The judge had not yet decided whether, or when, he will drop the case. The Justice Department official who ordered the charges dropped stood alone at the prosecution table on Wednesday. After court, he claimed the Trump DOJ is fighting against the weaponization of government — and if any federal prosecutors don’t like it, they should resign like others who previously blasted the motion to dismiss. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst reports.
A Justice Department official told a federal judge Wednesday that granting its request to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams was his only option after the Democrat said under oath that no “other agreement" was made with the government in return for the charges being dropped.
Judge Dale E. Ho said he wanted to confirm that the mayor, whom he emphasized is still "presumed innocent," had agreed and understood the charges would be dropped with the possibility they could be reinstated at a later date. Learn more about Judge Ho.
“I have not committed a crime, I don't see them bringing it back,” Adams said. “I’m not afraid of that.”
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Ho said that under the law, he had an oversight role, but that it was mostly the Department of Justice's discretion whether to drop a case.
Adams appeared in high spirits during the more the 80-minute hearing, a shift from past appearances. Strolling slowly into the courtroom, he embraced Black clergy members sitting in the front row.
As he walked out of court, he was still awaiting to learn his legal fate. He did not answer questions as he got into a waiting SUV.
Before concluding the proceedings, the judge called it "a complicated situation" and later added that he would take everything from Wednesday's hearing under "careful consideration." Ho said he planned to make a "reasoned decision" soon, as he did not want the matter to drag on.
"To exercise my discretion properly, I am not going to shoot from my hip right here on the bench," Ho said. "I want to make sure I consider everything appropriate."
No date was given for when a ruling could come, though no decision was expected Wednesday. The judge, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, already had indicated that the hearing probably would not settle the matter, writing in an order Tuesday that one subject on the agenda will be a discussion of “procedure for resolution of the motion.”
Prior to the hearing, legal analysts had cast doubt on the idea the jude would reject the DOJ's bid to pause the mayor's indictment. Some court-watchers left open the idea Ho could order a deeper inquiry, or even require the case be dropped with prejudice, which would not allow the charges against Adams to be revived at a later date.
Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove said the request to drop the corruption charges against the mayor resulted from “a straightforward exercise in prosecutorial discretion guided” by President Donald Trump’s executive order on weaponization of the justice system and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s memorandum outlining the same. He also told the judge there was no legal basis to reject his request and insisted he was acting in good faith.
Bove said he believed the request to drop charges, when tied to Trump’s order and Bondi’s conclusions, made it “virtually unreviewable in this courtroom." Bove noted he also believed “the continuation of this prosecution is interfering with both national security and immigration enforcement initiatives being carried out by the executive branch.”
Typically, a federal judge would accept the government's motion to dismiss a criminal case without such scrutiny. However, the afternoon hearing in Manhattan was called by Ho, well aware of the extraordinary events leading up to the DOJ's dismissal request on Friday. Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor had resigned Thursday after she refused a DOJ order to drop the case against Adams.
Also set for discussion were the reasons for the request to dismiss the indictment that charges the first-term Democrat with accepting more than $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks from a Turkish official and business leaders seeking to buy Adams' influence while he was Brooklyn borough president. Adams has pleaded not guilty. He faces multiple challengers in the Democratic primary in June.
Bove took a shot against the case against the mayor, saying of Adams' revoked security clearances: "If they are revoking them on an airline upgrade case, they are probably revoking them on every case."
Closely watching the judicial proceedings will be Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul as she considers whether to remove Adams from office amid concerns that he reached a deal to have the case dropped in exchange for the mayor's political fealty to Republican President Donald Trump.
Early last week, Bove told prosecutors in New York to drop the charges because the prosecution “has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime.” Bove said charges could be reinstated after November's mayoral election.
Two days later, then-interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told Bondi in a letter that dismissing the charges in return for Adams' assistance in enforcing federal immigration laws would betray Bondi's own words that she "will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct.”
“Dismissal of the indictment for no other reason than to influence Adams’s mayoral decision-making would be all three,” said Sassoon, a Republican. She said it amounted to a “quid pro quo” deal and disclosed that prosecutors were about to bring additional obstruction of justice charges against Adams.
Bove, in accepting Sassoon's resignation, accused her of “pursuing a politically motivated prosecution despite an express instruction to dismiss the case.” He informed her that two prosecutors assigned to the case were being suspended with pay and that an investigation would determine if they would keep their jobs.
One prosecutor, Hagan Scotten, quit the following day, writing in a resignation letter that he supported Sassoon's actions. Scotten told Bove that it would take a “fool” or a “coward” to meet Bove's demand to drop the charges, “but it was never going to be me.”
In all, seven prosecutors, including five high-ranking prosecutors at the Justice Department, had resigned by Friday.
Sassoon and her colleagues have found support for their stand from a small army of former prosecutors.
On Friday, seven former U.S. attorneys in Manhattan, including James Comey, Geoffrey S. Berman and Mary Jo White, issued a statement lauding Sassoon’s “commitment to integrity and the rule of law.”
On Monday, three former U.S. attorneys from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut submitted papers to Ho suggesting that he appoint a special prosecutor if he finds the Justice Department acted improperly or that he order all evidence be made available to state and local prosecutors.
A former Watergate prosecutor filed papers separately, telling the judge to reject the government's request and consider assigning a special counsel to explore the legal issues and ultimately consider appointing an independent special prosecutor to try the case.
Also Monday, Justice Connection, an organization advocating for Justice Department employees, released a letter signed by over 900 former federal prosecutors to career federal prosecutors that said they have “watched with alarm” as values “foundational to a fair and justice legal system” have been tested.
On Tuesday, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Adams, said in a letter to the judge that “there was no quid pro quo. Period.” Spiro told the judge on Wednesday that he would swear under oath that neither he nor the mayor ever promised anything in return in exchange for a dismissal.
Tom Winter of NBC News contributed to this report.
