Top Justice Department official orders prosecutors to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams

NEW YORK (AP) — A top official at the U.S. Department of Justice has ordered federal prosecutors to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has cultivated a warm relationship with President Donald Trump.

In a two-page memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the decision to dismiss the charges was reached without an assessment of the strength of the prosecution and was not meant to call into question the attorneys who filed the case.

But, Bove said, that the timing of the charges and “more recent actions” by the former U.S. attorney who led the office, Damian Williams, “have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity that risks impacting potential witnesses and the jury pool.”

Bove also wrote that the pending prosecution has “unduly restricted” Adams’ ability to “devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”

The Justice Department’s order directs that the case be dismissed without prejudice, which conceivably means that it could be refiled later.

The memo is a radical departure from longstanding Justice Department norms, both in terms of the directive to dismiss an already-charged case that prosecutors had already deemed meritorious and because of its stated rationale that a powerful defendant could be too occupied with official duties to face accountability for alleged crimes.

Public officials at the highest level of government are routinely investigated by the Justice Department, including Trump while he was president, without prosecutors advancing a claim that they should be let off the hook to attend to government service.

Williams did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.

A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York prosecutors who had been ordered to drop the charges, Nicholas Biase, declined to comment.

The development comes after months of speculation that Trump’s Justice Department would take steps to end the criminal case against Adams, who was accused of accepting bribes of free or discounted travel and illegal campaign contributions.

Trump had hinted at the possibility of a pardon in December, telling reporters that the mayor had been “treated pretty unfairly.” He had also claimed, without offering evidence, that Adams was being persecuted for criticizing former President Joe Biden’s policies on immigration.

After Trump’s inauguration, Adams’ lawyers had approached senior Justice Department officials, asking them to intervene and drop the case.

Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, did not immediately return a request for comment. A mayoral spokesperson and a representative of his campaign all did not return inquiries.

After Adams was indicted in September, he shifted his tone on Trump, rankling some in his own party for his public praise of the Republican and his hardline immigration agenda.

The Democrat chastised people who called Trump a fascist. While he still said he was voting for Kamala Harris, Adams stopped saying the then-vice president’s name at public events, except when goaded by reporters.

Adams flew to Florida to meet with Trump on Jan. 17. Afterward, he said the two men hadn’t discussed his criminal case or the possibility of a pardon, but implied that Trump’s agenda would be better for New York than former President Joe Biden’s.

“I’m looking forward to the next four years of having a president that loves the city like I love this city,” Adams said the day after the meeting. He has denied doing anything illegal, and said the criticism of his overseas trips and deeply discounted first-class travel was unfair.

Trump, who was convicted last year of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment, has previously expressed solidarity with Adams.

“I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the DOJ, for speaking out against open borders,” Trump said in October at a Manhattan event attended by Adams. “We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric.”

The criminal case against Adams involves allegations that he accepted illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks worth more than $100,000 — including expensive flight upgrades, luxury hotel stays and even a trip to a bathhouse — while serving in his previous job as Brooklyn Borough President.

The indictment said a Turkish official who helped facilitate the trips then leaned on Adams for favors, at one point asking him to lobby the Fire Department to allow a newly constructed, 36-story diplomatic building to open in time for a planned visit by Turkey’s president.

Prosecutors also said they had evidence of Adams personally directing campaign staffers to solicit foreign donations, then disguising those contributions in order to qualify for a city program that provides a generous, publicly-funded match for small dollar donations. Foreign nationals are banned from contributing to U.S. election campaigns under federal law.

The federal prosecutor who brough the charges, former U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, stepped down after Trump’s election victory. But as recently as Jan. 6th, prosecutors had indicated their investigation remained active, writing in court papers that they continued to “uncover additional criminal conduct by Adams.”

Federal agents had also been investigating other senior Adams aides. Prior to the mayor’s indictment, federal authorities seized phones from a police commissioner, schools chancellor, multiple deputy mayors and the mayor’s director of Asian Affairs. Each of those officials denied wrongdoing but have since resigned.

In December, Adams’ chief adviser and closest confidant, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was indicted by a state prosecutor — the Manhattan district attorney — on charges that she and her son accepted $100,000 in bribes related to real estate construction projects.