NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she would “look into” why the corruption charges against New York City's mayor have not yet been dropped, two days after a senior Justice Department official ordered federal prosecutors to ditch the case.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday evening, Bondi said she was unaware that the case against Mayor Eric Adams hadn't yet been dismissed. She said she also hadn't spoken personally with the prosecutor in New York who is, for now, overseeing the case, acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon.
But Bondi said other senior officials had spoken with Sassoon about the directive to dismiss the charges.
“So that case should be dropped,” Bondi said. “I did not know that it had not been dropped yet, but I will certainly look into that.”
In a two-page memo sent Monday, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove directed Sassoon to dismiss the charges against Adams “as soon as is practicable." He claimed the case was politically motivated and was interfering with the mayor's ability to assist in the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and crime.
In the days since then, both Adams and his attorney have expressed confidence that the charges — which focused on bribes and illegal campaign donations — were permanently quashed. But the Justice Department memo left the door open to the case being brought back next fall following a review.
As of early Wednesday evening, prosecutors had not filed the legal papers needed to start the process of dismissing the charges.
Bove's memo had indicated that before that could happen, Adams would be required to sign an acknowledgement that prosecutors could refile the charges against him at any point. Adams' lawyer said Wednesday morning that the mayor had not signed any documents yet in connection with the possible dismissal.
Sassoon has not commented publicly since the Justice Department directive became public. Prosecutors in New York had, until this week, indicated that they believed they had a strong case, and that the investigation had uncovered additional evidence of misconduct by Adams.
Sassoon’s power to resist the Justice Department directive, if she were to choose to do so, is limited. The U.S. attorney general has the power to replace U.S. attorneys at will, meaning anyone who opposes directives from Washington could potentially be removed.
At a press conference Wednesday morning, Adams' lawyer, Alex Spiro, claimed victory. He said he didn't believe prosecutors would ever bring the case back.
“There is no looming threat. This case is over. It will not be brought back,” he said. “Despite a lot of fanfare and sensational claims, ultimately there was no evidence that he broke any laws ever.”
Bove's memo said the directive to halt the case was made without “assessing the strength of the evidence." It also said the prosecutors should review the matter in November following the mayoral election.
Those unusual terms have 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.
Spiro denied that Adams had made any such promise. But he acknowledged that immigration and other policy issues were discussed at a meeting between the mayor’s legal team and Justice Department officials before the issuing of the directive to halt the case.
“The functioning of the government, and the mayor’s ability to enforce national security issues, terrorism threats, immigration issues and everything else, of course it came up,” Spiro said.
Adams in September to charges that he accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals and took about $100,000 of free or deeply discounted international flights and hotel stays from people looking to buy his influence.
Prosecutors also allege he personally directed campaign staffers to solicit donations from foreign nationals, which are banned under federal law. Those contributions were disguised in order to allow Adams to qualify for a city program providing a generous, publicly funded match for small-dollar donations.
His trial is scheduled to start in April, though that now seems unlikely.
