A federal judge has not decided whether he will dismiss a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams after the Justice Department urged prosecutors to drop corruption charges against him.
U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, who ordered Adams and the Justice Department to appear in court Tuesday, said Wednesday that he wouldn’t issue a decision on the matter from the bench and instead would take time to consider all the facts surrounding the case.
“I’m not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench,” Ho said.
The indictment against Adams claims he inappropriately used his position as mayor to solicit illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel from foreign nationals from Turkey, businessmen and others, according to the Justice Department.
Adams pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2024.
On Thursday, the Democrat mayor met with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, to discuss ways to work to weed out violent migrant gangs from New York. Adams said in a statement after the meeting that he wants to work with the Trump administration and not go to “war” with them when addressing illegal immigration.
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The timing of the meeting, along with the Justice Department’s push to drop the charges against Adams, led to the resignation of multiple Justice Department officials who assert the exchange amounts to a “quid pro quo” offer erasing Adams’ charges and providing the Trump administration more support to tackle illegal immigration.
But Adams denied such accusations.
“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 an end to my case. Never,” Adams said in a statement Friday.
Adams was charged in September 2024 with one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and commit wire fraud and bribery; one count of wire fraud; two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals; and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III issued a memo on Feb. 10 ordering federal prosecutors to drop the charges against Adams due to the timing of the proceedings that have “improperly interfered” with Adams’ campaign in the 2025 mayoral election.
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Additionally, Bove said the legal proceedings were diverting attention from “illegal immigration and violent crime.” Bove wrote in the memo that “the pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated” when former President Joe Biden was in the White House.
Trump has vowed to take an aggressive approach to border security and illegal immigration and has pushed for mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Already, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests have increased by 137% from Jan. 20 to Feb. 8 in comparison to the same time period in 2024 under the Biden administration, according to Department of Homeland Security data obtained by Fox News Digital.
Bove’s memo prompted the resignation of multiple senior Justice Department officials, including Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, who was temporarily tapped by Trump to lead the office prosecuting Adams.
“Adams’s (sic) attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Feb. 12.
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“Rather than be rewarded, Adams’s (sic) advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case,” Sassoon said.
But Bove said the case must be dismissed to prioritize national and public safety in lieu of a case that has been “tainted from the start by troubling tactics.”
“There is no room at the Justice Department for attorneys who refuse to execute on the priorities of the Executive Branch — priorities determined by the American people,” Bove said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Feb. 13. “I look forward to working with new leadership at SDNY on the important priorities President Trump has laid out for us to make America safe again.”
Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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