A US judge on Wednesday permanently dismissed corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, weeks after President Donald Trump's administration pushed to stop the unprecedented prosecution.
Judge Dale Ho agreed to grant the Justice Department's proposed motion to dismiss the indictments, but was critical of its arguments and closed the door on it being able to reopen the case against Adams.
Adams -- once an up-and-coming star of the Democratic Party -- was accused of wire fraud, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and a bribery conspiracy involving Turkish citizens and at least one Turkish official.
In his order, Judge Ho disagreed with Department of Justice (DOJ) assertions that the case was interfering with Adams's ability to implement Trump's anti-immigration crackdown, pointing out that he had in fact taken actions in line with it.
"Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions," wrote Ho, who said he was permanently dismissing the case in order to deny the DOJ the ability to hold it over Adams.
"Dismissing the case without prejudice would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor's freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration," he wrote.
That scenario, the judge argued, could mean "that he might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents."
Critics have suggested that Trump sought to discontinue the prosecution against Adams only because the mayor has declined to criticize the new US president and indicated he would participate in the immigration crackdown.
New York is currently a sanctuary city, meaning local police and authorities do not assist immigration agents in their pursuit of undocumented migrants.
In March, Adams signed an executive order allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel access to the Rikers Island jail complex, a significant shift from that policy.
Trump's highly unusual push to quash the charges against Adams had prompted a wave of protest resignations in the Manhattan district attorney's office and in Washington.
Adams has consistently denied the charges and resisted calls to resign, and earlier announced plans to run again for mayor of the largest US city in a November election.
He has angered many New Yorkers with his closeness to Trump, and was forced to deny reports that he could switch to the Republican Party.
The judge said he granted the motion to dismiss the graft case not on the basis of the DOJ's arguments, but because the court "cannot force the Department of Justice to prosecute a defendant."
He also ruled that there was "no evidence" to suggest prosecutors had acted improperly in pursuing Adams or that the investigation amounted to "election interference" in the mayoral race, as Trump's DOJ had argued.
Ho said that the DOJ's assertion that investigations that may inhibit officials' ability to enforce federal policies should be dropped was "disturbing."
The argument implied "that public officials may receive special dispensation if they are compliant with the incumbent administration's policy priorities."
