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The Justice Department formally asked a court Friday to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The move, which comes after Adams was accused of cozying up to President Donald Trump, which he denies, was expected but fiercely opposed by the federal prosecutors in Manhattan who brought the case.
Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove and lawyers from the department’s public integrity section and criminal division in Washington filed paperwork seeking to end the case.
The motion does not detail the evidence against Adams but claims that “dismissal is necessary because of appearances of impropriety and risks of interference with the 2025 elections in New York City.”
A judge still has to sign off on the request.
The Justice Department’s three-page motion sought to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the charges could be revived in the future.
The move comes after Bove, the No. 2 in the Justice Department and Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, threw the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section into chaos earlier Friday by demanding one of the 30 remaining federal prosecutors sign off on the motion to dismiss charges against Adams – giving the team one hour to decide amongst themselves who would do it.
It’s unclear why exactly Bove insisted on another federal prosecutor signing off as he could do it himself and was finding trouble with attorneys in the Southern District of New York and the Justice Department to do so.
The Independent has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
A lawyer for Adams allegedly offered up the mayor’s power to assist Trump in carrying out his agenda only if the criminal indictment against him would be dismissed, the former acting head of Manhattan federal court said.
Danielle Sassoon, a Republican, issued the stunning revelation in an eight-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi where she pushed back on the Justice Department’s request for her office to dismiss a five-count indictment against Adams that included bribery charges.
Sassoon said not only was the Justice Department’s request inconsistent with principles of fairness and impartiality but that during a meeting between DoJ officials, her office and Adams’s attorney in January, she witnessed “what amounted to a quid pro quo”.
“Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote to Bondi in a letter obtained by the New York Times.
After being indicted last year, Adams, a Democrat, had begun cozying up to Trump – taking his position that the Justice Department’s criminal cases were politically motivated because Adams had praised some of Trump’s anti-immigration policies.
The mayor denied Sassoon’s claim on Fox News on Friday morning.
AP contributed.
