Justice Department official urges quick dismissal of criminal case against New York City mayor

NEW YORK (AP) — In an extraordinary courtroom showdown, a federal judge pressed the Justice Department on Wednesday on its demand to throw out New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case, grilling a top official and putting the Democratic mayor under oath to answer concerns that the Trump administration’s lifeline came with strings attached.

“Not at all,” Adams responded stoically, his liberty and political future at stake.

Manhattan federal Judge Dale E. Ho declined to rule immediately, leaving in place for now charges that Adams accepted lavish travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests seeking to buy his influence. Adams has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.

The Justice Department’s push to end the case has caused a rift between its leadership in Washington, who see him as an ally in pursuing President Donald Trump’s immigration goals, and the federal prosecutors’ office in Manhattan, which brought the charges and rebuffed commands to drop them. Seven prosecutors resigned in protest.

“I’m not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench,” Ho said, sighing heavily as he closed the 80-minute proceeding.

The judge said he wanted to carefully review the “unusual situation." Acknowledging political and legal implications, which include Adams’ reelection campaign and April 21 trial date, Ho indicated that he would rule soon, saying, “it is not in anyone’s interest for this to drag on.”

No one objecting to the Justice Department’s request spoke Wednesday, though some have written to the court, Ho said. He also touched on letters in which now-former prosecutors urged Justice Department officials last week to keep the case alive.

Ho called the hearing after Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove and two other lawyers from Justice Department headquarters filed paperwork last Friday seeking a dismissal. Bove stepped in after Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor quit rather than drop the case.

Closely watching how things play out is Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has said she is considering removing Adams from office amid concerns that his reliance on the Trump administration to end his criminal case has left him politically compromised.

Adams appeared in high spirits as he came and went from court, a shift from past appearances. Strolling slowly into the courtroom, he embraced Black clergy members sitting in the front row.

Bove, sitting alone at the prosecution table, told Ho that the Justice Department was simply exercising “prosecutorial discretion” based on a Trump executive order outlining his criminal justice priorities and that granting the request was the only option. Bove said the decision to seek dismissal was reached without assessing the strength of the evidence.

The request is “virtually unreviewable in this courtroom," he argued.

Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, said no appeals court has ever sided with a judge who rejected an unopposed motion to dismiss a criminal case. Pressed by Ho, Bove conceded that he was not aware of another case where the Justice Department went to bat to dismiss an indictment or cease a prosecution for a public official like this.

Reiterating arguments from the dismissal motion and a Feb. 10 memorandum that set off a firestorm about the future of the case, Bove said the charges were impeding Adams’ ability to govern, hampering his campaign for a second term and impeding his cooperation with the administration’s immigration crackdown.

“Frankly I think the fact that Mayor Adams is sitting to my left right now is part of the problem,” Bove said. “He’s not able to be out running the city and campaigning. I think that is actual interference with the election.”

Bove urged Ho to ignore outside voices and reject suggestions that the Justice Department’s interest in Adams was part of a quid pro quo.

Adams testified that there was no “other agreement” between himself and the government.

“You have a record, undisputed, that there is no quid pro quo,” Bove argued. “I don’t concede — and I don’t think it’s correct — that even if there was a quid pro quo, there would be any issue with this motion.”

Ho also questioned the mayor about a provision in the dismissal motion that would allow the Justice Department to revive the case at a later date.

“I understand that, judge,” Adams said. “I have not committed a crime, and I don’t see them bringing it back.”

Adams was indicted in September and accused of accepting more than $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and travel perks from a Turkish official and business leaders seeking to buy influence while he was Brooklyn borough president. He faces multiple challengers in June’s Democratic primary.

Bove ordered then-interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon to ditch the case last week after meeting with Adams’ lawyers last month in Washington.

Sassoon, who attended the meeting, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to reconsider. In a Feb. 12 letter, Sassoon wrote that dismissing the charges in return for Adams' assistance on immigration would betray Bondi's own words that she “will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct.”

“Dismissal of the indictment for no other reason than to influence Adams’s mayoral decision-making would be all three,” said Sassoon, a Republican. She said it amounted to a quid pro quo and disclosed that her office had been about to charge Adams with additional crimes.

Another prosecutor, Hagan Scotten, told Bove in a resignation letter that it would take a “fool” or a “coward” to meet Bove's demand, “but it was never going to be me.”

Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, defended the department’s dismissal request in a social media blitz before Wednesday's hearing, writing on X: “The case against Mayor Adams was just one in a long history of past DOJ actions that represent grave errors of judgement."

Sassoon and her colleagues have found support for their stand from a small army of former prosecutors.

Nathaniel Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, filed papers telling the judge to reject the government's request, to consider assigning a special counsel to explore the legal issues and ultimately to consider appointing an independent special prosecutor to try the case.

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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.