The Downingtown Interchange reopened Wednesday night after being closed for several hours because a toll-booth canopy collapsed during planned demolition work on the toll plaza, Pennsylvania Turnpike officials said.
“We were performing preliminary work to remove the canopy, in anticipation of a full closure this weekend. This is part of the demolition work as we reconfigure the toll plaza,” Turnpike spokesperson Marissa Orbanek said in an email.
“During the preliminary work, canopy columns destabilized, and we immediately shut down the interchange to ensure the safety of employees and motorists. While the interchange was shut down, the canopy fell down on top of the toll booths,” Orbanek said.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike has been switching to an “open road tolling” system that allows tolls to be charged electronically without vehicles having to slow down.
A 44-year-old man was in police custody after he allegedly stabbed his 3-month-old child late Wednesday morning in Chester County, police said.
Just after 11:35 a.m., Coatesville police were dispatched to the 2000 block of Smithbridge Drive to respond to a report on an infant that had been stabbed.
Officers took Michael Phillips into custody for stabbing his infant son in the abdomen, police said.
“After stabbing him, the father took the infant outside and threw him in the snow,” police said.
The infant was reported to be in very serious condition and was flown to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for surgery, police said.
Just before 8 p.m., the Chester County District Attorney’s Office said the child was out of surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition.
Police on the scene of a stabbing of an infant on Smithbridge Drive in Coatesville, Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Joel Embiid and Quentin Grimes will miss their second consecutive game when the 76ers host the New York Knicks on Wednesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Embiid reported right knee soreness following Saturday’s 109-103 victory over the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center. The center will be reevaluated following the seven-day NBA All-Star break, which begins Thursday.
Sixers guard Quentin Grimes (left) will miss his second consecutive game with an illness.
Embiid’s knee “is bothering him enough that he’s not playing,” coach Nick Nurse said. “I think it is improving a little bit. But it’s not quite there to get out there tonight.”
The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder finished with 33 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and one block against the Suns. The 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star is averaging 29.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in his last 17 appearances.
The Sixers (30-23) have lost five of the last six games that Embiid has not played. Their lone victory during that stretch was a 113-94 win over the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 3 at the Chase Center. Overall, the Sixers are 11-11 without Embiid and 19-12 when he plays.
“Anybody that’s a little bit sore and signed up has a chance here to get some treatment for a week, and off their feet for a week,” Nurse said. “He would certainly be included in that for sure.”
Nurse added that there’s not a lot of concern that Embiid’s right knee soreness has reemerged. Embiid missed several games earlier this season because of it. He was also sidelined with left knee soreness.
“This is probably what we’ve expected to have happened, that there would be some soreness at times,” Nurse said.
Grimes is averaging 12.7 points and 3.6 assists in 48 games this season.
When a West Parkside mural honoring the Philadelphia Stars and Negro Leagues baseball was taken down last month, social media commenters were outraged as the news spread, fearing that Philadelphia had lost one of its iconic odes to Black history.
But the mural at 4304 Parkside Ave. won’t be gone for very long. In a collaboration among Mural Arts Philadelphia, Parkside community members, and the owners of its former building, a new version of the Stars mural will be re-created just across the street.
“It was put up over 20 years ago. We’ve been working really hard to spruce it up for the next 20 years,” said Marjorie Ogilvie, the president emeritus of the West Parkside Business Association, who helped erect the first mural in 2006.
It seemed inevitable that the two-story mural would eventually be brought down. There was roof and wall damage to the home on which it is painted, and the building partially collapsed. Those repairs required the removal of half of the mural a few years ago, and it was never replaced.
And the possibility of development on the plot of land is now closer to being realized. The triangle-shaped grassy lot in front of the mural has been owned by developer Haverford Square Properties for several years, and it acquired the 4304 Parkside building in September.
Half of the mural was previously removed after repairs were needed for the damaged wall and roof of the property. This photo shows what remained of the mural in 2024.
Haverford Square planned to construct a six-story apartment building at the corner, but community members fought back, arguing that it would lead to overcrowding in the neighborhood. Haverford Square president German Yakubov said they have since reached something of a compromise on a smaller-scale development, which will include a baseball-themed coffee shop on the corner.
But Yakubov is helping to secure the long-term future of the mural. Haverford Square has donated $30,000 and design services to the project to create a new version across Belmont Avenue.
“I didn’t want to let it go,” he said of the mural he has been driving past since he was a student at St. Joseph’s University.
The mural will be painted on a yet-to-be-constructed wall in the Philadelphia Stars Negro Leagues Memorial Park, at the southwest corner of Parkside and Belmont Avenues. It will look slightly different from the previous version, since the new wall will be wider and shorter than the 4304 Parkside wall was. But the designs come from the artist who worked on the original mural, David McShane.
The park features a 7-foot bronze statue of a Negro Leagues baseball player, which was unveiled in a 2003 dedication ceremony at Veterans Stadium by five living Philadelphia Stars players —Bill Cash, Mahlon Duckett, Stanley Glenn, Harold Gould, and Wilmer Harris —before being placed at the park in 2005. The new mural will be raised behind the bronze statue.
A rendering of the proposed mural at the Philadelphia Stars Negro League Memorial Park. The recreated design is by the same artist, David McShane, behind the original mural. The proposed project will include the construction of a new wall behind the 7-foot bronze statue of a Stars player by Phil Sumpter.
“It’s great to see when everyone comes together to ensure that the story of the Negro League[s] and the Philadelphia Stars is not forgotten,” said Mural Arts Philadelphia executive director Jane Golden.
Many people reached out to Mural Arts once they heard in the fall that the mural was going to be removed, Golden said. They were furious and wanted to know what the organization would do to protect it.
Golden said she expects construction to begin early this spring after the project receives Philadelphia Art Commission approval, and for the mural to be completed by summer. Thousands of visitors are expected for numerous events in Philly, including the MLB All-Star Game in July.
The Stars are nearing their 100th anniversary, having played their first games in 1933. They joined the Negro National League the following season and won their first and only pennant, beating the Chicago American Giants in a controversial eight-game series, 4-3-1, after game 7 ended in a tie due to the state’s blue law curfew. Satchel Paige briefly played for the Stars, as did other Negro Leagues legends like Biz Mackey and Jud Nelson.
But after Major League Baseball was integrated in 1947, the popularity of the Negro Leagues dropped, and the Stars disbanded in 1952. They played the majority of their home games at the 44th and Parkside Ballpark, the site where the new mural will rise.
A 41-year-old Upper Dublin Township man was charged with trying to hire a hit man as part of a murder scheme targeting an ex-girlfriend and two others, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Eric Berkowitz allegedly approached Steven Luker, another Upper Dublin resident, and offered him $5,000 to help kill three people in New York. Luker then informed Upper Dublin police, Steele said.
“I’d like to commend Mr. Luker for immediately contacting police after he was approached by the defendant to participate in this murder scheme,” Steele said in a statement. “He ultimately saved the lives of three innocent people.”
Berkowitz was charged with criminal solicitation for murder and related offenses, and was being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, Steele said. No bail was set.
According to Steele, Berkowitz named as targets his ex-girlfriend and two men she had dated since her seven-year relationship with Berkowitz ended.
Berkowitz allegedly provided a Mac 11 firearm to Luker as well as a “burner” cell phone for their communication, Steele said.
The plan was for Berkowitz and Luker to drive to New York on Wednesday and meet outside near one target’s house, Steele said.
After Luker reported the scheme, he cooperated with Upper Dublin police and Montgomery County detectives to record a conversation with Berkowitz, Steele said.
During the recorded conversation, Berkowitz confirmed the plan and further stated that he would ‘take care of the girl’ himself,” Steele said.
Berkowitz was arrested after he exited his residence and entered an Uber vehicle, which was stopped by police, Steele said.
At the time of his arrest, Berkowitz allegedly was carrying a duffel bag containing a black Masterpiece Arms Grim Reaper firearm with a loaded magazine containing 23 rounds, cocaine, and a large sum of cash.
Police interviewed the Uber driver, who said Berkowitz’s destination was the address of Berkowitz’s ex-girlfriend in Endicott, N.Y., Steele said.
A preliminary hearing for Berkowitz was set for Feb. 20.
Former center Jason Kelce was one of the first people to share his thoughts when Jeff Stoutland announced last week that he was stepping down after 13 seasons as the Eagles offensive line coach.
Kelce, who spent 11 of his 13 seasons studying under the dean of “Stoutland University,” talked more about the departure of the longtime assistant on the most recent episode of New Heights.
“I mean, [he] just coached a ton of incredible players: Jason Peters, Todd Herremans, Evan Mathis, myself, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata — turned him from a rugby player into an All-Pro left tackle,“ Kelce said. ”He got Cam Jurgens to a Pro Bowl last year, Landon Dickerson to some Pro Bowls, Isaac Seumalo. He’s just done such an incredible job within the Philadelphia Eagles organization, and he’s been such a mainstay throughout multiple head coaches at this point.”
Kelce, who remains a regular at the team facility since his retirement and worked with the Eagles’ young offensive lineman during training camp at the request of Stoutland, also had personal reasons for not wanting to see his mentor go.
“It just sucks to see him go, selfishly. As an Eagles fan and somebody that played for him, and somebody that still goes to the facility — I still go to NovaCare on a regular basis — and I’m not going to be able to see Stout anymore,“ Kelce said. ”And that’s just frustrating for me, and I think frustrating for a lot of people in that building because he was a personality that a lot of people gravitated toward. And this is the reality of the business.”
In addition to Jason Kelce (left), Jeff Stoutland also coached left tackle Jason Peters (right).
He even offered a personal message to Stoutland, who won a pair of Super Bowls with the Eagles and has coached football longer than the 38-year-old Kelce has been alive.
Said Kelce: “Coach, I love you. I don’t know what’s next, but whatever it is, whether it’s coaching or whatever, I know you’re going to be great at it, as you always are.”
Stoutland’s greatness wasn’t lost on Travis Kelce either. While he never played for him, the younger Kelce brother admired him from afar, all while seeing the impact Stoutland had on Jason.
“You already know, man, we’ve got so much respect for him,” Travis said. “He’s one of those guys that you meet in crossing just because you were playing for him … And he’s one of those guys that you would [expletive] just know you’d love playing for, man. And it’s across the board, anybody that runs into him knows you’re going to get everything this guy has and on top of that he’s going to be real about it and we’re going to get [expletive] done.
“One of the best ball coaches I’ve known from afar, and couldn’t be more proud to say congrats on everything your career has gotten to at this point.”
Cam Jurgens (left) was Jason Kelce’s replacement at center. Kelce helped Stoutland coach him up before retiring.
In addition to serving as offensive line coach, Stoutland was also the Eagles run-game coordinator for many years, but Nick Sirianni shifted some of those responsibilities away from Stoutland last year with the ground attack struggling, as Jeff McLane reported. The team also made a change at offensive coordinator, with Kevin Patullo (now reportedly headed to the Dolphins) being replaced by Sean Mannion. And while Jason Kelce understands the nature of the business, he wishes the veteran assistant could’ve stuck around through yet another coordinator change.
“I get that the team is trying to move forward and really embrace this new system and really redesign what this offense is. I wish Stout could’ve been a part of that, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way,” Jason added. “Anyways, love you, coach. Couldn’t be more happy to have been coached by you.
“And 27 Pro Bowl linemen were with Stout over that 13 years. Wild.”
After five seasons with the Eagles, including a yearlong stint as the offensive coordinator last season, Kevin Patullo reportedly will not return to Philadelphia in 2026.
The Miami Dolphins are hiring Patullo as their pass game coordinator, according to NFL Network, joining a revamped coaching staff under new head coach Jeff Hafley and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.
The Eagles removed Patullo from his post as offensive coordinator in January following their wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles offense, which returned 10 of 11 starters from the Super Bowl LIX-winning team, regressed under Patullo. The unit finished the season ranked No. 19 in scoring and No. 24 in yards after ranking No. 7 and No. 8 in those respective categories with Kellen Moore at the controls in 2024.
Patullo had technically remained on Nick Sirianni’s staff for the last month, although it seemed unlikely that he would find a role on the offensive coaching staff under Sean Mannion, whom the Eagles hired as their new offensive coordinator on Jan. 29.
The offensive staff has undergone sweeping changes in a short span, underscored by veteran offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland announcing his exit after 13 seasons. Mannion filled Stoutland’s offensive line coach duties by hiring Chris Kuper, his former colleague with the Minnesota Vikings. The Eagles hired another of Mannion’s former coworkers when they named Ryan Mahaffey, formerly of the Green Bay Packers, as the team’s tight ends coach and run game coordinator.
The Eagles also hired ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard as pass game coordinator shortly after Mannion was named OC.
Despite the departures of Patullo, Stoutland, and former tight ends coach Jason Michael, the Eagles will have some continuity among the offensive coaching staff. Wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead and running backs coach Jemal Singleton are among those who will be retained.
Patullo reportedly will get a fresh start in a somewhat familiar place. The 44-year-old coach attended high school in the Miami area in Davie, Fla., and played college football at South Florida in Tampa.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Head out the third base stands of the Phillies’ spring training stadium, go south a block, and you’ll start to hear another ball being knocked around.
The Union have once again made their preseason home here, too, as they prepare to kick off their campaign next week in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
They wrapped up a five-game slate Tuesday night with a 4-2 loss to CF Montréal, an unusually fractious game that included several yellow cards and two reds — one to Montréal’s manager after watching a robust challenge in front of him.
But the result mattered less than getting to see new forward Agustín Anello’s first minutes, starting next to Ezekiel Alladoh and assisting Milan Iloski for a sharp goal. New centerback Geiner Martínez also got some run as a substitute next to Olwethu Makhanya.
How will all that translate to next Wednesday’s curtain-raiser, at Trinidad and Tobago’s Defence Force FC (6 p.m., FS2 and TUDN)?
“I think it starts off the field,” Union manager Bradley Carnell said Wednesday in a news conference. “When we all speak about recruitment, we speak about people first. And I think all of those guys you’ve just mentioned have come in and exceeded our expectations.”
Martínez and Anello are still settling in, having just arrived to the club in recent days, but have gained familiarity when possible: the former with fellow Spanish-speakers in the locker room, the latter from having already known Nathan Harriel and Bruno Damiani.
Alladoh has been around for longer, so there’s more evidence. He is going to be a handful physically for opponents, but the ultimate verdict will come from how often he scores.
“He’s just a bunch of energy,” Carnell said. “He’s a big dude who just wants to run and compete every single day, and we’re just trying to work little angles and details to get him on the score sheet. He had a couple of chances last night, and does really well for us in the [preseason] games in Spain, and we can see the threat he can be.”
The most important thing now is avoiding the injury bug, and unfortunately it has bitten the Union. Nothing too severe, but Indiana Vassilev and Eddy Davis were in street clothes Tuesday night, and Milan Iloski took a pretty good whack on the foul that produced the other red card. Carnell said he believes it’s a contusion, but there wasn’t a full diagnosis yet when he spoke.
Tuesday’s game was a reminder of the physicality in MLS, even in a preseason game. That has also been an adjustment for the newcomers.
“You don’t know until you know, right?” Carnell said. “I think a lot of people don’t know about MLS and the rigors and the physicality of it. Even [for] a player like ‘Jeff’ Larsen, who’s played at really high levels in the Europa League and everything, playing in this league is a different animal. … Last night was a real, I would say, testament to that statement.”
Geiner Martínez on the ball during Saturday’s preseason game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the second-tier USL Championship.
Bruno Damiani has also been absent for the last few days: He’s back in his native Uruguay getting a U.S. green card. Carnell said the striker’s return to camp is “imminent.”
The biggest open question mark remains at left back. The Union are still shopping and don’t have a deal done yet.
A source confirmed a report by Sweden’s Expressen that talks are ongoing for 20-year-old Philippe Ndinga of Swedish top flight club Degerfors. Various reports have said Los Angeles FC and the Houston Dynamo previously had interest.
Union’s franchise value
Sports business publication Sportico unveiled its latest judgment of MLS franchise values on Tuesday, and pegged the Union at $740 million. That’s a 6% increase from 2025, and 14th out of the league’s 30 teams — a ranking unchanged from last year.
The Union’s franchise value ranks in the middle of the pack in MLS.
It’s no surprise that Inter Miami is ranked No. 1, and not just because of Lionel Messi. The Herons will open a big-time new stadium this year in the shadow of Miami’s airport. But the valuation of $1.45 billion is still a headline, as it’s bigger than some baseball and hockey teams — including the Marlins across town.
Los Angeles FC, the Los Angeles Galaxy, Atlanta, and New York City FC also have franchise values above $1 billion. The top 10 is rounded out by Seattle, Austin, Columbus, Cincinnati, and San Diego, the last of which is valued at $765 million.
The highest the Union have ranked since Sportico began its estimates in 2021 is 11th in 2024.
Sportico’s metrics include not just revenue projections, but “the value of team-related businesses and real estate holdings.” That works in the Union’s favor, given how much land they own around Subaru Park and the training and academy complex they’ve built there.
MLS hasn’t always embraced outsiders’ valuations of its teams. But it does these days, and even promotes Sportico’s figures on some of its platforms.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Wednesday unveiled PHL PRIME, a new service in Philadelphia that has nothing to do with Amazon — although the e-commerce giant could potentially sign up for it.
At her annual address to the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, Parker signed an executive order to establish PHL PRIME, which stands for Project Review and Infrastructure Made Easy. The new program is designed to draw “high-impact economic development projects that generate quality jobs” by helping businesses that are considering investing in Philadelphia to navigate city rules and regulations, according to the mayor’s office.
“I‘m the mayor, and I’m not absolving myself of the responsibility of making sure that bureaucracy is working effectively and efficiently,” Parker said during her annual speech at the Convention Center. “We’re not going to burden business with the ‘time tax.’ We’re going to work at the speed of business.”
Parker told reporters the new program will not involve hiring any new staff. Instead, it’s meant to bring various city departments together into a “PHL PRIME Tiger Team“ to coordinate a streamlined approach and lay out the welcome mat for investment.
In her wide-ranging speech, Parker also said the city was committed to helping major development plans from the Market East corridor and the South Philadelphia Stadium Complex to the port and shipyard.
But Parker did not speak at length about two measures she included in last year’s city budget deal that some have said shows the city is not as welcoming to business as it could be. Both relate to the city’s business income and receipts tax, or BIRT.
Attendees record Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on the big screen as she delivers her keynote address at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia’s Annual Mayoral Luncheon at the Convention Center Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026.
Parker on Wednesday briefly mentioned a law she and City Council adopted last year that bakes in annual incremental cuts to the two BIRT tax rates over 13 years. And she thanked the Tax Reform Commission for guidance on making the city’s tax structure more business-friendly.
“I am proud to affirm that we proposed and codified into law $210 million in tax investments to provide the kind of predictability that the business community told us that it needs,” Parker said. “I hope that was a direct sign to each of you in this room that the executive and the legislative branches are listening.”
But she did not mention that the enacted tax cuts — the steepest of which will likely take effect after she leaves office — are far less aggressive than the commission’s recommendations, which called for completely eliminating BIRT within eight to 12 years.
Parker also did not address the elimination of an important tax break that allowed businesses to exempt their first $100,000 in revenue when calculating their BIRT liabilities. That policy — which lasted about a decade before Council approved a Parker bill to end it last year — effectively eliminated BIRT for the tens of thousands of businesses that take in less than $100,000 per year from commerce in the city.
Parker has said she supports the exemption but was forced to get rid of it after the city was sued by Massachusetts-based Zoll Medical Corp., which does business in Philadelphia and argued that the tax break violated the Pennsylvania Constitution.
U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan said it’s unclear what crime the Department of Justice was trying to charge her with when a grand jury refused an indictment over a video in which she, with five other Democratic colleagues, called on service members to “refuse illegal orders.”
“The regular American people that comprised the grand jury saw this for what it was, which was kind of a spurious misuse, abuse of the power of the federal government against the people,” Houlahan, of Chester, said in an interview Wednesday.
“It’s not about me or my colleagues,” continued Houlahan, a former Air Force officer. “It’s about the fact that the Constitution allows for all of us to be treated as equals, and all of us to have the freedom to speak with freedom.”
The Justice Department investigated the six Democratic lawmakers who made the video, all of whom previously served in the military or intelligence agencies. But a Washington grand jury would not sign off on chargeson Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
It’s a setback for President Donald Trump’s administration, which has targeted the lawmakers in a variety of ways since November, when the president claimed the video was an act of sedition.
Houlahan said none of the Democrats’ lawyers could identify what charges could have legitimately been brought against them.
“Collectively, we all, of course, have unfortunately had to secure lawyers in this process,” she said. “And to a person, none of them could come up really with what it was that we had purportedly done. And clearly the people in the grand jury saw the same thing.”
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, an Allegheny County Democrat who also appeared in the video, said in an interview Wednesday he is “not surprised at all” by the grand jury’s decision.
“The fact that the Trump administration and their lawyers want to try to charge us with crimes for stating the law and saying words that they don’t like is outrageous, and of course, not something that you should be able to throw people in prison for,” said Deluzio, who served in the Navy.
In a news conference Wednesday, some of the lawmakers suggested legal action against the Trump administration is on the table.
“There will be accountability, and they should be preserving documents, preparing for what’s coming,” Deluzio said.
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio speaks to a large crowd in front of the Beaver County Courthouse in April 2025 wearing a hat that says “don’t give up the ship.”
Trump accused the Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by death” after they posted the video in November, warning service members and intelligence workers to “refuse illegal orders.” In the video, the Democrats urged service members and intelligence professionals not to “give up the ship,” a sentiment Deluzio repeated Tuesday night.
The phrase, which Deluzio has long referenced, is a rallying cry that’s hung on the wall at the Naval Academy’s Memorial Hall.
“It’s a phrase that means a lot, and it means a lot in this moment of great stress to our country — that this thing is worth our efforts and that we should not give it up,” Deluzio said in theWednesday interview.
The Democrats did not mention any specific orders in the video, but lawmakers who appeared in the video expressed concerns at the time about strikes on boats in the Caribbean and National Guard operations in U.S. cities.
Houlahan said they continue to be concerned about “the unlawfulness of the administration.”
The video also included U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.), a former CIA officer; U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), a former Navy captain; U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D., N.H.), a former intelligence officer; and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D., Colo.), a former paratrooper and Army Ranger.
Federal prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to secure the indictment against all six lawmakers in the video, The New York Times reported. The office that pursued the case is led U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News personality who served as district attorney in Westchester County, N.Y., during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Grand jury rejections are extraordinarily rare, but have occurred repeatedly in recent months in Washington, as citizens who have heard the government’s evidence have come away underwhelmed in a number of cases. Prosecutors could try again to secure an indictment.
Attention on the lawmakers’ video escalated days after they initially posted it when Trump began his social media tirade in November.
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
He also shared posts from supporters calling for retribution against the Democrats, including one that said, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!” and another calling them domestic terrorists.
“The fact that the president and the people around him, in hearing a reminder about the law, reacted the way they did, which is to call for our death, arrest, to try to imprison us, tells me more about them than I could ever know,” Deluzio said Wednesday.
“A normal person, a normal president, would be reminding their troops of their obligations to follow the law as well because they care about the rule of law,” he added.
Hegseth has censured Kelly for participating in the video and is trying to retroactively demote him from his retired rank of captain.
In response, Kelly is suing Hegseth to block those proceedings, calling them an unconstitutional act of retribution. During a hearing last week, the judge appeared to be skeptical of key arguments that a government attorney made in defense of Kelly’s Jan. 5 censure by Hegseth.
This article contains reporting from The Associated Press
