NYC Mayor Eric Adams makes his own move to dismiss ‘meritless’ federal charges — permanently

MANHATTAN (CN) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams filed his own motion on Wednesday to dismiss the federal corruption charges against him, as prosecutors are also in the process of trying to drop the case.

In a 20-page memo, Adams argues that the government engaged in “grave prosecutorial misconduct” when a Feb. 12 resignation letter from Danielle Sassoon — the former interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — was leaked to the media.

“In addition to violating Mayor Adams’s fundamental constitutional rights and ability to receive a fair trial, the government’s leaks violated numerous statutory and court rules, including the Justice Department’s own longstanding policies aimed at curbing prosecutorial misconduct,” Adams argued in the filing.

Sassoon resigned over orders from the Justice Department to drop the ongoing corruption prosecution against Adams, and her bombshell letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi shook the department to its core.

In it, Sassoon claimed that negotiations between Adams’ attorneys and top Justice Department officials “amounted to a quid pro quo” in which the mayor would assist with federal deportation efforts in exchange for his indictment being dismissed. Adams and the Justice Department have denied such a relationship.

Still, at least seven federal prosecutors in total have chosen to step down rather than follow through with the demands from leadership to ice the Adams case.

Adams claims that the debacle has caused him “extreme prejudice.” Not only has it affected his ability to get a fair trial, he argues, but it’s also affected his ability to govern.

Since the letter was leaked, four of his deputy mayors resigned over fears that Adams is now beholden to President Donald Trump and his administration. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also announced that she would be implementing “guardrails” on the mayor’s office in response to growing calls to remove Adams from City Hall.

“All this was caused by the government’s decision to leak the Feb. 12 letter and its falsehoods,” Adams claims.

The government is currently moving to dismiss the case without prejudice, which critics have warned is a way for the Trump administration to keep the charges hanging over Adams’ head to encourage him to follow through with his promises on immigration enforcement.

But in Adams’ Wednesday dismissal motion, he asks for the case to be dismissed with prejudice. The mayor had previously consented to the government’s move to drop the case without prejudice at a hearing last week, but he now claims that the harm he suffered from the leak justifies a permanent dismissal.

“Mayor Adams is not, however, seeking any delay in the court’s resolution of the government’s pending motion to dismiss without prejudice,” Adams says in the filing. “Nonetheless, because resolution of that motion, if granted, could allow the government to later argue — if it chooses to reindict the mayor — that he failed to timely raise, and thus waived, the independent grounds for dismissal with prejudice set forth in the instant motion.”

As it stands, Adams’ case is still active, though the April trial has been indefinitely postponed.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, the Joe Biden appointee overseeing the case, appointed a private lawyer to argue against the government’s bid to drop the case. Ho may hold oral arguments in mid-March to debate the issue.

Trump’s Justice Department officially issued orders to drop the case on Feb. 10, when Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove wrote a letter to prosecutors claiming that the charges were interfering with Adams’ ongoing reelection campaign and his ability to tackle the immigration problems in New York City.

The letter wasn’t necessarily a shock — Trump had floated putting the Adams case on ice amid his budding friendship with the mayor. After attending Trump’s inauguration in January, Adams vowed not to criticize the president or the federal government publicly and reportedly instructed his staff to do the same.

Adams, a first-term Democrat and former NYPD captain, was charged with a five-count indictment in September 2024. He is accused of taking luxury perks and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish nationals in exchange for political influence in New York City.

Adams is also accused of defrauding a city program that matches small dollar donations during his mayoral campaign. He has been barred from using the program again for his reelection campaign.

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