Today in One Sentence. Virginia voters approved a temporary plan to redraw the state’s congressional map, which could give Democrats as many as four more House seats this the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut despite Trump extending the ceasefire, with Iran firing on three commercial ships and seizing two of them Democrats on the House Judiciary demanded that FBI Director Kash Patel complete a World Health Organization alcohol-use screening test the Trump administration agreed to pay former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page $1.25 million to settle his claims over FBI surveillance during the Russia investigation the Justice Department charged the Southern Poverty Law Center with defrauding donors by secretly using more than $3 million in contributions to pay informants inside the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups 52% of Americans prefer congressional candidates who don’t support Trump’s deportation policy and 55% of Americans say the House should impeach Trump.

1/ Virginia voters approved a temporary plan to redraw the state’s congressional map, which could give Democrats as many as four more House seats this fall. The new lines would shift Virginia from a 6-5 Democratic edge to a map that favors Democrats in 10 of 11 districts. Republicans said they will challenge the referendum in the Virginia Supreme Court. The measure suspends Virginia’s normal redistricting system for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections, not permanently, with the state set to return to its bipartisan redistricting commission after the 2030 census. Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other supporters cast it as a temporary response to the mid-decade redistricting fight in other states, not a permanent replacement for the commission. (CNN / NPR / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / The Hill)

2/ The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut despite Trump extending the ceasefire, with Iran firing on three commercial ships and seizing two of them. Trump justified the extension by saying Iran’s government was “seriously fractured” and there’s “no time frame” for ending the conflict, even though he had described Tehran’s new leaders as “much more rational” and “very reasonable” days earlier. He also insisted the U.S. “totally controlled” the strait and said Iran was “losing 500 Million Dollars a day.” (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / CNBC / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNBC / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters / NPR)

3/ Democrats on the House Judiciary demanded that FBI Director Kash Patel complete a World Health Organization alcohol-use screening test and turn over security clearance questionnaire responses with Congress. The demand followed The Atlantic’s report that Patel’s alleged excessive drinking and unexplained absences had become a concern inside the FBI and Justice Department. Patel denied the claims, said he has “never been intoxicated on the job,” and sued The Atlantic for defamation, seeking $250 million. Meanwhile, a federal judge dismissed Patel’s separate defamation suit over a TV remark that he spent more time in nightclubs than at FBI headquarters, ruling the comment was “rhetorical hyperbole,” not a statement of fact. Separately, The New York Times reported that the FBI looked into whether one of its reporters violated stalking laws after she wrote that Patel used bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with security and transportation. (CNBC / NBC News / The Hill / NBC News / The Guardian / New York Times)

  • 🍻 This round’s on WTFJHT: We deserve better than a drunk FBI director. And independent journalism does, too. So I’m going to sponsor three subscriptions to The Atlantic for WTFJHT readers. Enter to win here. No purchase necessary to enter or win, blah, blah, blah.

4/ The Trump administration agreed to pay former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page $1.25 million to settle his claims over FBI surveillance during the Russia investigation. Page sued in 2020, alleging that the FBI and Justice Department used false and misleading surveillance applications to monitor him. A later inspector general report, issued during Trump’s first term, found major errors and omissions in those filings. The settlement, however, doesn’t change the Mueller investigation conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf. (Associated Press / Politico / CBS News)

5/ The Justice Department charged the Southern Poverty Law Center with defrauding donors by secretly using more than $3 million in contributions to pay informants inside the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups. The 11-count federal indictment charged the civil rights group with wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, alleging it used fictitious entities and disguised bank accounts to conceal the payments. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the civil rights group was “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose.” (Reuters / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / NBC News)

poll/ 52% of Americans prefer congressional candidates who don’t support Trump’s deportation policy, while 42% said they were more likely to support such a candidate. (Reuters)

poll/ 55% of Americans say the House should impeach Trump, while 37% oppose, and 8% are unsure. 45% say they strongly support impeachment, while 30% say they strongly oppose it. (Strength in Numbers)

The 2026 midterms are in 195 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 930 days.