By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge is set to consider on Wednesday a request by federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams under orders from a Donald Trump political appointee – a case that critics say shows political interference in the Justice Department under the Republican president.
Justice Department officials in Washington on Friday asked U.S. District Judge Dale Ho to dismiss the charges. That capped a week in which more than half a dozen prosecutors resigned rather than follow orders from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a Trump appointee and his former personal criminal defense lawyer, to seek dismissal.
The Justice Department argued that dismissal is needed so Adams can focus on helping Trump crack down on illegal immigration. The controversy has sparked a political crisis in the most populous U.S. city. Senior Democrats have said that dismissing the charges makes Adams, a Democrat, beholden to the administration.
Ho is due to weigh the case’s future at a hearing at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) in federal court in Manhattan.
Adams, 64, was charged last September by federal prosecutors during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration with taking bribes and campaign donations from Turkish nationals seeking to influence him. Adams, running for re-election this year, has pleaded not guilty.
Legal experts have said Ho has no authority to force the Justice Department to continue prosecuting the case. Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization that promotes accountable government, in a brief to the judge on Monday urged Ho to consider appointing a special prosecutor to continue the case.
In an extraordinary letter last week, Bove ordered former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon to seek dismissal, arguing that the charges interfered with the mayor’s re-election bid and caused him to lose his security clearance, inhibiting his ability to work with federal authorities on public safety.
Bove said the decision to drop the charges had nothing to do with the case’s merits.
Sassoon, considered a rising star in conservative legal circles, resigned rather than comply with Bove’s order. Six other prosecutors followed.
In a letter last week to Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump appointee, opposing Bove’s directive, Sassoon said the mayor’s lawyers had proposed a “quid pro quo” in which the mayor would help enforce Trump’s hardline immigration policies only if the charges were dropped. Trump has ramped up deportations since returning to office.
Lawyers for Adams have denied he traded support for Trump’s policies for assistance from the administration on his criminal case.
“We told the (Justice) Department that ending the case would lift a legal and practical burden that impeded Mayor Adams in his official duties,” defense lawyer Alex Spiro wrote in a court filing on Monday. “What we never said or suggested to anyone was that Mayor Adams would do X in exchange for Y.”
DISMISSAL WITHOUT PREJUDICE
The tumult at the Justice Department prompted many Democratic New York politicians to call on Adams to resign.
Four of his deputies said on Monday they plan to resign in the coming weeks. New York state Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat with the power to remove the mayor, held meetings with political players in Manhattan on Tuesday over Adams’ future.
Adams has asserted, without presenting evidence, that Biden’s Justice Department brought the charges as retribution for his criticism of Biden’s immigration policy. Adams has warmed to Trump in recent months, visiting him in Florida in January and later attending his inauguration.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Ho is expected to ask Justice Department lawyers about their unusual request to dismiss the charges without prejudice, meaning the case potentially could be brought again. Bove wrote in his order to Sassoon that the department would reconsider the case after the November mayoral election.
In her letter to Bondi, Sassoon said leaving the door open to bringing the charges again was an implicit threat of further prosecution if Adams did not cooperate with Trump’s immigration policies.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Will Dunham)
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