Every week, The Fifth scores the biggest stories on power, democracy, and government accountability — so you know what’s worth your attention and time.
This week: a US-Iran ceasefire expires Wednesday as the US prepares to board ships in the Gulf. Israel and Lebanon hit pause after seven weeks of war with an agreement that looks like it’s set up to fail. And, the President and the Pope are still at it. And the DOJ is quietly erasing the historical record of January 6.
Here are this week’s top stories:
1) Iran
Up from #2 last week
As of this writing, the US and Iran are holding a tenuous two-week ceasefire that expires Wednesday, April 22 — but tensions around the Strait of Hormuz escalated sharply on Saturday.
First, how we got here:
Last weekend: Vice President JD Vance left Islamabad, Pakistan after 21 hours of continuous negotiations with Iran — and flew home without a deal.
Hours later, the US announced it would begin blocking Iranian ports to vessels entering or exiting, in an effort to pressure Iran back to the table.
While Vance was in Pakistan trying to stop a war, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were in Florida Saturday night — at a UFC fight.
On Friday, after a separate 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire was announced (more on that below), Iran said it would open the strait to commercial traffic as long as that ceasefire held. Trump said the US blockade would continue anyway. Iran warned the strait would be closed again. US Central Command held the blockade and said by Saturday that 23 ships had complied with orders to turn around.
As promised, Iran shut down the strait and fired on ships — including one Indian vessel that says it was given clearance to proceed. The UK’s maritime monitoring body said two of its vessels were fired on by the IRGC.
Now: The Wall Street Journal reports 🎁 the US military is preparing to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters. The WSJ frames it as an effort to force Iran to reopen the strait and make concessions on its nuclear program.
The US is signaling it will restart the war if Iran doesn’t capitulate.
“Our forces are maximally postured to restart combat operations, should this new Iranian regime choose poorly and not agree to a deal,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday.
Trump told reporters Friday night that if there was no deal by Wednesday, the US would “have to start dropping bombs again.”
The Washington Post reports thousands more troops are on their way to the region.
Trump is also poisoning the waters with claims no one can verify.
He has publicly claimed Iran agreed to things like giving up uranium enrichment — claims Iran denies. Sources tell the WSJ the US offered to lift sanctions; Trump denies that.
Trump told Reuters the US will go excavate Iran’s uranium, with Iran’s cooperation: “We’re going to get it together. We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery… We’ll bring it back to the United States.”
He told Axios to expect a ceasefire deal within a day or two. Sources close to the talks say critical gaps remain.
Per the WSJ that the “strategy has sown confusion and doubt among close U.S. allies and some officials involved in the negotiations, who question whether Iran has really folded when the U.S. president says it has.”
In Congress, Democrats tried to force a war-powers vote — again.
It failed in the House Thursday, 213-214. Three Democrats who voted no last month — Juan Vargas (CA), Greg Landsman (OH), and Henry Cuellar (TX) — flipped to yes.
A Senate version failed 47-52 Wednesday, mostly along party lines.
Democrats say they’ll keep trying. If passed, the resolution would require the president to consult Congress before taking action or keeping troops engaged beyond 60 days — that deadline falls around April 29 (the war began February 28). Democrats argue the war is illegal, so the deadline itself doesn’t matter; the resolution is about Congress asserting its constitutional role as a co-equal branch.
Senate Republican committee chairs have declined to hold hearings despite Democratic demands for public testimony from Rubio, Hegseth, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. A previously scheduled House hearing with military officials was pushed back several weeks to May 19. Barring further delays, Hegseth is tentatively scheduled to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on April 29.
Iran says 3,468 people have been killed by US and Israeli attacks since the war began, Middle East Eye reports.
The war’s impact is global:
Jet fuel: Europe may have only six weeks of jet fuel supply left, the head of the International Energy Agency told the AP Thursday. The Strait of Hormuz has now been effectively closed for nearly seven weeks. Even if it reopens soon, the backlog will take weeks to clear. At that point, the problem won’t be that oil is too pricey — it will be that very little remains. Airports and airlines typically hold about six weeks of reserves in normal times, and the war has run long enough to burn through them, per The Guardian.
Fertilizer: Seventy percent of US farmers surveyed by the American Farm Bureau Federation said they can’t afford the fertilizer they need for spring planting. About a third of global seaborne fertilizer trade passes through the Strait, along with roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil (Carnegie Endowment).
Weapons: The US is telling some European allies — including Estonia and Lithuania — that contracted weapons deliveries may be delayed because the Iran war is draining US stockpiles, Reuters reports. US officials blamed European countries for not helping the US and Israel reopen the Strait. Shipments to Israel and Ukraine are also straining supply.
Alliances: The WSJ reports, our allies are working on informal plans for a European-led defense structure — preserving deterrence against Russia and nuclear credibility even if the US pulls forces from Europe or declines to defend NATO allies, as Trump has threatened. The WSJ says the plans, first conceived last year, reflect the depth of European anxiety about US reliability.
2) Lebanon
Up from #3 last week
The Trump administration announced Thursday that Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day pause in fighting.
The deal itself looks set up to fail so that Israel can blame Hezbollah and Lebanon for failures later.
No mention of Hezbollah. The Shiite non-state group and Iranian ally — which Israel is fighting and which the Lebanese government has been unable to control for decades — isn’t named in the agreement. It’s unclear whether Hezbollah was consulted or agreed to the terms. Either way, the deal gives Lebanon’s government 10 days to get them on board.
A self-defense carve-out for Israel. The deal says Israel retains the right to act in self-defense at any time during the ceasefire — a provision Israel can invoke at its discretion, and already has, claiming Hezbollah violated the deal.
No Israeli withdrawal. Israel is occupying Lebanese land and the deal doesn’t require them to leave — a dealbreaker for the Lebanese government and Hezbollah. Israeli officials say civilians can’t return until the area is “secure” — an open-ended threshold that Israel gets to define. The pattern on the ground points to permanence, not temporary security: Israeli forces have destroyed every major bridge over the Litani River (18-20 miles from Israel’s northern border), forcing civilian traffic onto a handful of smaller crossings. Per the New York Times, bulldozers and controlled demolitions have erased entire border neighborhoods — a deliberate strategy, not collateral damage. If Israel targets the remaining crossings, southern Lebanon is effectively cut off from the north.
Worth remembering: This is the second time in 45 years Israel has moved into southern Lebanon. The last occupation lasted 18 years (1982-2000). Far-right members of Netanyahu’s current coalition — including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — have publicly invoked Israeli expansion into surrounding territory.
Trump’s public break with Netanyahu. In a surprising Truth Social post Friday, Trump said “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!” Netanyahu was “stunned and alarmed,” per Axios. Trump told the outlet: “Israel has to stop. They can’t continue to blow buildings up. I am not gonna allow it.” With these two, it’s hard to tell theater from substance.
The return. Many Lebanese began returning home Saturday, hoping to check on their homes and neighborhoods — many of which have been decimated by Israeli attacks. “I didn’t ask anyone to check on my house or send me pictures. I want to do that myself,” Zakri Zakaria told the New York Times. “We are heading there not knowing what we will find — or what we might not.”
More than 1.2 million have been displaced, more than 2,300 killed, and more than 6,000 injured.
One French soldier was killed and three others were injured in an attack in Lebanon, President Emmanuel Macron said on X Saturday. The troops were serving as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Macron said evidence suggests Hezbollah was responsible. The UN confirmed the account and says it is investigating.
The Senate failed to block the sale of weapons to Israel, 40-59, with help from seven Democrats: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (CT), Chris Coons (DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), Jacky Rosen (NV), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Chuck Schumer (NY), and John Fetterman (PA).
The measure, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would have blocked the sale of military bulldozers to Israel — the same model Caterpillar D9 used in 2003 to kill US activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza. Israel uses the bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes and raze land.
Another measure to block the sale of 1,000-pound bombs also failed, 36-63.
Per Time, Sanders has introduced similar measures before: a November 2024 version drew 18 senators; a July 2025 resolution to block assault rifle sales drew 27 Democratic votes — more than half the caucus at the time. Sanders told Time the numbers reflect growing unease among Democratic voters over Israel and Netanyahu. This week’s vote shows which senators are still holding the line for Netanyahu.
3) Loyalty & Retribution
(New)
Last week, in “Escalating,” I included a section titled “Zero accountability and total retribution.” It detailed how Trump is protecting the people who go to bat for him and going after the ones who don’t — using the full weight of the government he now runs to stay in power.
This week, I’m elevating it to a ranked story. Here’s why: there are 6.5 months until the midterms. Trump is desperate. He is working hard behind the scenes to lie, cheat, and steal his way to winning. Because if he doesn’t, he’s toast. And for the second week in a row, several developments point in this direction.
Laying the groundwork for this read is ProPublica’s Monday piece, “Inside Trump’s Effort to ‘Take Over’ the Midterm Elections.” You should read it. This passage was especially alarming to me: “Although rioters inspired by Trump managed to delay the certification of his defeat by storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, ultimately the institutional guardrails of American democracy held — barely. But if faced with the same tests today, the guardrails and people that held the line would largely be missing, an examination by ProPublica found.”
To that end, this week:
The DOJ asked a federal court to vacate the convictions of twelve prominent Proud Boys and Oath Keepers at the heart of the January 6 insurrection — claiming it’s in the “interests of justice.” Trump pardoned or commuted most sentences when he returned to the White House; those people are out of jail, but the convictions remained on their records. The DOJ now wants them wiped. The court will decide.
This benefits the convicted and it benefits Trump. It sanitizes the historical record of his role in January 6 — protecting his image and legacy — and it signals to others that political violence and lawbreaking on Trump’s behalf will not come with lasting consequences.
Alan Dershowitz — infamous lawyer and Epstein associate — told a right-wing outlet he’ll seek to have Trump’s 2019 impeachment expunged. Trump was impeached in 2019 after a whistleblower alleged he threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine unless President Volodymyr Zelenskyy investigated Joe Biden’s son Hunter and his business dealings in the country. Expunging an impeachment has never been done and is unprecedented — which many will assume makes it impossible. But as we’ve seen, anything goes. Since Trump was acquitted in the Senate, expungement would have no practical implications — only the symbolic ones: sanitizing his record and his legacy.
Reinforcing this: DNI Tulsi Gabbard — who is not on Trump’s “nice” list and may be looking to impress her boss — has referred the 2019 still unnamed whistleblower and Michael Atkinson, the then-intelligence community inspector general who took the complaint, to the DOJ for criminal charges. Gabbard’s office claims Atkinson “manufactured a conspiracy” used to impeach Trump and failed to follow procedures, citing newly released 2019 transcripts.
4) President Trump is (still) unfit
(⬇️ from #3 last week)
Last weekend, President Trump lashed out at the pope.
Yes, da POPE.
Trump said Pope Leo – of Chicago – was weak on crime and wouldn’t have been elected pope if not for Trump. Whatttt?
The next day, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself looking like Jesus. The whole thing pissed off a lot of people — including some of Trump’s keenest allies, many religious conservatives, and world leaders. Trump deleted the post under pressure and later tried to save face by claiming he thought it was him as a doctor, not Jesus. Uh, yeah OK sure.
Among those who defended Trump: House Speaker Mike Johnson, who tried to gaslight people into thinking they just didn’t get it. Vice President Vance — a Catholic convert — said the pope should “stick to matters of morality.”
The pope, currently visiting Africa, says debating Trump is “not in my interest at all“ but preaching peace is, and that’s what he’ll continue to do.
Interestingly, Trump announced he’ll take part in “America Reads the Bible,” in which people gather to read the entire Bible over one week. His part: a prerecorded reading of a passage from the Old Testament.
🟠 Escalating
FBI Director Kash Patel is unreliable, erratic, often drunk, and a “national-security vulnerability,” per The Atlantic🎁, based on interviews with more than two dozen insiders. Early in Patel’s tenure, meetings and briefings were reportedly rescheduled to later in the day to work around his alcohol-fueled nights. On multiple occasions, the Atlantic reports, security detail members struggled to wake him because he was seemingly intoxicated. A request for “breaching equipment” — normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams — was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors. Sources told the Atlantic they worry about a domestic terror attack with Patel at the helm of the agency that would be in charge of responding. “That’s what keeps me up at night,” one said.
FISA Section 702 got a 10-day extension this week. The law lets the government surveil people outside the US without a warrant — originally passed by Congress in 2008 to retroactively legalize the warrantless surveillance program President George W. Bush launched after 9/11. In theory, Americans can’t be targeted. In practice, their private communications are routinely swept up when they’re in contact with a foreign target, and the FBI has used backdoor searches to query that data on Americans without getting a warrant. Civil-liberties advocates — including the Brennan Center for Justice — say the workarounds violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Two movements on midterm elections and voting integrity:
The Trump DOJ is 0-5 in its lawsuits against states who refuse to turn over their voter rolls, including sensitive information. A Trump-appointed federal judge dismissed a government lawsuit against Rhode Island this week, calling the demands a “fishing expedition,” per Democracy Docket. The government has lost similar cases in California, Oregon, Michigan, and Massachusetts. DOJ has sued 29 states and DC for their rolls; 12 states have agreed to hand them over. (See where your state lands via the Brennan Center tracker.)
April 21 — Virginia’s special election wraps with one question on the ballot: can Democrats temporarily redraw Virginia’s districts to fight Republican gerrymandering efforts across the country? Former President Barack Obama is running ads urging Virginians to vote yes; Republicans are running ads featuring Obama echoing past opposition to gerrymandering, per the New York Times. If it passes — and survives court challenges — Democrats could pick up as many as four additional House seats. Early voting began March 6. Polls show the race is tight.
🔵 Watching
Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales both officially resigned from Congress on Tuesday after being accused of sexual crimes involving former staffers. In Gonzales’s case, the victim died by suicide. Swalwell was running for governor of California; he dropped out of that race last week when allegations first became public. Governors of both states will determine when special elections will be held to fill their seats.
Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been in a Kuwaiti prison for six weeks after authorities arrested him for sharing publicly available video online related to the war on Iran. The Committee to Protect Journalists and Columbia Journalism School — where Shihab-Eldin graduated and served as an adjunct professor — are calling for his release. (Drop Site News)
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to show up for her congressional testimony on the Epstein files, as expected. Bondi has said she will no longer comply with a subpoena compelling her testimony because she’s been fired. Democrats are weighing whether to hold her in contempt; Republicans are resisting. (The Hill)
Israel continues to restrict humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza, where two million people are trapped in dire conditions, and continues to kill Palestinians despite a ceasefire. Per Al Jazeera, the intensity of Israeli strikes on Gaza spiked during peak regional tensions: between February 28 and April 8, while the US and Israel bombed Iran, Israeli forces bombed Gaza on 36 of those 40 days.
Another aid flotilla of 70 boats and more than 1,000 volunteers is making its way to Gaza. The last one set sail last fall, only to be illegally intercepted by Israel, with activists arrested and later released. (AP News)
An appeals court ruled Trump can continue construction on his ginormous $400 million White House ballroom that no one asked for. (NBC News)
So well done, Huma. Organized, concise, blunt. You deserve a lot of followers.