NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams was thrown a lifeline when the Trump administration moved to drop federal corruption charges against the embattled leader of America’s largest city.
It marked an extraordinary deviation from longstanding norms of federal prosecutions, but, in many ways, was entirely expected, given the months of political intrigue involving closed-door talks and public overtures between the Democratic mayor and Republican president.
Here’s what you need to know:
Did the mayor just reach a plea deal or get a pardon?
Neither. The Justice Department on Monday simply ordered prosecutors to drop the charges before the case even goes to trial, which had been set for April.
In a two-page memo, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, second in command at the U.S. Justice Department, directed prosecutors in New York to dismiss the bribery charges against Adams “as soon as is practicable.”
He also ordered the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to halt the ongoing investigation into the mayor’s conduct — at least for now. Bove said prosecutors should review the case sometime after the November mayoral election to see if the charges should be revived.
“There shall be no further targeting of Mayor Adams or additional investigative steps prior to that review,” Bove added.
Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office had yet to comment on the directive or file any paperwork with the court to begin the process of formally dropping the case.
Why are the feds seeking to drop the charges?
The decision wasn’t based on the “strength of the evidence” against Adams or the “integrity and efforts” of the career prosecutors who worked on the case, Bove said in his memo.
Instead, the high-profile prosecution — the first against a sitting New York City mayor — has “improperly interfered” with Adams’ reelection campaign, he said.
The case has also been distracting the Democratic executive from advancing the priorities of the Republican White House, namely around immigration, argued Bove, who previously served on Trump’s legal team when he was convicted of falsifying business records in New York last year.
“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration,” he wrote.
Is it unusual to drop a case against a public official like this?
Extremely. While prosecutions against elected officials occasionally fall apart for reasons related to the strength of the evidence, it is an extraordinary departure for the Justice Department to drop a case because an accused person is perceived to be a likely political ally.
And while judges and prosecutors do sometimes adjust the timing of a trial or an indictment to avoid the appearance that they are interfering in with an election, it is extremely rare to drop an existing case entirely for that reason.
Does this close the case for good?
Not quite. Bove’s letter says the case should be dismissed without prejudice, giving prosecutors the flexibility to refile charges at a later date.
The letter also says the mayor has to agree in writing to that key caveat, giving Adams’ critics concern that he will be under intense pressure to meet Trump’s demands if he remains in office.
“The only thing worse for our city than Trump giving the mayor a get-out-of-jail-free card is the unspoken deal that comes with it,” New York City Council member Shaun Abreu, a Democrat who represents upper Manhattan, said on social media. “Our mayor shouldn’t be beholden to anyone but the voters. A dismissal without prejudice means Adams isn’t off the hook; he’s just on notice.”
What was Adams accused of doing?
Adams was indicted in September on charges including conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery.
Prosecutors accused him of accepting illegal campaign contributions and lavish overseas trips while he was a local elected official in Brooklyn and while he was campaigning to become mayor.
The indictment said that in exchange, Adams did favors for foreign government officials and local businesspeople, including expediting city approvals for the Turkish consulate’s new building in Manhattan.
What happens to others charged in the investigation?
It isn’t clear. Prosecutors earlier this month said Mohamed Bahi, Adams’ chief liaison to the Muslim community, planned to plead guilty to charges that he conspired to commit wire fraud by collecting campaign contributions made under the name of someone other than the true contributor.
A Brooklyn real estate magnate, Erden Arkan, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy, admitting that he worked with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal campaign contributions to Adams.
What’s next for Adams?
The mayor goes from the perils of a federal corruption probe to a bruising reelection fight.
He faces at least eight challengers, many of them more left-leaning and progressive. Among them are the current and the former city comptrollers, various state lawmakers and a handful of others who have never held political office.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also been weighing a potential run. Cuomo resigned in 2021 following a state attorney general report that found he sexually harassed at least 11 women.
Adding to the political calculus, Adams hasn’t ruled out the possibility of switching back to the GOP.
The Brooklynite, who was a registered Republican in the 1990s and early 2000s, attended Trump’s inauguration last month and lunched with top New York Republicans in Washington.
He’s also instructed officials to lawfully cooperate with Trump’s agenda around immigration and other issues, while flatly refusing to criticize the president or any of his policies.
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
