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What has Andy Burnham, Britain’s likely next prime minister, said about President Trump?

2026-06-23T12:54:00-0400 / CBS News

By Emmet Lyons

Emmet Lyons is a news desk editor at the CBS News London bureau, coordinating and producing stories for all CBS News platforms. Prior to joining CBS News, Emmet worked as a producer at CNN for four years.

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Updated on: June 23, 2026 / 2:03 PM EDT / CBS News

London — Labour Party lawmaker Andy Burnham, who looks increasingly likely to be Britain’s next prime minister, has previously criticized President Trump, accusing the American leader of bringing “instability” to the world.

Current Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday that he would resign in the wake of disastrous local elections in May, and 20 resignations from his government.

As his Labour Party still has a large majority of seats in the U.K. parliament — won in the last national elections in 2024 — it gets to pick Starmer’s replacement, and Burnham is widely expected to get the job.

Andy Burnham, newly elected Member of Parliament for Makerfield, Greater Manchester, at his swearing-in ceremony in the House of Commons, in London, June 22, 2026. House of Commons/Handout/REUTERS

If that happens as expected in the coming weeks, Burnham will, sooner or later, find himself on the phone with Mr. Trump, whose advisers will likely have scoured years of news articles for evidence of Burnham’s views on the businessman-turned-politician.

So what has Burnham said about Mr. Trump?

“A polarized, poisonous politics”

In short, he has not been particularly complimentary.

“The path we’re on, if we are not careful, is a path towards the politics of the United States of America,” Burnham warned on the campaign trail in June. While he didn’t attribute it directly to President Trump, he said Americans were grappling with “a polarized, poisonous politics where people in communities don’t work together anymore.”

Last year, in an interview with The London Economic that included questions about Mr. Trump’s reelection and the rise of right-wing, populist parties in Europe, he said: “I think we now have to have a real debate about what that means and the instability that [former prime minister] Liz Truss brought to Britain, I think Trump is bringing to the U.S. and the world.”

In a 2024 book that he co-authored, Burnham wrote: “Whether we like it or not, Donald Trump and Nigel Farage have been effective in connecting with people who feel politicians have neglected the place where they live.”

A photo posted online by British politician Nigel Farage on Nov. 12, 2016 shows him standing with Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan after a private meeting with the then-U.S. president-elect. Nigel Farage/Twitter

He said a “new radical Right” in the U.K. and U.S. were capitalizing on inequality and an “out-of-touch left-progressive establishment” that had failed to solve problems for middle class voters.

And on Jan. 6, 2021, as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Burnham posted on X: “Any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.”

When asked about Burnham’s previous comments about Mr. Trump on Tuesday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told CBS News: “Left-wing policies of unfettered migration and destructive globalism have made once-great European cities unrecognizable – allowing criminals to run wild and antisemitism to thrive. President Trump saved the United States from such destruction when he was elected, and he has rightfully warned other world leaders that western civilization will continue to erode if they don’t quickly reverse course.”

Reflecting Pool renovation, a massive White House ballroom and a triumphal arch: Here’s how Trump is remaking D.C.

June 23, 2026 / 2:00 PM EDT / CBS News

By Luis Giraldo,

Katherine Lam
Katherine Lam is the director of Growth & Engagement at CBS News, focusing on strategy, content partnerships and platforms including YouTube. She previously worked at Fox News as a breaking news digital producer.

Read Full Bio

In his second term in office, President Trump has initiated a D.C. makeover, attempting to leave his mark on the capital and prompting multiple legal battles.

Mr. Trump, a former real estate developer, has overseen the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a massive ballroom, tried to change the name of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and completed a resurfacing project at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that quickly faced setbacks.

Here’s a look at where five of Mr. Trump’s projects stand and how much they cost.

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

The Trump administration announced plans to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in April and paint it “American flag blue” at the president’s request. The last time the reflecting pool underwent a significant renovation was from 2010 to 2012 during the Obama administration. At the time, the government tapped $34 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to cover the cost of the project.

President Trump displays a rendering of his proposed renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during an event in the Oval Office on June 3. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

The cost: Mr. Trump estimated it would take a week and cost roughly $1.5 million. Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the Virginia-based company hired for the project, completed the restoration in early June for $14.7 million, according to records, more than nine times Mr. Trump’s original estimate. The administration spent another $1.7 million on a filtration system. Neither contract for the reflecting pool was subject to a competitive bidding process.

National Park Service personnel vacuum algae from the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC. Photo by Pete Kiehart/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Where it stands now:Images showed the reflecting pool’s water turning green in less than two weeks after Mr. Trump announced that the site had reopened to “rave reviews.”

A spokesman for the Interior Department said supply lines that had been dormant for two months are to blame for the residual algae causing the color change.

Days later, chunks of peeling paint from the blue coating were spotted in the water. Mr. Trump claimed in a Truth Social post, without any evidence, that the Reflecting Pool was vandalized. Five people were arrested for vandalism and five others were served citations, according to the U.S. Park Police.

Bare patches are visible where newly applied blue paint has peeled from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. Ken Cedeno /AFP via Getty Images

White House ballroom

The Trump administration announced in July 2025 plans to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that could seat 1,000 guests. CBS News obtained architectural renderings of the project in September and weeks later, the White House’s East Wing was demolished to start on the ballroom construction. The Trump administration hired Clark Construction as the project’s contractor.

The Trump administration has argued the proposed ballroom would provide safety assurances for large gatherings with the president and other distinguished guests. Administration officials amplified their argument after April’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and an alleged foiled plot to attack the White House UFC event this month.

An overhead view of the construction site for President Trump’s White House ballroom. Aaron Schwartz / Getty Images

The cost:The project was initially estimated to cost $200 million but has increased significantly less than a year after it was first announced. Mr. Trump has since said construction would cost about $400 million and insisted it would be “taxpayer-free” and funded by him and other donors, including tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Nvidia, defense contractors and other large corporations.

However, a project summary obtained by The Washington Post showed ballroom construction would cost an estimated $600 million, with about half coming from taxpayer-funded departments, including the Secret Service, White House Military Office and the Executive Residence of the White House.

Rendering of the White House State Ballroom interior

Where it stands now:The project has been embroiled in a legal battle in federal courts. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the U.S. sued the Trump administration in December for demolishing the East Wing “without any review whatsoever.”

The White House is waiting for an appeals court to decide whether construction can continue after a lower court ruled that Congress must approve the project.

President Trump holds a rendering of the planned White House Ballroom extension during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office on Oct. 22, 2025. Aaron Schwartz / CNP / Bloomberg via Getty Images / Aaron Schwartz – Pool via CNP

“Arc de Trump”

In October 2025, President Trump told a group of donors for the White House ballroom project that he would also be building a 250–foot triumphal arch that resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The structure would be built in the middle of Memorial Circle between the entrance of the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. Construction could take two to three years, according to documents published on the Federal Register.

When CBS News senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe asked President Trump who the arch is for, Mr. Trump simply said: “Me.” The White House added that the arch would commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S.

Rendering of President Trump’s triumphal arch that would sit between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. Interior Department to Commission on Fine Arts

The cost:The White House has not disclosed the total cost for the arch. However, some taxpayer money has already been earmarked for the project. In its spending plan, the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent government agency, allocated $15 million in taxpayer dollars for the arch.

The actual price tag is likely to be much higher: In November 2025, Axios reported that the arch would cost an estimated $100 million.

“The estimated cost of the Triumphal Arch is still being calculated and will be shared in the near future,” the Department of the Interior said in a statement to CBS News. “We anticipate some combination of public and private funds to be used to pay for the Triumphal Arch.”

Where it stands now:Critics say the arch would dominate the skyline and tower over the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial. A group of veterans and a historian sued the Trump administration to block construction, but a federal court has yet to intervene.

The National Park Service said the project could take almost a year to complete on an accelerated timeline, with two, 10-hour shifts per day, and “several tower cranes, forklifts, skid steers, drill rigs, and concrete pumping systems.”

A model of President Trump’s proposed arch to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary is seen on a table at a public meeting of the Commission of Fine Arts on April 16. Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Mr. Trump has made significant changes at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during his second term. He ousted several board members, installed himself as chairman and proposed an “anti-woke” vision for its future, leading to several artists canceling performances. The board voted in December to change the institution’s name to the Trump-Kennedy Center, and a few months later announced it would close its doors for two years for renovations that were slated to begin this summer.

Construction workers build scaffolding near the sign for the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on June 12. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

The cost:Last year, Mr. Trump secured $257 million through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to restore the Kennedy Center. The tax cut and spending law states that funding is available until September 2029 for expenses related to “capital repair, restoration, maintenance backlog and security structures” at the Kennedy Center. Repairs include upgrading theater seats, repairing water damage and drainage issues, replacing soffit panels and addressing structural issues with the center’s parking garage.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the center,” Matt Floca, executive director and chief operating officer, said in a statement to CBS News. “All of these improvements that we need to make are real, are needed.”

The Kennedy Center did not disclose the total estimated cost for the renovations.

A tarp covers the newly removed name of President Trump from the facade of the Kennedy Center on June 13. Aaron Schwartz / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Where it stands now:In May, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in favor of Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who serves on the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees, after she sued to block the name change and the closure. The judge stopped the plan to temporarily close the center and ruled the board acted unlawfully when it added Mr. Trump’s name to the building.

“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper wrote in his opinion.

Dozens of people gathered outside the Kennedy Center on June 13 to watch crews scrape the president’s name off the building.

After the judge’s ruling, the center’s board of trustees voted to create a new endowment in Mr. Trump’s name that they said was intended to recognize his “significant contributions and dedication” to the Kennedy Center. A Kennedy Center official said the endowment will raise private funds that will supplement the money secured by Mr. Trump and Congress for renovations.

Lafayette Park

The National Park Service announced that portions of the park would close in January because of “serious concerns about security for construction equipment and prior vandalism associated with public protests in recent years.” In May, Mr. Trump posted on social media that he had contributed funds to build fountains and to rebuild parts of Lafayette Park in front of the White House.

“That’s the entrance to the White House, and it was an embarrassment,” Mr. Trump said.

With the White House in the background, construction equipment is parked in Lafayette Square as part of a renovation project. Kevin Carter / Getty Images

The cost:The New York Times reported in April that the Trump administration initially agreed to pay the government contractor in charge of the ballroom renovation, Clark Construction, $11.9 million to do the job, but later increased the contract to $17.4 million to cover additional costs.

Where it stands now:The project was expected to be completed by May 31, but a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the park, told CBS News that the restoration project is still in progress and that “final figures for the project are unavailable at this time.”

Arden Farhi contributed to this report.

Trump keeps claiming Iran made concessions. Iran keeps denying them

2026-06-23T17:46:20.748Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/23/politics/trump-iran-claims-nuclear-inspectors

Ever since releasing a memorandum of understanding last week that appeared heavily slanted toward Iran, the Trump administration has kept claiming Tehran agreed to other major concessions in ongoing negotiations.

The problem is that none of them appeared in the MOU — and Iran keeps denying them.

And given the Trump administration’s own demonstrated credibility problems, it’s not at all clear whom to trust.

The biggest example came Tuesday morning, when President Donald Trump made the massive claim that Iran has already agreed to major nuclear inspections in perpetuity.

“… Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!),” he wrote on Truth Social. “This will insure (sic) ‘Nuclear Honesty.’ If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations!”

Similarly, Vice President JD Vance at a press conference Monday in Switzerland cited a “major milestone.” He said Iran had agreed to admit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But Iran has rejected the idea there had been any significant movement on this front.

It instead said that its work with the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency, would continue “under the current procedures.”

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran had not agreed to let inspectors examine its heavily damaged nuclear sites and that it had made “no new commitments.”

Indeed, despite Vance’s claim of a major advance, the IAEA already has limited access to Iran. So merely being allowed in isn’t, in and of itself, a major step forward.

Fuller inspections were also a major piece of the Obama administration’s Iran deal that Trump pulled out of.

But Trump didn’t back down Tuesday afternoon while on his way to an event in Pennsylvania. “They’re wrong, they’re wrong,” he told reporters of the Iranians. “We have it down: 100% inspections. And if they were right, I’d cancel the meetings right now.”

The Trump administration has also claimed this week that the many billions in Iranian assets that would be unfrozen as part of a peace deal would be used on American products.

It has made this claim as it attempts to combat criticisms that Iran could use the money, along with at least $300 billion in reconstruction funds from Gulf countries, to rebuild its military or fund terrorism. Even many conservatives have complained about the extensive financial concessions to Iran in the agreement.

Vance said Monday that lead negotiator Jared Kushner had devised a plan under which the spending of the money would be approved by the US and Qatar. He said that “then the money would actually go to buy American soy, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”

“If Iranian assets are ever unfrozen, they are going to make American farmers richer and help feed the Iranian people,” Vance said.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz said later Monday on Fox News that “they’re going to buy American crops.”

Trump added Tuesday morning in his social media post that the money would be “controlled by the U.S.A., and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States.”

But when Fox’s Laura Ingraham pressed Waltz on how ironclad the agreement was, Waltz suggested it was still being worked out. He said that “how we control” the money is “being negotiated right now as we speak.”

And Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ali Bahreini, on Tuesday rejected the idea.

“Iran ​is the only country to decide what to do with its assets,” Bahreini said. He added, “I reject any claim about that if there would be any role for any other country to have an influence on those decisions or on those processes.”

The MOU says that vessels will be allowed to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has gained great leverage by closing, “with no charge, for 60 days only.”

What happens after that, the two sides can’t agree.

Trump said last week at the G7 summit in France that the strait would also be “toll-free” beyond the 60 days.

“Somebody said, oh, it’s toll-free for – no, no, its toll-free, period,” Trump said last Tuesday. “When it opens permanently, it’ll be toll-free.”

He added Monday that “we have an agreement where it’s going to be open, and it’s toll-free. We had a little argument on that; it’s toll-free.”

Trump previously made a similar promise in an interview with The New York Times’s David Sanger, saying the strait would be “permanently toll-free.”

But Iran has not said that. In fact, it has previewed a plan under which it would charge “fees” for certain services. And The New York Times reported Tuesday morning that it has already set this plan in motion.

The mere fact that the MOU only makes the strait free of charge for 60 days would suggest this is a real sticking point.

And the dispute is apparently still serious enough — despite Trump’s assurances — that this weekend he threatened to “take over” the strait and have the United States charge for passage.

The answer to that question is usually a pretty easy one — especially when dealing with authoritarian regimes like Iran.

But Trump’s tendency to make wild and false claims makes it more complicated.

This is a president, after all, who suggested more than three dozen times over more than two months that an Iran deal was right around the corner. He said more than two months ago that Iran had already “agreed to everything” he was demanding — when it clearly hadn’t.

Similarly, Trump and his administration claimed last year’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites had “obliterated” its nuclear program. Trump went so far as to say the strikes had also obliterated the “future nuclear capability of Iran.”

But CNN and others reported that early US intelligence assessments did not back up these claims. And sure enough, eight months later, Trump was launching a war by citing, yet again, the supposedly imminent nuclear threat that Iran posed.

Put plainly: The Trump administration has major credibility problems, too.

And that also applies to the known terms of the current negotiations.

For instance, before the MOU was released last week, Trump was asked if it included “a $300 billion fund funded by Gulf allies.” He said that was “false.” But sure enough, the MOU contains such a reconstruction fund.

Vance and the administration also broadly dismissed claims about the MOU from Iranian media as “propaganda.” A White House spokesman also said a draft version of the MOU published by CNN last week did “not reflect the language of the actual MOU.”

But many of the Iranian claims wound up being echoed in the actual MOU. And the final document was similar to the draft version CNN published, with some language differences.

It’s also worth asking, if some of these concessions to the US side are so ironclad and were able to be agreed to so quickly, why didn’t they appear in the MOU? Why was that document so heavily weighted toward the Iranians?

The Trump administration has suggested that’s because of the delicate politics involved on Iran’s side of the negotiations — and even that there are some secret handshake agreements that weren’t enumerated in the document.

But the politics are delicate in the United States right now, too. And the administration’s just-trust-us approach might not cut it.

Few in US say Iran war was worth it; Trump approval ties lowest of term, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

2026-06-23T17:48:35.023Z / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Trump’s approval rating falls to 34%, returning to lowest level of his second term
• 63% of Americans said a truce with Tehran was unlikely to last
• Only 23% said the US was stronger after the war with Iran

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) – Just one in four Americans believes President Donald Trump’s war with Iran was worth its costs ‌and a majority worry that a truce with Tehran is unlikely to last, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The five-day poll, which closed on Monday, also showed the war weighing heavily on Trump’s popularity, with his approval rating dropping to 34%, a return to the lowest level of the Republican’s second term that was last touched in an April survey.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

Only ​23% of Americans — including just half of Republicans — think the U.S. is now in a stronger position with Iran compared with its position ​before the war, the poll found. Some 35% of respondents think it is in a weaker position. The rest ⁠said they were not sure or that the U.S. position was about the same as before.

Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a preliminary deal ​on June 17 that would reopen oil and gas shipping lanes that were frozen by the conflict, while easing U.S.-led economic pressure on Iran.

The deal ​has led to a rapid drop in global crude oil prices, although for most Americans the price of gasoline remains considerably higher than it was before the February 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes that started the war. Iran responded to the initial attack with strikes that shut down a fifth of the global oil trade and damaged energy facilities of ​U.S. regional allies.

NOT WORTH THE COSTS

Only 24% of Americans think the war with Iran was worth the costs, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Half of ​poll respondents said the conflict was not worth it and the rest were unsure.

Some 63% of Americans think it unlikely that the deal Trump signed will lead to ‌lasting peace ⁠between the two countries. About half of Republicans and eight in 10 Democrats said the deal was unlikely to deliver peace. Just 18% of Americans — including 10% of Democrats and 34% of Republicans — see lasting peace as likely.

Trump won the 2024 presidential election after promising to reduce inflation and keep America out of costly foreign wars. His political brand has long leaned on his background as a deal-making real estate developer and reality television star.

Trump’s approval ​rating on the cost of living, at ​22%, was near the lowest ⁠level of his presidency and below the rating of his Democratic predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden, at the end of his presidency.

MIDTERMS LOOM

Trump started his current term with a 47% approval rating, but his popularity has ​suffered amid high rates of inflation as well as controversy over his aggressive efforts to deport people in ​the country illegally, ⁠which have included deadly confrontations with pro-immigration activists.

His falling popularity could weigh on his Republican allies when they defend their congressional majorities in the November 3 midterm elections. The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that just 17% of independent registered voters said they would vote for the Republican in their district if the election were held ⁠today, compared with ​34% who said they would pick the Democrat.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed just 37% ​of Americans approved of how Trump has handled immigration, the lowest of his term and down from 40% in the prior Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The latest poll gathered responses from 1,262 U.S. adults ​nationwide and its results had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.

Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Edmund Klamann

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Jason Lange is a Washington correspondent focused on political data. Send tips to jason.lange@thomsonreuters.com

Trump administration charges 455 people, including doctors, with $6.5 billion in healthcare fraud

2026-06-23 3:04 PM ET / CNN

By Tami Luhby

FBI Director Kash Patel, flanked by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on Tuesday.

Ken Cedeno/AFP/Getty Images

In the Trump administration’s latest effort to crack down on fraud, the Justice Department on Tuesday unveiled charges against 455 people for their alleged participation in healthcare fraud and opioid abuse schemes.

The defendants, who included 90 doctors and other healthcare professionals, were involved in $6.5 billion worth of fraud that involved false claims and resulted in significant harm to patients, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

“This is just the beginning. Fraudsters can no longer rip off American taxpayers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference Tuesday. “If you seek to harm or cheat Americans, we will find you, seize any assets and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Officials highlighted one defendant who they claim rubber stamped a student’s cardiovascular test as normal without alerting the family that his heart was enlarged. The 18-year-old college basketball player, Kaiden Francis, died weeks later during a workout.

A record 45 states and territories participated in this year’s National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted during the press conference. The Trump administration has clamped down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud in several, primarily Democratic-led states, leading their governors to claim political bias.

The administration has been particularly focused on healthcare fraud. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has been one of the leading players — drawing on his TV background to film videos in areas he claims are hotspots for fraud. The agency is looking to stop payments for fraudulent claims before they are made.

“Healthcare fraud steals from taxpayers, exploits vulnerable patients and puts lives at risk,” Kennedy said in a statement.

The cases included fraudulent wound care claims, which resulted in $2 billion in Medicare payments to one Arizona company and another $906 million scheme in Texas. In another case, one California hospice owner allegedly paid a funeral home employee for information about the recently deceased to fraudulently bill Medicare for a few days of hospice services.

The takedown also included charges against 295 defendants and more than $518 million in false claims submitted to Medicaid — the largest number of people charged and funds lost to fraud in the Justice Department’s history.

Last year, the Justice Department charged 324 defendants with more than $14.6 billion in alleged fraud during its annual takedown effort.

Army looking into using 2 U.S. ranges for testing to mimic electronic jamming seen in Ukraine

June 23, 2026 / 1:54 PM EDT / CBS News

The Army in the next four to six weeks plans to set up at least two domestic ranges that mimic realistic conditions on Ukraine battlefields, according to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

“You can have a kind of electronic warfare and all of the contested environment created, and you can have drone manufacturers and counter-drone tool-builders engaging together,” Driscoll told reporters Tuesday. “Then, we also want soldiers to be able to go there, so that they can strengthen their skills and work hand-in-hand with developers.”

Driscoll said there are already places in the U.S. where the Army can test safely, and separately, the Army is looking at a global range outside the U.S. to do “much more aggressive testing,” including with hypersonics. When asked, Driscoll declined to say where these ranges would be until planning is farther along.

At least some of the current counter-drone training for soldiers, like one CBS News saw in April, does not include electronic jamming — in part because the U.S. restricts jamming domestically.

Driscoll made the comments while attending an industry day the Army held to talk to companies about the Pentagon’s push for more systems to intercept drones or missiles.

Dwayne Hayes, an official from the Army’s Strategic Threats Office, told participants that Russia is producing about 3,000 to 5,000 one-way attack drones, like Shaheds, per month and roughly 600,000 per month of the smaller first-person-view drones. Faced with that threat, Ukraine produces about 30,000 interceptor drones per month, according to Hayes.

Hayes said the U.S. is “really good” at producing “exquisite” munitions — the more expensive, advanced and technical weapons like Patriot or THAAD interceptor missiles — but also needs to make interceptors that are cheap enough to be expendable in a “brutal war of attrition,” like the one in Ukraine.

The Iran war has highlighted vulnerabilities in the defense industry, particularly in speed and cost of production. President Trump met with major defense companies earlier this year and is expected to meet again with them this week to press them for faster production.

Some companies expected to attend — like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and L3Harris — produce parts for more exquisite munitions, like the Patriot interceptor missiles that can each cost $4 million to $5 million.

At the same time, the Army is soliciting information from a broader array of companies in the next few months for proposals on interceptors that would cost less.

“This is not intended to replace the solutions that we have — they’re incredible,” Driscoll said of the exquisite munitions. He told the industry-day participants, “They’ve been described as the ‘Ferrari’ of products, and it is, but we need some other things to supplement those products.”

Top Republican pitches Trump plan to stop shutdowns, expose ‘bad guys’ blocking voter ID law

June 23, 2026 1:22pm EDT / Fox News

Rick Scott’s proposal urges passing a funding extension and anti-shutdown legislation ahead of November

By Alex Miller Fox News

Published June 23, 2026 1:22pm EDT

Sen. Rick Scott pushes Senate to pass popular voter ID bill as midterms loom

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., champions the ‘Save America Act’ and pushes Senate colleagues for its passage, inviting President Donald Trump for strategy.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wants to show “who the good guys are and who the bad guys are” with a legislative wish-list he wants to pitch to President Donald Trump in Republicans’ meeting with the president this week.

In a letter to fellow Senate Republicans obtained by Fox News Digital, Scott laid out a plan for the next six months that would take away Democrats’ ability to shut the government down ahead of the midterm elections and possibly find a path to pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

“We need to make a clear distinction as to who the good guys are and who the bad guys are,” Scott wrote. “We have to demonstrate what Republicans stand for and what Democrats stand for through action, not rhetoric.”

His roadmap comes ahead of Trump’s scheduled meeting with Senate Republicans on Wednesday. Trump accepted an invitation to attend the weekly Senate Republican Steering Committee lunch from Scott last week.

TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN RIPS INTO TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL, SAYS $300B MAKES OBAMA DEAL LOOK LIKE ‘A PITTANCE’

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., speaks to reporters as he arrives at the U.S. Capitol for a vote on Jan. 6, 2026.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Republicans are readying for their face-to-face meeting with Trump following a series of decisions that have thrown roadblocks on their march to advance key policy priorities, and they await a briefing from the administration on the recently signed memorandum of understanding with Iran.

“I think it’ll be a lot of different things,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said of what to expect at the meeting.

“Hopefully, celebrating some of our successes, talking about the path forward, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the SAVE Act, the SAVE America Act, whichever version of it, might come up,” he continued.

TRUMP’S DNI PICK WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING AFTER TRUTH SOCIAL BOMB

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6391294620112

The SAVE America Act, in particular, has proven a difficult lift in the Senate. While a paired-down version of the voter ID and citizenship verification legislation cracked 50 votes earlier this month, united opposition from Senate Democrats and Republicans unwilling to back the bill have sidelined it.

Still, Trump has continued to demand that Republicans pass the SAVE America Act, calling for it to be attached to a reauthorization of the nation’s controversial spy powers or rammed through with the pargyline budget reconciliation process.

Scott argued that Senate Democrats would likely again shut down the government ahead of the elections to gain a political edge, given their track record of record-breaking shutdowns in the last year. He also acknowledged that while the SAVE America Act was Trump’s top priority, “Republicans are not united in eliminating the filibuster to pass Republican priorities.”

Included in his pitch to lawmakers is a plan to pass a funding extension to keep the government open “at least until after the November election,” and putting the current version of the SAVE America Act or portions of it such as voter ID or requiring proof of citizenship before registering to vote.

REPUBLICANS EYE ENDING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS FOREVER OVER FEARS DEMS WILL DO IT AGAIN

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 22, 2026.(Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Other agenda items included passing anti-shutdown legislation, like Sen. Ron Johnson’s, R-Wis., bill to pay federal workers during a closure, and Sen. James Lankford’s, R-Okla., measure to pass automatic short-term funding extensions in the event of a shutdown.

Scott also wants to pass legislation that would crack down on fraud, reduce government waste, reduce government spending, add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, bills aimed to make the country safer and further legislation to lower taxes.

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“We need to show voters that we are listening to them and will fight for their priorities whether any Democrats vote with us or not,” Scott wrote.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Senate adopts House-passed Iran resolution in symbolic rebuke of Trump

June 23, 2026 / 3:46 PM EDT / CBS News

By Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

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Washington— The Senate on Tuesday approved a House-passed war powers resolution on Iran, marking the first time such a measure has made it through both chambers and signifying a rare rebuke of President Trump’s handling of the conflict.

In a 50 to 48 vote, four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana,Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky — joined the bulk of Senate Democrats in support of the measure. One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, opposed. Two Republicans — Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick — did not vote.

The resolution directs the president to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” unless Congress declares war or authorizes the use of military force. But the measure is a concurrent resolution, which doesn’t carry the force of law and doesn’t require the president’s signature, meaning it is largely symbolic.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer encouraged Republicans to join Democrats to support the measure ahead of the vote Tuesday morning, previewing the effort to “once again put Republicans on the record on whether they want Trump’s disastrous war to continue.”

“Republicans can complain about Trump’s war, his secrecy and his disastrous deal with Iran all they want behind closed doors,” the New York Democrat said. “But the only way to ensure this war ends once and for all is for Republicans to act.”

On June 3, the House passed the measure, which was introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Four Republicans and all Democrats voted in favor, after three previous failed attempts to rein in Mr. Trump on Iran. The measure’s passage also came after GOP leaders abruptly pulled the vote before Memorial Day when it became clear that they did not have the votes to block it.

Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Barrett of Michigan and Warren Davidson of Ohio voted with Democrats on passage. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, who has voted against the three previous failed attempts, also dropped his opposition and voted for the measure, giving his party unanimity on the issue for the first time.

In the Senate, Tuesday’s vote marked the tenth time Senate Democrats have forced a war powers vote since the war began in late February, putting pressure on the GOP as support for the war has become shakier. On the eighth attempt, the Senate advanced a resolution led by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers in Iran in a 50 to 47 vote. The same four Republicans who supported Tuesday’s concurrent resolution voted to advance Kaine’s war powers measure last month, while three GOP members’ absences tipped the scales in Democrats’ favor.

Kaine’s measure has to survive additional votes in the Senate before it would head to the House. The timing on the next vote remains unclear, but Schumer said last week that Democrats are trying to pick off more Republicans before moving forward. Tuesday’s outcome may be the encouragement Democrats need to force their next vote on Kaine’s measure, a joint resolution, which would require the president’s signature.

The last war powers vote in the Senate on a resolution from Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia narrowly failed to advance due to three absences among Democrats.

Future of Iran’s nuclear program uncertain

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/future-of-irans-nuclear-program-uncertain-amid-peace-talks/

Future of Iran’s nuclear program uncertain amid peace talks

(04:10)

Trump effort to expand speedy deportations of migrants can proceed, appeals court rules

2026-06-23T17:09:39.491Z / CNN

By Tierney Sneed, Priscilla Alvarez

PUBLISHED Jun 23, 2026, 1:09 PM ET

Immigration Donald Trump

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President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House on June 18.

Ken Cedeno/AFP/Getty Images/File

A federal appeals court handed President Donald Trump a significant win in his mass deportation efforts with a ruling Tuesday reviving his administration’s move to speed up deportations of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

The ruling from the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals allows the Trump administration to cast a wider net over who’s subject to the fast-track deportation procedure known as “expedited removal,” which allows immigration authorities to remove an individual from the country without a hearing before an immigration judge.

The decision allows the administration to move forward with its plan to quickly deport undocumented immigrants who are residing in the United States and can’t prove they’ve lived in the country continuously for two years or more.

A trial court had previously blocked the administration’s January 21, 2025, maneuver to expand the policy beyond just migrants who were apprehended within 100 miles of a land border and within 14 days of arrival.

Judges Justin Walker and Neomi Rao – both Trump appointees – sided with the administration. Judge Robert Wilkins – who was put on the bench by President Barack Obama – dissented.

The majority opinion by Walker rejected the challengers’ arguments that the expanded policy violated the Constitution’s right to due process.

The Department of Homeland Security’s General Counsel James Percival celebrated the ruling on X, saying the DC circuit “vindicated” the administration.

“For years, DHS has arbitrarily limited expedited removal to 14 days even though it applies to illegal aliens who entered the country illegally within the last two years. Today, the DC Circuit vindicated our decision to apply the law as written,” Percival said, adding that “it’s not too late” to self deport and received a $2,600 stipend the administration has offered.

“The Trump administration’s push for fast-track deportations will subject people to an unfair and error-prone system. This ruling undermines the fundamental principle that people receive due process when the government seeks to deport them,” said Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel. “We are exploring next steps.”

Immigration Donald Trump

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US manufacturing rises on front-loading of orders, but factory employment tumbles to six-year low

2026-06-23T13:51:17.245Z / https://www.reuters.com/business/us-manufacturing-rises-front-loading-orders-factory-employment-tumbles-six-year-2026-06-23/

Employees work on the production floor of the General Stamping & Metalworks building in South Bend, Indiana, U.S., March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Manufacturing expanded for a fourth straight month, beating economists’ expectations
• Supplier delivery times lengthened; now at slowest pace since August 2022
• Manufacturing employment fell to 47.0, the lowest reading since May 2020
• Factory new orders reached a more than four-year high, supported by front-running potential shortages and price hikes

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) – U.S. manufacturing activity rose again in June as companies ​preemptively placed new orders in anticipation of shortages and higher prices, but factory employment hit a six-year low, blamed on rising operating costs related to ‌the Middle East conflict.

S&P Global said its flash manufacturing PMI increased to 55.7 this month, the highest reading since May 2022, from 55.1 in May. A reading above 50 indicates growth in manufacturing, which accounts for 9.4% of the economy. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the manufacturing PMI slipping to 54.8.

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The rise combined with an increase in the flash services PMI to 51.3 from 50.7 in May to lift ​the S&P Global’s flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, to 52.2 from 51.5 last month. The increase in the services PMI ​was partly attributed to the FIFA World Cup tournament, jointly being hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The manufacturing PMI has increased for ⁠four straight months, in part driven by businesses seeking to restock to avoid shortages and rising prices.

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, now in its fourth month, is straining global supply ​chains and driving up prices of commodities tied to crude oil as well as aluminum and fertilizers.

The U.S. and Iran last week signed an interim agreement to end the war. On ​Monday, Vice President JD Vance said talks with Iranian officials in Switzerland had laid a “good foundation” for a final peace deal, despite tensions over the Strait of Hormuz and Lebanon.

Though the hopes for peace helped to restore some confidence among businesses, they were not enough to overcome inflation concerns, with manufacturers dominating job cuts. S&P Global attributed the layoffs to “concerns over the outlook and in response to rising overheads, notably ​in terms of raw material prices.” The survey’s measure of manufacturing employment dropped to 47.0, the lowest reading since May 2020, from 51.6 in May.

“Factory job cuts are running at ​the highest since 2009 if the pandemic is excluded, reflecting concerns over the sustainability of the recent upturn in demand alongside worries over the escalating cost of raw materials,” said Chris Williamson, chief ‌business economist at ⁠S&P Global Market Intelligence.

PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT SUBDUED

Overall private sector employment was subdued for a second straight month. That is in stark contrast with Labor Department data showing private payrolls growth regainingmomentum in the last three months. Nonfarm private payrolls averaged 166,000 jobs per month in the three months through May compared to only 62,000 during the same period in 2025. Private surveys have, however, not been a good predictor of the official payrolls count.

S&P Global’s measure of new orders received by factories jumped to a more than four-year high this month. It said the ​rise was due to “demand being temporarily supported ​by the front-running of potential supply issues ⁠and price hikes associated with the war.” The survey’s gauge of stock purchases raced to the highest level in 13 months.

Its measure of supplier delivery times lengthened to levels last seen in August 2022. Prior to the war, suppliers were being constrained by President Donald Trump’s sweeping ​tariffs. Though an easing in oil prices from multi-year highs at the start of the Middle East conflict curbed further rises ​in the cost of inputs, ⁠inflation at the factory gate remained elevated.

The survey’s measure of prices paid by factories for inputs retreated to 71.2 from 75.3 in May. Manufacturers continued to pass on the costs to consumers, though the pace slowed. The survey’s gauge of output prices eased to a still-high 61.0 from 63.1 in May.

The drop was offset by a rise in the services measure, leaving the overall measure ⁠of prices received ​by private sector businesses unchanged at 58.6. The survey’s overall gauge of input prices dipped to 62.1 from ​62.5 in May.

The elevated readings align with economists’ expectations for high inflation to persist for a while and for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year. The U.S. central bank on Wednesday kept its benchmark overnight ​interest rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range, but updated quarterly projections showed policymakers expected to raise borrowing costs this year amid growing concerns about inflation.

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci

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