Justice Department and New York Mayor Adams face judge's scrutiny in bid to drop corruption charges

NEW YORK — Justice Department lawyers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams are set to face a federal judge who is signaling that he is unlikely to rubber-stamp their request to drop the mayor’s corruption charges weeks before an April trial.

Judge Dale E. Ho, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, scheduled the Wednesday afternoon hearing after three Trump administration lawyers from Washington made the dismissal request on Friday. Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor resigned after she refused an order to do so.

The judge already has indicated that the hearing probably would not settle the matter, writing in an order Tuesday that one subject on the agenda will be a discussion of ‘’procedure for resolution of the motion.‘’

Also set for discussion are the reasons for the request to dismiss the indictment that charges the first-term Democrat with accepting more than $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks from a Turkish official and business leaders seeking to buy Adams' influence while he was Brooklyn borough president. Adams has pleaded not guilty. He faces multiple challengers in the Democratic primary in June.

Closely watching the judicial proceedings is Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul as she considers whether to remove Adams from office amid concerns that he reached a deal to have the case dropped in exchange for the mayor’s political fealty to Republican President Donald Trump.

Early last week, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove told prosecutors in New York to drop the charges because the prosecution ‘’has unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime.‘’ Bove said charges could be reinstated after November’s mayoral election.

Two days later, then-interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told Attorney General Pam Bondi in a letter that dismissing the charges in return for Adams' assistance in enforcing federal immigration laws would betray Bondi’s own words that she “will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct.‘’

‘‘Dismissal of the indictment for no other reason than to influence Adams’s mayoral decision-making would be all three,‘’ said Sassoon, a Republican. She said it amounted to a ‘’quid pro quo'' deal and disclosed that prosecutors were about to bring additional obstruction of justice charges against Adams.

Bove, in accepting Sassoon’s resignation, accused her of ‘’pursuing a politically motivated prosecution despite an express instruction to dismiss the case.‘’ He informed her that two prosecutors assigned to the case were being suspended with pay and that an investigation would determine if they would keep their jobs.

One prosecutor, Hagan Scotten quit the following day, writing in a resignation letter that he supported Sassoon’s actions. Scotten told Bove that it would take a ‘’fool'' or a ‘’coward'' to meet Bove’s demand to drop the charges, ‘’but it was never going to be me.‘’

In all, seven prosecutors, including five high-ranking prosecutors at the Justice Department had resigned by Friday.

Sassoon and her colleagues have found support for their stand from a small army of former prosecutors.

On Friday, seven former U.S. attorneys in Manhattan, including James Comey, Geoffrey S. Berman and Mary Jo White, issued a statement lauding Sassoon’s ‘’commitment to integrity and the rule of law.‘’

On Monday, three former U.S. attorneys from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut submitted papers to Ho suggesting that he appoint a special prosecutor if he finds the Justice Department acted improperly or that he order all evidence be made available to state and local prosecutors.

A former Watergate prosecutor filed papers separately, telling the judge to reject the government’s request and consider assigning a special counsel to explore the legal issues and ultimately consider appointing an independent special prosecutor to try the case.

Also Monday, Justice Connection, an organization advocating for Justice Department employees, released a letter signed by over 900 former federal prosecutors to career federal prosecutors that said they have ‘’watched with alarm'' as values ‘’foundational to a fair and justice legal system'' have been tested.

On Tuesday, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Adams, said in a letter to the judge that ‘’there was no quid pro quo. Period.‘’