Justice Department asks court to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

The Justice Department formally asked a court Friday to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The move, which comes after Adams was accused of cozying up to President Donald Trump, which he has denied, was expected but fiercely opposed by the federal prosecutors in Manhattan who brought the case.

Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove and lawyers from the department's Public Integrity Section and Criminal Division in Washington filed paperwork seeking to end the case.

The motion does not detail the evidence against Adams, but claims that “dismissal is necessary because of appearances of impropriety and risks of interference with the 2025 elections in New York City.”

A judge still has to sign off on the request.

The Justice Department's three-page motion sought to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the charges could be revived in the future.

The move comes after Bove, the second-highest official in the Justice Department and Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, threw the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section into chaos earlier Friday by demanding that one of the 30 remaining federal prosecutors sign off on the motion to dismiss charges against Adams, and gave the team one hour to decide among themselves who would do it.

It’s unclear why Bove insisted on another federal prosecutor signing off instead of doing it himself and was finding trouble with attorneys in the Southern District of New York and the Justice Department to do so.

The Independent has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.

A lawyer for Adams allegedly offered the mayor’s support to assist Trump in carrying out his agenda, but only if the criminal indictment against him would be dismissed, according to the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, who quit her job in protest on Thursday. At least two others in the office have also resigned.

Sassoon, a Republican, issued the stunning revelation in an eight-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi as she pushed back on the Justice Department’s request for her office to dismiss the five-count indictment against Adams that included bribery charges.

Sassoon said not only was the Justice Department’s request inconsistent with principles of fairness and impartiality, but that during a meeting including Justice Department officials, her office and Adams’ attorney in January, she witnessed “what amounted to a quid pro quo“ with Trump administration attorneys.

“Adams’ attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote to Bondi in a letter obtained by The New York Times.

Adams had been accused of unlawfully accepting more than $100,000 in benefits from the Turkish government in exchange for helping expedite the Turkish consulate building in Manhattan and accepting campaign donations through an illegal “straw donor” scheme.

After Adams was indicted last year, the Democratic mayor began cozying up to Trump and socializing with him at Mar-a-Lago. Adams claimed that Justice Department’s criminal cases against him during the Biden administration were politically motivated because the mayor had praised some of Trump’s anti-immigration policies.

The mayor denied Sassoon’s claim on Fox News Friday morning.

AP contributed reporting