New York City Mayor Eric Adams is holding a news conference Tuesday, hours after a Department of Justice official said the agency ordered the corruption case against him to be dismissed.
Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove instructed prosecutors for the Southern District of New York to dismiss all charges against the mayor, according to a DOJ official. Bove, the number two at the Justice Department, argued in a two-page memo that the case was interfering with the mayor’s ability to aid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime,” Bove wrote.
The dismissal would be without prejudice. The DOJ official added that the charges would be reviewed when a U.S. Attorney appointed by President Trump is confirmed.
The order does not necessarily mean that the case has been dismissed, however. A dismissal would have to come in the form of a motion, which would be reviewed by a judge, according to NBC News. It is possible that prosecutors with the Southern District of New York could refuse to carry out the order.
A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York prosecutors who had been ordered to drop the charges, Nicholas Biase, declined to comment on when prosecutors will inform the judge the case would be dropped.
The task of carrying out the order to dismiss the case will fall to the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, who assumed job the day after Trump took office. Her role was intended to be temporary; Trump in November nominated Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to the post, an appointment that must be confirmed by the Senate.
The intervention and reasoning — that a powerful defendant could be too occupied with official duties to face accountability for alleged crimes — marked an extraordinary deviation from long-standing Justice Department norms, which typically afford independence to federal prosecutors.
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.
Adams' attorney, Alex Spiro, said in a statement that "I said from the outset, the mayor is innocent — and he would prevail. Today he has.
"The facts of the case are clear: the mayor never used his official position for personal benefit. Nor did he have any role in violating campaign finance laws. Despite a lot of fanfare and sensational claims, ultimately there was no evidence presented that he broke any laws, ever," the statement read. "The witnesses that were promised never materialized. The additional charges that were threatened never came. Now, thankfully, the mayor and New York can put this unfortunate and misguided prosecution behind them.”
Political opponents of Adams were quick to condemn the DOJ's decision. State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat challenging Adams in the mayoral primary, said it "makes it clear that justice is dead in America," adding that New Yorkers should be outraged if the charges do get dropped.
"We already know that Eric Adams has sacrificed the safety and sanctity of our schools and public hospitals to curry favor with this fascist Administration. How many more of our rights and freedoms did the Mayor give up to save his own skin?" Myrie said in a statement. "New Yorkers are tired of our leaders skirting accountability...The leaders of the past have not solved our problems; and continually put their own interests and desire for power above what’s best for New Yorkers. Enough is enough."
Myrie was endorsed Monday by Rep. Dan Goldman, who led impeachment charges against Trump during his first term as president.
The DOJ order comes nearly two weeks after NBC New York reported one of Adams' attorneys had reached out to the DOJ seeking to have the case against the mayor dropped. Adams met with the then-president-elect at his Florida state just before inauguration.
That plea from Spiro was first reported by the New York Times, which noted it was not unusual nor particularly surprising that a high-profile defendant such as Adams, with equally high-profile counsel, would reach out to a new administration's DOJ to ask for a fresh look at their case.
Adams visited President Trump in Florida on Jan. 17, and was offered a last-minute invitation to the inauguration in Washington D.C. on Jan. 20, coinciding with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The mayor has brushed off questions that his criminal case — or the possibility of a presidential pardon if he is convicted — came up during the sit-down near Trump's estate, saying the case was something his legal team was handling.
The order of dismissal came the same day the mayor called a meeting with top officials from his administration, during which time he offered some clarity and marching orders regarding how to navigate orders under the Trump White House, according to sources inside the meeting.
Adams tried to bring down the temperature of rhetoric, at one point asking the new Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos whether ICE had gone into schools since Trump took office. She said no.
Sources told NBC New York Adams also urged his team not to bash President Trump or his administration, explaining that one social media post could cost NYC billions in infrastructure funding.
During the session, Adams and the top city lawyer explained how workers should respond if ICE visits a city facility — for instance, to ask if they have a warrant. But according to sources who were at the meeting, the mayor also reminded the room that the Justice Department has said city workers who interfere with ICE enforcement against criminals will be charged with a felony.
Adams also added a joke at his expense, saying federal charges are not something anyone wants, sources said.
Brad Lander, another Democrat seeking to oust Adams as the Democratic nominee for mayor, slammed the mayor at a press conference following the meeting.
"It looks like the mayor is standing up for one New Yorker, and that is Eric Adams. He's busy seeking a pardon and now asking other employees of the city to do the same for him," Lander said.
Adams was scheduled to go on trial in April on charges that he accepted luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals in exchange for political favors, including helping the Turkish officials resolve city approvals for a diplomatic building in Manhattan. Adams allegedly accepted the 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.
Damien Williams, the former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, stepped down after Trump’s election victory. But as recently as Jan. 6, 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.
With the federal case against the mayor set to be dismissed, a law enforcement source told NBC New York state prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is very unlikely due to the DA's office not being privy to any of the evidence.
Mayor Eric Adams is scaling back events, saying it's because of health reasons. However, the mayor's office insisted that city business will continue as usual for the week. NBC New York's Andrew Siff reports.
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.
The president, 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.”
Jake Offenhartz, Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press and Ryan Reilly of NBC News contributed to this report.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story named Emil Bove as the acting attorney general. He is acting deputy attorney general.
