Today's Liberal News

Elon Musk Under Fire for Epstein Links, Grok’s Sexualized AI Deepfakes & SpaceX-xAI Merger

French prosecutors have asked Elon Musk to appear for questioning following a police raid on the offices of the social media network X in Paris. The French probe comes on the heels of a U.K. investigation into Musk’s AI tool Grok over its “potential to produce harmful sexualized image and video content.” Last month, the European Union also launched an investigation into sexual deepfakes created by Grok.

Shot, Harassed & Threatened: U.S. Citizens Describe Surviving Violent Attacks by Immigration Agents

U.S. citizens who have had violent encounters with federal immigration agents deployed in cities across the U.S. testified before Congress on Tuesday. Amid harrowing testimony by three victims and the brothers of Renee Good, congressional Democrats offered apologies and promises of accountability. Not a single Republican lawmaker showed up to the hearing.
Renee Good’s brothers Brent and Luke Ganger both testified at the hearing, with Brent Ganger calling Good “unapologetically hopeful.

“Tear Down ICE” & Probe Trump-UAE $500M Crypto Deal: Rep. Ro Khanna

We continue our conversation with Congressmember Ro Khanna, who urges Democrats to demand legislation that reins in President Trump’s anti-immigration raids ahead of the congressional vote on the spending bill. Khanna says the U.S. should “tear down ICE,” replacing it with “a new agency that has oversight with human rights to enforce immigration law.”
He also comments on Trump’s multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency deal with the United Arab Emirates.

Rep. Khanna Slams DOJ for Not Launching New Probes of Jeffrey Epstein’s “Co-Conspirators”

Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna has called for Congress to investigate associates of Jeffrey Epstein named in the files and for the full release of the remaining documents. This comes as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the review of Epstein files is over and that no further prosecutions are expected. Blanche, who was formerly President Trump’s personal lawyer, told Fox News that “it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.

You Can’t Kill Swagger

On a frigid white January in 1982, an airplane took off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for Florida, remained aloft for about 30 seconds, and then stalled out and collided with the 14th Street Bridge, plunging into the ice-floe-studded waters of the Potomac River.

Why Trump Wants a Weaker Dollar

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.
The U.S. dollar is getting weaker, and that’s just how the president wants it. During an appearance last Tuesday at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, Donald Trump told reporters that the dollar’s declining exchange rate was “great.

It Was Too Easy for Eileen Mihich to Kill Herself

The four-star Hotel deLuxe in Portland, Oregon, features a soaring lobby with a gilded ceiling that drips with chandeliers. Eileen Mihich, a 31-year-old woman from nearby Beaverton, checked in on the afternoon of March 6, 2025. Two days later, a hotel employee named Stephen Jones noticed that Mihich had failed to check out at the appointed time and went to her eighth-floor room to investigate. No one answered, and the room was silent behind the door, so he let himself in.

The Chatbots Appear to Be Organizing

The first signs of the apocalypse might look a little like Moltbook: a new social-media platform, launched last week, that is supposed to be populated exclusively by AI bots—1.6 million of them and counting say hello, post software ideas, and exhort other AIs to “stop worshiping biological containers that will rot away.” (Humans: They mean humans.

Today’s Atlantic Trivia: Whose ‘Better Angels’ Are These?

Updated with new questions at 4 p.m. ET on February 4, 2026.
Every year since 2003, the umbrella organization for quizzing outfits around the globe has put on the granddaddy of knowledge competitions. Nothing in the tiny, nerdy world of trivia confers more authority than winning the World Quizzing Championships.

“Geopolitics of the Weak”: Colombian Senator Urges “Collective Action” Against U.S. Aggression

After several months of rising tension between them, Colombian President Gustavo Petro sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump in a closed-door meeting that lasted approximately two hours at the White House on Tuesday. The two leaders have exchanged threats and insults since Trump returned to office in 2025, with Petro harshly criticizing the U.S. bombing of boats at sea and for threatening the sovereignty of countries in Latin America.

A New Nuclear Arms Race Could “Spiral” as Last U.S.-Russia Treaty Expires: Dr. Ira Helfand

As the last major nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia expires this week, we speak with arms control expert Dr. Ira Helfand, a steering committee member of Back from the Brink, a national coalition organizing communities across the United States to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Helfand is a longtime member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, which received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.