DOJ orders charges against NYC mayor to be dropped
By: Sarah H. Lynch
Luc Cohen
and Jack Queen
Reuters
NEW YORK - The Justice Department on Monday [02/10/2025] directed federal prosecutors in New York to drop corruption charges-against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, asserting that the case was impeding his ability to aid President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
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In a memo seen by Reuters to the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove wrote that the decision had nothing to do with the merits of the case, and that the Justice department was not questioning the intercity of the prosecutors who brought it.
..... Instead, he wrote that the September 2024 indictment - brought by federal prosecutors during former President Joe Biden;s term - interfered with Adam' 2025 mayoral reelection campaign, and that the case was districting Adams from supporting the federal government on immigration.
..... "The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to... illegal mitigation and violent crime," wrote Bove, Trump's former personal lawyer and a politician appointee.
..... Trump has made stemming the flow of illegal immigration and stepping up deportation centerpieces of his second term in the White House.
..... The directive amounted to an extraordinary intervention by Justice Department officials in a high-profile criminal matter brought by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, an office that has traditionally fiercely guarded its independence from political appointees in Washington, Doc.
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Prosecutors have not yet indicated that they plan to drop the case, court records showed Monday [02/10/2025] evening. Nicolas Biase, a spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, declined to comment.
..... Adams, a Democrat, in September [2024] was hit with a five-count indictment charging him with accepting travel perks from Turkish officials and political donations from foreigners in exchange for taking actions to benefit Turkey. He pleaded not guilty.
..... "I thank the Justice Department for its honesty," Adams said. "Now, we can put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of our city. It's time to move forward."
..... Adams, 64, has argued he was unfairly targeted by Biden's administration because he criticized its mitigation policy over a surge in migration to New York City, the most populous U.S. city.
..... In his memo, Bove wrote that the directive to dismiss the charges was not in exchange for Adams' cooperation on federal mitigation enforcement. But he appeared to endorse Adams' assertion that he was prosecuted for political reasons.
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"It cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticized the prior Administration's immigration policies before the charges were filed," Bove wrote.
..... In a statement, Adams' defense attorney Alex Spiro said, "As I said from the outset, the mayor is innocent - and he would prevail. Today [02/10/2025] he has."
..... Adams, a former police captain, began his term in 2022 as a close ally of Biden, a fellow Democrat. But that year, he began calling on Washington to boost funding to the largest U.S. city to deal with an influx in migrants.
..... For months, he has sought to forge closer ties with Trump, fueling speculations that he might be trying to secure a pardon. Adams attended Trump's January 20 [2025] inauguration.
..... Trump, who in 2023 pleaded not guilty to four sets of criminal indictments he said were politically motivated, has expressed sympathy for Adams' claim he was targeted by prosecutors for political reason.
..... In a court filing last month, [01/2025] SDNY prosecutors disputed Adams' assertion that he was targeted because of politics and said their investigation began more that a year before Adams started publicly criticizing the bide administration.