Iran still has half its missile launchers intact and an arsenal of thousands of drones, US intelligence sources have claimed.

The regime remains capable of ‘wreaking absolute havoc’ in the Middle East, they warned, despite weeks of US-Israeli bombardment against its assets.

Three well-placed sources told CNN that the latest American intelligence assessments indicate Iran retains significant firepower.

The estimates may include launchers that are inaccessible, such as those that have been buried by strikes, but not destroyed.

Iran still has access to roughly half of its original drone stock, two of the sources suggested, which would number well into the thousands.

A large proportion of its coastal defence cruise missiles, the weapons that allow Iran to threaten traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, are also thought to remain intact.

These may have survived because America’s air campaign has been focusing its effort elsewhere.

One concluded: ‘They [Iran] are still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region.’

Israel estimated Iran to have had around 470 ballistic missile launchers at the beginning of the war, and last month claimed to have destroyed or disabled around 60 percent of them.

It came under fire from Iranian missiles on Thursday, with nine impact sites in central Israel, and another incoming salvo arrived on Friday – though there were no immediate reports of casualties.

An oil refinery Kuwait was also reportedly hit with an Iranian drone attack today, sparking fires at several of its units.

Trumped vowed late on Thursday that the military ‘hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran’.

He wrote on Truth Social: ‘Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants! New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!’ 

And on Wednesday, the President said Iran’s ‘ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left’. 

The latest intelligence reports suggest a more limited effect, although Iran’s military has indeed suffered heavily.  

As of Wednesday, the US had struck more than 12,300 targets inside Iran, according to US Central Command.

Many of Iran’s leaders have also been wiped out, including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Ali Larijani, who was head of the National Security Council.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has pointed to a dramatic reduction in the frequency of weapons being fired by Iran.

He said on March 19 that the number of ballistic missiles and drones being launched were both down by 90 percent since the first days of the conflict.

Responding to the leaked intelligence, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CNN that the sources were attempting to ‘demean the incredible work’ of the US military.

She said: ‘Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks are down 90 percent, their navy is wiped out, two-thirds of their production facilities are damaged or destroyed, and the United States and Israel have overwhelming air dominance over Iran.’

Overnight, Iran claimed to have shot down a second American F-35 fighter jet by forcing it to crash, with the pilot likely killed as a result, state media reported.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the aircraft was attacked over central Iran by its air defences – although US Central Command dismissed this, insisting ‘all US fighter aircraft are accounted for’.

Meanwhile, Trump is facing a growing chorus of criticism at home and abroad for his handling of the conflict.

He vowed yesterday to finished the job ‘very fast’, within two to three weeks, and threatened to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ if it did not sign a deal.

Global markets remain in turmoil and experts have warned of a looming food supply crisis.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded online that ‘striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender’.

Strikes from both sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies and deepening the conflict’s impact beyond the battlefield.

Trump’s promise of further strikes accordingly caused another spike in oil prices on Thursday, when it surged to around $110 a barrel.

In signs of restlessness from the administration, Hegseth has undertaken a purge of the armed forces, culminating in the firing of the Army’s most senior uniformed officer, General Randy George, on Thursday night.

The Pentagon confirmed to the Daily Mail that two more high-level members of the Army had been fired: General David Hodne, head of the Army Transformation and Training Command; and Major General William Green Jr, the head of the Army’s chaplain corps.

Україна отримала від уряду Японії майже $1,3 млрд доларів США за проєктом Світового банку PEACE in Ukraine. Кошти зараховано до загального фонду державного бюджету, їх спрямовують на соціальні видатки. Про це повідомила Прем’єр­міністр Юлія Свириденко.

«Це другий транш від Японії, профінансований за механізмом Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine країн G7», — зазначила вона.

Із лютого 2022 року бюджетна підтримка від Японії перевищила $10,7 млрд, з яких понад $2,7 млрд надійшли у формі грантів.

«Дякуємо уряду Японії за наданий грант, а також Світовому банку за ефективну координацію міжнародної підтримки. Ця допомога надзвичайно важлива для забезпечення фінансової стійкості України», — наголосила очільниця уряду, повідомляє Департамент інформації та комунікацій з громадськістю Секретаріату КМУ.

«Завдяки цій підтримці загальний обсяг фінансування, мобілізованого в межах проєкту, вже перевищив 53 мільярди доларів США. Це вагомий внесок у фінансову стійкість України та своєчасне виконання державою соціальних зобов’язань перед громадянами», — наголосив міністр фінансів Сергій Марченко, повідомляє Мінфін.

Donald Trump was considering firing additional members of his Cabinet on Thursday night, following the ouster of Attorney General Pam Bondi, a report said.

The president has been unhappy with the work of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, according to Politico.

‘He’s very angry and he’s going to be moving people,’ an administration official told the outlet. 

Meanwhile, The Atlantic reported that FBI Director Kash Patel and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll could also be on their way out.

The developments came after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired the senior-most uniformed officer in the Army, General Randy George.

Hegseth continued his purge of the Army on Thursday night. 

The Pentagon confirmed to The Daily Mail that two more high-level members of the Army had been fired: General David Hodne, head of the Army Transformation and Training Command; and Major General William Green Jr, the head of the Army’s chaplain corps. 

Sources clarified to Politico that none of the cabinet members’ statuses have been decided but Lutnick was said to be on ‘thin ice’ and his firing would send a message to Americans that Trump was working to fix the economy. 

However, another source fiercely refuted that Lutnick was in trouble, saying that they ‘haven’t heard anyone suggest there’s been any change at Commerce. Everyone is thrilled with the job Howard has done.’ 

Trump was believed to be targeting Cabinet members who have ‘underperformed or who have generated too much negative attention.’ 

The president is facing the prospect that Democrats could be in power of Congress next year, which would make it much harder to for him to appoint replacements. 

The White House praised Patel, Chavez-DeRemer and Driscoll when reached by The Daily Mail for comment.

‘President Trump has the most talented cabinet and team in American history,’ a spokesperson said. 

‘Patriots like Kash Patel, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Dan Driscoll are tirelessly implementing the President’s agenda and achieving tremendous results for the American people.’ 

The White House added that Chavez-DeRemer and Lutnick are ‘both doing a great job standing up for American workers, and they continue to have President Trump’s full support.’  

Trump also reportedly has asked allies about whether to replace Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, after her underling Joe Kent sensationally resigned.  

But the White House pushed back strongly against the idea that the president was ready to oust a third woman from his cabinet.

‘President Trump has total confidence in Director Gabbard, and any insinuation otherwise is totally fake news,’ White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the FBI, the Department of Labor, the Department of Commerce and the Army for additional comment. 

The Washington Post reported that Hegseth and Army Secretary Driscoll have been been at odds and Hegseth will ‘make his life hell’ since he can’t fire him.

The now-ousted General Hodne ran a department that was started by the now-fired General George. 

General George, the top Army commander who was appointed by Biden, was told to step down and take immediate retirement, CBS News reported. 

A Pentagon official said: ‘We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army.’ 

George is understood to have clashed with the Trump administration’s vision for the Army. 

Vice Chief of Staff General Christopher LaNeve, a former aide to Hegseth, will be acting chief of staff of the Army. 

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that LaNeve is ‘a battle-tested leader with decades of operational experience and is completely trusted by Secretary Hegseth to carry out the vision of this administration without fault.’

Hegseth’s decision comes as 50,000 US troops are deployed in the Middle East ahead of a possible ground invasion in Iran. 

George was the senior-most uniformed officer in the Army – a four-star general and the 41st Chief of Staff responsible for organizing, training and equipping more than one million soldiers, though not a field commander directing tactical strikes.

George reports to General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, the civilian head of the branch; and Hegseth, whose highest military rank was as an Army major. 

George was confirmed by the Senate in 2023 and is significantly short of completing the typical four-year term. 

Hegseth has purged more than a dozen senior officers, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General James Slife and the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse.

Bondi said after her firing she would be working to transition the attorney general office over the next month to help her deputy Todd Blanche before moving to an unspecified job in the private sector. 

‘Leading President Trump’s historic and highly successful efforts to make America safer and more secure has been the honor of a lifetime, and easily the most consequential first year of the Department of Justice in American history,’ Bondi wrote on X. 

‘Since February 2025, we have secured the lowest murder rate in 125 years, secured first-ever terrorism convictions against members of Antifa, shattered domestic and transnational gangs across the country, taken custody of more than 90 key cartel figures, and won 24 favorable rulings at the Supreme Court.’

Bondi said she will ‘remain eternally grateful’ to Trump despite being the second Cabinet official fired by the President in the last month. 

Before becoming the attorney general, Bondi worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners for six years, where she was a partner in the company’s DC office. At the time, she also chaired their corporate regulatory compliance. 

Her tenure at the Justice Department was marred by months of MAGA fury over her botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will serve as acting attorney general until a permanent nominee is picked.

By GETHIN HICKS, REPORTER

Published: 21:12 EDT, 2 April 2026 | Updated: 22:24 EDT, 2 April 2026

Retired trawlerman Peter Welburn doted on Shirley, his wife of 50 years. So when she died in November 2023 at the age of 73 he was, of course, completely bereft.

The 74-year-old grandfather wanted to give her the send-off she deserved and so contacted Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, in Hull, which claimed to offer ‘dignified personal care’ at reasonable prices.

He paid almost £2,000 for his late wife’s funeral. The ceremony was held the following month at Legacy’s premises under the watchful eye of the company’s motor racing enthusiast director Robert Bush, a softly-spoken 48-year-old whose mild-mannered, polite façade often put bereaved families at ease as they placed their trust in him.

Mr Welburn was pleased to receive a wooden box with his wife’s ashes four days later on December 23 – ‘in time for Christmas, her favourite time of year’ – and the ashes were indeed placed at the foot of the Christmas tree as her grandchildren played nearby.

Yet Mr Welburn, whose living room is adorned with framed photographs of his late wife, was soon to be confronted with the most unimaginable news: the ashes in the white wooden box were not his wife’s.

After news broke in March 2024 that police were investigating Bush and Legacy over the alleged stockpiling of bodies in the funeral parlour and relatives being given the wrong ashes, Mr Welburn contacted the crematorium in Leeds where his wife had been cremated (it was ‘cheaper’ than doing it in Hull, Bush had told him).

To his horror – that turned to anger – he was told she hadn’t actually been cremated until January 2024. ‘There is only one person that knows where she really went and that is him [Bush],’ Mr Welburn told the Daily Mail.

‘I feel like killing him, that’s how I feel. He has been walking free for the last couple of years.

‘I have given the ashes back to the police. I don’t know who they belong to. They were in a box with our wedding photograph on.

‘What gets me is that I could have gone to see her over Christmas and New Year in the rest room. She was still in there [in Bush’s care] until January 16 in the back room freezer.’

After Bush pleaded guilty to 30 counts of preventing a lawful burial and theft on Thursday – he had earlier pleaded guilty pleas to 35 counts of fraud and one count of fraudulent trading – the full scale of his ‘evil’ offending which has left hundreds of families traumatised can be laid bare.

According to campaigner Karen Dry, who has fought for justice after her parents were sent to Bush for cremation three years apart, more than one bereaved relative used ashes they were given to have permanent tributes to their relatives tattooed into their arms. The ashes are mixed with the tattoo ink.

‘Now they have no idea who is tattooed into their arms,’ Mrs Dry said. ‘It’s a despicable thing to do. The man is a monster.’

Mrs Dry’s parents, Allan and Betty Griffin, who died in 2016 and 2019, were also sent to Bush’s Legacy premises in Hull. ‘We scattered my mum’s ashes in a rosebush,’ Mrs Dry said.

‘I don’t even know if that was her remains. Nobody has got any idea if the remains they have are of the family member who was cremated.

‘We have no real idea when the criminality started. There are always going to be questions now: have we got the right ashes or not? This is the last thing you need on your mind if you lose your parents or other loved ones.

‘I will never know if I have got my mam or dad’s ashes. It’s one thing you have to do for your family – make sure they have a good send-off and then you find out a couple of years later you might not even have their ashes.

‘It’s horrific. It’s a constant source of torment.’

Despite what is now known about Bush, it is unsurprising that so many people placed their faith in him at such a traumatic time in their lives. For almost 15 years, his funeral business enjoyed a positive reputation in and around his home city.

Despite the ‘horror movie’ which has now been exposed, behind its dignified black facade, the Hull funeral parlour initially rang few alarm bells. 

Families who had put their trust in Legacy Independent Funeral Directors would praise father-of-two Bush, the son of a local headmistress, for doing an ‘outstanding job’.

On its website, where funeral packages were on offer ranging from £970 to £4,999, Bush was described as a ‘highly trained funeral director, with many years of experience, holding industry recognised qualifications’. 

The success of the business – with two branches in Hull and one in nearby Beverley – allowed the family to afford a large detached house in a nearby suburb.

Along with his daughter Saskya, 24, a mechanical engineering graduate who helped run the business, the Bush family raced motorbikes in their spare time.

They were pictured in action at Brands Hatch and Snetterton on social media, where Saskya could also be seen soaking up the sun in Spain and Cape Verde and visiting Rome and Norway.

She was arrested when the scandal first erupted but was not charged with any offences.

However, despite the respectable facade, Legacy and the Bush family were struggling financially.

The accounts had been overdue and the firm received its fifth ‘compulsory strike off’ warning in two years, owing £62,000 in unpaid debts. Meanwhile, a mortuary fridge and hearses from Legacy, as well as other possessions, were for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

By 2017, Bush had resorted to stealing charity collection boxes set up by mourners at funerals.

Although the precise amount stolen is unknown, Bush pleaded guilty on Thursday to stealing from 12 charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, the RNLI and Help for Heroes.

He had also been receiving thousands of pounds for funeral plans and, instead of putting this towards funeral arrangements, kept the money for himself.

The nightmares behind the doors of Legacy were finally exposed in March 2024 following an anonymous call to the police reporting ‘concern for care of the deceased’ and the premises were raided. 

Humberside Police would go on to say they had recovered 35 bodies as well as half a ton of human ashes, with 120 officers and staff working on the case.

Appalled funeral industry experts said there should be no reason for so many bodies to be stored at one parlour. The grim discovery prompted thousands of people to call a helpline to see if their loved ones had been involved.

Michaela Baldwin’s stepfather, Danny Middleton, was one of the bodies found in the funeral parlour.

He still had his hospital wristband on, meaning he was more easily identified than some of the 34 others, who faced the trauma of providing DNA samples and photographs to identify relatives. One of the bodies was that of a baby lost in pregnancy.

Such was the discovery, a diving unit experienced in dealing with decomposing remains had to be called in.

A larger gentleman, Mr Middleton’s family joked on the day of his funeral that his coffin looked like a tight squeeze for his frame. Now they know he was never in it.

Ms Baldwin told the Daily Mail: ‘We were given ashes thinking it was Danny and it turned out he was still at Legacy.’

His body had been stored at Bush’s funeral parlour for five months by the time of the police raid in March 2024.

‘I was completely shocked,’ she added. ‘He was supposed to be buried in December, after his death in November. Then we are told by the police that they have found his body.

‘This sort of stuff doesn’t happen in real life. It’s like being in a horror film. You read about these things in books or see it on TV shows. ‘Everybody trusted him [Bush]. He was always saying, ‘oh, bless. Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss’. He knew how to comfort people.

‘It’s completely devastating to think he took my stepfather and dumped him like a piece of rubbish. I f****** hate him.’

The body of Jessie Stockdal, 87, was also found at the premises – three months after she died.

Her family had taken home what they thought were her ashes and placed them over the fireplace following her funeral.

Grandson Tristan Essex, 26, said: ‘We’d been in there a few times afterwards to get the ashes transferred, and the whole time my grandma was there in the back, just rotting.’

Ms Stockdale’s body was still wearing the ankle bracelet placed on her during a post mortem examination but was ultimately identified using DNA samples.

Mr Essex added: ‘We were feeling every emotion possible, we hadn’t even started grieving really. It makes me feel sick.’

Of his grandmother, he said: ‘She honestly was my best friend, she was like a mother to me, she brought me up as a kid.’

He added: ‘[Bush] has broken every memory I’ve had with my grandma… He’s taken our goodbyes off us, we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.’

In retrospect, warning signs had been there as customers started to complain about the quality of the funerals Bush had arranged, with substandard coffins that were dented, leading to suspicions that they were second-hand.

‘The car was late, the flowers were not fastened down properly to the coffin and were not the ones they had ordered,’ was one account.

‘Then, afterwards, the ‘spread’ they paid for at the funeral parlour was really poor, mainly tea and biscuits.’

A daughter described a similar experience at her father’s funeral.

‘I wanted a bit more spent on the flowers but they were just fake ones spelling out Dad that had been lying around.’

Concerns also began to take on a more sinister perspective.

Locals who had paid thousands of pounds for coffins and cremation fees said they never received any proof that caskets were actually cremated – and often did not even get the ashes back.

Some were suspicious because their services were held at the Hull parlour, not at the crematorium.

During the service they were shown an unopened casket and told their loved one was inside, raising concerns over whether it was in fact empty and whether the supposed cremations ever actually took place.

Some later received ashes but complained they often had to pester Bush for them.

While the true scale of Bush’s offending may never be known, Mrs Dry and Ms Baldwin are adamant there was only one motive behind his crimes: money.

After all, Mrs Dry points out, he was arrested by police officers at Heathrow airport in 2024 returning to the country from a trip to the United States.

‘He had motorbikes… expensive hobbies,’ she said. ‘There was some sort of lavish lifestyle.’

Bush now has until July to reflect on his offending and was granted bail by the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard – another insult to some of the families affected, Ms Baldwin said.

But it allowed some of the families the chance to tell the former undertaker what their offending meant to them.

‘Rot in hell,’ was one of the heckles as Bush made his way to a black taxi. ‘Monster’ and ‘wicked b*****’ were others.

There was, understandably, no sympathy for the man in the dark three-piece suit who looked to the floor and twiddled his thumbs in the dock as he was told he faces a prison sentence when he returns for his sentencing in the summer.

‘He hasn’t felt sorry for us, the victims,’ Ms Baldwin said.

‘He didn’t feel sorry for our loved ones. I don’t think he feels anything. It was out of sight, out of mind. I think he is a pure, true monster.’

Donald Trump has mocked Sir Keir Starmer for his lack of support in Iran with a impersonation during a White House lunch.

The US President put on a weak-sounding voice as he mimicked the Prime Minister saying he couldn’t send British forces to the Middle East.

Mr Trump said he asked if the UK could send its ‘two, old, broken down aircraft carriers’ to help open up the Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed to maritime traffic since the war began on February 28.

According to the President, Sir Keir replied: ‘No, no, no, I have to ask my team. My team has to meet, we’re meeting next week.’

By that point the war might be over, a furious Mr Trump told the audience in the White House.

The President has been angry with Sir Keir for weeks for refusing to let US airplanes use British bases for sorties over Iran.

Sir Keir has since changed his mind but has refused to send British troops and ships to the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20 percent of the world’s oil.

Its closure is causing petrol prices to spike amid warnings from analysts it could cause an oil shock worse than the 1970s.

Speaking on Wednesday, Sir Keir once again refused Mr Trump’s requests and said that ‘this is not our war’, adding: ‘We will not be drawn into the conflict.’

Mr Trump’s frustration boiled over hours later at a White House lunch that was filmed and uploaded by the White House, according to journalist Bryan Metzger of Business Insider, who posted the whole thing on X, formerly Twitter.

The President drew a comparison between the Prime Minister and King Charles, who is due to make a state visit to Washington later this month.

Mr Trump told the audience: ‘I asked UK who should be our best (ally).

‘The King is coming over here in two weeks, he’s a nice guy, King Charles.

‘(Britain) should be our best but they weren’t our best.

‘I said (to Sir Keir) you have two, old broken down aircraft carriers, do you think you could send them over?’

Putting on a weak sounding voice, Mr Trump said: ‘(Sir Keir said) Ohhh I’ll have to ask my team.

‘I said you’re the Prime Minister, you don’t have to.

‘(Sir Keir said) No, no, no, I have to ask my team. My team has to meet, we’re meeting next week.

‘(I said) but the war already started. Next week the war’s going to be over…in three days, my prediction.’

Rather than appease Mr Trump, Sir Keir on Thursday convened a meeting of 35 nations to try and find a way to end the war in Iran.

Sir Keir said that he recently signed a statement saying that Britain was willing to ‘contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz’.

In addition to the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands have also signed.

In his remarks at the White House, Mr Trump also mocked French President Emmanuel Macron, who has also refused to send warships to open the Strait of Hormuz.

The President said Mr Macron was ‘still recovering from the right to the jaw’ and claimed that his wife, Brigitte Macron, ‘treats him extremely badly’.

The comment referenced a video from May last year when the Macrons visited Vietnam that appeared to show Mrs Macron pushing her husband’s face seconds before they disembarked from their plane.

In response to comments, Mr Macron said: ‘Trump talks too much. His remarks are neither elegant nor up to the standard’.

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House and Number 10 for comment.

Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi as his attorney general after she desperately pleaded for her job in a late-night White House showdown.

Bondi becomes the second cabinet casualty in less than a month – brought down by months of MAGA fury over her botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, a saga that has dogged Trump’s Justice Department since Day One.

Trump praised Bondi as a ‘great American patriot and a loyal friend’ in a Truth Social post, hailing the ‘tremendous job’ she did in bringing down the murder rate.

‘We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future,’ Trump wrote. 

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will serve as acting attorney general until a permanent nominee is picked. Bondi is out of the administration and is expected to transition into the private sector. 

Trump informed the AG last night shortly before his Iran speech that she would soon be leaving the Justice Department, according to a senior administration source.

Bondi, 60, pleaded with the President to keep her job, begging him to give her more time, a senior administration source told the Daily Mail.

‘She was unhappy and tried to change his mind,’ the source said. 

Bondi remained at the White House during Trump’s speech before flying to her home in Florida on Thursday. 

Trump’s reasoning for the sudden dismissal comes in part because the President believes Bondi tipped off Eric Swalwell about the FBI’s efforts to release investigative documents related to his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.

The FBI was preparing a cache of documents on Swalwell’s relationship with Christine Fang.

‘She’s intervening in those matters. The White House wasn’t pleased she was intervening due to her personal friendship with Swalwell,’ the source added.

It is unclear why Bondi would have intervened, but it is believed that Bondi and Swalwell have a friendly relationship.

Swalwell, a fellow lawyer, has openly criticized her since she took the AG position after failing to prosecute multiple death threats against him and his family.

Swalwell is one of the leading candidate for the California gubernatorial race as a Democrat.

Bondi traveled with Trump on Wednesday to the Supreme Court to watch proceedings for the birthright citizenship case and attended his primetime speech about the war in Iran.

But as the President’s Cabinet gathered to focus on Iran, rumors ricocheted through Washington about Bondi’s replacement.

She’s taken a lower media profile in recent weeks as the President privately excoriates her for failing to prosecute his political enemies who tried to throw him in jail and end his political career.

Bondi’s tenure was marred by her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, as the administration faced accusations of a lack of transparency.

Reports have circulated that he is considering tapping MAGA-aligned EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as her replacement.

‘Let’s hope it’s Zeldin,’ one former Trump administration official told the Daily Mail.

Deputy Attorney General Blanche has also been raising his profile – appearing at CPAC last week, where he received a warm welcome from conservatives.

He told the audience that he went to night school in Brooklyn – rather than an Ivy League – as he was a young father. 

Following Trump’s announcement, Blanche said in a statement: ‘Pam Bondi led this Department with strength and conviction and I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship.

‘Thank you to President Trump for the trust and the opportunity to serve as Acting Attorney General. We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe.’ 

Bondi, Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, first attached herself to Trump during the 2016 campaign, using her prosecutorial credentials to defend him on national TV.

Trump’s foundation donated $25,000 to her reelection campaign in 2014.

She went on to speak at the 2016 Republican convention and joined his impeachment defense team in 2020, cementing her place in the loyalist inner circle. 

The City of Calgary has lifted water restrictions after repairs to nine damaged sections of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main were completed.

The city made the announcement Thursday morning, a few days ahead of schedule, after the pipe was refilled with water and testing confirmed that the system was performing well.

The restrictions were put in place on March 9 when the feeder main, which normally supplies about 60 per cent of Calgary’s water, was shut down for repairs.

Since then, the city has had to rely on the much smaller Glenmore water plant to supply the bulk of the city’s water.

The city said the lifting of water restrictions means recreation facilities can also return to normal operations, with hot tubs and kiddie pools being refilled and reopened as soon as they’re ready and safe to use.

Traffic detours that were put in place along 16 Avenue Northwest and Sarcee Trail Northwest during the repairs are also expected to be removed by the weekend.

Despite the repairs, the city said the Bearspaw South Feeder Main is still in poor condition and at risk of another rupture until a replacement pipe, which is currently under construction, can be put into service, which is expected to happen sometime in December.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Attorney General Pam Bondi begged Donald Trump not to fire her in an explosive showdown at the White House after he accused her of an unforgivable offense.

Trump informed the attorney general last night shortly before his Iran speech that she would soon be leaving the Justice Department, according to a senior administration source.

Bondi responded by pleading for the President to give her more time in the role, but Trump remained firm that her time leading the agency was over, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal. 

‘She was unhappy and tried to change his mind,’ the source said.

However, the President told her she was fired and that an announcement would be made shortly. The announcement was set to be made on Friday, but is now ‘imminent’ because of all the media attention, according to the source.

Trump’s reasoning for the sudden dismissal comes in part because the President believes Bondi tipped off Eric Swalwell about the FBI’s efforts to release investigative documents related to his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.

The FBI was preparing a cache of documents on Swalwell’s relationship with Christine Fang.

‘She’s intervening in those matters. The White House wasn’t pleased she was intervening due to her personal friendship with Swalwell,’ the source added. 

It is unclear why Bondi would have intervened, but it is believed that Bondi and Swalwell have a friendly relationship. 

Swalwell has openly criticized her since she took the AG position after failing to prosecute multiple death threats against him and his family.

The Daily Mail revealed that Trump is preparing to replace her earlier Thursday, after speaking to several sources familiar with his thinking. 

There’s no question that the President is ready to act, only about timing and who he will choose to be her successor, sources say.

Officially, the White House says that the president appreciates the work that Bondi is doing at the Justice Department and that she is a good person. Justice Department staff, however, are bracing for the President to fire her at any moment.

On Wednesday, Bondi traveled with Trump to the Supreme Court to watch proceedings for the birthright citizenship case and attended his primetime speech about the war in Iran.

But as the President’s Cabinet gathered to focus on Iran, rumors ricocheted through Washington about Bondi’s replacement.

She’s taken a lower media profile in recent weeks as the President privately excoriates her for failing to prosecute his political enemies who tried to throw him in jail and end his political career.

Bondi’s tenure was marred by her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, as the administration faced accusations of a lack of transparency.

Reports have circulated that he is considering tapping MAGA-aligned EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as her replacement.

‘Let’s hope it’s Zeldin,’ one former Trump administration official told the Daily Mail.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is also raising his profile – appearing at CPAC last week, where he received a warm welcome from conservatives in the audience. 

He told the audience that he went to night school in Brooklyn – rather than an Ivy League – as he was a young father. 

‘I married into New York, I am a New Yorker by marriage,’ joking that his wife ‘is unfortunately from New York.’

He denied being a Democrat, insisting that those rumors were a product of reporting from the New York Times.  

He also joined more MAGA friendly podcasts such as the Ruthless podcast and Katie Miller’s podcast for lighthearted conversations about his work at the department. 

Sources familiar with Blanche’s strategy say he is trying to warm up to the MAGA base, many of whom view him with suspicion as a reported Democrat from New York City.

Career lawyers in the Justice Department feel they have an ally with Blanche who understands their position torn the place apart. 

At one point, Bondi thought that Blanche was gunning for her job but they grew more aligned as he signaled he had no intentions of trying to oust her. But that might have changed, as Bondi is now on thin ice with the president.

Some think the news reporting of Zeldin taking over is a red herring, perhaps a ploy to weaken Bondi by pro-Blanche forces. 

MAGA faithful are skeptical of Blanche’s commitment to Trump’s agenda in the DOJ, but say he would be an improvement over Bondi. 

‘Blanche is a problem, but Bondi is worse,’ one source told the Daily Mail.

Blanche allies would like to see him succeed Bondi and are working furiously to convince the president to choose him, even as his staff has raised a wall of silence as jockeying for the position continues.

Trump is also reportedly moving toward a wider cabinet purge, with aides said to have been polled on Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s future.

Gabbard is said to have enraged the President by refusing to condemn Joe Kent at a Capitol Hill hearing – the counter-terror official who resigned last month over the Iran war.

When asked about reports of Bondi’s imminent firing, the President did not issue a denial of the report. 

‘Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,’ Trump told Semafor on Thursday morning. 

Donald Trump’s warning that he is ‘absolutely’ considering withdrawing from NATO has raised a difficult question for Europe: will Vladimir Putin seize on the chaos within the alliance to attack the continent?

The US President dubbed NATO a ‘paper tiger’ and said removing America from the defence treaty was now ‘beyond reconsideration’ in an interview with the Telegraph.

And in an address to the American nation last night, he appeared to wash his hands of the Strait of Hormuz, calling on his European allies to ‘build up some delayed courage’ and sort the situation out themselves as global oil and gas prices continue to spiral.

‘The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it, they can do it easily,’ Trump declared.

‘We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.’

Now, experts are speculating whether the Russian dictator could exploit Trump’s threat to quit NATO by launching an attack elsewhere in Europe. 

‘Of course it plays into the hands of Putin,’ a senior diplomat from a European NATO country told The i Paper. ‘He can fetch his popcorn and watch America deal with the mistake [it has made and] divisions becoming more visible between the US and Europeans.’

Considering Trump’s declining approval ratings in America and expectations that the Democrats will enjoy success in November’s mid-term elections, the diplomat added that Putin might conclude that he has a short ‘window of opportunity’ for an attack, which will close if a more Russo-sceptic, pro-NATO leader is elected in 2028. 

In recent weeks, Trump has accused NATO nations of being ‘cowards’ who have done ‘absolutely nothing’ to help his war with Iran, writing on Truth Social: ‘The U.S.A. needs nothing from NATO, but “never forget” this very important point in time!’

The sentiment was echoed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said America will ‘reexamine’ its relationship with NATO once the Iran war has ended.

‘When we need them to allow us to use their military bases, their answer is no? Then why are we in NATO?’ Rubio told Fox News, adding that you have to ask why the US has contributed ‘trillions of dollars’ to the alliance over the years.

Another European diplomatic said that while Moscow probably did not have sufficient troops to launch a direct military assault on a NATO country because of the bombardment of Ukraine, ‘there is room for other types of escalation’.

They added that Putin could employ hybrid-warfare tactics, with many countries in the EU already being pummelled with ‘constant cyber-attacks, constant disinformation’. 

‘It’s not peacetime we live in,’ they added. 

It comes as the Russian dictator dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for an Easter ceasefire, claiming the proposal was too vague to lead to a lasting peace.

Meanwhile, Moscow rolled out a terrifying intercontinental missile for nuclear drills this week, with eerie released by the defence ministry appearing to show the missile being driven through a snow-covered forest in the dead of night, its launcher looming out of the darkness during the exercise. 

Crews practiced a range of activities during the drills in Siberia, involving camouflaged movements of Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

There is no denying that the US has long been NATO’s backbone. In 2025, the combined military spending of NATO states reached approximately 1.5 trillion dollars, with the US alone accounting for over 900 billion dollars of that total.

NATO members were previously expected to spend at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence, a number Trump had long argued should be higher, leading to a new 5 per cent target by 2035 being agreed upon at last year’s NATO Summit.

In 2024, the US spent around 3.38 per cent of GDP on defence, trumped only by Estonia who spent 3.43 per cent and Poland’s 4.12 per cent.

In military power, NATO as a whole dominates Russia. As of 2025, the alliance had around 3.5 million active military personnel compared with Russia’s 1.32 million.

NATO countries collectively have more than 22,000 aircrafts compared to Russia’s 4,292, as well as 1,143 military ships compared with their 400.

Meanwhile, the combined nuclear arsenal of the US, UK, and France is slightly lower, amounting to 5,692 nuclear warheads, compared with Russia’s 5,600.

On the whole, Europe without the US would not be defenceless. According to CNN, the 31 NATO members aside from America still control over a million troops, hold advanced weaponry, and significant industrial and technological capacity.

Turkey alone has the alliance’s largest armed forces after the US, with more than 355,000 active personnel, followed by France, Germany, Poland, Italy and the UK.

Several European NATO countries have weapons that rival or exceed Russian equivalents.

While Russia operates a single aging aircraft carrier, the UK commands two modern carriers capable of launching F-35B stealth fighters.

France, Italy and Spain also operate aircraft carriers or amphibious ships capable of launching combat aircraft.

France and the UK maintain independent nuclear deterrents, and European NATO members collectively operate around 2,000 fighter and ground attack jets, including dozens of F-35s.

Yet military experts argue that what Europe lacks is not manpower or hardware alone, but the strategic enablers that allow modern wars to be fought and sustained.

According to the Centre for European Policy Analysis, Europe remains heavily dependent on the United States for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, integrated air and missile defence, strategic airlift, space assets, cyber capabilities and long range precision striking.

US Major General (rtd.) Gordon ‘Skip’ Davis said these capabilities are essential to command and control multi-domain operations at scale.

‘What the US brings is capabilities like strategic command and control systems and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets,’ Davis said, warning that without them European forces would struggle to sustain prolonged high intensity conflict.

Command structures pose another major challenge. NATO’s most senior operational commands, including Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Allied Air Command and Allied Land Command, are all led by US officers.

‘I don’t think that NATO could operate without US commanders and staff. That would be extremely difficult,’ Davis said.

The war in Ukraine has also exposed shortages in ammunition stockpiles and industrial capacity.

The EU failed to meet its target of supplying Ukraine with one million artillery shells by spring 2024, while the US doubled its monthly production of 155mm shells.

Russia, meanwhile, is reportedly producing around three million artillery munitions annually. 

US aid has also been central to Ukraine’s cause, through American supplied HIMARS rocket systems, Patriot air defences and earlier deliveries of Javelin anti-tank missiles.

The pause in US aid at the start of March 2025 raised doubts about whether European allies can compensate if American support is withdrawn completely.

As Davis warned, if Russia is given time to rebuild while Europe fails to rearm at the same pace, the balance could shift.

‘I’ve been one of the strongest defenders of NATO during my time as a United States senator because I found great value in it,’ Rubio told Fox News. ‘And it wasn’t just about defending Europe. I said it also allowed us to have military bases in Europe that allowed us to project power into different parts of the world when our national security was threatened. 

‘If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can’t use those bases, that in fact – that we can no longer use those bases to defend America’s interests, then NATO is a one-way street,’ he concluded.

In a recent post on Truth Social, Trump expressed about his disappointment with NATO, particularly his allies’ unwillingness to deploy naval escorts to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.  

‘They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is Militarily WON, ​with very little danger for them, they complain about the high ​oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open ‌the ⁠Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk,’ Trump wrote.

On Tuesday, the President singled out the UK over Sir Keir Starmer’s attitude towards military involvement, saying: ‘All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the US, we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.’

He continued: ‘You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!’ 

Trump’s recent public criticism of the UK prime minister – deriding Starmer as ‘no Winston Churchill’ – has had a chilling effect on US-UK relations behind the scenes, according to the Financial Times.

Now, cracks are appearing in security cooperation between the allies as tensions rise over the crisis in the Middle East.

The President previously mocked Britain for seeking to ‘join wars after we’ve already won’ after the UK government’s initial decision not to join initial US and Israel strikes on Tehran.

Now, the handful of American officials seconded to UK government departments are increasingly being asked to exit meetings when sensitive information is discussed, in contrast to a more permissive approach historically, a source told the FT.

While such behaviour has been present since Trump returned to the White House, a more alarming development is the longer time taken by the UK to approve requests for American aircraft to use British military sites including RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, the person added.

These requests used to just be ‘rubber-stamped’ by the UK, but now were ‘stickier’ due to the ‘little bit of extra tension in the system’, they said.

Last week, the US President described Britain’s aircraft carriers as ‘toys compared to what we have’ in another swipe at the UK’s lack of support for his war against the Islamic Republic.

Speaking to reporters at the White House last Thursday, Trump said: ‘The British said: “We’ll send our aircraft carriers” – which aren’t the best aircraft carriers by the way, they are toys compared to what we have – “We’ll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over”. I said: “That’s wonderful, thank you very much – don’t bother.”‘

It comes amid claims that the US President threatened to stop supplying weapons for Ukraine in order to pressure European nations into joining a ‘coalition of the willing’ to reopen the strait.

In response to the reluctance of NATO nations to send warships, Trump said he would stop supplying NATO’s Purl, a European-funded initiative which secures the procurement of US weapons for Kyiv’s war, according to the FT.

As a result of Trump’s warning, and at the urging of NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte, a group of countries including France, Germany and the UK issued an urgent statement on March 19 which said: ‘We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait [of Hormuz].’

An official briefed on the President’s thinking told the FT: ‘It was Rutte who insisted on the joint statement because Trump had threatened to withdraw from Purl and from Ukraine in general.

‘The statement was then quickly put together, and other countries joined in afterwards because there was not enough time to invite everyone to sign up straight away.’

In the two days before the hastily written statement was released, Rutte was involved in several calls with Trump and Rubio.

The NATO chief will travel to Washington next week for a ‘long-planned visit’ as tensions continue to escalate.