The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss its corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the latest move in a row between the Trump administration and career US attorneys. Seven justice department lawyers, including the top US prosecutor in Manhattan, resigned over an order to drop the case. US Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News on Friday that it was her understanding that the case against Adams would be “dismissed today”. Adams was indicted last year on fraud and bribery charges. He denies any wrong doing. The request to drop the charges will require approval by a judge.
Earlier in the week, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove – Bondi’s second-in-command – ordered the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office to end the case. Bove argued that the case against Adams had “restricted” the mayor’s ability to address “illegal immigration and violent crime” – two of President Donald Trump’s key priorities. The motion to dismiss the case, signed by Bove and two justice department lawyers, said that pursuing the case “would interfere with the defendant’s ability to govern in New York City, which poses unacceptable threats to public safety, national security, and related federal immigration initiatives and policies”. But several Department of Justice employees, including the top prosecutor in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, viewed the order to drop the case as politically motivated interference in the independent judicial system. Sassoon resigned from her post on Thursday and was followed by six of her colleagues. She said dropping the case would set a “breathtaking and dangerous precedent”. The latest prosecutor to resign in protest at being ordered to drop the charges, Hagan Scotten, wrote in his resignation letter on Friday that US laws and traditions do not allow for “using prosecutorial power” to influence elected officials.
