NYC Mayor Eric Adams thanks Department of Justice for ordering dismissal of criminal charges against him

Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday thanked the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump for ordering the dismissal of the federal corruption prosecution against him, calling the case "an unnecessary ordeal," while critics assailed the turnabout as a blow to the rule of law.

At a midday address in which he said he'd work to regain the public's trust, Adams did not mention Trump by name.

"I thank the Justice Department for its honesty," he said. "Now we can put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of our city." 

The mayor's remarks, delivered in private via video from New York City Hall, were his first to the public following the extraordinarily rare step taken a day earlier, when the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, the Justice Department's number two, ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to throw out the criminal case. 

But Adams is not fully in the clear — Bove, who served on Trump's defense team during 2024's hush money trial, said the matter would be reviewed later this year and Adams could be recharged.

Outrage at dismissal

The dismissal provoked outrage and worry from good-government groups, rivals for the mayoralty and even Adams' longtime ally, the activist preacher the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said, "it certainly sounds like President Trump is holding the mayor hostage."

Sharpton said he would convene Black leaders to meet in the coming days "to decide where we will go ... because we have clearly crossed the Rubicon."

The dismissal comes after months of Adams praising, defending and traveling to meet with Trump across the country. Bove said the case, which was filed in September, should be dropped now to avoid interference in the upcoming mayoral race and to stop hampering Adams' ability to cooperate with Trump’s plan for an immigration crackdown. 

In Adams' remarks, the mayor reiterated, as he has for months, that he did nothing wrong. He did not take questions Tuesday.

"I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor," Adams said.

In September, Adams pleaded not guilty to the indictment, which charged him with defrauding the city's campaign finance system of millions of dollars. He's also charged with trading illegal political contributions and free and highly discounted luxury travel from foreign sources, particularly Turkey, in exchange for municipal favors. Among those alleged favors: leaning on the FDNY to reverse course on opening an unsafe consulate building in Manhattan belonging to the Turkish government.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, one of Adams' rivals for the mayoralty, issued a press release titled: "Justice is Dead in America."

"How many more of our rights and freedoms did the Mayor give up to save his own skin?" the release asked. 

Myrie called on the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office to defy Washington D.C. and to appoint a special prosecutor.

Potential prosecution

The case can theoretically be refiled, as the Department of Justice's memo says the matter should be dismissed without prejudice.

"It technically leaves open a future prosecution," Mark Zauderer, a Manhattan trial and appellate lawyer, said Tuesday. "It seems as though the administration here was not trying to take on the merits of the case, because it appears to be a very strong case based on the indictment."

He noted that motions filed in court in the weeks and months before the memo was issued indicated additional criminal charges would be brought against the mayor in the future.

"I think the administration, or this case, the Justice Department, would have lost credibility had they cited the merits of the case, or the lack of merits of the case to dismiss it. So, they took an end run around that," Zauderer said.

If the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, complies with Bove's order, Adams could still be in legal jeopardy over the same criminal allegations. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment Tuesday. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg could bring a similar case against the mayor on state charges.

"Theoretically, if there are state crimes that have been committed, he could bring them, but he appears not to have gotten the office involved to date," Zauderer said. "He has deferred to the federal prosecutors, but he would have the ability, theoretically, to pursue any evidence of state crimes."

Bragg's office did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

The Southern District of New York is sometimes referred to as the "sovereign district" because of its independence from the DOJ in picking and prosecuting cases.

Post-inauguration reversal

The decision to reverse course came weeks after Trump was inaugurated.

Manhattan prosecutor and New York Law School professor Rebecca Roiphe called the dismissal order "extremely troubling." 

"It looks like what is going on is a kind of effort to control prosecutorial decisions by political actors," she said.

A footnote in the Department of Justice memo says, "Government is not offering to exchange dismissal of a criminal case for Adams's assistance on immigration enforcement," but Roiphe said that appears to be what’s happening.

She pointed to the fact that Adams could be indicted again by the U.S. attorney on the same charges.

"It's using criminal prosecution as a threat, as a sword hanging over people's heads," she said, "and that is just not the way it's supposed to work in this country."

The good-government group Citizens Union in a statement assailed the dropping of the case as counter to rule of law and an obstruction to future prosecutions of corrupt officials. 

"This absurd directive from Washington undermines the equal application of the law in current and future efforts to prosecute charges of public corruption and hold elected officials accountable," the statement said.