NEW YORK: Federal prosecutors have formally asked a U.S. judge to drop bribery charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams after an order by an official in President Donald Trump’s Justice Department for them to do so prompted mass resignations.
U.S. District Judge Dale Ho still must sign off on the request to dismiss the five-count criminal indictment brought last September charging Adams, a Democrat, with accepting travel perks from Turkish officials and political donations from foreigners in exchange for taking actions to benefit Turkey. Adams had pleaded not guilty.
Federal prosecutors in Washington stepped in to make the filing on behalf of their New York counterparts on Friday. They said continuing the case would “interfere with the defendant’s ability to govern in New York City, which poses unacceptable threats to public safety, national security and related federal immigration initiatives and policies.”
The filing was signed by Antoinette Bacon, a supervisory official in the Justice Department’s criminal division, and Edward Sullivan, senior litigation counsel in the public integrity section. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove separately signed the filing, saying he authorized the request.
In a memo sent to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office on February 10, Bove wrote that the order to drop the charges had nothing to do with the merits of the case, and that the Justice Department was not questioning the integrity of the prosecutors who brought it.
Instead, Bove wrote that the indictment – brought by federal prosecutors during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s term – interfered with Adams’ 2025 mayoral re-election campaign, and that the case was distracting Adams from supporting Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts.
“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to … illegal immigration and violent crime,” Bove, Trump’s former personal lawyer and a political appointee.
The Republican president, who returned to office on January 20, has made curbing illegal immigration and stepping up deportations centerpieces of his second term in the White House.–Reuters
