NEW YORK — The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss the charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
An attorney from the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department signed the necessary paperwork on Friday evening to proceed with the formal dismissal of charges.
Along with another career official in the criminal division, Toni Bacon, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove also signed the papers.
This ends an extraordinary stalemate between Public Integrity Section prosecutors and Bove.
Despite this, several leaders from the section declined to sign the paperwork and instead resigned in protest. They accused Adams and the Trump administration of making questionable deals. Before the formal signing, Bove assembled the remaining members of the section on Friday and warned them of severe consequences if no one volunteered to sign the paperwork, according to sources familiar with the situation as reported by ABC News.
Meanwhile, a seventh prosecutor resigned and wrote a strongly worded letter to Bove, contending that only a “fool” or a “coward” would agree to approve the dismissal of the case.
Trump weighed into the lead prosecutor resigning amid pressure from the Justice Department to drop the case, saying he believes they didn’t feel it was “much of a case.” He also compared it to his own hush money case calling it “weaponized” and “political” based on the timeline of the case, and criticized DOJ officials who have resigned over the case, saying they were “mostly people from the previous administration,” and going to be dismissed.
Adams continued to maintain his innocence, denying any quid pro quo, and vowing to continue working for the New Yorkers he represents.
Now that the paperwork is filed a federal judge will still have to decide whether the case can be dismissed.
Calls grow for Adams to step down
Meanwhile, there were growing calls on Friday for the embattled mayor to resign, with once loyal allies and fellow party members turning against him.
“He’s going to have to make the case to New Yorkers that he still has the capacity to behave as an independently elected official,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. not someone who is taking orders or is on a short leash relative to the department of justice.”
The top Democrat in the House stopped short of calling for the mayor’s ouster, but when asked if Adams is compromised, Jeffries, called it a “legitimate question.”
“There is a prosecutorial gun that is being put to the head of the elected mayor of the city of New York. That is deeply disturbing,” Jeffries said.
State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, a progressive who is one of the highest ranking city representatives in Albany, says the mayor should resign, and if he doesn’t, he should be removed by the governor.
“The last thing the people of New York want is for our city to turn into an annex of the Trump administration, yet that is exactly what is happening,” Gianaris said. “Eric Adams is clearly compromised and can no longer be considered the legitimate leader of our city. He must step down or be removed.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove the mayor from office, said she will consult with other state leaders to do what is “smart” for the city — and not “have a knee jerk, politically motivated reaction like a lot of other people are saying right now.”
She appears to be referring to her Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who is very independent of the governor and has previously told donors he plans to run for statewide office.
Delgado said the mayor “should step down,” joining Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who said that “if Adams wont resign, he must be removed.” … “This is explosive,” she posted on X.
It is not the first time Delgado has gotten ahead of Hochul. He was one of the first to call for former President Biden to step aside over the summer.
Hochul Communications Director Anthony Hogrebe stressed Delgado does not speak for the governor:
“Governor Hochul is carefully reviewing these new allegations. Lieutenant Governor Delgado does not now and has not ever spoken on behalf of this administration.”
Adding fuel to the fire, Congressman Ritchie Torres put even more pressure on Hochul to take action.
“The governor said she’s carefully reviewing it. I’m not clear what she’s reviewing,” Torres said. “We have the former acting U.S. Attorney publicly stating that she saw firsthand a quid pro quo between the mayor of New York and the Trump administration. That, to me, is grounds for removal. It’s unacceptable.”
Adams released a statement maintaining his innocence and vowing to put New Yorkers first:
“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. I am solely beholden to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent and I will always put this city first. Now, we must put this difficult episode behind us so that trust can be restored, New York can move forward, and we can continue delivering for the people of this city.”
But leaders like the Reverend Al Sharpton are not convinced, and says he will be convening a meeting over the weekend of top Black elected officials to weigh their next move. Sharpton says the mayor is being blackmailed by Trump.
Adams has joint interview with border czar
The calls come as Adams declared Friday that he’d be running for re-election as a Democrat despite recent reports that he’s considering a switch over to the Republican ticket.
“I’m going to run on the Democratic line, we– petitioning has started– starting soon. Running as a Democrat,” Adams said during a joint interview with Border Czar Tom Homan.
If Adams were to change parties, however, it would need to happen Friday. Feb. 14, 2025 is the statutory deadline for the Board of Elections in New York to receive a change of party enrollment.
There were some uncomfortable moments during the interview with Adams and Homan, for example, the mayor declined to criticize Hochul, who holds his fate in her hands.
“She has her role and I have my role,” he said.
But Homan said Hochul should be removed, along with the immigrants seeking sanctuary in her state.
“She needs to be removed, the one who needs to be removed is her, she supports sanctuary policies,” he said.
The mayor said sanctuary cities can exist while weeding out the criminal element. Homan disagreed, saying sanctuary rules harbor criminals.
Hochul responded to Homan’s comments, saying she “is ready to work with any serious leader who is ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.”
Mayor’s primary opponents speak out after interview with Homan
Several of the candidates running against Adams in the upcoming mayoral primary election spoke out about the interview with Homan.
Scott Stringer called the interview a “hostage situation.”
“Hostage situation is not an overstatement,” he said. “I said it my address yesterday and now it is all too real: The president sees this mayor as a pawn…as an open-door opportunity to use New York City as the proving ground for mass deportations, for federal overreach, for a strategy that prioritizes headlines, cruelty, and chaos over public safety.”
Brad Lander posted – “This is sad, embarrassing, and enraging. It’s time for this Mayor to go.”
Zellnor Myrie said, “I’d say we’ve become a national joke with how embarrassing this is but unfortunately none of this is funny. The greatest city in the world is being humiliated daily because Adams is compromised.”
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