DOJ, Adams' lawyers tell judge no quid pro quo in deal to dismiss mayor's corruption case

Lawyers for Mayor Eric Adams and the current No. 2 at Trump’s Department of Justice denied any “quid pro quo” in the deal to drop the sweeping corruption indictment against Adams in court Wednesday — with the government arguing that even if there were, the case should still be thrown out.

Facing a grilling from Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney told the court, “Even if there was a quid pro quo, there would (not) be any issue with this motion.”

The comment came toward the end of the 90-minute proceeding that ended with Ho reserving a decision on whether to grant the government’s controversial motion to dismiss the historic prosecution.

“It’s not in anyone’s interest here for this to drag on,” Ho, who bookmarked the hearing with theatrical sighs, said. “But to exercise my discretion properly, I’m not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench.”

The agreement — and Adams — have come under sharp attack over the DOJ’s claim the case needed to be dismissed so the mayor could better aid Trump in carrying out his hard-line deportation agenda. Four deputy mayors resigned this week, and Gov. Kathy Hochul is weighing removing Adams from office. The mayor arrived at court to protesters, some bearing placards with messages like “No Trump Puppets Running NYC.”

Questioning the mayor under oath, Ho asked him if he understood that the case being dismissed without prejudice meant it could be brought again.

“Yes, I understand that,” he replied after briefly consulting with his attorney.

Adams’ acknowledgment that his indictment could be resurrected comes after he said last week in a livestreamed speech from City Hall that his “case will no longer continue.”

The possibility that his case could be revived has sparked concerns that Adams is now beholden to the Trump administration.

In the initial directive from Trump’s DOJ leaders ordering Manhattan feds to drop the case last week, they said prosecutors should cease investigating Adams altogether.

But that part of the deal appeared to have changed as Bove Wednesday flatly answered “no” to a question about whether the government was committed to halting active probes. Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, told the judge that was OK with the defense.

Adams said he had not studied the terms of his dismissal before consenting to them, but they’d been explained to him.

He said no one had promised him anything or induced him to agree to the deal, which resulted in the Friday dismissal motion submitted to Ho from Washington, D.C.-based prosecutors that followed the resignations of several veteran Manhattan prosecutors who refused to file it.

The judge has come under pressure from former U.S. attorneys and good-government groups to scrutinize the dismissal bid. Bove and Spiro told the judge to reject their submissions to the court as politically motivated.

Bove told the court the motion was brought due to “appearances of impropriety that give cause for concern about abuse of the criminal justice process,” citing Trump’s executive order about the “weaponization” of government. Trump’s DOJ has a new “weaponization” task force that is, in part, probing cases filed against him after his first term by New York Democrats.

He also said that the prosecution was interfering with national security and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement initiatives and argued there was no legal basis for the judge to interfere with the executive branch’s wishes.

Bove and Spiro scoffed at claims of an unethical backdoor deal made by former interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon.

Before resigning last week, Sassoon wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging that the deal to dismiss the case stemmed from what amounted to a “quid pro quo” between the mayor and the Trump administration, one that would clear the charges against Adams in exchange for the mayor giving Trump free rein to carry out his crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the nation’s largest sanctuary city.

In an evening appearance on News12 after his court appearance, Adams said he “absolutely” didn’t promise to do anything for the Trump administration in exchange for a dismissal of his indictment.

“And I said that under oath under the threat of perjury,” he said.

Addressing the growing calls for his resignation or removal from office, he said: “I will never surrender, never step down, I’m going to step up and fight.”

Adams has pleaded not guilty to bribery, soliciting illegal campaign donations from foreign nationals, wire fraud, and conspiracy.

The case filed last September accuses him of abusing his positions in New York City government starting more than a decade ago by accepting luxury benefits from wealthy foreign businessmen and officials in or close to the Turkish government and later soliciting and accepting illegal campaign donations from them maximized with taxpayer dollars. In exchange, Adams allegedly doled out political favors, like expediting building permits.

Before resigning, Sassoon, a registered Republican, said she had been prepared to sign off on more charges, accusing the mayor of trying to hide his crimes from the FBI, which he’s denied through Spiro.

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