OAN Staff James Meyers
8:36 AM – Wednesday, April 2, 2025
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ federal corruption case has been dropped, which now allows him to run for a second term without the possibility of going to jail.
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Federal judge Dale Ho dismissed the case on Wednesday with prejudice, stopping the criminal case that has been ongoing for over six months.
“To be clear, the Court again emphasizes that it does not express any opinion as to the merits of the case or whether the prosecution of Mayor Adams (D-N.Y.) “should” move forward.,” Ho wrote in the 78-page decision. “The Court notes only that it has no authority to require that it continue.”
“Ultimately, because the decision to discontinue a prosecution belongs primarily to a political branch of government, it is the public’s judgment, and not this Court’s, that truly matters.”
The highly anticipated decision comes as President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered prosecutors to drop the charges against Adams.
In the DOJ request to drop the case, which was led by Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, prosecutors said having the charges hanging over Adams’ head interfered with his 2025 mayoral campaign and his ability to cooperate with the Trump administration cracking down on immigration.
Governor Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) even discussed the possibility of potentially removing the mayor from office, but eventually decided to keep him in his role despite a number of calls from within their own party to remove him.
Adams faced a five-count indictment, which included bribery and fraud. He pleaded not guilty in September. Adams was accused of taking in over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and travel perks from people seeking to influence him, including a Turkish official.
The initial request to drop the charges made note that the decision was not based on “the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.”
However, Bove claimed that the case was a politically motivated prosecution brought by then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
He also claimed that the mayor could not properly do his job, causing New Yorkers to be potentially at risk, as the ongoing case left him without the proper clearance to be briefed on threats to the city.
The DOJ’s letter ordering federal prosecutors to drop the case ignited a firestorm, causing an exodus from the department and the Southern District of New York, which brought the case, including the interim head of the office, Danielle Sassoon, who raised the allegations in an angry resignation letter.
Ho tapped Republican lawyer Paul Clement, who served as U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush, to help advise what his options were while faced with the legally obscure bid.
Clement advised the judge that he had a few options, saying he had no power to name a special prosecutor in the case and any sort of attempt to make such a move would be “futile.”
The attorney wrote that the judge could change the dismissal type to “with prejudice,” killing the case forever, and argued that it would align more with the DOJ’s argument to remove all political “taint.”
“Even the appearance that the prospect of re-indictment would cause public officials to be more attendant to the executive branch than to constituents is deeply troubling and raises serious accountability concerns,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the latest ruling gives Adams less than three months to get back on the campaign trail, as he has been absent with the case looming over his head.
The Big Apple mayor faces an uphill battle to unseat the current leader, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has led in every poll so far this year.
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