Cnn
–
The Ministry of Justice moves to abandon the federal corruption file against the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, according to a memo obtained by CNN.
The memo, which was sent by the acting assistant attorney, Emil Bove, who is a former prosecutor in New York himself, asked the acting United States prosecutor from the South District, Danielle Sassoon, to reject the accusations “as soon as possible” – subject to several conditions, including a examination of the southern district after the mayor elections of November 2025.
Last year, the Ministry of Justice brought accusations of public corruption against Adams, a democrat, during the first pursuit of a mayor in the exercise of modern history of the city. Adams pleaded not guilty and the case was to be tried this spring.
In a press release, Alex Spiro, an Adams lawyer who also represented Trump Ally Elon Musk, said in part: “As I said from the start, the mayor is innocent – and he would prevail. Today he did. Spiro also told Kaitlan Collins de CNN in response to the news: “He would have been acquitted in 45 minutes.”
A spokesperson for the American lawyer’s office for the South New York district refused to comment. A spokesperson for the Adams administration refused to comment and referred CNN to the lawyer for the mayor.
The memo cites two reasons to command the dismissal: the opinion of the Ministry of Justice according to which the case was marred by advertising and that it hinders the capacity of Adams to do its work as mayor.
“The current prosecutions have unduly restricted the capacity of the mayor Adams to devote total attention and resources to illegal and violent immigration that have intensified previous administration policies,” writes Bove.
Adams, who is re -elect this fall, was charged in September to accept luxury travel advantages and request and receive illegal campaign donations from Turkish nationals in exchange for political favors, in particular by pressure on municipal agencies To take favorable measures on behalf of donors’ donors.
Adams has denied all the reprehensible acts. Since his accusation act, he frequently declared that the accusation was politically motivated by his criticism of the Biden administration’s response to an influx of migrant arrivals in the city from spring 2022.
“We cannot ignore that the mayor Adams criticized the immigration policies of the previous administration before the depositing of the accusations,” writes Bove in the memo.
The case was to be tried this spring, just a few months before the city’s democratic primary, where Adams faces a crowded field of challengers.
For months, Adams rejected speculation that he would leave the race. During a recent interconfessional breakfast with the leaders of the city’s clergy, Adams called rumors that he planned to resign “stupid”.
Several of the city’s democratic legislators have increased their criticism in recent weeks, which suggests that the mayor has been slow to respond to President Donald Trump’s policies – including his executive decree aimed at reducing federal funding to cities that do not cooperate with the repression of the immigration of the administration.
Speculations on potential forgiveness or dismissal of the case began in October, shortly after the charges were worn.
Adams was shy in the conduct of the presidential election, refusing at one point to say the name of Kamala Harris when asked several times if he would vote for the Democratic candidate.
In October, Trump seemed to express his sympathy with the mayor and suggested that his pursuit was the result of a political compensation for his criticism of the way the Biden administration managed the migrant crisis.
“We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, like you, Eric, “Trump told the mayor during his comments during the Al Smith charity dinner in New York.
Adams, which was registered as a republican in the 1990s, also attended the inauguration of Trump and visited him in his seaside resort of Mar-A-Lago in Florida last month.
The Bove memo notes that the Doj issues its order “without assessing the force of evidence or the legal theories on which the case is founded” and does not mention a potential forgiveness for Adams.
This story has been updated with additional information.