The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, following the resignation of several top prosecutors this week.
Edward Sullivan, an attorney in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, signed the paperwork Friday evening that was required to proceed with seeking a formal dismissal of charges.
Emil Bove, acting Deputy Attorney General, signed the papers alongside another career official in the criminal division, Toni Bacon.
The move brings an end to an extraordinary standoff between prosecutors in the department’s Public Integrity Section and Bove, who earlier this week directed prosecutors in the Southern District of New York to dismiss the case against Adams.
That request prompted a scathing letter from acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, implying that Bove and other DOJ leadership were explicitly aware of a quid pro quo proposed by Adams’ attorneys, which stated that Adams’ vocal support for Trump’s immigration policies would be bolstered by the dismissal of the indictment against him.
Sassoon then resigned, followed by three other top supervisory officials from the Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C., where the case was reassigned.
The impasse continued into Friday, when many of the section’s leaders refused to sign the paperwork and resigned in protest, before Bove gathered the rest of the section earlier Friday to warn them that there would be serious consequences if no one signed the paperwork, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Now that the paperwork has been filed, a federal judge will have to decide whether the case should be dismissed.
Before the paperwork was filed, another federal prosecutor resigned, implying that only a “fool” or a “coward” would file the motion requested by Bove.
“No system of ordered liberty can allow the government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives,” Hagan Scotten, the assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote in his resignation letter.
Chad Mizelle, Bondi’s chief of staff, responded to the defiant prosecutors in a statement Friday afternoon, claiming Adams’ prosecution was politically motivated.
“The fact that those who indicted and prosecuted the case refused to obey a direct command demonstrates the prosecutors’ disordered and ulterior motives. “Such individuals have no place at the DOJ,” he stated.
Adams was indicted on five counts in September, with federal prosecutors alleging that he accepted illegal gifts from Turkish businessmen and officials in exchange for preferential treatment while serving as Brooklyn borough president and then mayor.
The indictment also claimed Adams received illegal campaign straw donations from Turkish citizens.
Adams pleaded not guilty, repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and claimed without evidence that he was being politically targeted by the Biden administration, despite the fact that the investigation spanned many years before Biden took office.
Adams’ lawyer denied any collusion between Adams and the Trump administration before DOJ leadership directed prosecutors to drop the case without prejudice, allowing it to be re-filed.
“The idea that there was a quid pro quo is a total lie,” said attorney Alex Spiro. “We offered nothing and the department asked nothing of us.”
On Friday morning, Adams appeared on “Fox and Friends” alongside Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan.
Following that appearance, Adams issued a statement stating, “I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for the resolution of my case. “Not ever.”
