Today in One Sentence. JD Vance told Republicans to “stop whining” about Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent in Ohio’s governor’s race; Trump’s special envoy called Putin “a humanitarian” after releasing an American the U.S. had designated as wrongfully detained; Justice Elena Kagan said the Supreme Court’s conservative majority “has created a democracy that doesn’t work as well as it should”; the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must continue providing hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in federal prisons; the Justice Department’s inspector general declined to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct in the prosecution of former Olympian David Hearn; the U.N. Environment Programme warned that breaching the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C warming target is now “imminent and unavoidable”; and 52% of likely voters said they favor the Democratic candidates in their congressional districts, compared with 41% for Republicans.

1/ JD Vance told Republicans to “stop whining” about Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent in Ohio’s governor’s race. In the ad, Donna Arthur calls her daughter, Amy Acton, “a liar,” disputes her account of childhood homelessness, and warns voters, “Don’t let her become your governor.” Acton hasn’t seen her mother since 1978, when her stepfather was indicted for raping her as a child and her mother “did nothing to protect me.” Her stepfather pleaded not guilty and fled before trial. Republican Sen. Jon Husted said, “I would not have run that ad,” Nikki Haley called Ramaswamy “a bad guy,” and former Ohio House Speaker Ryan Smith urged Republicans to “Stop normalizing bad behavior.” Ramaswamy’s campaign nevertheless called it a “campaign-ending moment” for Acton and committed $4 million to airing the ad statewide. Vance, meanwhile, said whether the ad was appropriate was “not really my concern,” defended it for calling Acton “a liar,” and that he was “disgusted” by Republicans complaining more about the ad than what “Democrats want to do to the United States of America.” (NBC News / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / Axios / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)

2/ Trump’s special envoy called Putin “a humanitarian” after releasing an American the U.S. had designated as wrongfully detained. Stephen Hubbard was captured by Russian troops in eastern Ukraine in 2022 and imprisoned after Russian prosecutors accused him of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. Nevertheless, Steve Witkoff told Putin: “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that.” Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called the remark “embarrassing and outrageous,” while Sen. John Cornyn said Putin is “a stone cold killer.” (Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / CNBC)

3/ Justice Elena Kagan said the Supreme Court’s conservative majority “has created a democracy that doesn’t work as well as it should.” Kagan said the court’s 2019 ruling that kept federal courts from intervening in partisan gerrymandering sent both parties into a “race to the bottom,” “effectively depriving masses of citizens of their rights to voting equality.” Kagan said “all this money chasing all these political candidates is a nightmare” and that the court had “blinded itself” to the effects of its decisions. (Associated Press / Reuters / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)

4/ The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must continue providing hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in federal prisons. The court’s unsigned order leaves a lower-court injunction in place while the lawsuit proceeds. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the Bureau of Prisons to stop spending federal funds on gender-affirming medical treatments for inmates, arguing that the restrictions were needed for prison security and weren’t medically necessary. (ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / CNN)

5/ The Justice Department’s inspector general declined to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct in the prosecution of former Olympian David Hearn. Trump blamed Hearn and other “vandals” for damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, but U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro later dismissed the case after saying a contractor’s “botched installation” caused the damage. Hearn’s lawyers, however, claim that prosecutors ignored evidence and may have pressured a grand jury witness to change his testimony. Inspector General Don Berthiaume, however, referred the allegations to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which lacks criminal jurisdiction and has lost roughly half its staff under Trump. Hearn’s lawyers warned that without an independent investigation, accountability “will simply not take place.” (NBC News / CBS News / Associated Press / Washington Post)

6/ The U.N. Environment Programme warned that breaching the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C warming target is now “imminent and unavoidable.” Under current policies, the report projects 2.8°C of warming by the end of the century, and even if countries fulfill their existing pledges it projects 2.6°C of warming. To limit the overshoot and return to 1.5°C by 2100, global emissions would need to fall 18% by 2030 and 45% by 2035 from 2025 levels. Existing pledges, however, are projected to cut emissions by just 5% to 8% and 11% to 15%, respectively. “We procrastinated, and now we are saying this window has closed,” UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said. (Semafor / The Guardian / The Hill / CNN / NPR)

poll/ 52% of likely voters said they favor the Democratic candidates in their congressional districts, compared with 41% for Republicans. (New York Times)