The judge in charge of the corruption case against Eric Adams has thrown out the charges against the mayor of New York City. This is different from what the Trump Justice Department wanted to do, and the charges will not be brought again.
Judge Dale Ho said that he couldn’t really do anything because he didn’t trust the Justice Department’s reasons for dropping the case. He couldn’t make them charge the defendant.
Ho’s decision criticized the Trump administration for dropping the case at a time when the White House wants to have more control over the Justice Department and federal attorneys.
A lot of people in the Justice Department quit because they wanted to drop the case but still had the power to bring charges back. This included the acting US attorney in the Southern District of New York and the top career lawyers in charge of public corruption cases.
In a strong opinion, Ho disagreed with the main point of the Justice Department’s case, which was that the New York attorneys brought the case for political reasons and that the charges were making it harder for the mayor to carry out Trump’s immigration plan.
In a 78-page opinion, he said, “Everything here smells like a deal: dropping the charges in exchange for changes to immigration policy.” He said the stance of the DOJ is “disturbing” because it suggests that public officials may get special treatment if they support political goals. “That idea is fundamentally at odds with the basic promise of equal justice under the law.”
A Justice Department official said, “This case was a waste of time and money and an example of using politics as a weapon.” We are focused on catching and punishing terrorists and getting the Department of Justice back to its main job, which is to keep Americans safe.
Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, said that the case “should have never been brought in the first place” and that it is now over for good. The mayor has always said he is innocent, and now Eric Adams and all of New York have been given justice.
The judge wrote on Wednesday, “Consider the Department of Justice’s reasons for dismissing the case without prejudice. Doing so would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities, and that he might be more interested in what the federal government wants than what his constituents want.”
The mayor said again to reporters at his home in New York City that the case should not have been made and that he did nothing wrong. He didn’t say anything about Trump, but he did hold up a copy of FBI Director Kash Patel’s book “Government Gangsters.”
Adams is running for reelection this fall. In September, he was charged with bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and asking foreigners to donate to his campaign in exchange for political benefits. He said he wasn’t guilty.
Adams was accused of doing wrongdoing all the way back to 2014, when he was president of the Brooklyn Borough Council. Prosecutors said Adams got free meals, upgraded hotel rooms, and other perks while traveling from a Turkish official. Authorities say Adams got a fire department worker in New York City to give Adams permission to open a Turkish consular building that had not passed inspection in return.
After meeting with the mayor’s lawyers in Washington, D.C., in February, Trump’s DOJ said the case should be dropped. At the time, Emil Bove was serving as Deputy Attorney General. He said, “The pending prosecution has unfairly limited Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that grew under the policies of the previous Administration.”
A lot of DOJ attorneys quit because of Bove’s letter instead of following his order. In her resignation letter, Danielle Sassoon, who was acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York at the time, said that Adams’ lawyers “repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo,” meaning that Adams would only be able to help with the Department’s enforcement priorities if the indictment was dropped.
Adams and Bove both went to court and said there was no “quid pro quo.”
The judge then asked Paul Clement, a well-known conservative lawyer, to give him advice about what the DOJ wanted. In his report, Clement said that the case should be thrown out completely to clear up any problems.
“A dismissal without prejudice makes it feel like the prosecution outlined in the indictment and approved by a grand jury could be renewed,” Clement wrote. “This is a terrifying thought that hangs over the accused like the Sword of Damocles.” “Dismissal with prejudice gets rid of those worries and encourages another important separation-of-powers virtue: accountability.”
Ho gave an explanation on Wednesday for why he was dropping the charges for good and turning down the full request from the Justice Department.
“Given the Department of Justice’s reasons, throwing out the case without prejudice would make it seem like the Mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities, and that he might be more loyal to the federal government than to the people who elected him,” the judge wrote.
“From now on, the charges in the Indictment will not be able to be used against Mayor Adams or the City of New York,” the judge said.
Rev. Al Sharpton is one of the important leaders who met with New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul when she was choosing whether to use her power to remove the mayor. He says that people should no longer think that Adams is controlled by the White House.
Sharpton told CNN, “It takes away the feeling that he was being controlled by the president.” “It makes it clear that he will be judged on his own choices from now on, no matter what he does.”
It was not his job to say what he thought about the mayor’s accusations, the judge said. Ho also said that the opinion of the people, not his own, is what really counts. The judge said that one of his few choices is to be open and honest.
“Letting the public know about these decisions may then lead people to try to change them through democratic channels,” the judge wrote.
