The Ministry of Justice requires prosecutors to drop Federal Corruption Case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Cnn
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The Ministry of Justice is moving to drop the federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to one MEMO obtained by CNN.

The memo sent by acting Deputy Deputy Attorney Emil Bove, a former New York Prosecutor, instructed the acting US lawyer for the southern district, Danielle Sassoon, to reject the charges “As soon as it is practical”. Subject to several conditions, including a review from the southern district of the mayor in November 2025.

Last year, the Ministry of Justice brought public corruption charges against Adams, a Democrat, in the first prosecution of a sitting mayor of the city’s modern history. Adams did not plead guilty and the case should go to trial in the spring.

In a statement, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Adams, who has also represented Trump Alle Elon Musk, said partly, “as I said from the start, the mayor is innocent – and he would prevail. Today he has. “Spiro also told CNNS Kaitlan Collins in response to the news:” He would have been acquitted in 45 minutes. ”

A spokesperson for the US Law Office for the Southern District in New York refused to comment. A spokesman for Adams’ administration refused to comment and referred CNN to the mayor’s lawyer.

The memo quotes two reasons for ordering the dismissal: The Ministry of Justice’s view that the case has been possessed by advertising and that it hinders Adams’ ability to perform his job as mayor.

“The pending prosecution has unnecessarily limited the mayor Adams’ ability to use full attention and resources for the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the prior administration’s policy,” Bove writes.

Adams, who is ready for re -election in the fall, was indicted in September in the long term of accepting luxury trips and request and receiving illegal campaign donations from Turkish nationals in exchange.

Adams has denied all offense. Since his indictment, he has often said that the prosecution was politically motivated by his criticism of the Biden administration’s response to a influx of wandering arrivals in the city that began in the spring of 2022.

“It cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticized the former administration’s immigration policy before the charges were filed,” Bove writes in the note.

The case was scheduled to go to trial in the spring, just months before the city’s democratic primary, with Adams facing a crowded field of challengers.

For months, Adams has averted speculation that he would leave the race. During a recent interrelation breakfast with the city’s priests leaders, Adam’s rumors called that he planned to resign “stupid.”

Several of the city’s democratic lawmakers have increased their criticism in recent weeks, suggesting that the mayor has been slow to respond to President Donald Trump’s policy – including his executive order to cut off federal financing to cities that do not cooperate with the administration’s immigration.

Speculation of a potential pardon or dismissal of the case began in October, shortly after the charges were brought.

Adams was Coy in the construction of the presidential election, at one point fell by saying Kamala Harris’ name when asked several times if he would vote for the democratic nomine.

In October, Trump seemed to express sympathy with the mayor and suggested that his prosecution were the result of political retaliation for his criticism of how the Biden administration handled the migrant crisis.

“We were persecuted, Eric. I was pursued, and so are you, Eric, ”Trump told the mayor during his comments at Al Smith Charity Dinner in New York.

Adams, who was registered as a Republican in the 1990s, also participated in Trump’s inauguration and visited him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last month.

Boves Memo notes that DOJ is issuing his order “without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based,” and does not mention a potential pardon for Adams.

This story has been updated with further information.