New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed to regain the public’s trust Tuesday as the Justice Department moved to halt his criminal corruption case, an extraordinary directive that officials said would free him up to assist in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

In his first public comments since federal prosecutors were ordered to drop the case, Adams said he was eager to “put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of this city.”

He did not mention President Donald Trump by name but praised the Justice Department for its “honesty,” adding that he would “never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor.”

The mayor’s brief address at City Hall came one day after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove told federal prosewcutors in Manhattan to dismiss the bribery charges “as soon as is practicable.”

In a two-page memo, Bove said the Justice Department reached the decision “without assessing the strength of the evidence.” Rather, he claimed the case was politically motivated and said the dismissal would allow Adams to “devote full attention and resources” to combating illegal immigration and violent crime.

Adams, who was elected as a centrist Democrat, had already shifted rightward following his indictment in September, praising Trump and expressing a willingness to roll back some of the city’s protections for undocumented migrants. But in the wake of the memo, he is facing a barrage of criticism from those who say he is now beholden to the Trump administration’s agenda.

Agency: FEMA worker violated Hatch Act

A federal agency is seeking disciplinary action against a former Federal Emergency Management Agency worker who directed workers helping hurricane survivors to avoid homes with yard signs supporting President Donald Trump, according to a complaint filed Tuesday.

The complaint with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board was filed by the Office of Special Counsel, whose leader was fired last week by Trump and reinstated by a federal judge on Monday after he sued the Republican president.

The Office of Special Counsel found the former FEMA worker, Marn’i Washington, violated the Hatch Act, which restricts the partisan political activities of government workers, through her actions while in Florida in October helping survivors of Hurricane Milton. The special counsel accused Washington of engaging in political activity while on duty and “using her official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the results” of the election.

2 stuck astronauts due for earlier return

NASA’s two stuck astronauts may end up back on Earth a little sooner than planned.

The space agency announced Tuesday that SpaceX will switch capsules for upcoming astronaut flights in order to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home in mid-March instead of late March or April. That will shave at least a couple weeks off their prolonged stay at the International Space Station, which hit the eight-month mark last week.

“Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges,” NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement.

The test pilots should have returned in June on Boeing’s Starliner capsule after what should have been a weeklong flight demo. But the capsule had so much trouble getting to the space station that NASA decided to bring it back empty and reassigned the pair to SpaceX.

Then SpaceX delayed the launch of their replacements on a brand new capsule that needed more prepping, which added more time to Wilmore and Williams’ mission.

Vance: AI at risk from EU’s regulation

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday warned global leaders and tech industry executives that “excessive regulation” could cripple the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry in a rebuke to European efforts to curb AI’s risks.

The speech underscored a widening, three-way rift over the future of the technology — one that critics warn could either cement human progress for generations or set the stage for its downfall.

The United States, under President Donald Trump, champions a hands-off approach to fuel innovation,

while Europe is tightening the reins with strict regulations to ensure safety and accountability. Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding AI through state-backed tech giants, vying for dominance in the global race.

FBI finds records on JFK assassination

The FBI on Tuesday said it discovered 2,400 new records related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy as federal agencies work to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order last month to release thousands of files.

The FBI said it’s working to transfer the records to the National Archives and Records Administration to be included in the declassification process.

The federal government in the early 1990s mandated that all documents related to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination be housed in a single collection at the National Archives. And while the vast majority of the collection — over 5 million records — has been made public, researchers estimate 3,000 haven’t been released, either in whole or in part.

Haaland will run for governor in N.M.

Deb Haaland, the former secretary of the Interior who was the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, on Tuesday announced a bid for governor of New Mexico.

Haaland, a Democrat, previously served as a member of Congress from the state. She is widely seen as a favorite to succeed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is not running again in 2026 because of term limits.

Haaland, 64, would be the first Native American woman to serve as governor of a state.

PBS shutting its diversity office

PBS says it is shutting down its office of diversity, equity and inclusion to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order, firing the two executives brought on when the effort was begun in 2021.

The move, eliminating the jobs held by Cecilia Loving and her associate, comes as public television and radio girds for an intense fight over federal funding.

Despite eliminating the DEI effort, PBS CEO Paula Kerger said Tuesday that “we were committed to telling the stories of all Americans before we had an office, and will continue to do it afterwards.”

— News service reports