- Seven top officials from the U.S. Attorney's Office resigned after being ordered to drop corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
- Adams claims the charges, which alleged he accepted $100,000 in travel perks from Turkish nationals, were politically motivated due to his criticism of Biden's migrant policies.
- Adams claimed that when he approached Biden about NYC's migrant crisis, he was told to "be a good Democrat" despite the city facing $6.8 billion in costs.
In response to a federal order to drop criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, seven people, including the acting chief, a deputy assistant attorney general and three deputy chiefs have resigned from the Department of Justice.
Adams was accused in November 2023, of accepting over $100,000 in travel perks from Turkish nationals in exchange for expediting Manhattan’s Turkish consulate’s opening.
In September last year, under President Joe Biden, a federal grand jury announced they would be indicting the mayor, a move Adams believes was politically motivated due to his outspoken opposition to housing migrant asylum seekers in New York City.
On Feb. 10, Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to drop Adams’ corruption charges.
To drop the charges, two attorneys at the U.S. Attorney office for the Southern District of New York must sign the motion, per CNBC.
One resignation, announced in a letter to newly-sworn in U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, from attorney Danielle Sassoon, said the government did not have a “valid basis to seek dismissal” of Adams’ charges.
The resignation was accepted by Bove in a letter released by The New York Times. Bove wrote, “This decision is based on your choice to continue pursuing a politically motivated prosecution despite an express instruction to dismiss the case.”
“You lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the Department of Justice by suggesting that you retain discretion to interpret the Constitution in a manner inconsistent with the policies of a democratically elected President and a Senate-confirmed Attorney General,” Bove wrote.
Another resignation letter came from an assistant U.S. attorney in Sassoon’s office, Hagan Scotten.
He ended his resignation letting by saying, “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”
Adams maintains he did not accept bribes from Turkey and was never offered a trade of authority for the dismissal of his criminal charges.
‘It’s time to move forward,‘ Adams says, thanking the U.S. Justice Department
At a press conference Tuesday, Adams said, “Let me be clear. I never asked anyone to break the law on my behalf or on behalf of my campaign. Never. And I absolutely never traded my power as an elected official for any personal benefit.”
The mayor quoted Psalms 34:1. He said, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
“So, I thank the Justice Department for its honesty. Now we can put this cruel episode behind us and focus on the future of our city. It’s time to move forward,” he said.
Adams discusses meetings in Washington D.C., telling Biden illegal migrants in NYC were an issue
Adams appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show on Jan. 22 to discuss his criminal charges.
Adams said shortly after he was inaugurated as New York’s mayor, around 8,000 migrants were sent to the city.
“I think there were those who were in that orbit, that felt I was not a good Democrat because I watched my city, a city that I love, go through an onslaught of the migrant immigration policy of failed border policy,” he told Carlson.
Adams said he took ten trips to Washington D.C. to get someone to listen to him about the issues arising from the massive influx of migrants.
“I spoke to the president first, then the president came here to New York City. The governor and I sat down with the president,” Adams said, continuing to describe the situation. “‘Mr. President, I’m not sure what they’re telling you about this problem, but this is a terrible problem that is playing out on the ground that we need to fix our border, and we need to stop allowing people to come into our country with no destiny. We don’t know what we’re doing with them,’” he said he told Biden.
Adams has spent time with President Donald Trump in recent weeks, including at Mar-a-Lago, and at the inauguration. A mayoral election will be held this November in New York City.