A federal judge has constantly rejected the criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, weeks after the Trump administration ordered prosecutors to refuse corruption allegations.
This move has led to the resignation of the best federal prosecutor of Manhattan, who accused Adams of concluding a deal with the Trump administration to reject his case in exchange for immigration.
The Manhattan judge has rejected the case with prejudice, which means that the Ministry of Justice (DOJ) cannot repeat the allegations against Adams on the basis of the same evidence.
Adams has been accused of conspiracy, fraud, attracting illegal campaign contributions and bribery. He had denied any misconduct.
In the indictment last September, it is alleged that Adams accepted gifts totaling over $ 100,000 (£ 75,000) from Turkish citizens in exchange for services.
But in February, the post of Deputy Prosecutor General Emil Bove, appointed to Trump, ordered New York prosecutors to refuse the case against Adams. He argues the case “limits” the mayor's ability to deal with “illegal immigration and violence”, a key purpose of the Trump administration.
The best Federal Prosecutor of Manhattan Daniel Sasson and six other high-level justice officials resigned on the order, stating that there was no legal justification for the rejection of Adams's case.
Sassoon, in a letter to the boss of Boww, Prosecutor General Pam Bondi, claims that the mayor's team has proposed “what is Quid Pro Quo”, saying that Adams will be able to help administrative policies “only if the prosecution is rejected.”
In a timid 78 -page decision on Wednesday, US District Judge Dale Ho said he was not convinced of the logic of the Ministry of Justice that the case against Adams prevented the mayor from applying the immigration actions of the administration.
“Everything here is hit by a deal: rejecting the charge in exchange for immigration policy discounts,” he said.
His decision to refuse the case permanently, Judge Ho said, guarantees that the administration cannot use the prosecution as a “lever” over Adams or the city of New York.
“Rejecting the case without prejudice would create the inevitable perception that the mayor's freedom depends on his ability to fulfill the priorities for the implementation of the immigration of the administration and that he may be more large to the demands of the federal government than for the wishes of his own constituents,” the judge wrote.
Judge Ho noted that some people “undoubtedly” will find their solution to unsatisfactory, wondering why “if” if DOJ's apparent reasons for dropping out of this case are so anxious, the court does not simply deny the proposal of rejection. “
But he repeated, the court cannot order the Ministry of Justice to continue to pursue if he has decided to refuse the case.
A DOJ spokesman called the case “an example of political weapons and loss of resources.” “We are focused on the arrest and persecution of terrorists while returning the Ministry of Justice in his main mission to keep Americans safe,” the spokesman told CBS News, the partner of the US partner of the BBC.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday after the case was rejected, Adams said the case “never had to be brought and I did nothing wrong”.
The decision of the dismissal comes less than three months before the main mayor of the mayor race on June 24. The polls suggest that Adams is lagging behind several other democratic candidates.
But he told reporters that he was planning to run for re -election.
“And do you know what, I'll win,” he said.