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

The U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has directed Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop the criminal case against Mayor Eric Adams.

In ordering the dismissal, the Justice Department argues the case has unduly hampered Adams from assisting with the president's plans to combat immigration and the prosecution was too proximate to the forthcoming mayoral election.

"The Justice Department has reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based, which are issues on which we defer to the U.S. Attorney's Office at this time," the memo says.

The case, the memo says, is to be dismissed "without prejudice," which theoretically means it could be brought again.

Adams, who for months has been praising and defending Trump, is scheduled to stand trial in the spring in lower Manhattan, two months before a contested primary in which he is seeking a second term.

The order came from the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, who on Monday sent a two-page letter to the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York instructing the office to end the case.

It's unclear how the interim U.S. attorney, Danielle Sassoon, will respond, and a filing to drop the charges must be reviewed by a judge.

Neither Adams nor his legal team could be immediately reached for comment Monday evening.

Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which involve accusations of trading campaign contributions and free luxury travel from foreign sources in exchange for municipal favors, including pressuring the FDNY to reverse course on opening an unsafe consulate in Manhattan belonging to the Turkish government.

Adams has said his prosecution is payback for criticizing the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis, although the investigation began before the mayor took Biden to task over the crisis.

Trump has endorsed this theory.

"I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the DOJ, for speaking out against open borders," Trump said in Manhattan just before the election. "We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric."

Trump said last year that he'd consider pardoning Adams, which would be unnecessary if the case is dropped altogether.

Bove’s memo ordering the dismissal says "more recent actions" by the now-former U.S. attorney for the Southern District, Damian Williams, "have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity that risks impacting potential witnesses and the jury pool."

Having the prosecution hanging over Adams has "unduly restricted" the mayor from being able to "devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration," the memo says.

Since being indicted in September, Adams ceased criticizing Trump in public, then began appearing with him and defending Trump as a candidate, president-elect and now as president.

The move by the Justice Department comes after months of palace intrigue over whether Trump would reward Adams for his newfound allegiance.

Since Trump’s inauguration, Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro has sought dismissal from the department in Washington, and in recent weeks Spiro and other lawyers met in D.C. with Trump officials, a meeting joined by Southern District prosecutors.

With AP

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.