New York Bishopric Mayor Eric Adams leaves the federal court after being charged with bribery and illegally soliciting a contest contribution from foreign nationals, in New York City, U.S., October 2, 2024.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday away fromed offering the Trump administration a quid pro quo deal in an effort to have his criminal corruption case dismissed, as a top federal prosecutor so-called before they resigned in protest.
“I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone put up 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 grateful to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent and I will always put this city first,” the Democratic mayor spoke.
“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 burg,” he said.
The statement came after at least seven Department of Justice prosecutors resigned in response to top official Emil Bove status 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 designated 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 servants the Trump administration fulfill its sweeping immigration enforcement agenda in New York City “if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote.
“Mr. Bove admonished a fellow of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting’s conclusion,” she canceled.
Bove, in a scathing letter Thursday, accepted Sassoon’s resignation and transferred Adams’ case to the main DOJ. Bondi express she expects Adams’ case will be dismissed Friday.
President Donald Trump on Friday distanced himself from the fight over Adams’ case, while brushing off the wave of resignations in the DOJ.
“These are mostly people from the previous dispensation,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “So they weren’t going to be there anyway. They were going to all be assault 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 for letter of resignation, telling Bove, “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to enter your motion” to dismiss the Adams case.”
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.