Tuesday’s Mini-Report, 5.12.26

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* This seems like a question he should already have an answer for: “Pressed over what would constitute a violation of the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire, Trump declined to provide a firm answer to the question, but he said he will ‘be thinking about it on the flight’ to Beijing.”

* The Epstein investigation continues: “House Democrats took the Epstein investigation to President Donald Trump’s doorstep on Tuesday as they held hearings with survivors, their families and other advocates near the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, and not far from Jeffrey Epstein’s own home where he sexually abused girls.”

* The latest hantavirus data: “Global health officials are warning that the number of hantavirus cases — which was 11 as of Tuesday — could rise, as one American who was on the cruise ship at the center of the outbreak revealed new details from his quarantine room.”

* Good luck to us all: “Kevin Warsh took another step toward becoming Federal Reserve chair on Tuesday, clearing a key Senate vote that puts him on the central bank’s Board of Governors. The upper chamber voted to approve Warsh’s nomination by a 51-45 vote, on a mostly party-line basis. Only Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., crossed lines to vote for President Donald Trump’s pick.”

* I’ll have more on Makary’s departure in the morning: “The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Marty Makary, resigned on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said.”

* Efforts like these are wrong for a variety of reasons: “President Trump privately complained to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about media leaks in the wake of the Iran war last month, according to administration officials familiar with the matter, prompting an aggressive push at the Justice Department to pursue those investigations.”

* Being a satirist in 2026 must be awfully difficult, given how laughably ridiculous real life is: “The U.S. military is considering officially re-naming the war with Iran ‘Operation Sledgehammer’ if the current ceasefire collapses and President Donald Trump decides to re-start major combat operations, according to two U.S. officials.”

See you tomorrow.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”