Judge Dale E. Ho declined to immediately rule on the Department of Justice’s motion to drop the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, after summoning the parties in the case to his courtroom on Wednesday. Adams took the stand and answered questions from Ho, as did acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who ordered federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York to drop the case against the mayor last week.
That order was met with some controversy, as it was made “without prejudice,” meaning that the charges against Adams could be brought back at any time. This detail has led many to believe that Adams is compromised by the Trump administration, cornered into a position where he must carry out President Trump’s policies under threat of his case being resurrected.
Indeed, several U.S. attorneys from the Southern District of New York and at the DOJ in the nation’s capital resigned rather than file the motion as ordered from Emil Bove, and four of the deputy mayors working under Adams resigned on Monday out of concern that he would enforce Trump’s mass deportation policy instead of New York’s sanctuary city laws, which protect undocumented migrants from deportation.
In the hearing, Judge Ho asked Adams if he had been promised anything by anyone in exchange for the charges against him being dropped, to which the mayor answered “no, your honor.” Emil Bove was asked about the possibility of the charges being brought back, and answered that “they could be, under the department’s discretion.”
The first U.S. attorney for SDNY to resign last week, Danielle Sassoon, stated in her resignation letter that during a meeting on January 31st, “Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.” Bove was also at that meeting, according to Sassoon, and collected notes taken on the meeting by one of her colleagues.
Judge Ho said that he would not “shoot from the hip right here on the bench” and consider all the facts before issuing a ruling, after which the hearing was concluded. The lack of an immediate ruling from Ho concerning Adams is likely to delay a decision Governor Kathy Hochul will make on whether or not to exercise her power to remove him from office, as she had already stated that the federal judge’s decision would factor into her own.
