alleged to be members of an “antifa terror cell” stood trial on federal and state charges including rioting, using explosives and attempted murder. The charges stemmed from their attendance at an anti-ICE protest outside the Prairieland ICE jail on July 4, during which fireworks were set off and a police officer was shot and wounded.
The Trump administration is escalating threats against news organizations, with President Trump suggesting outlets should face “treason” charges for disseminating false information. Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has also threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses over their coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. This all comes as allies of President Trump consolidate their control over several major media outlets.
A top national security official resigned from the Trump administration Tuesday in response to the war on Iran. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Joe Kent, who served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in his resignation letter.
As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran continues, we look at how the Pentagon is using artificial intelligence in its operations. The system, known as Project Maven, relies on technology by Palantir and also incorporates the AI model Claude built by Anthropic. Israel has used similar AI targeting programs in Iran, as well as in Gaza and Lebanon.
A jury in Texas has convicted eight people in the first federal anti-terror case since the Trump administration declared “antifa” a terror group. Nine defendants alleged to be members of an “antifa terror cell” stood trial on federal and state charges including rioting, using explosives and attempted murder. The charges stemmed from their attendance at an anti-ICE protest outside the Prairieland ICE jail on July 4, during which fireworks were set off and a police officer was shot and wounded.
Cuba’s electrical grid has collapsed. The island-wide blackout comes amid a harsh U.S. oil blockade and recent comments from President Donald Trump that he wants to “take” Cuba. No oil shipments have reached the country, located just south of Florida, in three months, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by decades of severe U.S. sanctions. “Sanctions are literally killing people right now,” says Cuban journalist Daniel Montero with Belly of the Beast, speaking from Havana.
We get an analysis of the Trump administration’s Iran war strategy from former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Harrison Mann. “From day two of this war, the Trump administration has not known what to do and how to get out of this,” says Mann, who resigned from the U.S. Army’s Defense Intelligence Agency in 2024 over the Biden administration’s policy in Gaza.
How long will the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran last? Regime change in Iran will not be as “easy and quick” as U.S. warmongers may have initially believed, says Iranian American political analyst Trita Parsi. Israel claims that it has successfully assassinated Iran’s powerful security chief Ali Larijani, who Parsi says could have played a role in future ceasefire negotiations.
The global economy has been rocked by the war in the Middle East, with Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatening energy flows and sending the price of oil soaring to its highest level in years. The United Nations Security Council responded to the unprovoked U.S.-Israeli war by passing a resolution this week condemning Iran — specifically for its attacks on U.S.
Mr Nobody Against Putin won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature on Sunday. Democracy Now! recently spoke with co-director David Borenstein and the subject of the film, the Russian teacher Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, who personally documented Russia’s use of wartime propaganda. “I need for as many people as possible to see what is happening inside of Russian schools,” says Talankin. “Putin is forcing propaganda into their schools, and [the children are] absorbing all of this.
Democracy Now! speaks with Iranian Israeli political activist Orly Noy about her recent piece, “Longing for My Tehran.” “It’s been a very emotional time since the beginning of the war, not just because we are constantly running in and out of shelters,” says Noy, “but because this time, the footage of the bombing that I grew accustomed to seeing for over two years from the genocide in Gaza was now coming from my homeland.
As the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran extends into a third week, President Trump is demanding other countries send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut, as oil prices keep rising. This comes as the U.S. and Israel continue to launch major strikes on Iran, while Iran has retaliated by repeatedly striking Israel and U.S. allies in the Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The global economy has been rocked by the war in the Middle East, with Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatening energy flows and sending the price of oil soaring to its highest level in years. The United Nations Security Council responded to the unprovoked U.S.-Israeli war by passing a resolution this week condemning Iran — specifically for its attacks on U.S.
Inside Israel, “there is no room for any question marks or doubts about this war,” says journalist Gideon Levy, a columnist for Haaretz and a member of the newspaper’s editorial board. He says war fever has taken over the country, with polls showing 93% support for the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, Lebanon and beyond — at least among the Jewish public. “Israel is doing as much as it can,” he says. “As long as the American support is so massive, so blind and so automatic, this will go on.
We speak with journalist Lylla Younes in Lebanon, where she says Israel’s “massacres are multiplying” amid the broader U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Israeli strikes have killed nearly 700 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, while attacks have expanded to include areas of central Beirut, which Israel claims are aimed at the powerful Hezbollah militia. This comes as Israel has vowed to expand its incursion into southern Lebanon.
Democracy Now! recently sat down with Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International and a former United Nations special rapporteur, while she was in New York City to mark International Women’s Day and attend the U.N.’s annual conference on women’s rights. Callamard responded to the assassination of Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed, U.S. sanctions against U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese and the rise of Christian nationalism under the Trump administration.
The global economy has been rocked by the war in the Middle East, with Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatening energy flows and sending the price of oil soaring to its highest level in years. The United Nations Security Council responded to the unprovoked U.S.-Israeli war by passing a resolution this week condemning Iran — specifically for its attacks on U.S.
Inside Israel, “there is no room for any question marks or doubts about this war,” says journalist Gideon Levy, a columnist for Haaretz and a member of the newspaper’s editorial board. He says war fever has taken over the country, with polls showing 93% support for the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, Lebanon and beyond — at least among the Jewish public. “Israel is doing as much as it can,” he says. “As long as the American support is so massive, so blind and so automatic, this will go on.
We speak with journalist Lylla Younes in Lebanon, where she says Israel’s “massacres are multiplying” amid the broader U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Israeli strikes have killed nearly 700 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, while attacks have expanded to include areas of central Beirut, which Israel claims are aimed at the powerful Hezbollah militia. This comes as Israel has vowed to expand its incursion into southern Lebanon.
Democracy Now! recently sat down with Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International and a former United Nations special rapporteur, while she was in New York City to mark International Women’s Day and attend the U.N.’s annual conference on women’s rights. Callamard responded to the assassination of Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed, U.S. sanctions against U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese and the rise of Christian nationalism under the Trump administration.
Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings, watch full episodes here, or listen to the weekly podcast here.
The conflict in Iran has begun to impact the global energy market. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss rising oil prices, potential shortages, and more.
As the U.S.