DOJ Asks Judge to Throw Out Charges Against NYC Mayor Adams

 

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Feb. 14 formally asked a judge to dismiss federal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Federal prosecutors in a filing with the federal court in southern New York said that the DOJ is requesting that the court enter an order of nolle prosequi, or dismissal of the charges.

U.S. District Judge Dale Ho still must sign off on the request.

DOJ officials Antoinette T. Bacon and Edward Sullivan signed the filing.

They pointed to how acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove, the DOJ’s second-in-command, recently directed prosecutors to dismiss the charges against Adams, including accepting illegal campaign contributions.

Bove said the timing of the charges, brought in late 2024, and statements made by prosecutors “have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity.”

Continuing to prosecute Adams, Bove said, would restrict the mayor’s ability to help the administration of President Donald Trump combat illegal immigration and crime in the city.

Bove is a former lawyer of the president and worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York until 2021.

Then-interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon responded in a letter on Wednesday, saying she would not follow Bove’s order.