Federal judge drops corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams
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A federal judge on Wednesday formally dismissed the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, granting the controversial request from the Justice Department that generated a public outcry and spurred the largest mass resignation of senior federal prosecutors in decades.
The order from U.S. Judge Dale Ho brings an end to the case against Adams, who had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud and other charges following his indictment last year.
Ho said he was dismissing the case with prejudice, meaning the government could not bring the charges again later — contrary to the Justice Department's request to dismiss the case without prejudice.
Adams was scheduled to go on trial in April until new leadership at the Justice Department under the Trump administration ordered prosecutors in New York in February to drop the case.
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"In light of DOJ's rationales, dismissing the case without prejudice would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor's freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration, and that he might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents," Ho wrote.
"That appearance is inevitable, and it counsels in favor of dismissal with prejudice."
Judge says “everything here smacks of a bargain”
The directive to drop the case from Emil Bove, then the acting U.S. deputy attorney general, touched off a public uproar and intense internal pushback.
The acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, refused to follow Bove's directive, saying she saw no "good-faith basis" for dismissing the case. She resigned instead of abandoning the Adams prosecution.
One other prosecutor in New York and five attorneys tied to the Justice Department's public integrity unit in Washington, D.C., also resigned rather than carrying out Bove's order.
Adams' attorney rejected allegations that the mayor had struck a deal with the Justice Department to help the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies in return for dropping the case against the mayor.
Judge Ho concluded that the career prosecutors in the case in Manhattan abided by DOJ guidelines and said "there is no evidence — zero — that they had improper motives" in seeking indictment of the mayor.
"Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions," Ho wrote.
After the DOJ had asked for the case to be dismissed, Ho had initially declined to immediately do so and instead appointed an outside counsel, Paul Clement, to examine the legal arguments and assist the court in its decision-making.
Clement, who served as solicitor general during the George W. Bush administration, had also advised the court to dismiss the case with prejudice. The government had proposed dismissing the case without prejudice, a scenario that would allow prosecutors to renew the case in the future.
Clement's brief for the court also focused on the fact that the threat of another prosecution hanging over Adams would not be in the best interests of his constituents.
"Ultimately, because the decision to discontinue a prosecution belongs primarily to a political branch of government, it is the public's judgment, and not this Court's, that truly matters," Ho added in Wednesday's ruling.
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