Justice Dept. said to discuss dropping case against Eric Adams

Officials in the senior department under President Trump have had discussions with federal prosecutors in Manhattan about the opportunity to drop their corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams in New York, according to five people with knowledge of the case.

The officials have also spoken to Mr. Adams’ defense team since Mr. Trump joined, the people said. The defense team is led by Alex Spiro, who is also the personal lawyer of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and one of the president’s closest advisers.

Mr. Adams was indicted in September on charges, including bribery, fraud and request for illegal foreign campaign contributions after an investigation that began in 2021. He has pleaded guilty, maintained his innocence, and claimed he will be prosecuted because he criticized the bite administration .

In recent weeks Mr. Adams, a Democrat, the tub benefit of Trump. He met with the elected president near Mar-A-Lago, participated in the inauguration and has said that from now on he will share any criticism of the president privately. Mr. Trump has the power to forgive Mr. Adams, and in December it said the mayor had been treated “rather unfair” by prosecutors, and suggested he considered issuing a pardon.

The two men, according to several people close to the mayor, have been in direct communication for weeks and talked on the phone.

A spokesman for the US lawyer for the southern district of New York, who prosecutes the case, refused to comment. The office, known for its independence, is led on a temporary basis by Danielle Sassoon, a veteran prosecutor chosen by the Trump administration. A spokeswoman for Mr. Spiro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Trump’s nominees to be Deputy Attorney, Todd Blanche, who was Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer in his criminal cases for the past two years and is a former federal prosecutor in the southern district of New York, was not part of the discussions, a senior official in the Ministry of Justice said and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. Mr. Blanche has not yet reviewed the Senate Confirmation Process.

Another official of the Ministry of Justice said all communication between prosecutors of Manhattan and Mr. Adams’ legal team about the case had gone through the office of the acting Deputy Deputy Attorney, Emil Bove, who is also a previous prosecutor’s office.

It is not unusual for leaders of the Ministry of Justice in Washington to discuss high-profile criminal cases with their colleagues in Manhattan, and there is no indication that Manhattan’s prosecutors are inclined to drop the case. But the time of discussions before the confirmation of Mr. Trump’s election for court lawyer and American lawyer in Manhattan, Pam Bondi and Jay Clayton, raising questions.

It is also common for defense lawyers in larger cases to ask senior department officials in Washington to reduce or drop prosecutions. What is noted, however, is that such discussions happen at a time when there is a skeletal crew of Trump administration officials driving the department undergoing major staff and political changes.

Mr. Adam’s presidents a so-called Sanctuary City, where Trump administration officials this week began a crash on undocumented migrants. The Ministry of Justice is among the agencies leading this crash.

In a memo last week, Mr. Bove with prosecuting local officials who interfere with the administration’s immigration agenda.

In December, the mayor’s defense attorneys in court papers revealed that prosecutors had presented additional evidence of a magnificent jury in his case, suggesting that several charges could come against the mayor himself, his employees or both.

Earlier this month, prosecutors wrote in another filing that they continued to “reveal further criminal behavior from Adams” and “identify further people involved,” another indication that new charges may be in the works. The filing provided no further details of the behavior they said they had revealed.

Under Mr. Trump has federal prosecutors moved quickly to stop several ongoing cases, including a Texas surgeon accused of having received private medical information on gender transition for minors and another against Jeffrey Fortenberry, a Republican Congress Member of Nebraska stood facing another trial related to violation of campaign financing.

Glenn Thrush contributed with reporting.