NYC Mayor Eric Adams thanks Justice Department after prosecutors directed to drop case against him

(CNN) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams thanked the Justice Department on Tuesday for directing prosecutors to drop the federal case against him, saying he never broke the law or traded power for personal benefit.

Adams praised the department’s decision for “ending a months-long saga that put me, my family and this city through an unnecessary ordeal. As I said from the outset, I never broke the law and I never would. I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor.”

Adams, a Democrat, forcefully defended himself again from accusations he said had resulted in the “most difficult 15 months” of his life.

“I thank the Justice Department for its honesty,” he added. “Now, we can put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of our city. It’s time to move forward.”

He did not specifically mention President Donald Trump.

The mayor’s comments come a day after the Justice Department directed the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to drop the federal corruption case against Adams, raising questions about the independence of the country’s most prestigious US attorney’s office and the direction of its biggest city.

The two-page memo from Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove instructed the acting Southern District of New York attorney to dismiss the charges “as soon as is practicable.”

It cites two reasons for ordering the dismissal: First, the Justice Department’s opinion that the timing of the charges and the former US attorney’s public actions “have threatened the integrity of the proceedings;” and second, the DOJ’s view that the case has “unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to … illegal immigration and violent crime,” a key focus of the Trump administration.

Still, the memo comes with strings attached. It directs that the charges be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning they can be brought again, and tasks the US attorney with reviewing the case after the November mayoral election.

Adams, who is up for reelection this fall, was indicted in September on charges related to bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals in exchange for political favors.

In a statement Monday, Alex Spiro, an attorney for Adams, said in part, “As I said from the outset, the mayor is innocent — and he would prevail. Today he has.”

A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

In his comments Tuesday, Adams criticized the allegations against him and the prosecution’s “baseless threats” that new charges were coming. He further sought to speak directly to voters and acknowledged he has work to do to regain their trust.

“I also understand that many New Yorkers will still question my character. I know that I must continue to regain your trust,” Adams said. “I’ve learned a lot over the last few months and this experience has been humbling.”

Charges alleged public corruption scheme

The Justice Department last year brought public corruption charges against Adams in the first prosecution of a sitting mayor in the city’s modern history. Adams pleaded not guilty, and the case was set to go to trial this spring.

The indictment alleged Adams’ illegal actions stretched back to 2014, when he was Brooklyn Borough president. Prosecutors said Adams received luxury travel benefits – including hotel room upgrades, meals and other perks – from a Turkish official. In exchange, prosecutors say Adams pressured a New York City Fire Department official to grant permits to open a Turkish consular building that had failed to pass inspection.

Former US Attorney Damian Williams, who had been nominated by then-Democratic President Joe Biden and brought the charges, said the mayor had “engaged in a long-running conspiracy.”

Adams, who was registered as a Republican in the 1990s, has frequently said the prosecution was politically motivated by his criticism of the Biden administration’s response to an influx of migrant arrivals in the city beginning in the spring of 2022.

In recent months he has cozied up to Trump, attending Trump’s inauguration and visiting him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump, too, has expressed sympathy with Adams’ claim that he is the victim of political retribution for criticizing the Biden administration.

“We were persecuted, Eric,” Trump told the mayor during his remarks at the Al Smith charity dinner in October — just head of the presidential election – in New York. “I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric.”

Ex-prosecutors challenge memo’s reasoning

The Justice Department memo released Monday explicitly states the decision to dismiss the charges is not based on evidence or legal theory, instead citing the politics of the case and the impact on Trump’s immigration goals.

Elie Honig, CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, said the Justice Department’s move was “completely unprecedented” and criticized the reasoning of the memo as “preposterous.”

“They say, ‘You can’t charge Eric Adams because he’s busy being the mayor of New York City.’ Take that logic and that would apply to ban any indictment of any public official, from president to dog-catcher,” he said.

Shan Wu, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, told CNN the move undermines trust in the Justice Department’s independence and judgment.

“This idea that, ‘We can’t prosecute the person criminally because we need them to help us with our policy,’ that makes no sense whatsoever from a law enforcement (or) prosecutorial standpoint,” he said. “That’s the height of transactional morality.”

The DOJ’s call to dismiss the charges now falls to Danielle Sassoon, the interim US attorney for the Southern District, to carry out the action. Any dismissal would also have to be formally approved by Biden-nominated Judge Dale Ho, who is overseeing the case.

While it’s not clear how Sassoon will respond, it would mark a significant turnaround for the office. As recently as last month, she wrote a letter to the court defending the government’s case against Adams and said the mayor’s attorney’s effort to cast the prosecution as purely political was a distraction “to shift the focus away from the evidence of his guilt.” The office also said last month it had uncovered evidence of “additional criminal conduct” by the mayor.

Sassoon graduated from Harvard in 2008 and Yale Law School in 2011 and served as a law clerk to two federal judges, including the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She joined the Southern District in 2016 as an assistant US attorney and was part of the team that prosecuted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on fraud and conspiracy charges, leading the aggressive cross-examination of the founder.

Trump has picked Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who has never been a prosecutor, to run the Southern District of New York office. He has not yet been confirmed.

Separately, the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, has brought bribery and conspiracy charges against Adams’ former top aide, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, and her son. She’s accused of using the power and influence of her office to benefit wealthy business owners who gave her and her son money and gifts in exchange. They have pleaded not guilty.

The charges against Lewis-Martin and her son do not allege anything against Adams.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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