New York City Mayor Eric Adams leaves the federal court after being charged with bribery and illegally soliciting a campaign contribution from foreign nationals, in New York City, U.S., October 2, 2024.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday denied offering the Trump administration a quid pro quo deal in an effort to have his criminal corruption case dismissed, as a top federal prosecutor alleged before they resigned in protest.
“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,” Adams said in a statement from his office.
“I am solely beholden to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent and I will always put this city first,” the Democratic mayor said.
“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,” he said.
The statement came after at least seven Department of Justice prosecutors resigned in response to top official Emil Bove ordering the dismissal of Adams’ case in Manhattan federal court.
Danielle Sassoon, who was the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, offered her resignation to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a letter Wednesday detailing her objections to Bove’s order.
That letter also alleged that, in a Jan. 31 meeting with Bove and members of her office, Adams’ lawyers “repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo.”
The mayor’s attorneys indicated that Adams would only be able to help the Trump administration fulfill its sweeping immigration enforcement agenda in New York City “if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote.
“Mr. Bove admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting’s conclusion,” she wrote.
Bove, in a scathing letter Thursday, accepted Sassoon’s resignation and transferred Adams’ case to the main DOJ. Bondi said she expects Adams’ case will be dismissed Friday.
President Donald Trump on Friday distanced himself from the conflict over Adams’ case, while brushing off the wave of resignations in the DOJ.
“These are mostly people from the previous administration,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “So they weren’t going to be there anyway. They were going to all be gone or dismissed.”
Five other senior DOJ officials in Washington, D.C., resigned Thursday over Bove’s dismissal order.
On Friday, prosecutor Hagan Scotten issued his own blistering letter of resignation, telling Bove, “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion” to dismiss the Adams case.”
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.