A federal judge did not immediately dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday, instead asking an independent attorney to present arguments on the Justice Department’s push to drop the case—as the Trump administration faces criticism for abandoning the charges and allegations the move was politically motivated.
A judge deferred ruling on the Justice Department's request.
Judge Dale E. Ho vacated Adams’ trial date, but appointed Paul Clement—an attorney who served as U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush—to present arguments next month in the Justice Department’s request to drop the case against Adams.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to announce guardrails seeking to expand the state’s oversight of New York City’s government and limit Adams’ independence, along with potential protections for city workers to prevent Adams from removing people who disagree with him, Politico and The New York Times reported—though Hochul has not exercised her power to remove Adams from office.
Four more top officials in New York City—First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and deputy mayors Meera Joshi, Anne Williams-Isom and Chauncey Parker—resigned on Monday as part of the fallout of the former acting U.S. attorney accusing Adams of trading his cooperation with President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement for the charges against him being dropped., The New York Times reported.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and other DOJ officials formally filed a request for Ho to drop the case against Adams, ending a days-long standoff in which multiple DOJ staffers declined to sign the paperwork (one of the federal prosecutors who signed off on the request was Edward Sullivan, who reportedly did so to protect his colleagues from losing their jobs).
Lead Adams prosecutor Hagan Scotten resigned early in the day, saying in a letter to Bove that “any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way.”
In the scathing resignation letter, Scotten also said, “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion,” adding: “But it was never going to be me.”
Acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Danielle Sassoon resigned over the request to drop the charges against Adams, saying in a letter to Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi that she “remain(ed) baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached,” and equated it to a “quid pro quo.”
After Sassoon resigned, the acting head of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, John Keller, and three other members of that section resigned, as did the acting head of the Criminal Division, Kevin Driscoll, NBC News reported.
Bove requested the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York dismiss the corruption charges against Adams, saying they were filed too close to the 2025 mayoral primary and were limiting how much Adams could cooperate with Trump’s immigration policy changes, The New York Times reported.
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Not yet. A federal judge has to approve the decision to drop the charges, and while the Times reported on Feb. 14 that judges have “little discretion” when it comes to not accepting the request, a judge may hold a hearing to question officials on why the charges are being dropped. Ho has requested that attorneys file briefs by March 7, with oral arguments the following week if needed.
Adams was charged in late September on bribery, wire fraud and campaign finance-related charges. Prosecutors accused him of receiving illegal campaign donations from the Turkish government to his 2021 mayoral campaign, and other illegal donations as far back as 2014 when he was Brooklyn borough president. The indictment alleged an unnamed senior official in the “Turkish diplomatic establishment” facilitated donations to Adams’ campaign and gave him free or discounted Turkish airline flights and other gifts in exchange for Adams pressuring the city’s fire department to approve a high-rise consulate building for Turkey. Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan at the time, said in a release Adams “abused his position” as the city’s highest official, and as borough president, and “put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents.” Adams pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Bove directed the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York to drop the charges, arguing the charges were filed too close to the mayoral primary in New York, and that they limited how cooperative Adams could be with immigration policy changes from Trump’s administration. Bove ordered the charges be dropped without prejudice, meaning they could be brought again in the future.
In the memo instructing the charges be dismissed, Bove said the dismissal had nothing to do with the merits of the case or the integrity of the prosecutors, but rather that “the pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to... illegal immigration and violent crime,” Reuters reported. Trump has made immigration reform and mass deportations a key part of the first weeks of his presidency, and the administration has been trying to make an example out of sanctuary cities, or places that have laws in place to limit local police from cooperating with federal immigration agents, by making deportation raids in those cities. Adams has been getting closer to Trump following his election and inauguration, and on Feb. 13 after meeting with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, Adams announced he would be signing an executive order to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to return to Rikers Island, a famous prison in the Bronx, which hasn’t been allowed since 2015 because of the city’s sanctuary laws.
Sassoon, who was Manhattan’s acting U.S. attorney, was the first to resign over Bove’s request the case be thrown out. In her resignation letter to Bondi, Sassoon said the request was “inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.” She alleged Adams’ lawyers “repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.” Alex Spiro, Adam’s lawyer, told The New York Times there was no quid pro quo and “we offered nothing and the department asked nothing of us.” Bove accepted Sassoon’s resignation on Feb. 13, saying in a letter obtained by the Times it was accepted because of her “choice to continue pursuing a politically motivated prosecution despite an express instruction to dismiss the case.” Bove also said the attorney’s office under her leadership “has demonstrated itself to be incapable of fairly and impartially reviewing the circumstances of this prosecution,” so he intended to transfer Adams’ prosecution to the Justice Department.
Trump said in a press conference Feb. 13 he did not request Adams’ case be dropped and said, “I know nothing about it.” After Trump met with Adams in December, he suggested he may pardon Adams because he was being “treated pretty unfairly,” but he said he didn’t know the details of the case and would need to review it.
DOJ Asks Prosecutors To Dismiss Charges Against NYC Mayor Eric Adams (Forbes)
Seventh prosecutor in Eric Adams case resigns and calls out Trump’s former lawyer in scathing letter (CNN)