A top official in President Trump’s Department of Justice instructed federal prosecutors in Manhattan late Monday to drop federal corruption charges against Mayor Adams, casting serious doubt over the future of the historic case, the Daily News has confirmed.
The memo was addressed to acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon and sent from Emil Bove, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer who’s now acting as his interim No. 2 at the DOJ.
“You are directed, as authorized by the Attorney General, to dismiss the pending charges” against Adams, the memo read, “as soon as is practicable.”
The charges against Adams — including wire fraud, bribery, and soliciting illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals — carried up to 45 years in prison. Jury selection was set to begin on April 21, just two months before June’s Democratic mayoral primary.
“The mayor is innocent—and he would prevail. Today he has,” Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, said in a statement. “The Department of Justice has reevaluated this case and determined it should not go forward. There is good reason for that. 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 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,” he said.
A spokesman for Sassoon declined comment.
The explosive indictment filed in September charged Adams with accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions in exchange for abusing his influence as New York City’s most powerful government official and, prior to that, as Brooklyn borough president.
Adams was accused of taking thousands of dollars worth of benefits starting in around 2014, including first-class flights and hotel stays all over the world, from foreign benefactors with ties to the Turkish government who sought to one day cash in on their relationship. The feds said he paid back his debts partly by pushing the FDNY to open a Midtown skyscraper housing Turkey’s consulate in the months before the general election.
The dismissal move comes despite representations by the prosecuting team in recent months that they had discovered new criminal conduct.
Last month, a Brooklyn real estate magnate connected to Turkish officials admitted to orchestrating straw donations towards Adams’ mayoral campaign at the behest of Adams in a plea deal believed to require his cooperation at trial. Last week, a former City Hall aide to Adams indicated he’s pleading guilty to similar charges.
Rumors began circulating after Trump’s election victory that a potential pardon could be on the table for the mayor, who has been reluctant to criticize the president and his hardline immigration policies. Trump empathized with Adams in public remarks, comparing the mayor’s legal woes to his own in criticizing the DOJ under the Biden administration as politicized. Trump is a Republican, and Adams is a Democrat.
Then, last week, The Times reported that Trump’s interim leaders at the DOJ, led by his lawyer from the hush money case, Bove, had begun talking to Adams’ legal team and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York about dropping the case altogether. A dismissal in place of a politically sensitive pardon precludes Trump from having to deal with potential blowback from the public and allows Adams to claim the case was flawed.
Former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who brought the bombshell case against Adams and resigned before Trump took office, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
This developing story will be updated.