Prosecutors file motion to drop corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams
Federal prosecutors in New York have filed a motion to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, bringing to a close a days-long battle that has upended the Justice Department over the decision to abandon the case.
The motion to dismiss the five-count indictment was filed on the court’s public docket on Friday and said, “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 Acting Deputy Attorney General concluded that dismissal is necessary because of appearances of impropriety and risks of interference with the 2025 elections in New York City,” the filing said, adding, “the Acting Deputy Attorney General also concluded that continuing these proceedings would interfere with the defendant’s ability to govern in New York City.”
The judge overseeing the case must approve the motion before the charges are officially dropped.
A senior career attorney from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, the acting head of the Justice Department’s criminal division and, notably, the acting deputy attorney general who is second in charge at the Justice Department jointly signed the motion.
The decision to drop the case against Adams originated at Justice Department headquarters when former Trump attorney and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo instructing prosecutors in Manhattan to abandon the five-count indictment that was filed in September.
In a statement, Justice Department chief of staff Chad Mizelle said of the refusal by several department prosecutors to file for dismissal of Adams’ case, “The fact that those who indicted and prosecuted the case refused to follow a direct command is further proof of the disordered and ulterior motives of the prosecutors. Such individuals have no place at DOJ.”
Bove, in his directive, cited Adams’ “restricted” ability to help the Trump administration enforce its immigration policies, and the case was to be dropped without prejudice, so the charges could be revived at a later time. He also made accusations that the charges stemmed from political weaponization. The move followed meetings between senior Justice Department officials, Southern District of New York prosecutors and Adams’ attorneys about dropping the charges, a source familiar with the discussions confirmed to CBS News.
What followed was an extraordinary internal revolt from Justice Department leadership and federal prosecutors in Manhattan, pushing back on the decision to drop the charges against New York’s mayor. The internal disagreements burst into public view on Thursday, when the acting head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, resigned in protest.
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi and reviewed by CBS News, Sassoon offered her resignation and said the request to drop Adams’ case “raises serious concerns that render the contemplated dismissal inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.”
Sassoon’s letter to the attorney general alleged that during a meeting with Justice Department officials last month, Adams’ attorneys “urged what amounted to a quid pro quo,” allegedly offering the mayor’s cooperation with Trump administration priorities in exchange for the dismissal of the charges. Bove and Adams’ legal team both rejected this assertion.
“It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams’s opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with the dismissal of a criminal indictment. Nor will a court likely find that such an improper exchange is consistent with the public interest,” Sassoon wrote.
In response, Bove wrote a letter back to Sassoon and accused her of insubordination. The acting deputy attorney general said he and Justice Department leadership stood by the decision to drop Adams’ case, and Sassoon’s refusal to comply interfered with the “interests of justice.”
Bove wrote that because of the prosecution against Adams, the mayor “is unable to communicate directly and candidly with City officials he is responsible for managing, as well as federal agencies trying to protect the public from national security threats and violent crime.”
He said his directive to drop the charges “reflected a determination by the Justice Department that these public safety risks greatly outweigh any interest you have identified.”
The line prosecutors who worked on Adams’ case have been placed on paid leave, pending investigations into Sassoon’s conduct, Bove’s letter revealed.
Following Sassoon’s resignation, supervision of the Adams case was transferred from Manhattan to Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., where two additional leadership members — Kevin Driscoll of the Criminal Division and John Keller, acting head of the public integrity section — also resigned in protest, sources confirmed to CBS News. .
Three additional senior officials in the public integrity unit in Washington, D.C., also resigned in the aftermath, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
And on Friday, a line prosecutor in the Southern District of New York stepped down from his position and pushed back against the Trump administration’s decision. In a scathing letter to Bove, Hagan Scotten defended Sassoon’s work and the work of prosecutors who worked the Adams case, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CBS News.
“Any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials in this way,” he wrote. “If there is no lawyer within earshot of the President who 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,” Scotten said.
And in a joint statement late Friday, a group of seven former U.S. attorneys for the Southern District of New York, including former FBI Director James Comey, said they “commend” Sassoon “on her decision to resign.”
“Her commitment to integrity and the rule of law reflects the finest traditions of the Southern District United States Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice,” they wrote. “The Department’s announced intent to investigate Ms. Sassoon and some of the career prosecutors who served alongside her is a stark departure from those traditions, and that should concern everyone committed to the pursuit of justice without fear or favor.”
Along with Comey, the statement was signed by Robert B. Fiske Jr., John S. Martin Jr., Mary Jo White, David N. Kelley, Geoffrey S. Berman and Audrey Strauss.
Adams made history as the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted on five counts of corruption back in September. The charges included bribery, conspiracy and campaign finance violations. He pleaded not guilty, and has stridently asserted his innocence ever since.
He was to stand trial in April, and if convicted could have faced up to 45 years in prison.
Dismissal comes after Adams meetings with Trump
The stunning turn of events comes after Adams had high-profile meetings with President Trump. The two met in Florida while Mr. Trump was still president-elect. After that meeting, Adams said the two had not discussed his legal case at all.
Adams then went on to cancel his plans to attend Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations in New York City and instead attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration, after receiving a last-minute invitation.
When he was previously asked about the case against Adams, Mr. Trump said he thought Adams “was treated pretty unfairly,” and said he would consider a pardon. The dismissal of the case negates the need for any pardon.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said he was not involved with the decision to drop the case, telling members of the press, “I didn’t. I know nothing about it. I did not.”
Prosecutors recently appeared to be ramping up their case
In her resignation letter, Sassoon, Manhattan’s former top prosecutor, revealed her office had considered bringing additional charges against Adams focused on the alleged destruction of evidence and providing false statements to the FBI. Those charges were never filed.
Early in January, prosecutors wrote in court documents that they had uncovered “additional criminal conduct” by the mayor. They didn’t disclose what that other alleged criminal conduct was, however.
At the time, Adams blasted the disclosure.
“You know, even Ray Charles can see what’s going on. And I have an attorney, Alex Spiro, he is handling that. I’ve said over and over again, I’ve done nothing wrong,” Adams said.
Spiro called the move by prosecutors “amateur hour,” and accused them of “looking for a headline instead of doing the right thing.”
Shortly after the initial charges against Adams were announced last fall, prosecutors said additional charges were “quite likely.”
What’s next for Adams
The dismissal of the charges means Adams can fully focus his attention on running the city, as well as run for reelection.
He faces challenges from Comptroller Brad Lander and Lander’s predecessor, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, as well as State Sen. Jessica Ramos, State Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani — to name just a few.
World News || Latest News || U.S. News
Source link
