Hegseth dismisses ‘foolish’ US stockpile concerns as Iran conflict tests munitions

2026-05-12T17:43:11-04:00 / Fox News

Tomahawk missiles, ATACMS and Patriot interceptors among systems heavily used during Iran conflict

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

Published May 12, 2026 5:43pm EDT

Protester interrupts Hegseth during Senate hearing on Pentagon budget

Woman escorted out of Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing as she claims lawmakers who approve budget are “complicit in the war crimes of this administration.”

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed concerns about strained weapons stockpiles outright, saying recent reporting has exaggerated the issue.

“The munitions issue has been foolishly, and unhelpfully overstated,” Hegseth said during a hearing with the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense Tuesday. “We have all the munitions needed to execute what we need to execute.”

Hegseth reiterated that stance during a recent congressional hearing, pushing back directly on claims that U.S. inventories have been significantly drawn down.

“I take issue with the characterization that munitions are depleted in a public forum. That’s not true,” he told lawmakers.

“Even in the conduct of the conflict, working with the chairman and Admiral Cooper, ensuring that any munitions we’re using, we know what we’re trading off of to preserve capabilities. So we have maximum optionality across the globe,” he said, referring to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper.

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed concerns about strained weapons stockpiles outright, saying recent reporting has exaggerated the issue.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

US DRAINS CRITICAL MISSILE STOCKPILES IN IRAN WAR AS YEARSLONG REBUILD LOOMS

The comments come as questions about U.S. weapons inventories have intensified following the Iran conflict and new analyses pointing to heavy usage of key munitions.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said after a recent classified briefing that it is “shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines,” pointing to heavy use of systems including Tomahawk cruise missiles, Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and Patriot air defense interceptors.

Hegseth responded by accusing Kelly of improperly discussing sensitive information, suggesting the former Navy pilot may have violated his oath.

HEGSETH SAYS PENTAGON WILL REVIEW MARK KELLY’S PUBLIC STATEMENTS ABOUT CLASSIFIED BRIEFING AMID ONGOING FEUD

“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth wrote on X. “Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a CLASSIFIED Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath… again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine offered a more measured assessment, telling lawmakers that U.S. forces currently have “sufficient munitions for what we’re tasked to do right now.”(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Kelly pushed back, saying the information was not classified and noting Hegseth had made similar remarks publicly in recent testimony. He added that the cost of the conflict had yet to be fully explained to the American people.

Caine offered a more measured assessment, telling lawmakers that U.S. forces currently have “sufficient munitions for what we’re tasked to do right now,” while acknowledging that commanders will “always want more.”

IRANIAN DRONE ATTACKS STRAIN US AIR DEFENSES AS UKRAINE PITCHES LOW-COST INTERCEPTORS

But concerns about munitions stockpiles are not limited to the U.S.

Across the Middle East, U.S. partners also have relied heavily on high-end air defense systems to counter Iranian missile and drone attacks, raising similar concerns about how long those inventories can be sustained if fighting resumes.

First responders inspect a residential building hit in an earlier U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, March 27, 2026.(Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

While countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia entered the conflict with deeper and more layered interceptor stockpiles, built over years of investment in missile defense systems, other Gulf allies, which operate smaller inventories and depend more heavily on U.S. resupply, could face greater pressure if the ceasefire breaks down and missile exchanges resume.

Despite the heavy usage, analysts say the U.S. retains enough munitions to sustain current operations.

A recent analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that while stockpiles have been drawn down, they remain sufficient for the ongoing conflict.

TRUMP ADMIN SOUGHT REDACTIONS ON KEY CHINA WAR GAME REPORT WARNING OF US MILITARY READINESS GAPS

The greater concern, the report noted, is whether the U.S. is prepared for a future conflict with a peer adversary like China, which likely would require sustained use of the same high-end missiles now being depleted, including long-range strike weapons and advanced air defense interceptors.

Rebuilding those inventories could take years. Even before recent conflicts, it typically took about two years from contract award to initial delivery for many missile systems, with full production stretching longer.

Analysts now say those timelines have extended further, with new orders potentially taking four to five years to fully deliver as demand outpaces capacity.

That lag reflects deeper constraints in the defense industrial base. Missile production depends on specialized components such as propulsion systems and guidance technology, often sourced from a limited number of suppliers, making it difficult to rapidly scale output.

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Defense contractors are moving to close that gap.

RTX has said it is increasing missile deliveries and investing billions to expand manufacturing capacity, while Lockheed Martin is working to significantly boost production of systems like the Patriot interceptor. The Pentagon is also pursuing multi-year procurement deals to give companies more predictable demand and incentivize expansion.

Even with those efforts, analysts warn the gap between battlefield use and industrial capacity cannot be closed quickly.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395334439112

South Carolina Republicans block plan to eliminate Clyburn’s House seat

2026-05-12 21:03:23 / The Washington Post

Rep. James E. Clyburn has long been a power broker in the Democratic Party. A state Senate leader had warned that a new map could backfire for the GOP.

May 12, 2026 at 5:03 p.m. EDT Yesterday at 5:03 p.m. EDT

3 min

203

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-South Carolina) in 2022. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

By Patrick Marley

Republicans in South Carolina’s legislature on Tuesday rejected a plan aimed at flipping the state’s lone Democratic-held House seat, which has long been occupied by one of the country’s most senior and influential Black leaders.

Trump administration plans to name David Venturella as interim ICE chief after Lyons’ departure

May 12, 2026 / 7:24 PM EDT / CBS News

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Nicole Sganga

Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the Immigration Correspondent at CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple programs and platforms, including national broadcast shows, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and the organization’s social media accounts.

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Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Nicole Sganga

Nicole Sganga is CBS News’ homeland security and justice correspondent. She is based in Washington, D.C., and reports for all shows and platforms.

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Nicole Sganga

The Trump administration plans to name longtime immigration official David Venturella as the interim head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, replacing acting director Todd Lyons, who is leaving the agency at the end of the month, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson and two U.S. officials told CBS News.

Venturella has worked at ICE under Republican and Democratic administrations, and rejoined the agency last year, after President Trump returned to the White House.

Before rejoining ICE, Venturella worked at GEO Group, one of the main for-profit prison companies that operates immigration detention centers across the U.S.

Venturella — who also worked at the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS —is considered an ally of White House border czar Tom Homan. His expected appointment was first reported by The New York Times earlier Tuesday.

As the federal agency at the forefront of Mr. Trump’s deportation crackdown, ICE has faced mounting scrutiny over the past year, including accusations that some of its operations have been heavy-handed. ICE officers have also faced withering criticism for using masks, a practice Trump administration officials have defended as a necessary safeguard against doxxing.

In an exclusive interview with CBS News last week, Homan said ICE has shifted to a “smarter” immigration enforcement strategy since the controversial Minneapolis crackdown, during which two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal immigration agents.

Homan said that approach has focused on “targeted” operations that prioritize the arrest of individuals who have committed crimes in addition to being in the U.S. illegally.

During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005, Venturella noted he is the son of an immigrant and said he understood “why so many people have risked their lives, leaving their families, homes, and everything they know to come to the United States,” according to prepared remarks.

But he said the U.S. is also known as “a nation where law and justice prevail.”

“Without strict and fair enforcement of our immigration statues, our country will remain vulnerable to the threats that arise from individuals who willingly exploit gaps in our immigration system,” Venturella said.

伊拉克巴基斯坦与伊朗达成协议 运输石油液化天然气

2026年5月13日 07:59 / 联合早报

伊拉克巴基斯坦与伊朗达成协议 运输石油液化天然气

在巴格达和德黑兰达成的一项此前未曾报道的协议中，伊拉克两艘超大型原油运输船于5月10日分别载有约200万桶原油，安全通过了霍尔木兹海峡。 （路透社）

据五名知情人士透露，伊拉克和巴基斯坦都已与伊朗达成协议，从海湾地区运输石油和液化天然气。

路透社报道，根据巴格达和德黑兰达成的一项协议，伊拉克两艘超大型原油运输船于5月10日分别装在约200万桶原油，安全通过霍尔木兹海峡。这项协议此前未曾报道。

一名伊拉克石油部官员告诉路透社，伊拉克目前正努力争取伊朗批准更多原油运输船通过霍尔木兹海峡。

“伊拉克是伊朗的亲密盟友，伊拉克经济出现任何恶化都会损害伊朗在伊拉克的经济利益。”

另一名伊拉克石油部官员和一名航运业消息人士也证实与德黑兰的谈判。

两名知情人士向路透社透露，根据伊斯兰堡和德黑兰之间达成的一项双边协议，两艘装载卡塔尔液化天然气的油轮正驶往巴基斯坦。

消息人士称，伊拉克和巴基斯坦均未就过境事宜直接向伊朗或革命卫队支付款项。

这两名消息人士说，卡塔尔并未直接参与双边协议，但在向巴基斯坦发货前已通知美国。

据知情人士透露，由于能源成本上涨和供应中断给各国经济带来沉重压力，其他国家也考虑达成类似协议。

咨询公司MST Marquee研究主管卡沃尼克说：“随着越来越多的政府愿意与伊朗达成通行协议，可能使伊朗长期控制霍尔木兹海峡的观念正常化。”

美伊冲突2月底爆发前，每月约有3000艘船只通过霍尔木兹海峡。航运数据显示，目前的通行量仅约为战前的5%。

业内人士透露，伊朗正在正式确立对霍尔木兹海峡的控制权。一名伊拉克石油部官员说，伊朗已要求伊拉克提交每艘油轮的相关文件，以便在伊朗海军的监督下，通过指定的海上航线通行。

一名了解巴基斯坦与伊朗就船只通行问题进行谈判的消息人士称，谈判过程中出现了一些波折。

“伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队有时会改变规则，所以很难让谈判按计划进行，但我们正在努力克服困难。”

US considers financing billions of dollars for nuclear plant parts, industry group says

2026-05-12T16:16:57.733Z / Reuters

By Timothy Gardner

May 12, 2026 4:16 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Energy is considering a plan to offer utilities billions of dollars in financing to secure components of large nuclear reactors ​that can take years to obtain, the head of the industry group Nuclear ​Energy Institute said on Tuesday.

Items such as reactor vessels and steam generators ⁠can take years to secure, and the effort would attempt to reduce the ​time it takes to build large AP1000 nuclear plants.

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“It’s going to help several U.S. utility ​companies that are interested in AP1000 deployment,” Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of NEI, said at her organization’s conference in Washington about the financing plan.

The DOE, which does not typically discuss pending loan applications, ​did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The department’s Office of Energy Dominance ​Financing has hundreds of billions of dollars in financing aid, including loan guarantees for projects that struggle ‌to ⁠get bank loans. During Trump’s first term, the only use he made of the division, known then as the Loan Programs Office, was for financing reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia.

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President Donald Trump has set a goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear ​power capacity to 400 ​gigawatts by 2050, an ⁠aggressive target considering the last reactors built in the U.S. were about seven years delayed and billions of dollars over budget.

U.S. Energy ​Secretary Chris Wright has said the biggest use of the OEDF will ​be for ⁠nuclear power plants.

Grant Isaac, the president and chief operating officer of Cameco (CCO.TO), one of the Canadian owners of Westinghouse, which designs and develops AP1000 reactors, told an earnings call last week that ⁠five ​or six utilities are in “very advanced stages” of seeking ​financing from the DOE’s loan office. The utilities are “interested in advancing project delivery by considering things like ordering ​the long lead items ahead of time,” Isaac said.

Reporting by Timothy Gardner Editing by Rod Nickel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Trump says US FDA Commissioner Makary is out

2026-05-12T16:55:43.689Z / Reuters

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

May 12, 2026 4:55 PM UTC Updated 51 mins ago

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary speaks during a press conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 10, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Makary’s ouster comes after weeks of intensifying pressure campaign
• Makary had clashed with growing number of White House and HHS officials
• White House searching for permanent replacement, sources say

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) – U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary resigned on Tuesday, President Donald ​Trump said, the latest leadership change at the federal health department which comes after weeks of public speculation and a ‌mounting pressure campaign.

FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Kyle Diamantas will lead the agency in an acting capacity, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Politico first reported the development.

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“Marty is a terrific guy, but he’s going to go on and he’s going to lead a good life. He was having some difficulty,” Trump told reporters. “The assistant, the ​deputy is taking over temporarily until we find someone.”

Makary’s departure follows weeks of intensifying pressure from powerful Republicans, anti-abortion groups, and the ​Wall Street Journal editorial board, all while he clashed with top officials at the White House and Department of ⁠Health and Human Services, according to the sources and three other sources.

On Friday, Reuters and other outlets reported that Trump had signed off on a ​plan to fire him.

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The White House has not yet found someone to replace Makary on a permanent basis, according to the first two sources and one ​of the three other sources. That, in large part, had delayed the White House’s plans to fire Makary on Friday, the three people said.

MAKARY CRITICIZED

Makary was criticized for actions including his handling of reintroducing flavored vapes into the U.S. market, a stalled abortion-pill review and public disagreements with drugmakers over reviews of potentially lifesaving medicines and vaccines.

The ​Journal’s editorial page has featured at least half a dozen op-eds blasting Makary for controversial drug rejections, including most recently of a cancer drug ​from Replimune (REPL.O), opens new tab, and calling for his ouster.

Makary, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine surgical oncologist who criticized vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, was confirmed by U.S. ‌Congress as ⁠FDA commissioner last March.

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He oversaw a sharply smaller agency as thousands of employees were forced out. The FDA had five different vaccine chiefs in the span of a year, including one who was fired, hired back a month later, then left again less than a year after that.

SEARCHING FOR A CANDIDATE

The White House has exerted more control over the health agency in recent months and has sought more conventional candidates for top health jobs that could ​be confirmed by the Senate.

Among those ​under consideration are former FDA Commissioner ⁠Steve Hahn and former acting commissioner and assistant Health Secretary Brett Giroir, according to the three people.

Finding such candidates has often proven difficult, including in the search for an FDA head, as many are wary of working ​under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has espoused views, particularly on vaccines, that contradict scientific evidence. ​They would also be ⁠leading the agency after the staffing cuts and departures, the people said.

Trump allies, supporters of Kennedy’s Make America Health Again movement, conservative media, pharmaceutical companies, and anti-abortion groups have all taken public shots at Makary over the past few weeks.

One of the Wall Street Journal op-ed pieces asked whether any administration official had ⁠created more ​headaches for Trump than Makary, pointing to the FDA’s two rejections of Replimune’s melanoma therapy.

His ​tenure included a series of high-profile disputes over product reviews for vaccines, gene therapies and other rare-disease drugs. Replimune, after its drug’s second rejection, accused the FDA of contradicting positions the ​agency had expressed at a meeting in September.

Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb, Gram Slattery, Daphne Psaledakis and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Bill Berkrot

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Military vet sees opening for GOP in blue state amid ‘embarrassment’ of ‘stolen valor Walz’

2026-05-12 2:55pm EDT / Fox News

Schwarze says Minnesotans are universally embarrassed by Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the crisis

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Published May 12, 2026 2:55pm EDT

Military vet, Senate candidate says Minnesotans ‘embarrassed’ by Tim Walz

Adam Schwarze, a military veteran and GOP Senate candidate in Minnesota, speaks out about the ‘embarrassment’ of being Minnesotan under Gov. Tim Walz.

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EXCLUSIVE:A former Navy SEAL and Marine veteran running for U.S. Senate in Minnesota sees an opening for a statewide GOP victory this election cycle, saying citizens are widely embarrassed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s “stolen valor” handling of the massive fraud scandal in the state.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Adam Schwarze, one of about half a dozen running for the GOP’s Senate nomination in Minnesota, said that with the Democratic Party embracing socialist policies in the state and across the country, “the stakes cannot be higher.” Without an incumbent to contend with, Schwarze said Republicans have a “20-year opportunity” to flip a seat that could determine which party controls the upper chamber.

He juxtaposed himself with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the No. 2 leader in Minnesota and the current Democratic frontrunner for her party’s Senate nomination. Schwarze posited that Flanagan has been marred by her association with Walz and the still-unfolding fraud crisis that has rocked Minnesota.

“Everybody outside of Minneapolis is angered and embarrassed that Minnesota is internationally known [for] fraud. You can’t even go outside the country and say your state anymore because people are like, ‘What is wrong with your crazy state?’” he said, adding, “That’s going to really have a large effect in the voting in November.”

OMAR CAMP BREAKS SILENCE ON FRAUD PROBE, BLAMES WALZ, TRUMP AS NEW CLAIMS CLASH WITH EARLIER STATEMENTS

Republican Senate candidate and military veteran Adam Schwarze (left) is ripping “stolen valor Walz” for claiming credit for cracking down on the rampant fraud in Minnesota while he says the Walz administration has mishandled the abuse.(Courtesy of the Campaign for Adam Schwarze for U.S. Senate; Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Though he has yet to receive the GOP nomination, Schwarze said that with 10 years as an infantry Marine and 11 years as a Navy SEAL officer, he would be a surefire candidate in a general election faceoff with Flanagan.

“Navy SEALs are seven for seven in general elections,” he said. “We don’t miss the target.”

Meanwhile, he accused Flanagan of “openly running as a socialist.”

Flanagan, who is running a progressive, anti-Trump campaign, has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. She recently appeared alongside Sanders at one of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stops in Rochester, Minnesota.

At the rally, Flanagan cast the current political moment as a “fight for who this country belongs to, billionaires and corporations or the rest of us.” She used much of her time onstage to rip the President Donald Trump-backed “one, big, beautiful bill,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the conflict in Iran and the proposed White House ballroom.

Flanagan asserted, “They don’t give a damn about you,” saying of the Trump administration, “This is just straight up corruption, period, full stop.”

Schwarze said that Flanagan’s rhetoric encapsulates the state of the Democratic Party right now.

“What’s the Democrat agenda nationally right now? It’s anti-Trump, pro-socialism,” he said. “Now, they’re going to run an open socialist candidate for the U.S. Senate. And I don’t think it’s going to work in Minnesota.”

He posited that “nobody outside Minneapolis is going to vote for socialism.”

MINNESOTA HOUSE SPEAKER WARNS AMERICANS WILL BE ‘SHOCKED’ BY SCOPE OF FRAUD CRISIS

Minnesota GOP Senate candidate Adam Schwarze calls on Gov. Tim Walz’s Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to suspend her Senate campaign.(Courtesy of Campaign for Adam Schwarze for U.S. Senate)

But Schwarze said that while Minnesotans’ distaste for socialism will keep them from voting Democratic this year, he believes the fraud issue will drive voters to seek change at the ballot box.

“Fraud is everything. That’s going to be the thing that takes back our state for people like me who are just patriotic people,” he explained.

While on the campaign trail, Schwarze said he has seen as much as twice the normal number of people registering support for Republicans at local caucuses throughout Minnesota. He said he has also seen support in cities that are typically Democratic strongholds.

“Minnesotans are a really proud people. We’re farmers. We’re laborers. We have businesses,” he said. “What is throughout and known is just the anger and the embarrassment of being a Minnesotan in this time.”

Meanwhile, he ripped the Walz administration, saying, “They’re still trying to cover it up, or try to press for a different narrative on the story, take credit, which is what Walz does, right? Stolen Valor Walz, he loves to take credit, but not actually do the work.”

MINNESOTA DHS WHISTLEBLOWER DETAILS ‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’ AFTER REPORTING FRAUD CONCERNS TO STATE

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan speaks at the United Center on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 19, 2024.(REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Schwarze said that Flanagan, too, shares in the blame.

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“We don’t know how many billions it truly is. But there’s still been zero people fired from the Walz administration,” he said. “And at the same time that Walz is now finally getting pushed aside by the establishment Democrats, they’re also trying to elevate Peggy Flanagan to the United States Senate.”

He accused Flanagan of being “right there for the $9 to $19 billion in fraud,” while adding, “Being a military guy my whole life, you don’t fail a mission and then get promoted.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz and Flanagan for comment.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer rejects mounting calls to resign, even from his own party

May 12, 2026 / 1:15 PM EDT / CBS News

London– British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted Tuesday that he will “get on with governing,” rejecting growing calls from within his own party for him to step aside, which have been intensified by multiple resignations from his cabinet.

In the wake of disastrous results in local elections last week, a fifth of all members of the U.K. Parliament from Starmer’s own Labour Party have now called on him to step down, and four members of his cabinet resigned Tuesday in an effort to force him to quit.

Jess Phillips, the national minister for safeguarding; Alex Davies-Jones, minister for victims and tackling violence against women and girls; Zubir Ahmed, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety; and Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister for devolution, faith and communities, all announced their resignations on Tuesday.

“People are crying out” for change, Fahnbulleh wrote in her resignation letter to the prime minister. “The public does not believe that you can lead this change – and nor do I.”

CBS News’ partner network BBC reported Tuesday that more ministerial resignations are expected in the coming days.

On Monday, six lower-ranking ministerial aides quit, and several senior members of Starmer’s governing cabinet urged him to set out a plan for his resignation and to hold a party leadership contest, according to The Guardian newspaper.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets construction apprentices during a visit to London South Bank Technical College on May 12, 2026 in London, England. Toby Melville – WPA Pool/Getty Images

But speaking Tuesday morning with his cabinet ministers, Starmer was defiant.

“I take responsibility for these election results and I take responsibility for delivering the change we promised,” said the embattled prime minister.

“The country expects us to get on with governing,” Starmer added. “That is what I am doing and what we must do as a cabinet.”

If 20% of all the Labour Party’s elected members of parliament can agree on an alternative figure to head the party — which, with Labour’s current 403 seats in the House of Commons, would mean 81 MPs — they can effectively force him out of the role, and the country’s top job with it.

At least 80 MPs have publicly called for Starmer’s resignation, according to the BBC, but they have not all backed the same alternative candidate. And it may be a very high bar to clear, with at least three names of potential Starmer replacements being bandied about by politicians and political pundits.

Starmer confirmed Tuesday that the Labour Party’s process for challenging a leader had not been triggered by unified dissent.

If that were to happen, he would be able to stand against any challengers in a leadership contest, in a process similar to U.S. primaries. Alternatively, if a majority of Starmer’s cabinet decide he’s not the right man to lead the party forward, they could resign en masse and make his position untenable.

How did it come to this?

In a May 7 round of elections for local council seats in England and seats in the semi-autonomous legislatures of Wales and Scotland, Starmer’s Labour Party lost big. It not only hemorrhaged 1,000 council seats in England, but also lost its firm grip on the Welsh legislature, which it had controlled for 27 years.

The big winner on the day was populist, anti-immigration party Reform UK, led by President Trump’s ideological ally Nigel Farage. Reform won nearly 1,300 local seats in England, made huge gains in Scotland and came second in Wales.

The elections were seen as a referendum on the current government, not unlike the U.S. midterms, and they were an unmitigated disaster for Labour — and personally for Starmer, a former government lawyer whose popularity has spiraled downward since he took power in 2024.

Starmer tried to claw back the initiative in a speech on Monday. With his shirt sleeves rolled up, he vowed to rebuild Britain’s relationship with Europe and nationalize the flailing U.K. steel industry — and he warned the U.K. could “go down a very dark path” if Labour failed to recover from its election losses.

“I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong,” he said. “And I will do so.”

But some lawmakers from his own party seemed unimpressed by the effort, with various parliamentarians telling the BBC that the speech, “made me feel sorry for the PM,” that it “really didn’t cut the mustard,” and, perhaps most damningly: “Meh.”

Another MP said it came across like Starmer “delivering a planning application” — a familiar critique of a politician who has always come across as more managerial than charismatic.

The shadow of the Epstein scandal

Starmer’s government, despite a massive Labour majority in parliament, has struggled to lower the cost of living and kick start a floundering British economy — hampered albeit by the wars in Ukraine and Iran and their devastating impact on global energy prices.

But the pointed criticism of him as an individual leader really started gaining steam in April, when Starmer was widely criticized over his decision to appoint a former friend of Jeffrey Epstein as the U.K.’s ambassador in Washington.

Opposition politicians insisted that Starmer was either lying about what he knew, or guilty of ineptitude for not knowing sooner of Peter Mandelson’s close ties with the late American financier and convicted sex offender. Several opposition lawmakers started calling for him to resign then.

Issues “deeper than the prime minister”

Even now, there are Labour politicians who feel that sacking Starmer may do little to address the underlying problems the party is facing.

According to the BBC, more than 100 Labour MPs had signed a letter by Tuesday backing Starmer to remain in his position.

Stephen Houghton, who last week was booted from his position as Labour leader of the Barnsley city council in the north of England — one of hundreds of local officials who lost posts to members of the surging, populist, anti-immigration Reform UK party — said the problem “goes deeper than the prime minister.”

Speaking of the Labour rout in the local elections, Houghton, who lost the council leadership but managed to cling onto his own seat, said the blow had “been coming for 30 years around the country, in post-industrial communities, coastal communities, that have been left behind.”

“You can change prime ministers all day long,” he argued. “If you don’t change policy, it’s not going to charge.”

“This is not just about this government, previous governments have ignored the problem, too, but I will be saying to Keir Starmer that he needs to deal with this now, because if he doesn’t, there will be even more losses like this coming soon.”

US budget watchdog estimates Golden Dome will cost $1.2 trillion, dwarfing Pentagon’s $185 billion estimate

May 12, 2026 6:18 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago / Reuters

By Mike Stone

U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defense shield next to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 20, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) – The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated ​on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‌Golden Dome missile defense shield could cost approximately $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy and operate over 20 years, a ​figure that dwarfs a $185 billion price tag offered ​by the program’s Pentagon director.

Golden Dome envisions ⁠expanding ground‑based defenses such as interceptor missiles, sensors ​and command‑and‑control systems while adding space‑based elements meant ​to detect, track and potentially shoot down incoming threats from orbit. These would include advanced satellite networks and orbiting weapons.

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The ​CBO estimated acquisition costs alone for the ​system would total just over $1 trillion, with the space-based interceptor ‌layer — ⁠a constellation of 7,800 satellites — accounting for about 70 percent of acquisition costs.

The system would cover the entire United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, ​and would ​have the ⁠capacity to fully engage an attack from a regional adversary such as North ​Korea. However, the CBO warned the ​system could ⁠be overwhelmed by a full-scale attack from Russia or China.

The executive order establishing Golden Dome, signed ⁠on ​January 27, 2025, set an aggressive ​timetable to field a comprehensive homeland missile-defense system by 2028.

Reporting ​by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

FBI Director Patel spars with lawmaker who raises reports of his behavior during Hill testimony

2026-05-12T19:27:15.260Z / CNN

By Holmes Lybrand

33 min ago

PUBLISHED May 12, 2026, 3:27 PM ET

FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in Washington, DC.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

FBI Director Kash Patel sparred with a lawmaker briefly during a Tuesday afternoon hearing at the Senate Appropriations Committee when asked about media reports alleging he drinks to excess.

In his opening statement, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, raised concerns about Patel’s leadership, noting reports of his personal behavior, the recent firing of counterintelligence agents tasked with monitoring threats from Iran, and subpoenas recently sent to reporters.

Ranking member US Sen. Chris Van Hollen (left) questions FBI Director Kash Patel as Chairman US Sen. Jerry Moran (right) looks on during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in Washington, DC.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

“Director Patel, I don’t care one bit about your private life,” Van Hollen said. “I don’t give a damn what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities.

The Atlantic recently published a story alleging Patel has “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”

“You cannot perform those public duties if you’re incapacitated,” Van Hollen said to Patel Tuesday, noting “reports of you being so drunk and so hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home.”

Patel has since sued the Atlantic, calling the reporting false and saying he has never been drunk at work.

FBI Director Patel spars with lawmaker who raises reports of his behavior during Hill testimony
1:13 • Source: CNN

FBI Director Patel spars with lawmaker who raises reports of his behavior during Hill testimony

1:13

Patel shot back at Van Hollen later during the hearing, accusing the senator of “slinging margaritas” with a known felon, referring to a meeting Van Hollen had with Kilmar Abrego Garcia when he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Van Hollen has denied that anyone drank margaritas.

“Director Patel, come on. These are serious allegations that were made against you,” Van Hollen said.

After a brief match where the two continued to speak over each other, the senator asked if Patel would take a test — instituted in the military — to measure whether someone has a drinking problem.

“I’ll take any test you’re willing to,” Patel said.

The director added: “Let’s go. Side by side.”