US Justice Department orders New York mayor’s corruption charges to be withdrawn

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK – The US Justice Department on Feb 10 directed federal prosecutors in New York to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, asserting that the case was impeding his ability to aid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

In a memo seen by Reuters to the US attorney’s office in Manhattan, Acting Deputy Attorney-General Emil Bove wrote that the decision had nothing to do with the merits of the case, and that the Justice Department was not questioning the integrity of the prosecutors who brought it.

Instead, he wrote that the September 2024 indictment - brought by federal prosecutors during former President Joe Biden’s term - interfered with Adams’ 2025 mayoral re-election campaign, and that the case was distracting Adams from supporting the federal government on immigration.

“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to... illegal immigration and violent crime,” wrote Mr Bove, Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer and a political appointee.

Mr Trump, a Republican, has made stemming the flow of illegal immigration and stepping up deportations centrepieces of his second term in the White House.

The directive amounted to an extraordinary intervention by US Justice Department officials in a high-profile criminal matter brought by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, an office that has often fiercely guarded its independence from political appointees in Washington, DC.

Prosecutors have not yet indicated that they plan to drop the case, court records showed on the evening of Feb 10.

Mr Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the Manhattan US attorney’s office, declined to comment.

Adams, a Democrat, in September was hit with a five-count indictment charging him over accepting travel perks from Turkish officials and political donations from foreigners in exchange for taking actions to benefit Turkey. He pleaded not guilty.

Adams, 64, has argued he was unfairly targeted by the Biden administration because he criticised its immigration policy over a surge in migration to New York, the most populous US city.

In his memo, Mr Bove wrote that the directive to dismiss the charges was not in exchange for Adams’ cooperation on federal immigration enforcement.

But he appeared to endorse Adams’ assertion that he was prosecuted for political reasons.

“It cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticised the prior Administration’s immigration policies before the charges were filed,” Mr Bove wrote.

In a statement, Adams’ defence attorney Alex Spiro said, “As I said from the outset, the mayor is innocent – and he would prevail. Today, he has.”

Adams forged ties with Trump

Adams, a former police captain, began his term in 2022 as a close ally of Mr Biden, a fellow Democrat.

But that year, he began calling on Washington to boost funding to the largest US city to deal with an influx in migrants.

For months, he has sought to forge closer ties with Mr Trump, fuelling speculation that he might be trying to secure a pardon. Adams attended Mr Trump’s Jan 20 inauguration.

Mr Trump, who in 2023 pleaded not guilty to four sets of criminal indictments he said were politically motivated, has expressed sympathy for Mr Adams’ claim he was targeted by prosecutors for political reasons.

In December, before his inauguration, Mr Trump said he would consider pardoning the mayor.

In a court filing in January, SDNY prosecutors disputed Adams’ assertion that he was targeted because of politics and said their investigation began more than a year before Adams started publicly criticising the Biden administration.

In his first three weeks back in the White House, Mr Trump has overseen a transformation of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that critics say threatens the agency’s traditional independence from partisan politics.

Mr Michael Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor who is not involved in Adams case, said the Justice Department’s directive to drop the charges sets a bad precedent for the independence of federal prosecutors.

“Sadly, this is another example of the convulsions occurring within the DOJ and FBI and the politicised nature of current decision-making,” Mr Weinstein said.

Mr Bove’s memo suggested that a dismissal of the Adams indictment may not be permanent.

He wrote that prosecutors should drop the charges only if Adams agrees to the possibility that they may be brought again.

Mr Bove said Mr Trump’s pick to lead the Southern District of New York office, Mr Jay Clayton, will decide whether to revive the charges after he is confirmed by the US Senate and after the Nov 4, 2025 New York mayoral election.

Adams’ trial is scheduled to start on April 21, ahead of the Democratic primary in June for the New York City mayor’s race. Adams faces several primary challengers.

Even if the case is dropped, the public airing of serious criminal allegations against Adams may have wounded him politically.

Several Democrats have emerged to contest the party primary in June, the winner of which is likely to win the November general election to lead the left-leaning city. REUTERS