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Adams reprieve, Gaza demands and constitutional test

 
Today's LAW and OrDER story

Trump DOJ orders end to charges against NYC mayor

What happened
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove yesterday ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop their corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in part so he could "devote full attention and resources" to aiding President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants. Trump separately issued a full pardon to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), five years after he commuted his 14-year corruption sentence, and ordered the Justice Department to pause enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that prohibits Americans from bribing foreign officials and companies, saying it hampered U.S. businesses.

Who said what
Bove said in a letter to the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan that he was ordering the case against Adams dismissed without prejudice, meaning the charges could be resurrected. He said not to investigate Adams further until after November's mayoral election, and underscored that the Justice Department was ordering the dismissal "without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based." 

Prosecutors in the Manhattan office had said just weeks ago they uncovered "additional criminal conduct" by Adams, indicating they were expanding the case. A federal law enforcement official told NBC News that Bove's order was "horrific" and "just transparent corruption."

In three weeks, Trump has "moved with brazen haste to dismantle the federal government's public integrity guardrails" in a show of "stop-me-if-you-dare defiance by a president who the first time around felt hemmed in by watchdogs, lawyers and judges tasked with affirming good government and fair play," The Associated Press said. Yesterday he fired the heads of the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Special Counsel, which processes whistleblower complaints, following a legally dubious "late-night purge of more than a dozen inspectors general."

What next?
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan would have to petition for dismissal before the federal judge scheduled to hear the Adams case in April. Adams' "reelection chances may receive a boost" from the dismissal, The New York Times said, but recent polls suggest he was "favored by around 10% of respondents" and he already has several challengers in the Democratic primary.

 
 
Today's INternational story

Hamas pauses hostage release, upending ceasefire

What happened
Hamas said yesterday it was postponing its next release of Israeli hostages "until further notice," accusing Israel of violating the fragile ceasefire in their Gaza war. Israel said Hamas' move violated the ceasefire and instructed Israeli troops to prepare for "any possible scenario in Gaza." 

Who said what
Hamas said it made its announcement five days before Saturday's planned swap of three hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to "keep the door open" if Israel stopped shelling Gazans while blocking them from returning home and allowed in the agreed-upon humanitarian aid. An Israeli official told Axios that Hamas could also be responding to President Donald Trump's widely rejected proposal to take ownership of Gaza and permanently relocate its Palestinian residents.

Hamas has freed 16 of 33 Israeli hostages scheduled for release under the first phase of the ceasefire, along with five Thai hostages. Trump said yesterday evening that while the decision was up to Israel, if all the hostages weren't returned by noon on Saturday, "I would say cancel" the ceasefire and "all hell is going to break out." Asked for clarification, he said, "Hamas will find out what I mean," and he did not rule out U.S. involvement in any retaliation.

What next?
An Israeli Channel 13 poll released yesterday found that 67% of Israelis wanted to proceed to the next phase of the ceasefire deal while 19% did not.

 
 
Today's NATIONAL Story

Judge says White House defying order on funds

What happened
A federal judge in Rhode Island said yesterday that the White House was not complying with his order to release billions in congressionally approved federal grants that President Donald Trump froze in a controversial executive order. The rebuke marked the first time a judge "expressly declared" that the Trump administration was "disobeying a judicial mandate," The New York Times said.

Who said what
U.S. District Judge John McConnell said the Trump administration's ongoing and "likely unconstitutional" pauses in funding "violate the plain text" of his Jan. 31 restraining order, and he ordered the White House to "immediately take every step necessary to effectuate" the "clear and unambiguous" directive.

The federal judiciary has "emerged as a major early bulwark against Trump's assertion of vast executive authority," The Washington Post said. Trump has "lost nearly every battle in court" so far. But McConnell's ruling "highlighted concerns" that the administration is "defying court orders that have sought to slow the rollout of Trump policies," The Wall Street Journal said. The case could "evolve quickly into a high-stakes showdown between the executive and judicial branches," the Times said, especially given Vice President J.D. Vance's suggestion on Sunday that Trump ignore certain judicial orders.

What next?
McConnell's order was "essentially a nudge," the Times said, and the next step could be ordering administration officials to explain why they weren't in contempt of court, followed by fines or, theoretically, imprisonment. The Justice Department appealed the decision to the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

 
 

It's not all bad

A Brazilian prison reading initiative is now inspiring similar programs worldwide, including in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Remission for Reading program has allowed inmates who read and submit book reports to cut their sentences by up to 48 days a year. With Brazil's 80% recidivism rate, the initiative aims to aid rehabilitation. Studies show prisoners now read nine times more than the national average, and advocates of the program argue that great literature fosters critical thinking, offering inmates a path to redemption and reintegration.

 
 
Under the radar

President Donald Trump's vow to take charge of Greenland is not popular in the autonomous Danish territory, but it has highlighted tensions between Denmark and Greenland. Emblematic of that friction is a controversial parenting test that Indigenous Greenlanders call discriminatory and racist. For years, campaigners have spoken out against "parenting competency" tests — forældrekompetenceundersøgelse in Danish, commonly shortened to FKU — used in Denmark by child protection services. Critics say the test fails to account for different social, cultural and parenting norms among Denmark's 17,000 Greenlandic Inuits.

The Danish government has said it will no longer use the FKU in cases involving Greenlandic families. But the memories of recent high-profile cases of Inuit mothers being separated from their children will take a long time to fade. 

The government's announcement marks a "significant U-turn" in policy, said The Guardian. But some have "questioned the timing," coming so soon after Trump's declaration that acquiring Greenland would be an "absolute necessity" for the U.S. 

The abolition of the test is "long overdue," Aka Hansen, an Inuit filmmaker who has led protests against the FKU, said to The Guardian. It's a "big surprise to us that all of a sudden they are able to make changes to the law."

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said this month that the territory had "had enough" of being told it should be grateful to Copenhagen for being "good colonial masters." If Denmark had treated Greenlanders better historically, he said, perhaps they would not be debating the island's future.

 
 
On this day

February 11, 2011

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down after three decades in power amid pro-democracy demonstrations across Egypt. Mubarak was widely seen as an authoritarian, and his toppling was part of a wave of Middle Eastern democratic furor known as the Arab Spring. However, Egypt's current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has been described as an even bigger authoritarian.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"Trump causes constitutional crisis, scholars say," with "a flurry of radical acts that may thwart the courts' response," The New York Times says on Tuesday's front page. Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk "suggest ignoring court rulings," The Washington Post says. Meanwhile, "farmers are out millions after USDA funds frozen" while "Trump orders 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum." Georgia companies "fret over how tariffs might hit," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. In China, "Xi pursues economic fortress as shield against U.S. pressure," The Wall Street Journal says. "Musk group seeks OpenAI control."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

...And such small portions!

A British judge awarded $5,000 in damages to a couple who said their Club Med vacation was ruined by "stale breakfast pastries" and a dirty room, said London's Sunday Times. Damen and Jane Bennion spent $8,000 on the French getaway and told the court the food was so "awful" they ate off-site every day. The judge ruled it was their choice not to eat at the hotel but granted damages due to the moldy room and "misrepresentations as to the standard of the resort."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harriet Marsden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Barry Williams for New York Daily News / Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Moiz Salhi / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images; Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images