A top Department of Justice official denied engaging with an alleged quid pro quo with New York City Mayor Eric Adams but said it would still be OK if they had, as lawyers were dragged to court on Wednesday over the request to dismiss his bribery charges.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III and an attorney for Adams faced questions from a federal judge about dropping the five-count indictment against the mayor.
Bove, a former criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump, ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to sign a motion to dismiss the case last week, arguing the New York City mayor was needed to help Trump carry out his agenda – especially as it pertains to immigration. When federal prosecutors in New York refused, he turned to the Justice Department.
Sitting before District Judge Dale Ho on Wednesday, Bove denied the Manhattan prosecutor’s allegation that he struck a deal with Adams to drop the indictment in exchange for his help but said even if he head, it wouldn’t matter.
“I don’t concede that even if there was a quid pro quo, there would be an issue with this motion,” Bove said.
Judges typically do not have the power to deny the government’s motion to dismiss but they may hold hearings on it to get further clarification.
Federal prosecutors are seeking to drop the charges against Adams at the direction of Trump, who the mayor has controversially recently struck up a friendly relationship with. But controversy was turned up a notch last week when five federal prosecutors in the DOJ and two in the Southern District of New York resigned instead of signing documents to drop the charges at Bove’s request.
Danielle Sassoon, the Trump-appointed former acting U.S. attorney for the Manhattan federal district, told Attorney General Pam Bondi she had witnessed Adams’s attorney and Bove engaged in “what amounted to a quid pro quo” to have the case axed.
The acting deputy attorney general reiterated over and over to Ho there was an “undisputed” record of such quid pro quo.
He reiterated over and over again to Ho the importance of dismissing the charges against Adams so the mayor could obtain security clearance again and begin working to help carry out Trump’s immigration agenda.
Ho quizzed Adams, the mayor’s attorney and Bove over the allegations. He asked the mayor if anyone had promised him anything or threatened him in return for consenting to the motion to dismiss the case.
Adams said he had not and even assured Ho that he was confident the charges would not be brought in the future if the judge signed off on the motion.
“I have not committed a crime. I don’t see them bringing it back. I’m not afraid of that,” Adams said.
The New York City mayor was all smiles on Wednesday as he strode into the courthouse, despite groups of people screaming and booing at him as he walked up the stone staircase into the courthouse.
Even after the roughly hour-and-half-long hearing, he flashed his signature thumbs up to reporters as he left court.
Ho said he would decide whether to approve the motion to dismiss at a later date.
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Adams was indicted last year on five criminal counts for allegedly accepting travel benefits from the Turkish government in exchange for helping expedite the building of the Turkish consulate. He was also accused of accepting campaign donations from an illegal straw donor scheme.
The mayor denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Adams quickly took Trump’s position of accusing the Justice Department of bringing the charges for political reasons – as both men have sought to crack down on immigration.
Since Trump was elected, rumors have swirled over whether the case against Adams would be dismissed or if the mayor would be pardoned.
