A judge on Wednesday dismissed the federal criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, nearly two months after the Trump administration controversially sought to drop corruption charges against the Democrat.
District Court Judge Dale Ho tossed out the case “with prejudice,” which permanently bars the Department of Justice from resurrecting the five-count indictment against Adams in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
In his order, Ho rejected DOJ’s request to toss the case “without prejudice,” which would have allowed charges to be refiled against the mayor in the future.
“It is important to clarify that the Court’s decision today is not about whether Mayor Adams is innocent or guilty,” Ho wrote.
The DOJ argued the case should be dismissed without prejudice because prosecuting Adams would have interfered with his ability to govern the city and to his ability to cooperate with President Donald Trump‘s immigration enforcement policies.
Seven federal prosecutors — among them the acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney — quit in protest over the DOJ’s demand that they file the dismissal request.
In a stunning rebuke to the DOJ’s argument, Ho in his order wrote, “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions” by Adams.
“Taking a step back from the particulars of this case, DOJ’s immigration enforcement rationale is both unprecedented and breathtaking in its sweep,” the judge wrote.
“DOJ cites no examples, and the Court is unable to find any, of the government dismissing charges against an elected official because doing so would enable the official to facilitate federal policy goals.”
Ho also wrote that the “DOJ’s assertion that it has ‘virtually unreviewable’ license to dismiss charges on this basis is disturbing in its breadth, implying that public officials may receive special dispensation if they are compliant with the incumbent administration’s policy priorities.”
“That suggestion is fundamentally incompatible with the basic promise of equal justice under law,” the judge wrote.
Ho said that dismissing the case without prejudice “would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration.
He also said it would create the perception that Adams, who is seeking re-election this year, “might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents.”
“That appearance is inevitable, and it counsels in favor of dismissal with prejudice,” Ho wrote.
The DOJ’s “request, if granted, would leave Mayor Adams under the specter of reindictment at essentially any time, and for essentially any reason,” Ho noted.
The judge noted that Adams requested a dismissal with prejudice, and that the DOJ had not opposed that motion, “effectively waiving any objection to permanent dismissal of this case.”
Ho flatly rejected claims by the DOJ that the prosecution of Adams was tainted by “appearances of impropriety,” saying that was “unsupported by any objective evidence.”
“Rather, the record before the Court indicates that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York prosecutors who worked on this case followed all appropriate Justice Department guidelines,” Ho wrote.
“There is no evidence — zero — that they had any improper motives.”
But the judge said there were two reasons to dismiss the case: protecting the rights of a criminal defendant, and Ho’s lack of power to compel the DOJ to prosecute Adams.
Adams, who is a former New York City police officer, was indicted in September on charges accusing him of a decade-long campaign contribution scheme, bribery and other allegations.
The indictment accused Adams of accepting illegal donations to his 2021 mayoral campaign and of accepting free luxury travel as far back as 2016, when he was the Brooklyn borough president.
Prosecutors said that a senior official in Turkey’s diplomatic establishment facilitated campaign donations to Adams, and also arranged for his and companies to receive free or discounted travel on Turkey’s national airline to destinations including France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary and Turkey.
Adams in exchange, later pressured the New York City Fire Department to facilitate the opening of Turkey’s new consulate building without a fire inspection in time for a visit by Turkey’s president, the indictment alleges.
The case was filed by the DOJ when then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was still in the White House.
After being charged, Adams had curried favor with Trump in what was seen as a bid to have the case dismissed, or to receive a pardon from the Republican.
Former acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who resigned in February rather than follow through with an order to dismiss the case, told Attorney General Pam Bondi in a letter that at Adams’ lawyers at a meeting with her and top DOJ official Emil Bove “urged what amounted to a quid pro quo” in which the mayor would support Trump immigration enforcement efforts in exchange for dismissal of the case.
Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro has denied Sassoon’s allegation.
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