A lawyer for New York City Mayor Eric Adams allegedly offered up the mayor’s power to assist President Donald Trump in carrying out his agenda only if the criminal indictment against him would be dismissed, the former acting head of Manhattan federal court said.
Danielle Sassoon, a Republican, issued the stunning revelation in an eight-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi where she pushed back on the Justice Department’s request for her office to dismiss a five-count indictment against Adams that included bribery charges.
Sassoon said not only was the Justice Department’s request inconsistent with principles of fairness and impartiality but that during a meeting between DoJ officials, her office and Adams’s attorney in January, she witnessed “what amounted to a quid pro quo”.
“Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote to Bondi in a letter obtained by the New York Times.
After being indicted last year, Adams, a Democrat, had begun cozying up to Trump – taking his position that the Justice Department’s criminal cases were politically motivated because Adams had praised some of Trump’s anti-immigration policies.
Prosecutors indicted Adams last year on allegations of accepting lavish travel benefits from the Turkish government in exchange for helping expedite the Turkish consulate building as well as accepting campaign donations through an illegal “straw donor” scheme.
He denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Breaking from his party, Adams sided with Trump on immigration policies, believing the crackdown would benefit New York City which has struggled to adjust to a surge in migrants.
At one point, Trump reportedly floated the idea of pardoning Adams.
In recent weeks, Adams’s attorneys had been seen meeting with Justice Department officials and rumors circulated that it was part of a potential agreement to drop the charges or dismiss the case.
Then on Monday, Emil Bove III, the No. 2 in the Justice Department, issued a memo asking federal prosecutors to do just that. Bove’s justification for dropping the charges had nothing to do with the merits of the case but that Adams was needed to help carry out Trump’s agenda.
Sassoon, who had been appointed acting U.S. attorney of the Southern District of New York by the president just weeks ago, refused. She and four other lawyers resigned from their positions Thursday.
In her letter, Sassoon said Bove’s request raised “serious concerns” about her “ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor”.
Sassoon added that in addition to witnessing the alleged attempt at a “quid pro quo,” Bove also “admonished” members of her office for taking notes during the meeting and collected those notes at the end of the meeting.
The mayor denied Sassoon’s claim on Fox News on Friday morning.
“Think about my attorney, Alex Spiro, one of the top trial attorneys in the country,” Adams said while sitting next to border czar Tom Homan.
Adams: Imagine him going inside saying that the only way Mayor Adams is going to assist in immigration, which I was calling for since 2022, is if you drop the charges. That's quid pro quo. That's a crime. pic.twitter.com/2Ie0QeCc4l
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 14, 2025
“Imagine him going inside, saying that, ‘The only way Mayor Adams is going to assist in immigration’ – which I was called in for since 2022 – ‘Is if you drop the charges’. That’s quid pro quo, that’s a crime. It took her three weeks to report in front of her a criminal action c’mon this is silly,” Adams said.
In a separate resignation letter from Hagan Scotten, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, he criticized Bove and other lawyers for empowering Trump’s attempt to politicize Adams’s criminal case in order to justify dismissing it.
“If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me,” Scotten wrote.
