A lawyer for New York City Mayor Eric Adams expressed confidence Wednesday that the criminal case against the Democrat is dead and buried, even though the Justice Department official who ordered the charges dismissed left the door open to the case being brought back next fall.
In that letter, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the order to halt the case was made without “assessing the strength of the evidence” against Adams — but was instead intended to allow him to focus on executing the Trump administration’s priorities around immigration and crime.
Adams pleaded not guilty in September to charges that he accepted about $100,000 of free or deeply discounted international flights, hotel stays, meals and entertainment in return for illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and members of the Turkish business community.
But he acknowledged that immigration and other policy issues were discussed at a meeting between the mayor’s legal team and Justice Department officials ahead of the directive to halt the case.
Those unusual terms have drawn skepticism from some Democrats, and fierce rebuke from the mayor's Democratic primary challengers, who contend that Adams has agreed to carry out Trump's hardline immigration agenda in exchange for his freedom.
