The Trump White House is hitting back at a lawsuit from Mayor Eric Adams over $80 million being taken from a New York City bank account.
This comes after the Department of Justice dismissed a federal criminal case against the mayor.
In a Friday court filing, the Trump administration argued that it had the right to remove the funds from the account, which prompted the Adams lawsuit, Politico reported.
The Trump legal team said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) didn’t violate protocol when it removed the money from a municipal account with Citibank last month. The funds had been approved by Congress to reimburse the city for services provided to non-citizen immigrants.
Federal officials have said they put a pause on the aid during their investigation if the money was indirectly being used to support Tren De Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, the court filing stated.
A number of federal lawyers wrote in the complaint that “On its merits, this case involves a question of whether, if a federal grantee providing housing for illegal aliens allows that housing to be taken over by a terrorist organization and used as a base of operations for serious illegal activity, the federal government may pause that grantee’s funding until it assures itself that the funds are not being used for or facilitating illegal activity.”
The Trump administration made its claims about the gang following a report by the New York Post outlining how the gang has made the Roosevelt Hotel one of their outposts. However, most of the funds were intended for the Manhattan inn, where migrants have been housed.
The New York City Law Department argued that the reversal of the payment was illegal and that its lawsuit is supported by the law. City Hall didn’t offer an explanation for the claims that Tren De Aragua has set up shop at the Roosevelt, but they argued that they’re owed the funds.
Spokesperson Liz Garcia said in a statement that “The $80 million that FEMA approved, paid, and then rescinded — after the city spent more than $7 billion in the last three years — is the bare minimum our taxpayers deserve,” according to Politico.
“We will continue work to ensure our city’s residents get every dollar they are owed, and the Law Department will respond in court,” the spokesperson added.
Federal officials said in their response to the suit that New York City hasn’t shown how it has been irreparably harmed by the rescinded payment as the money was only temporarily removed.
Last week, the Adams administration filed its lawsuit arguing that the Trump administration had violated federal regulations and grant terms when they rescinded the funding. Officials on the local level are attempting to enjoin the Trump administration from removing any similar funding as well as a return of the $80 million.
The lawsuit comes after Adams, a Democrat, spent months attempting to gain favor with President Donald Trump. The Department of Justice subsequently took action to have the mayor’s federal criminal case dismissed. A prosecutor referred to it as a quid pro quo. While Adams’ attorney has rejected the claim, the prosecutor resigned in protest at the dismissal.
