Judge Dismisses Eric Adams Criminal Case

On Wednesday, Judge Dale E. Ho of Federal District Court in Manhattan dismissed federal corruption charges against Eric Adams, ending the first criminal case against a New York City mayor in modern history and underscoring how prosecutorial power is being used to advance President Trump’s agenda. In his ruling, Judge Ho refused to allow the government to keep open the option of reinstating the charges, as the Justice Department had sought, the New York Times reports. Even so, the ruling underscores the remarkable power that Trump’s administration has to terminate cases, regardless of the rationale. The decision abruptly ended the long-running case weeks before it had been set for trial. It was also the culmination of a bitter clash between the prosecutors who indicted Adams and the officials at Trump’s Justice Department who killed the case. The fight, in which Manhattan prosecutors and Justice Department officials accused each other of ethical misconduct, left  Adams deeply damaged as he faces a steep uphill climb for re-election this year. 

The Justice Department had moved to dismiss the charges against the mayor after the prosecutors who had brought the indictment refused to do so. One of the department’s highest-ranking officials offered a highly unusual justification, arguing that the case was compromising  Adams’s ability to help enforce the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The judge said that granting the government’s request “would create the unavoidable perception that the mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration, and that he might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents.”  Adams was indicted last year on five counts, including bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. He had pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. The prosecution was pursued aggressively by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan after the indictment was returned in September. But after the change in presidential administrations, the Trump Justice Department reversed course, ordering prosecutors to seek the charges’ dismissal.