The Dictatorship
Judge blocks Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook from Federal Reserve, but Trump can appeal
A federal district judge’s ruling late Tuesday keeps Lisa Cook on the Federal Reserve board of governors for now. But it’s probably not the last word in the historic case, which is likely to come from the Supreme Court.
Cook moved for a temporary restraining order against what she called President Donald Trump’s “unprecedented and illegal” attempt to fire her from the central bank board long before her term’s expiration in 2038. Trump argues that he had cause to fire her, citing his administration’s claim of mortgage fraud by Cook prior to her Senate confirmation. Cook was nominated by then-President Joe Biden, as was the judge who sided with her Tuesday in Washington, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb.
Cobb wrote that Cook had made a “strong showing” that Trump’s attempt to fire her violated federal law, which requires cause for removal. The judge reasoned that the “for cause” requirement in the Federal Reserve Act “does not contemplate removing an individual purely for conduct that occurred before they began in office.” She wrote that the “best reading of the ‘for cause’ provision is that the bases for removal of a member of the Board of Governors are limited to grounds concerning a Governor’s behavior in office and whether they have been faithfully and effectively executing their statutory duties.”
Cobb noted that the case involves “the first purported ‘for cause’ removal of a Board Governor in the Federal Reserve’s 111-year history” and that it “raises important matters of first impression,” meaning issues that haven’t been legally resolved by courts before.
Cook, who has not been officially charged with any fraud, argues that Trump’s claim of wrongdoing against her falls well short of the cause mandated by federal law to remove a board member prematurely. “Without emergency relief,” her lawyers wrote ahead of a hearing Cobb held before she ruled, the government is “now likely to allow an unexpired vacancy to occur for which President Trump has indicated he is ready to fill.”
Cook’s complaint underscores the stakes, noting that the Federal Reserve’s independence “is vital to its ability to make sound economic decisions, free from the political pressures of an election cycle” and warning that if “markets and the public believe that the central bank is making decisions based on political pressure rather than sound economic data, that confidence erodes.”
With the justices likely to have the last word, it’s worth noting that, while the high court’s Republican-appointed majority has been boosting Trump’s firing powers in his second termit also has signaled an intention to protect the Federal Reserve’s independence more than that of other agencies whose members it has been letting Trump fire without cause. That the president has claimed he has cause to fire Cook could help him carry out this particular firing, but his success could hinge on the extent to which the justices say the president must prove his claim (if he has to at all).
Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro,” a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined BLN, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
The Dictatorship
Ukraine braces for brutal cold as Trump says Putin agreed to halt power grid attacks
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The terms of a Russian commitment to U.S. President Donald Trump to temporarily halt its bombardment of Ukraine during one of the country’s bleakest winters in years remained unclear Friday, as Ukrainians braced for even worse conditions to come next week.
Trump said late Thursday that President Vladimir Putin had agreed to a temporary pause in targeting Kyiv and other places as the region experiences freezing temperatures that have brought widespread hardship to civilians.
“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this … extraordinary cold,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Putin has “agreed to that,” he said, without elaborating on when the request to the Russian leader was made.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a query seeking clarity about the scope and timing of any limited pause.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed Friday that Trump “made a personal request” to Putin to stop targeting Kyiv until Feb. 1 “in order to create favorable conditions for negotiations.”
The mention of Feb. 1 was confusing since that is only two days away. Also, the cold weather is forecast to get much worse from Sunday, with temperatures dropping even further and making the time frame for a pause in attacks hard to understand.
Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat, light and running water over the course of the war, in a strategy that Ukrainian officials describe as “weaponizing winter.”
Asked if Moscow agreed to Trump’s proposal, Peskov said, “Yes, of course.” But he refused to answer further questions about whether the agreement covered only energy infrastructure or all aerial strikes, and when the halt on strikes was supposed to start.
‘Evidence to the contrary’
Russia struck Ukrainian energy assets in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday but there were no strikes on those facilities overnight, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday.
In a post on social media, Zelenskyy also noted that Russia has turned its attention to targeting Ukrainian logistics networks and that Russian drones and missiles hit residential areas of Ukraine overnight, as they have most nights during the war.
Trump framed Putin’s acceptance as a concession. But Zelenskyy was skeptical as Russia’s invasion approaches its fourth anniversary on Feb. 24 with no sign that Moscow is willing to reach a peace settlement despite a U.S.-led push to end the fighting.
“I do not believe that Russia wants to end the war. There is a great deal of evidence to the contrary,” Zelenskyy said Thursday. Ukraine is ready to halt its attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, if Moscow also stops its bombardment of the Ukrainian power grid and other energy assets, he said.
Russia fired 111 drones and one ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, injuring at least three people, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defenses overnight shot down 18 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.
Bitter cold forecast
Forecasters say Kyiv, which recently endured severe power shortages, will see a brutally cold stretch starting Friday that is expected to last into next week. Temperatures in some areas will drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit), the State Emergency Service said.
The possibility of a respite in energy sector attacks was discussed at last weekend’s meeting in Abu Dhabithe capital of the United Arab Emirates, between envoys of Ukraine, Russia and the United States, Zelenskyy said, adding that he had agreed to adhere to a “reciprocal approach” on energy assaults.
“If Russia does not strike us, we will … take corresponding steps,” he told reporters.
Further talks were expected on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, but that could change because of a spike in tensions between the United States and Iran.
‘We are ready for compromises’
It was unclear whether and how any partial truce might work amid ongoing wider fighting and mistrust between the two countries.
“There is no ceasefire. There is no official agreement on a ceasefire, as is typically reached during negotiations,” Zelenskyy said. “There has been no direct dialogue and no direct agreements on this matter between us and Russia.”
Ukraine had originally proposed a limited energy ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia last year, Zelenskyy said, but it gained no traction.
Disagreement over what happens to occupied Ukrainian territory, and Moscow’s demand for possession of territory it hasn’t captured, are a key issue holding up a peace deal, according to Zelenskyy.
“We have repeatedly said that we are ready for compromises that lead to a real end to the war, but that are in no way related to changes to Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Zelenskyy said. “The American side understands this and says that there is a compromise solution regarding a free economic zone.”
Ukraine demands control over such a zone, he said.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
The Dictatorship
Senate leaders scramble to avert a partial government shutdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted Friday to fund most of the government through the end of September while carving out a temporary extension for Homeland Security funding, giving Congress two weeks to debate new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country.
With a weekend shutdown looming, President Donald Trump struck the spending deal with Senate Democrats on Thursday in the wake of the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. Democrats said they would not vote for the larger spending bill unless Congress considers legislation to unmask agents, require more warrants and allow local authorities to help investigate any incidents.
“The nation is reaching a breaking point,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote. “The American people are demanding that Congress step up and force change.”
As lawmakers in both parties called for investigations into the fatal shootings, Trump said he didn’t want a shutdown and negotiated the rare deal with Schumer, his frequent adversary. Trump then encouraged members of both parties to cast a “much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ vote.”
The bill passed 71-29 and will now head to the House, which is not due back until Monday. That means the government could be in a partial shutdown temporarily over the weekend until they pass it.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who held a conference call Friday with GOP lawmakers, said he expects the House to vote Monday evening. But what is uncertain is how much support there will be for the package.
Johnson’s right flank has signaled opposition to limits on Homeland Security funds, leaving him reliant on Democrats who have their own objections to funding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without immediate restraints.
Two-week debate over ICE
It was unclear how involved Trump will be in the negotiations over new restrictions on immigration arrests — or if Republicans and Democrats could find any points of compromise.
Senate Democrats will not support an extension of Homeland Security funding in two weeks “unless it reins in ICE and ends violence,” Schumer said. “If our colleagues are not willing to enact real change, they should not expect Democratic votes.”
Similarly, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that any change in the homeland bill needs to be “meaningful and it needs to be transformative.”
Absent “dramatic change,” Jeffries said, “Republicans will get another shutdown.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the two sides will “sit down in good faith,” but it will be “really, really hard to get anything done,” especially in such a short amount of time.
“We’ll stay hopeful, but there are some pretty significant differences of opinion,” Thune said.
Democrats demand change
Irate Democrats have asked the White House to “end roving patrols” in cities and coordinate with local law enforcement on immigration arrests, including requiring tighter rules for warrants.
They also want an enforceable code of conduct so agents are held accountable when they violate rules. Schumer said agents should be required to have “masks off, body cameras on” and carry proper identification, as is common practice in most law enforcement agencies.
Alex Prettia 37 year-old ICU nurse, was killed by a border patrol agent on Jan. 24, two weeks after protester Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer. Administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, originally said Pretti had aggressively approached officersbut multiple videos contradicted that claim.
Republican pushback
The president’s concessions to Democrats prompted pushback from some Senate Republicans, delaying the final votes and providing a preview of the coming debate over the next two weeks. In a fiery floor speech, Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warned that Republicans should not give away too much.
“To the Republican party, where have you been?” Graham said, adding that ICE agents and Border Patrol agents have been “slandered and smeared.”
Several Republicans have said that if Democrats are going to push for restrictions on ICE, they will push for restrictions on so-called “sanctuary cities” that they say do not do enough to enforce illegal immigration.
“There no way in hell we’re going to let Democrats knee cap law enforcement and stop deportations in exchange for funding DHS,” said Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., ahead of the vote.
Still, some Republicans said they believe that changes to ICE’s operations were necessary, even as they were unlikely to agree to all of the Democrats’ requests.
“I think the last couple of days have been an improvement,” said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. “I think the rhetoric has been dialed down a little bit, in Minnesota.”
Last-minute promises
After Trump announced the deal with Democrats, Graham held the spending bills up for almost a day until Thune agreed to give him a vote on his sanctuary cities bill at a later date.
Separately, Graham was also protesting a repeal of a new law giving senators the ability to sue the government for millions of dollars if their personal or office data is accessed without their knowledge — as happened to him and other senators as part of the so-called Arctic Frost investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by Trump supporters at the Capitol.
The spending bill, which was passed by the House last week, would repeal that law. But Graham said Thune had agreed to consider a separate bill that would allow “groups and private citizens” who were caught up in Jack Smith’s probe to sue.
___
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Joey Cappelletti, Seung Min Kim, Michelle L. Price and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
The Dictatorship
Don Lemon defiant after Minnesota church protest arrest
Fresh out of federal custody, former BLN anchor Don Lemon vowed Friday not to back off his work as a journalist despite an indictment against him and others over an anti-ICE protest he covered this month at a Minnesota church.
Lemon cited his profession’s protections under the First Amendment — the same one federal prosecutors contend he and his co-defendants violated by infringing on the churchgoers’ freedom of religion.
“There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable,” Lemon said in his first public remarks since his arrest late Thursday.
“The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless of other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silenced,” he added, speaking outside a federal courthouse in Los Angeles, where he had just been ordered released pending trial.
Lemon, fellow independent journalist Georgia Fort and two people active in Democratic circles in Minnesota were arrested as part of a broader indictment over the Jan. 18 demonstration against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Lemon livestreamed while reporting on the event at Cities Church in St. Paul.
Demonstrators say they were there to protest ICE tactics and a pastor of the church, David Easterwoodwho also leads the local field office for ICE. Easterwood was recently listed as a defendant in a casebrought by protesters who alleged immigration agents had violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights.
“I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group. … I’m a journalist,” Lemon is heard saying in his video.
The indictment names nine defendants. The prosecution alleges in it that a group of “agitators” gathered to discuss their plans prior to traveling to Cities Church to engage in a “planned takeover-style operation.”
Demonstrators joined in on various chants inside the church including “ICE Out!” and “Stand Up, Fight Back,” according to the indictment, which was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, among others.
Prosecutors also allege that one defendant called some congregants “Nazi,” and asked some children, “Do you know your parents are Nazis? They’re going to burn in hell.”
The portions of the indictment involving Lemon largely hang on details from his livestream, particularly that he made a point of telling viewers he wouldn’t say where the protest was going to take place.
Lemon and Fort — in one of the few mentions of her in the indictment — are also accused of obstructing the pastor’s movements when they approached to question him; the document does not specify if this was Easterwood. Prosecutors contend Lemon “stood so close to the pastor that Lemon caused the pastor’s right hand to graze Lemon, who then admonished the pastor, ‘Please don’t push me.’”
Until now, efforts to secure charges against Lemon had stalled in court. A federal magistrate judge previously refusedto approve a criminal complaint against him, saying prosecutors hadn’t shown probable cause — a decision upheld by an appeals panel last week.
Earlier in the week, the Department of Justice had reportedly withdrawn its bid for an arrest warrant, though officials indicated they might pursue charges through other procedures.
Bondi confirmed the arrests in a social media post Friday.
“Early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Bondi said on X. Fort, Crews and Lundy pleaded not guilty at a hearing Friday in Minnesota and were released.
Fort is vice president of the Minneapolis chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. She posted a video on Facebook early Friday announcing “agents are at my door,” and said her attorney advised her to go with them.
Crews is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota and a former Democratic candidate for the Minnesota House. Lundy is a small-business owner and a current Democratic candidate for the Minnesota Senate.
Lemon is charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and interfering by force with someone’s First Amendment rights. The most serious charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors argued Friday that Lemon poses a “danger to the community” and asked the judge to restrict his travel, a request the judge mostly rejected.
Lemon, wearing a tan suit and appearing visibly displeased during the hearing, did not enter a plea, but his attorneys say he will plead not guilty to all charges. His next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 9 in Minnesota.
“I look forward to my day in court,” Lemon told reporters.
Lemon was in Los Angeles to cover the Grammy Awards when he was taken into custody late Thursday.
His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, called Lemon’s arrest an “unprecedented attack” and accused the DOJ of using it as a distraction from the backlash the Trump administration is facing after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Lemon’s arrest marks a major development in a case that has stirred national debate over press freedom and federal power. The case has drawn sharp criticism from advocates and supporters of Lemon.
“Don Lemon has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
Lemon is still strongly associated with his long-running show at BLN, even though he left the network nearly three years ago. The network said in a statement that his arrest raises concerns about the freedom of press.
“The First Amendment in the United States protects journalists who bear witness to news and events as they unfold, ensuring they can report freely in the public interest, and the DOJ’s attempts to violate those rights is unacceptable,” BLN said.
Several press freedom and advocacy groups condemned the arrests on Friday. The Committee to Protect Journalists saidLemon’s arrest “should alarm all Americans.”
“Instead of prioritizing accountability in the killings of two American citizens, the @realDonaldTrump administration is devoting its resources to arresting journalists,” said Katherine Jacobsen, a spokesperson for the group.
The National Action Network criticized the Trump administration for violating Lemon’s rights under the First Amendment.
“Don has spent the last decade calling out the lies or the destructive policies of President Trump, who no doubt was waiting for the right moment to use his weaponized Justice Department against him,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, the group’s founder.
Jack Pedigo and David Noriega contributed to this report.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW.
Fallon Gallagher is a legal affairs reporter for MS NOW.
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