Today in 5 Lines
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The FBI raided the office of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and seized records related to several topics, including payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Federal investigators also reportedly searched his home and hotel room.
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Trump condemned the suspected chemical attack in Syria as a “barbaric act” and said he will make a decision on the U.S. response within the next 24 to 48 hours.
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Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that he will run for U.S. Senate, challenging incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson.
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Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth became the first senator to give birth while in office.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met privately with several lawmakers on Capitol Hill ahead of his planned testimony before a joint session of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees on Tuesday, followed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday.
Today on The Atlantic
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‘They’re Desperate to Keep This Email Hush-Hush’: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt denied knowing about salary increases given to two of his top aides. But an email exchange suggests otherwise. (Elaina Plott)
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A Bit of Self-Criticism: Conor Friedersdorf argues that The Atlantic’s firing of conservative writer Kevin Williamson represents a failure of tolerance.
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‘I Certainly Feel Bad’: In an interview, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he’s sorry for the cavalcade of scandals involving his company in recent months, but he’s not resigning anytime soon. (Robinson Meyer)
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White Men’s Club: Of the 15 most populous cities in the U.S., all but three are led by white men. Why isn’t America’s diversity represented in City Hall? (Russell Berman)
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Welcome to the Era of Fake Video: The coming swell of mass video manipulation has the potential to make the current era of “fake news” seem quaint. (Franklin Foer)
Snapshot
What We’re Reading
Expect an Expensive Race: Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that he’s launching a bid to unseat Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. Here’s what a Scott-Nelson race could look like. (Dylan Scott, Vox)
How Russia Could Steal the Midterms: Here’s what a worst-case scenario could look like, based on the fears of voting and cybersecurity experts. (Clare Malone, FiveThirtyEight)
Bait-and-Switch: President Trump and Republican leaders are hoping to use an obscure law to cut some domestic spending out of the omnibus bill. The move, writes David Dayen, “would centralize practically all governing power in the hands of one rather unstable man.” (The Nation)
On the Other Hand: Kimberley A. Strassel sees this as “a chance for Republicans to honor their promises of spending restraint” and redeem themselves with Trump’s conservative base. (Wall Street Journal)
Visualized
Everybody’s Running: According to the soaring number of Democratic House candidates, the party’s best recruiting tool this year has been President Trump. (Jonathan Martin and Denise Lu, The New York Times)
-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey)
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