Two extremely anticipated filings anticipated on Friday within the contentious effort to dismiss the general public corruption case in opposition to Mayor Adams may open up a brand new chapter within the saga as criticism that Adams has surrendered his independence to President Trump to skirt expenses reaches a boiling level.
Manhattan Federal Choose Dale Ho has ordered an impartial lawyer, Paul Clement, to file arguments testing the Justice Division’s movement to dismiss the Adams case no later than Friday.
In search of one other facet to contemplate the place none beforehand existed, Ho final month appointed Clement to discover what may occur if he let the case reside on, amongst different matters. Clement was the previous solicitor normal underneath President George W. Bush.
The second submitting stems from two requests the decide now has earlier than him to dismiss the case, one from Trump’s former performing No. 2 on the Division of Justice, Emil Bove, and one from Adams himself.
The DOJ’s movement asks Ho to dismiss the case with out prejudice, which means it might be introduced once more sooner or later, primarily arguing that Adams should be free to help the Trump administration’s aggressive method to unlawful immigration with out being slowed down by a court docket case. The movement will not be primarily based on a perception of whether or not Adams is harmless or responsible.
Whereas Adams has agreed to the uncertainty of being charged once more, he has individually requested the decide to toss the case with prejudice, which might, in impact, kill it for good. His dismissal bid argues that the highly-publicized resignations of prosecutors who refused DOJ orders to drop the costs destroyed no matter presumption of innocence he had.
Ho has additionally ordered the DOJ to oppose Adams’s dismissal bid — if it intends to — no later than Friday, doubtlessly establishing the mayor to search out himself on the opposite facet of the feds he’s been in lockstep with till now.
Choose Dale Ho presides over a standing listening to for Mayor Eric Adams in Manhattan federal court docket on Oct. 2, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams through AP)
As he runs for reelection in what’s changing into a crowded subject, the deal between Adams and the DOJ underpinning the federal government’s dismissal movement has ignited a authorized and political firestorm and widespread criticism of the mayor, together with requires his removing and the resignations of 4 deputy mayors.
His job approval scores hit an all-time low this week in a Quinnipiac College ballot exhibiting solely 20% of voters are proud of the job he’s doing, and 56% suppose he ought to resign.
Adams confronted a grilling from Home Democrats Wednesday at a congressional listening to about sanctuary cities, who requested him if he was now beholden to Trump and quoted feedback the president’s border czar Tom Homan made sitting beside him in a “Fox & Friends” look final month. Homan mentioned he’d be “up [Adams’s] butt” if he didn’t persist with the settlement.
Legal professional Emil Bove. (Jeenah Moon-Pool/Getty Photographs)
Alarm bells concerning the uncommon association had been first sounded by former performing Manhattan U.S. Legal professional Danielle Sassoon, who, in a letter to U.S. Legal professional Common Pam Bondi earlier than she resigned, mentioned she couldn’t comply with by on the DOJ’s orders to drop the case given the “dangerous precedent” it will set, partly as a result of it stemmed from what amounted to a “quid pro quo” between the mayor and the Trump administration.
Sassoon, a Republican and one in every of at the least seven feds to resign in Manhattan and Washington, D.C., after Trump’s new DOJ brass intervened within the case, additionally mentioned prosecutors had been ready to file extra expenses in opposition to Adams, accusing him of attempting to cover his crimes from the FBI and ordering others to do the identical. Adams has denied these allegations and the quid professional quo, as has Trump’s DOJ officers.
In coming to a choice — exterior of the positions of Adams, the DOJ, and Clement — Ho should assess a raft of arguments from exterior events, together with from former U.S. attorneys, a coalition of former federal judges who’ve recommended Ho appoint an impartial prosecutor, and varied authorized students and ethics specialists.
Legal professional Paul Clement. (Susan Walsh/AP)
Writing to Ho final week, the previous judges advised him the circumstances behind the DOJ’s dismissal bid point out it “is one half of an improper quid pro quo — the other half being Mayor Adams’s agreement to further the administration’s immigration policy objectives, which have nothing to do with the charges against Mayor Adams.”
“[By] seeking to dismiss without prejudice, the administration apparently seeks to hold renewed prosecution over Adams’s head to ensure his continued compliance with the administration’s policies,” they wrote.
“The Justice Department seeks to use this Court as the fulcrum for its leverage against Mayor Adams. If so, the Court should not allow it.”
President Donald Trump. (Alex Brandon/AP)
The Southern District of New York federal prosecutor’s workplace, underneath its former head, Manhattan U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams, in September, filed the bombshell indictment in opposition to Adams, accusing him of promoting his political affect to rich Turkish officers and businessmen beginning a decade in the past when he was Brooklyn borough president.
The indictment accuses Adams of accepting luxurious journey and lodge stays all world wide and soliciting unlawful marketing campaign contributions from his corrupt overseas benefactors that had been funneled by U.S. residents. Adams partly made good on the bribes by forcing the FDNY to ignore security issues and prematurely open a Midtown skyscraper housing Turkey’s consulate in time for a go to by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the case alleges.
Adams has pleaded not responsible to bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and two counts of soliciting contributions from overseas nationals. The fees collectively carry as much as 45 years and had been set to be tried on Apr. 21 earlier than Ho indefinitely adjourned the trial final month.
Initially Printed: March 6, 2025 at 3:59 PM EST
