Mayor Adams’ bid to have his federal corruption indictment dropped is getting a legal boost from Michael Flynn, a controversial former adviser to President Trump.
Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian government officials and was later pardoned by Trump, filed a so-called amicus brief in Adams’ case late Friday that argues the presiding judge cannot legally stand in the way of the Trump Department of Justice’s unusual effort to dismiss the mayor’s indictment.
A notice posted on the docket Monday afternoon confirms Flynn submitted the amicus brief together with two conservative think-tanks he helps run. The document can only be officially considered as part of the mayor’s case if Manhattan Federal Court Judge Dale Ho approves its inclusion.
Steven Harfenist, an attorney representing Flynn, told the Daily News on Monday afternoon that his amicus proposal makes two points.
First, it argues Ho didn’t have the legal authority to appoint former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement as an independent counsel in the mayor’s case to provide “adversarial” arguments against the Trump DOJ’s attempt to quash it, Harfenist said.
Second, Harfenist said the filing makes the case that Ho by law has to rubber-stamp the DOJ’s motion to dismiss given that both the mayor and the department are in agreement about dropping the prosecution.
“The court has no discretion to continue this case,” Harfenist said in a phone interview.
Alex Spiro, Adams’ criminal defense attorney, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
In appointing Clement to provide “adversarial” arguments, Ho made clear he won’t make a final ruling on whether the mayor’s case can be dropped until mid-March at the earliest. Some legal advocates have called on Ho to appoint a special prosecutor to continue the case, though it’s unclear whether he has the authority to attempt such a move.
Adams’ indictment, to which he has pleaded not guilty, alleges he took bribes and illegal campaign cash, mostly from Turkish government operatives, in exchange for political favors, including helping resolve a building safety issue at the country’s Manhattan consulate.
Flynn, who was Trump’s national security adviser during his first White House term, has his own connections to Turkey.
After resigning from the White House in February 2017, Flynn launched a lobbying firm that picked up a wealthy businessman with extensive ties to the Turkish government as a client. In 2019, the co-founder of Flynn’s firm, Bijan Rafiekian, was convicted of criminal charges alleging he acted as an illegal agent of the Turkish regime in the U.S.
Flynn’s bid to get involved in the mayor’s case comes as Adams faces calls to resign or be removed from office in light of the Trump DOJ’s move to drop his indictment.
In a dismissal motion, the DOJ asked Ho to drop the case against the mayor with the understanding that it could be brought back for a new prosecution as soon as November.
The DOJ wrote that it expects ending the case should enable Adams to play a bigger role in facilitating Trump’s policies, including his efforts to target undocumented New Yorkers for deportations, a highly unusual caveat that both allies and critics of the mayor say has made him a “hostage” to Trump’s political agenda.
Adams has also filed a motion to have the case dismissed outright, with no possibility of the prosecution being reinstated.