What Virginia’s redistricting vote really means for Democrats and Republicans

Virginia Democrats got their number last night. But what they got was not a mandate, it was a margin. A razor-thin, 3-point squeaker that cost them $64 million in dark money to pull off, in a state where the governor won by 15 points just one year ago. If this is what victory looks like for Democrats, Republicans should be encouraged.

Let's be honest about what happened on April 21. Voters across Virginia were asked to ratify an amendment that a sitting circuit court judge had already declared void, not once, but twice, calling it a "blatant abuse of power." They were sold the word "fairness" on the ballot while Democrats designed a map that hands them 10 of Virginia's 11 congressional districts. They were told this was about the people's voice, funded by $93 million in largely anonymous cash, with $40 million flowing from House Democrat leadership's own political operation. If they were doing the right thing, they wouldn't have had to buy the election.

And the people of Virginia, particularly in rural communities, saw through it. Early voting was up across 70+ rural Republican localities. Lee County, Scott County, Alleghany County, communities that rarely make national headlines, turned out in force to say no to a gerrymander designed in a backroom by the same Richmond politicians who raised taxes and cultivated failing schools. That energy is real, it's not going away, and we are going to need it in November.

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But Democrats’ celebrations of the vote might be premature. The vote is not the final word.

The Virginia Supreme Court has already told both sides exactly what comes next. Before allowing the referendum to proceed, the justices wrote that "if the electorate approves the proposed amendment, we then must exercise our constitutional duty to review lower courts' declaratory judgments... and address de novo what equitable remedies, if any, are appropriate." In plain English: the court reserved the right to strike this map down, and it set a briefing deadline for tomorrow, April 23. The legal fight is not over.

The constitutional defects here are not minor. Democrats jammed this amendment through a special session that was called exclusively to address the state budget, then expanded it to rewrite the rules of congressional representation. They skipped the required 90-day public notice. And they passed the amendment while over one million Virginians were already casting ballots in the 2025 general election, a direct violation of Virginia's constitutional requirement that amendments pass before an election takes place. A judge found all three violations. The Supreme Court of Virginia must now decide whether it will enforce its own constitution or stand down because Democrats ran a successful, and expensive, public pressure campaign.

Now, we have to trust the court to do its job.

And if the court does its job, Republicans must be ready to fight the next battle. The RNC, the NRCC and Congressmen Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith filed suit because the process was corrupt from the start, not because Republicans are afraid of competition. We are not afraid of competition. We are afraid of a system where constitutional guardrails are demolished whenever the other side decides they're inconvenient. Today it's Virginia. Tomorrow it's your state.

This is the broader war Democrats have declared. When President Donald Trump and Republican governors used the legal redistricting process to draw competitive maps in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, Democrats screamed about gerrymandering. Then they turned around and drew a map in Virginia that is, by any objective measure, the most aggressively gerrymandered congressional map in the country. It splits Prince William County across five separate congressional districts as well as Fairfax County into five separate congressional districts.

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Republican women across this country need to understand what is at stake. If this map stands, Democrats could pick up four House seats in Virginia alone, potentially enough to flip the majority and end the legislative agenda that is delivering for American families.

So here is my message to Republican women in Virginia and across the country: last night was a setback, not a surrender. The courts must consider the referendum’s wobbly constitutionality. Our lawyers are still fighting. Our voters showed up in record numbers in places no one expected. And when the Virginia Supreme Court issues its ruling, potentially within weeks, we need to be ready to mobilize, organize and amplify whatever comes next.

They spent $64 million to win by 3 points in a friendly state. We need to spend our energy making sure that investment never pays off.

Fight on.

source https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/virginias-redistricting-vote-really-means-democrats-republicans

Postal Service thrust into mail-in ballot fight as Trump order gets tied up in court

EXCLUSIVE: A conservative legal group urged the U.S. Postal Service this week to carry out President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots, saying the USPS has an obligation to block possible "fraudulent ballots" ahead of this year's midterms.

America First Legal laid out in a petition filed with the USPS and obtained by Fox News Digital that the postal service has the independent authority to impose restrictions on mail-in ballots, including by requiring barcode tracking on ballot envelopes and cross-checking ballot recipients against federally-approved voter registration lists.

The petition comes as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to tighten election security rules over concerns about ineligible voters casting ballots. It aims to ramp up pressure on the postal service to use its regulatory authority to unilaterally advance those efforts as the president’s executive order faces multiple lawsuits brought by blue states and voting rights groups.

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"Federal law gives every interested individual the right to file a petition for rulemaking with federal agencies," America First Legal senior counsel James Rogers said in a statement. "Our petition gives the Postal Service the authority to implement these common-sense reforms, even in the face of this frivolous litigation against President Trump."

AFL’s petition came after Trump issued an executive order last month directing the USPS to work with states on mail-ballot procedures tied to state-submitted voter eligibility lists, while separately calling on DHS and the Social Security Administration to help states verify citizenship data.

The executive order, titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," also required the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to coordinate with states to create a master list of registered voters. The order has become the subject of intense litigation.

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Voting rights groups immediately sued, calling it "an extraordinary and abusive assertion of executive power over the administration of federal elections" and arguing that the Constitution gives states, not the president, authority over federal election administration.

While the White House has framed the executive order as an effort to bolster election integrity, other lawsuits, brought by a coalition of blue states led by California, Democratic lawmakers and national Democratic campaign committees, accused Trump of attempting to reduce mail-in voting. Voting by mail has become more prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic, when states expanded voters' ability to cast ballots by mail because of what they said was a public health emergency. Trump called the policy changes an effort to "rig" the 2020 election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden.

"President Trump has tried again and again to rewrite election rules for his own perceived partisan advantage. If only he could ban mail voting—a favorite scapegoat for his 2020 electoral defeat—and impose other voting restrictions, he has proclaimed, Republicans will 'never lose a race—for 50 years,'" one of the lawsuits, led by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, read.

Trump and Republicans have zeroed in on noncitizen voting, which is illegal, and have long argued it is a widespread problem. In addition to his executive order, Trump has been urging Congress to pass the SAVE Act before the 2026 midterms to impose a physical identification requirement on people registering to vote, though the bill lacks the needed support from Democratic senators to advance.

Fox News Digital reached out to the USPS press office for comment on AFL's petition.

source https://www.foxnews.com/politics/postal-service-thrust-mail-in-ballot-fight-trump-order-gets-tied-up-court

Pirro warns car theft ring used new tech to quickly access vehicles: 'Gone in 60 seconds'

A high-tech car theft ring that can steal vehicles in under a minute — without keys, smashed windows or hot wiring — has been exposed in a sweeping federal indictment, exposing a sophisticated pipeline that moves stolen cars from U.S. streets to overseas black markets.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Wednesday announced a 15-count federal indictment targeting the ring, which she said uses an electronic device called an Autel to rewrite a vehicle’s internal computer, allowing them to program a blank key fob instead of using more traditional methods to steal cars.

"They don't need keys, and they don't need hot wiring," Pirro said. "No smashed windows, no drama.... In under a minute, the car's brain is rewritten. The car is gone in 60 seconds."

Pirro said the crews have acted in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Pennsylvania to steal a wide range of vehicles, from higher-end Corvettes and Camaros to one of America’s most popular vehicles, the Honda Civic.

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Once stolen, the suspects allegedly disabled tracking systems, including GPS and Bluetooth, to avoid detection, and "cooled off" vehicles at locations where license plates were swapped — including a parking garage at a Maryland Marriott. They allegedly then loaded them onto transport carriers at ports in Savannah, Georgia, and Baltimore, Maryland.

The stolen cars are hidden in containers labeled as furniture to avoid scrutiny, Pirro said. Investigators say the vehicles were then sent overseas, primarily to Africa, where they were sold on the black market for high profits.

"This isn't joyriding," Pirro said. "These are high-end vehicles that are then loaded on transport carriers ... shipped across the ocean to Africa, where demand is sky high and profits are enormous."

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"Welcome to the new world of car theft," Pirro added.

The indictment identifies more than 20 stolen vehicles worth nearly $1 million, but investigators believe the operation may be far larger — potentially tied to over 100 thefts in Washington, D.C., and more than 30 in Prince George’s County, Maryland, with a total value approaching $4 million.

The five men charged so far include Jacob Hernandez, David Coby, Dustin Wetzel, Chance Clark and James Young. They face multiple federal charges, including conspiracy, possession and transport of stolen vehicles, as well as related offenses.

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and warned the public that modern car theft rings are increasingly using advanced technology to bypass traditional security measures.

Metropolitan Police Department’s Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carrol said citizens can take steps to prevent this new kind of car theft, including keeping key fobs inside a faraday bag — a bag that prevents the electronic signal from emanating from the fob — and "old school things" like club manual devices to lock a steering wheel.

"I know a lot of people will think those things are outdated, but they're not," Carrol said. "They're good devices that prevent vehicles from still being driven" even if someone uses an Autel device to access the car.

source https://www.foxnews.com/us/pirro-warns-car-theft-ring-used-new-tech-quickly-access-vehicles-gone-60-seconds

Dem Senate candidate calls to 'shut the White House down,' impeach 2 Supreme Court justices

Graham Platner, the frontrunner for the Maine Senate Democratic primary, said he would push to subpoena a wide swath of White House officials and to impeach Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito during a recent interview with NBC News.

"I want to shut the White House down," he told NBC in an interview released Wednesday. "I want us to, for the next two years, be dragging every single person in the White House, every single person in all these agencies that have been conducting themselves in illegal and unconstitutional ways. They need to be dragged by subpoena in front of Senate committees over and over and over again."

Among those he claimed were committing crimes or acting unconstitutionally were officials involved in deploying U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to U.S. cities and those involved in bombing campaigns in the Caribbean against alleged narcoterrorists, operations he referred to as "murder."

He also said there is a "compelling case" to impeach both Thomas and Alito.

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"The relationship between Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow is not hard to see as clearly corrupt, and Justice Thomas doesn’t even recuse himself from cases that impact Crow’s businesses," he said. "These are absolutely reasons for removal."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, the Supreme Court and the Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, for comment.

In 2024, Justice Thomas amended his 2019 financial disclosure after a ProPublica report revealed that he had received gifts in the form of travel and lodging from GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow. The report revealed that Crow had paid for lodging and transit on his private plane for trips to Bali, Indonesia and Sonoma County, California.

Thomas claimed he originally omitted the meals and rides from reports because he believed they fell under the personal hospitality exemption. The exemption stems from Judicial Conference guidance which states that "personal hospitality" from a friend does not need to be reported if the friend did not have business before the court.

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"Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years," Thomas said in a statement at the time.

"As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable," he wrote.

The report also revealed that Thomas sold a trio of Savannah, Georgia, homes to Crow for $133,000 in 2014. Thomas said he did not list the sales because, after spending over $50,000 on renovations to one of the homes, the sale amounted to a financial loss.

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Platner did not specify in the interview what he believed Alito should be impeached for.

In 2023, Alito defended himself from criticisms over a 2009 trip he took on a private jet paid for by billionaire Paul Singer. Alito did not disclose the trip or recuse himself from future business Singer had in front of the Supreme Court. Alito argued that the trip "would not cause a reasonable and unbiased person to doubt my ability to decide the matters in question impartially."

Thomas is not the only Supreme Court Justice to amend his financial disclosures.

In 2021, Justice Sonia Sotomayor updated her 2016 disclosure to include six trips to public universities paid for by the schools that she'd previously omitted. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also updated a decade's worth of disclosures during her nomination process. Omissions included her husband’s consulting income, her teacher's salary and a gift she incurred from giving a speech.

Fox News Digital asked Platner's campaign if he would support impeaching other justices, including Sotomayor and Jackson, but did not immediately receive a response.

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Platner also echoed an increasingly popular view on the left that the Democrats should support an expansion of the Supreme Court, telling NBC that he's "definitely open to doing more, including to adding seats."

While stating he supported the judicial impeachments, Platner added that the Democrats should not waste their time on impeaching President Donald Trump.

"If we don’t have the votes in the Senate to convict, I don’t think we should waste our time with it," he told the outlet.

He also said that he does not want to see Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., repeat his term as the Democrats' leader in the Senate. Schumer has publicly backed Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Platner's primary opponent.

Platner floated four names to replace Schumer: Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

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Platner, a self-described progressive, is backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. He's a combat veteran who did three tours in Iraq as a Marine and a tour in Afghanistan with the Maine National Guard.

He's currently leading in the polls against both his Democratic primary opponent Mills and the incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. But his campaign has not been entirely smooth sailing.

He's had to confront numerous controversies in recent months, most notably perhaps the revelation that he once sported a large chest tattoo that resembled Nazi iconography.

In October, Platner covered up a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest that strongly resembled the Totenkopf symbol used by Hitler’s SS forces. Platner claimed he got the tattoo as a veteran while drunk in Croatia and didn't know it was akin to the Nazi symbol until media reports in 2024. He says he plans to remove it.

Platner also fessed up to running an edgy Reddit account that reportedly disparaged Black people and police and praised a raid executed by Hamas terrorists.

source https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-senate-candidate-calls-shut-white-house-down-impeach-2-supreme-court-justices

Prosecutors warn Anna Kepner’s stepbrother shouldn’t roam free after alleged cruise ship murder

Federal prosecutors are trying to put accused teen killer T.H., 16, behind bars as his case in the cruise ship death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner.

In a filing last week reviewed by Fox News Digital, prosecutors asked a judge to revisit the teenager's release and either jail him before trial or tighten the rules of his release, arguing the case has changed now that he is being prosecuted as an adult.

The 16-year-old, whom authorities have only identified by his initials, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Kepner’s November death aboard a Carnival cruise ship. Prosecutors allege he sexually assaulted and killed his stepsister during the family vacation.

The government alleges that he was originally released when the case was being handled under juvenile law, but now that he has been transferred to adult prosecution, the judge should take a fresh look at whether he should still be free. Meanwhile, the defense says he should remain free while the judge decides.

The move comes as Christopher Kepner, Anna's father, told the Daily Mail that he is outraged that the accused murderer is still allowed to live with a relative despite being federally charged as an adult.

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"We’re upset that he’s still out. We’re six months in, and he should already have been arrested, and yet he’s free to do whatever he wants right now," Christopher Kepner told the outlet. "That’s our problem. He’s been able to do whatever he wants and go where he wants, but the family’s been sitting here unable to do anything."

The filing also spells out the timeline of the case, previously unknown, saying T.H. was first charged in February, later indicted by a federal grand jury on March 10, and formally transferred to adult prosecution on April 10.

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If convicted, the teen faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

"I want to see him in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs. He does not need to be free. He does not need to be in the general public, around any kids or women in general," Christopher Kepner said.

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"He’s a danger to himself and a danger to others."

The unfolding legal battle come months after Anna, affectionately called "Anna banana," was found dead onboard the cruise ship during a family vacation with her father, stepmother, grandparents and several siblings.

Authorities later ruled her death a homicide caused by "mechanical asphyxiation," according to documents previously reviewed by Fox News Digital.

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According to investigators, she was found under the bed in her cabin, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets. The cabin was shared with her stepbrother.

Fox News Digital has reached out to T.H.'s attorneys for comment.

"Our hearts go out to the victim’s family during this unimaginable loss," U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said. "A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging serious offenses that allegedly occurred aboard a vessel in international waters. We will present the evidence in court and pursue this case with professionalism and care. As in every case, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

source https://www.foxnews.com/us/prosecutors-warn-anna-kepner-stepbrother-shouldnt-roam-free-alleged-cruise-ship-murder

Kamala Harris torches own party members invested in holding on to their 'title,' admits, 'I am exhausted'

Former Vice President Kamala Harris torched members of her own party on Sunday and said she was "exhausted" by those only concerned with their titles.

The former vice president was asked about how the Democratic Party could earn back the trust of Black women.

"First of all, the party has got to understand that the voices of true leaders in the community must be the priority and not those people who've been holding on to these titles and are full-time invested in preserving their title at the expense of actually getting anything done," Harris said at The Root's Power Rising event.

"I am exhausted by these people," she continued, noting that she was the second Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. "AOC can tell you about the number of people, including Democrats, who will walk around the Capitol with their flag pin and all their interns running behind them, and they will just think they are so important."

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She argued that accountability needed to be part of the work.

"It's been a bit controversial, but one of the things I've been saying is this. As I have reflected on what has been going on, I've come to the realization that part of the issue is part of the frailty, I think, of human nature for some is they are purely transactional people," Harris said.

The former vice president said it was okay for Black women to be "transactional" too.

"They're not pretending to be grounded in morals or values or principles," Harris said. "They're not pretending. They're literally not pretending. They're in it for what they can get out of it. Their mantra is, 'I'm going to get mine.' I think it's okay for us to be a bit transactional, too, and to say, 'I'm going to get mine also.'"

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She went on to argue that Democrats shouldn't just count on Black women to be the backbone of the party because of their value system, ethics and sense of civic duty.

"They will vote because of high level of character, which is to say, I must conduct myself in a way that I honor the ancestors and all who have sacrificed before me. And so I will vote because it is my duty for all that paved the path for me to be here," she said. "But they count on that. And I'm saying, plus, they should count on the fact we're going to expect, and they're going to have to know when they start counting on the vote. It's because they better produce if they win."

Harris has recently revealed she is thinking about running in 2028.

The former VP made multiple stops in South Carolina last week, one of the key early-voting states in the Democratic Party's nominating calendar.

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When asked about why the U.S. has yet to elect a woman to the presidency and what the country needed to change, Harris touted the 2024 race results as the "closest presidential race in the history of the race for president."

"One of the top three closest races ever, and we had 107 days to do what we did, and it was that close," she continued.

She said the country is ready to elect a woman to the presidency.

"I just try to not let other people's problems be my problem, in terms of believing and knowing and acting on who can do what. And that's where I land on that," she said.

source https://www.foxnews.com/media/kamala-harris-torches-own-party-members-invested-holding-title-admits-i-am-exhausted

UK’s elite soldier unit faces exodus over ‘lawfare’ fears — warning sign for US military?

Britain’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) is facing a growing exodus as soldiers resign over fears they could face years of legal scrutiny for actions taken on the battlefield, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Several sources told the British newspaper that members of 22 SAS, the British Army’s most elite regiment, have applied for premature release amid anger over investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, Syria and Northern Ireland.

The debate is not confined to Britain.

American troops could face similar concerns if political leaders fail to distinguish between legitimate investigations and politically motivated campaigns, according to John Spencer, executive director of the Urban Warfare Institute. 

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"I welcome timely investigations of allegations of violations," Spencer told Fox News Digital, "but want our leaders to protect all our forces, special or not, from agenda or politicized ‘witch hunts.’"

In Australia, the case of Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith has become a rallying point for veterans who fear elite soldiers could face years of legal battles after serving in combat.

Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has denied allegations that he committed war crimes in Afghanistan. Earlier in April, Australian authorities charged him with five counts of murder related to his service in Afghanistan.

To many British veterans, the Australian case reinforces fears that the same trend could spread across other Western militaries, including the United States.  

At least two SAS squadrons have been affected, with several current and former members describing the losses as a "threat to national security." The paper did not publish the precise number of departures for security reasons.

The resignations come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government faces criticism over both defense spending and the treatment of veterans.

Britain’s armed forces have faced mounting scrutiny over their size and readiness in recent years. But the U.K. government says it is reversing that trend, reporting that total armed forces strength stood at 182,050 personnel as of Jan. 1, 2026, including 136,960 regular troops, an increase from the previous year.

The government also has pledged what it calls the largest sustained rise in defense spending since the Cold War, with military spending set to reach 2.6% of GDP by 2027, backed by an additional £5 billion this financial year and £270 billion in defense investment over the course of the current Parliament. Britain also has said it aims to raise defense spending to 3% of GDP by the end of the next Parliament.

Former and current soldiers said they believe Britain’s legal system has turned against troops who were sent to fight on behalf of the government.

"If a soldier discharges their weapon, they are almost certainly going to get a knock at their door one day," George Simm, a former regimental sergeant major of 22 SAS, told The Telegraph. "It feels like a betrayal and a break in the trust."

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The controversy centers on ongoing investigations into British special forces operations.

A total of 242 special forces troops, including 120 still serving, are currently involved in legal inquiries costing roughly £1 million per month. Those inquiries involve operations in Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and Syria.

Critics say those investigations have created a culture in which soldiers fear that decisions made in combat would later lead to prosecution.

Andrew Fox, a former British Army officer and senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank, told Fox News Digital the relationship between soldiers and the government has been badly damaged.

"Soldiering contains a pact between the government and those they employ to use lethal force," Fox said. "Soldiers will take human life within the rules set for them by international law, and in return, their governments should support them.

"This has been inverted, and international law has been weaponized and exploited by our enemies to persecute our soldiers. All too often, governments are coming down on the side of those enemies, not our troops."

Fox said it was understandable that some soldiers would no longer want to serve.

"Of course, law breaking should be punished, but we are seeing a breakdown in trust between governments and their armed forces when politicians allow troops to be hounded through the courts unjustly," he said.

Spencer said professional militaries depend on maintaining public trust through a strong internal justice system.

"A professional military holds the trust of its society because it lives by a strict ethical code, its laws, and its rules," Spencer told Fox News Digital. "That trust is what gives soldiers the unique authority to use lethal force in the worst conditions a human being can face."

Spencer said allegations of wrongdoing should be investigated quickly and fairly.

"We need investigations that move quickly and fairly on any credible allegation," he said. "If there's real evidence of wrongdoing under the law of armed conflict or the rules of engagement, then both the military and society must act on it. That's how you keep the trust alive."

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At the same time, Spencer warned that some legal campaigns risk crossing the line into what troops perceive as politically motivated "witch hunts."

"I've seen too many human rights lawyers blur the line between basic human rights and the actual law of armed conflict," Spencer said. "They don't always understand the application of the use of force in context or the split-second chaos of combat. When that turns into what troops call witch hunts, it eats away at morale and readiness."

Spencer said governments have a responsibility both to investigate credible accusations and to protect troops from what he called agenda-driven campaigns.

"It's also the duty of the government to shield the military from agenda-driven witch hunts," he said. "A rigorous military justice system and honest self-policing are essential for an ethical force. Without them, the profession loses the very trust that lets it do its job."

Britain’s Ministry of Defense spokesperson told Fox News digital that, "While it is a long-standing policy of successive governments to not comment on U.K. Special Forces, we are immensely proud of all our Armed Forces and their extraordinary contribution to keeping the U.K. safe at home and abroad."

"We are committed to ensuring that the legal framework governing our Armed Forces reflects the practical realities of military operations — and that those who served with honor are properly protected," he added, "Where the U.K. undertakes military action, it complies fully with U.K. and international law. We are clear that upholding those standards does not prevent our Armed Forces from conducting effective operations."

Former British military chiefs warned in an open letter to Starmer in late 2025 that soldiers increasingly believe they must worry about "not only the enemy in front of them but the lawyer behind them."

"Make no mistake," the retired generals wrote, "our closest allies are watching uneasily, and our enemies will be rubbing their hands."

source https://www.foxnews.com/world/uks-elite-soldier-unit-faces-exodus-over-lawfare-fears-warning-sign-us-military