NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed to regain the public’s trust Tuesday as the Justice Department moved to halt his criminal corruption case, a directive that officials said would free him up to assist in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
In his first public comments after a Justice Department memo ordering federal prosecutors to drop the case, Adams said he was eager to move on from the “monthslong saga that put me, my family and this city through an unnecessary ordeal.”
He did not mention President Donald Trump by name but praised the Justice Department for its “honesty,” adding that he hoped to “put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of this city.”
The brief address at City Hall came one day after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to dismiss the bribery charges “as soon as is practicable.”
In a two-page memo, Bove said the Justice Department decided to dismiss the case “without assessing the strength of the evidence,” but for a string of political considerations, including allowing Adams to “devote full attention and resources” to illegal immigration and violent crime.
In the hours since, Adams has faced a barrage of criticism from some allies in the Democratic party, who say he is now beholden to the Trump administration’s agenda.
“It certainly sounds like President Trump is holding the Mayor hostage,” Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement Tuesday. “I have supported the Mayor, but he has been put in an unfair position — even for him — of essentially political blackmail.”
The task of carrying out the order now falls to Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Her office declined to comment and has not indicated what it plans to do next. In a letter sent last month, prosecutors in the Adams case praised the strength of the evidence, dismissing the mayor’s claim of political prosecution as an attempt “to shift the focus away from the evidence of his guilt.”
Sassoon, a seasoned prosecutor who was appointed acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan just days after Trump took office, has limited power to oppose the order. She can be replaced at will by the Justice Department. Trump in November nominated Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to lead the office. His appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.
Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, said Monday that the Justice Department’s order vindicated the mayor’s claim of innocence. “Now, thankfully, the mayor and New York can put this unfortunate and misguided prosecution behind them.”
Bove, however, said in his memo that the charges could still be refiled after the November mayoral election. Dismissal of the case should be conditional, Bove said, on Adams agreeing in writing that prosecutors are legally allowed to bring the charges back if they choose.
That means the threat of a renewed prosecution will hover over Adams in all of his dealings with the Trump administration while he is mayor.
Arlo Devlin-Brown, the former chief of public corruption at the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, said the unusual conditions attached to the memo made it uncertain when the charges would be formally dismissed.
“I have not seen anything like this before,” he said. “For a case that’s already been charged to be reversed in the absence of some real new development in the merits of the case is highly unusual.”
The indictment against Adams alleges he accepted illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks worth more than $100,000 — including expensive flight upgrades and luxury hotel stays — while serving in his previous job as Brooklyn borough president.
The indictment said a Turkish official who helped facilitate the trips then leaned on Adams for favors, including lobbying the Fire Department to allow a newly constructed diplomatic building to open in time for a planned visit by Turkey’s president.
Prosecutors also said they had evidence Adams personally directed campaign staffers to solicit foreign donations, then disguised those contributions to qualify for a city program that provides a generous, publicly funded match for small donations. Foreign nationals are banned from contributing to U.S. election campaigns under federal law.
Many of Adams’ Democratic opponents in the June mayoral primary castigated the Justice Department’s decision to shut down the case and accused the mayor of adopting a pro-Trump agenda out of a desire for personal preservation.
Following his September indictment, Adams cultivated a warm relationship with Trump — praising his agenda, refusing to criticize him and showing a willingness to roll back some of the city’s protections for undocumented migrants.
