The Justice Department has told prosecutors in the Southern District of New York to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg Law.
“It cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticized the prior Administration’s immigration policies before the charges were filed, and the former U.S. Attorney’s public actions created appearances of impropriety,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove wrote in a memo to the acting US attorney in Manhattan Monday.
Bove added 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 under the policies of the prior administration.”
“Accomplishing the immigration objectives established by President Trump and the Attorney General is every bit as important — if not more so — as the objectives that the prior administration pursued by releasing violent criminals such as Viktor Bout,” the memo said.
Bout, an arms dealer sentenced to 25 years in US prison, was released in December 2022 in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who had been detained at a Moscow airport after custom officials found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
Adams became the first sitting mayor in modern New York City history to be indicted and faced charges of bribery and campaign finance offenses. He refused to step down and has denied any wrongdoing.
Adams has courted President Donald Trump in the months since the presidential election, saying in January that they’d had a “productive conversation” days before he traveled to Washington to attend the inauguration.
Trump had previously said he would “look at” a pardon for Adams should he be convicted. He was set to go to trial in April.
The memo from Bove comes the same day as Trump pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who had been convicted of corruption. Trump commuted his prison sentence in 2020.
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