NEW YORK (news agencies) — The Justice Department on Monday ordered federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, arguing in a remarkable departure from long-standing norms that the case was interfering with the mayor’s ability to aid the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
In a two-page memo obtained by media, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove told prosecutors in New York that they were “directed to dismiss” the bribery charges against Adams immediately.
Bove said the order was not based on the strength of evidence in the case, but rather because it had been brought too close to Adams reelection campaign and was distracting from the mayor’s efforts to assist in the Trump administration’s law-and-order priorities.
“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime,” Bove wrote.
The memo also ordered prosecutors in New York not to take “additional investigative steps” against the Democrat until after November’s mayoral election, though it left open the possibility that charges could be refiled after that following a review.
The intervention and reasoning — that a powerful defendant could be too occupied with official duties to face accountability for alleged crimes — marked an extraordinary deviation from long-standing Justice Department norms.
Public officials at the highest level of government are routinely investigated by the Justice Department, including during President Donald Trump’s first term, without prosecutors advancing a claim that they should be let off the hook to attend to government service.
An attorney for Adams, Alex Spiro, said the Justice Department’s order had vindicated the mayor’s claim of innocence. “Now, thankfully, the mayor and New York can put this unfortunate and misguided prosecution behind them,” said Spiro, who has also represented Elon Musk.
A spokesperson for the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, declined to comment. The case against Adams was brought under the previous U.S. attorney for the district, Damien Williams, who stepped down before Trump became president.
The memo follows months of speculation that Trump would take steps to end the case against Adams, who was charged in September with accepting bribes of free or discounted travel and illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals seeking to buy his influence.
Adams, a Democrat elected on a centrist platform, has moved noticeably right following his indictment, rankling some within his own party.
Rather than restricting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as Adams once promised, he has expressed a willingness to roll back the city’s so-called sanctuary policies and pledged not to publicly criticize a president whose policies he once described as “abusive.”
Trump had hinted at the possibility of a pardon in December, telling reporters that the mayor had been “treated pretty unfairly.” He had also claimed, without offering evidence, that Adams was being persecuted for criticizing former President Joe Biden’s policies on immigration.
In response, prosecutors have noted that the investigation into Adams began before he began feuding with Biden over migrant funding.
Adams flew to Florida to meet with Trump on Jan. 17. Afterward, Adams said the two men hadn’t discussed his criminal case, but implied that Trump’s agenda would be better for New York than former President Joe Biden’s.
Trump, who was convicted last year of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment, has previously expressed solidarity with Adams.
“I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the DOJ, for speaking out against open borders,” Trump said in October at a Manhattan event attended by Adams. “We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric.”
Adams faces a crowded Democratic primary race in June. On Monday, several of his opponents described the DOJ directive as a sign Adams had agreed to do Trump’s bidding in exchange for leniency.
“Instead of standing up for New Yorkers, Adams is standing up for precisely one person,” said Brad Lander, the city’s comptroller and a mayoral challenger.
Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblymember who is also running for mayor, called for an investigation into whether Adams “cut any kind of deal with the Trump administration that involves breaking city law.”
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