NEW YORK CITY – Eric Adams, Mayor of New York City, has a new lease on life as Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has moved to make charges of bribery, fraud, and other crimes disappear – at least, for now.
Trump is dropping the charges rather than pardoning the mayor outright because this path allows the charges to be reintroduced at any time Trump sees fit, thereby keeping the mayor under MAGA control.
Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the Southern District of New York to dismiss all charges on Monday night, using the rationale that Adams’ trial would be too close to his mayoral re-election campaign. In addition, according to Bove, “the pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”
The morning before the announcement, The City reported that Mayor Adams convened an emergency meeting of agency leaders, deputy mayors, and top aides to instruct them not to publicly criticize Trump’s policies, saying that it might endanger federal funds.
“Eric Adams instructed New York City employees from top to bottom to aid and abet his efforts to win a pardon from Donald Trump,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander to reporters gathered outside of the Municipal Building later that day.
However, a dismissal is not a pardon. The charges are dismissed without prejudice, meaning that they can be brought against Adams again — if the Trump administration wants. Trump himself has made no secret of his intent to intervene in his Justice Department, something presidents have disclaimed since Watergate, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest between political goals and the use of prosecutorial power.
Trump has made it clear he sees no distinction between politics and governance. Indeed, the memo stipulates that the “matter shall be reviewed by the confirmed U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, following the November 2025 mayoral election.”
Such a review will be based on “consideration of all relevant factors” including Adams’ willingness to carry out the Trump administration’s policies in the most populous and diverse city in the country.
Low approval rating
New Yorkers often oppose their mayors, and Eric Adams is no exception. Only 27% of New Yorkers have a favorable view of Mayor Adams, a favorability rating that is even lower than Donald Trump’s. Adams was the first mayor to win a NYC Democratic Primary decided by ranked-choice voting, edging out his next-highest competitor, Kathryn Garcia, by a little more than seven thousand votes. Indeed, in the general election, he was elected by only 13% of all eligible voters in New York City.
The controversy started with whether or not Eric Adams actually lived in New York (a qualification for mayor) or in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Then it expanded to the nightclub circuit, where his staff were accused of shaking down business owners to hire “consultants” that would help them avoid city inspectors. The scandal spread to his relationship with Bishop Lamor Whitehead, who was convicted of using his relationship with the mayor to try and extort money from businessmen.
When the FBI moved in to start raiding the homes of Mayor Adams aides, collecting phones and other evidence, it was a matter of time before they came for Adams himself. In November 2023, the FBI seized his phones and an iPad as part of a federal investigation which eventually bore fruit as a federal indictment alleging that Adams collaborated with foreign governments to receive free plane tickets in and launder campaign contributions to take advantage of matching campaign funds from the state in return for political favors.
At the time, Mayor Adams blamed his so-called “hard line” stance against immigration for the charges, accusing the Biden administration of politically motivated retaliation. Accordingly, the memo from the Justice Department mentions that “it cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticized the prior Administration’s immigration policies before the charges were filed,” seemingly lending credibility to Adams’ theory of political persecution.
In reality, the migrant crisis in New York has been quite lucrative for city contractors working with the mayor’s office. The NYC City Comptroller’s office audit flagged tens of millions of dollars unaccounted for by companies assigned no-bid contracts by the mayor’s office, as well as gross inflation of market labor rates by the same companies.
Comptroller Lander, who is also running for mayor against Eric Adams this year, also noted that 80% of hotel rooms audited housing migrants were deficient in some way, “from missing refrigerators and microwaves to more serious health hazards like mold.”
In a memo last week, Adams went against previous guidance and told officials they were free to disregard such laws and allow federal immigration officers into shelters, schools and hospitals without a warrant if they “reasonably feel threatened.”
The Legal Aid Society immediately pushed back against the new guidance, calling the memo a “clear end run around New York’s sanctuary laws,” encouraging City employees to continue their previous policy of not allowing ICE agents access to municipal properties without a warrant signed by a judge.
“In announcing this significant retreat from the current law, the Mayor has given ICE and other federal law enforcement permission to use threats and intimidation against workers and all New Yorkers to achieve mass deportation,” the organization said in a statement.
Governor Kathy Hochul, who has the ability to remove Adams as Mayor, then pressured him to begin dismissing his top aides but did not move on the mayor’s own resignation. Despite outcry from city officials, she dug into her position on Tuesday, stating that in light of the Justice Department moving to dismiss his charges, telling reporters that to remove Adams at this juncture did not “feel like something that was very democratic.”
The New York City Council still has the ability to take a vote of no-confidence in the Mayor, which would provide the Governor with political cover to move on his removal. And it may come to that, as Mayor Adams has previously threatened to override the city’s Sanctuary Laws with an executive order.
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