Justice Department orders charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams dismissed

Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a senior Justice Department official said Monday evening.

The order is for all charges against Adams to be dismissed, and the dismissal is without prejudice, the official said, meaning charges could be refiled in the future.

The charges have not yet been dismissed and federal prosecutors in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.

A formal dismissal request would be filed in court by prosecutors overseen by Danielle R. Sassoon, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where the charges were brought. A motion to dismiss would also be reviewed by a judge.

Adams’ attorney Alex Spiro called the planned dismissal a victory. “As I said from the outset, the mayor is innocent — and he would prevail. Today he has,” Spiro said in a statement.

In his memo, Bove, without citing specific evidence, suggested that the charges filed against Adams were politically motivated. “It cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticized the prior Administration’s immigration policies before the charges were filed,” Bove wrote.

Professor Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School, rejected Bove’s explanation.

“Although dressed up as a concern for appearances and despite his disclaimer,” Gillers said, “Bove’s memo is really a baseless and offensive slur against the former U.S. attorney and the lawyers who worked on the Adams case at the premier federal prosecutorial office in the nation.”

The office also prosecuted Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison last month after being convicted of bribery, obstruction of justice and other charges.

The indictment of Adams and Menendez, two prominent Democratic elected officials, during the 2024 presidential election cycle were generally seen as political blows to the Democratic Party. And the fact that charges could be filed against Adams again could potentially make him beholden to the Trump administration.

One federal law enforcement official called the order to withdraw the charges against Adams “horrific” and “just transparent corruption.”

Adams, a former New York Police Department captain elected mayor in 2021, was charged in an indictment unsealed in September with one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and commit wire fraud and bribery; two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals; and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe.

The indictment accused Adams of taking $100,000 worth of free plane tickets and luxury hotel stays from wealthy Turkish nationals and at least one government official in a nearly decade-long corruption scheme.

Adams has pleaded not guilty. He has said that he is innocent, that the charges are politically motivated and that he would fight the charges.

The senior Justice Department official said Monday that the charges would be reviewed when a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney is confirmed. 

Damian Williams, the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who brought the charges against Adams, announced his resignation in December after President Trump won the 2024 election.

An attorney for Adams in late January contacted Justice Department leadership about dropping the criminal case against him, NBC News has reported.

Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough president in 2013, before being elected mayor of New York. Williams said Adams’ alleged taking of bribes and solicitation of illegal campaign contributions dated back to his time as the borough president.

Adams ran for mayor on a platform of fighting crime, beating Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, who founded the 1970s-era anti-crime patrol the Guardian Angeles.

In announcing criminal charges against Adams, Williams had said that the mayor allowed a Manhattan skyscraper to open without a fire inspection as part of the alleged bribery scheme.

“Adams put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents,” Williams said at the time.

Spiro, Adams’ attorney, said Monday that, “the mayor never used his official position for personal benefit. Nor did he have any role in violating campaign finance laws.”