A federal judge in New York held off on making a decision on the U.S. Department of Justice’s effort to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams during a hearing on Wednesday.
During the hearing, federal judge Dale Ho acknowledged that it was an “unusual situation,” Politico reported. Ho’s questions in part revolved around Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, abandoning the case “without prejudice,” meaning the case could later be revived.
Adams said he was not concerned.
“I have not committed a crime and I don’t see them bringing it back,” The New York Times reported Adams saying after Ho told him the case could return at a later date. “I’m not afraid of that.”
Politico reported that there’s disagreement over how much power a federal judge has in this situation. The Washington Post reported that Ho acknowledged at the beginning of the hearing that he was “well aware” that he had little power to do anything other than follow the DOJ’s request.
Bove sent a memo last week to federal prosecutors in Manhattan ordering them to drop the charges against Adams because they inhibited the mayor’s ability to “devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime” in the city. That led to a mass resignation of federal prosecutors, including the borough’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, who refused to carry out Bove’s order. Bove’s letter did not directly question the legitimacy of the indictment itself.
In her resignation, Sassoon, who clerked for the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, argued that the dismissal of Adams’ charges would be improper. Her letter stated that the mayor’s attorneys had “repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo” and argued that Adams could “assist with the department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were lifted.”
An attorney for Adams, Alex Spiro, has denied the accusations made by Sassoon.
Adams’ indictment has unexpectedly bonded him to President Donald Trump, despite their political differences. After Adams’ indictment, Trump claimed that the Justice Department was being weaponized against the mayor, much like how Trump has accused the department of being weaponized against himself.
Recently, Adams has given support to Trump’s push to crack down on undocumented immigrants in his city. On Friday, he joined Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, for an interview on “Fox and Friends” to discuss his willingness to work with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement.
Adams was indicted in September on five criminal counts, with charges including wire fraud and solicitation of campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Adams was accused of accepting more than $100,000 in travel perks from Turkish nationals. The case brought by federal prosecutors spans back to his time as Brooklyn borough president.
He has pleaded not guilty and has argued the charges are politically motivated.
Since the indictment, Adams has gone from being one of the most visible faces in Democratic politics to persona non grata. He’s drifted to the right, and even attended a UFC event at Madison Square Garden with Trump in November, leaving New York Democrats increasingly uncomfortable with how much he may be willing to work with the president, who is still broadly unpopular in the city.
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Torrence Banks is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.