The Justice Department formally asked a federal judge Friday night to drop the criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, moving to close out the controversial prosecution.
The motion was submitted by Antoinette Bacon from the Criminal Division and Edward Sullivan in the department’s Public Integrity Section. It was signed by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
The document was filed only after more than a half-dozen department lawyers resigned rather than attach their names to the motion.
“The acting Deputy Attorney General has determined, pursuant to an authorization by the attorney general, that dismissal is necessary and appropriate, and has directed the same, based on the unique facts and circumstances of this case,” the department lawyers said.
Mr. Bove concluded that the prosecution had “appearances of impropriety and risks of interference with the 2025 elections in New York City.” He also said the prosecution would interfere with Mr. Adams’ ability to run the country’s largest city, particularly on questions of crime, national security and immigration enforcement.
The department asked that the case be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that it could be refiled in the future.
The U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, resigned on Thursday rather than order the case’s termination. So did Hagan Scotten, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who wrote a scathing letter denouncing Mr. Bove’s reasoning.
“No system of ordered liberty can allow the government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives,” he wrote.
That was a reference to the belief that Mr. Adams has been spared prosecution on the understanding that he embrace tougher immigration policies in his city.
Indeed, on Thursday Mr. Adams announced he’d struck a deal with White House border czar Tom Homan to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel back into the city’s main jail.
Mr. Scotten said Mr. Trump may have thought that bargain was a good deal, but the lawyer said it violated “our laws and traditions.”
“If no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me,” he wrote.
Senate Democrats have vehemently denounced the Trump administration’s machinations and asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate.
“The American people cannot afford to have the Department of Justice weaponize its vast prosecutorial authority to coerce public officials to assist any president’s political project,” said the senators, led by Sen. Richard j. Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. “The conduct of Attorney General Bondi and Acting Deputy Attorney General Bove in this matter must be investigated.”
Mr. Adams was indicted in September on charges of wire fraud, bribery and solicitation of campaign contributions from a foreign national.
The then-U.S. attorney, Damien Williams, said Mr. Adams, while a borough president, accepted straw donor contributions and received discounted travel arrangements on Turkish Airlines in exchange for pressuring the fire department to skip safety inspections and speed the opening of Turkey’s consular building.
Mr. Adams entered a not guilty plea in the case.
He is running for re-election and trails former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in polling in the Democratic primary.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.