(AFP) – A US federal judge ordered the Trump Justice Department to appear in court Wednesday to explain its extraordinary decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a move that triggered a wave of protest resignations.
US District Judge Dale Ho, who is presiding over the case, ordered the embattled mayor of the largest US city and Justice Department prosecutors to attend a 2:00 pm (1900 GMT) hearing in Manhattan to discuss the reasons for dismissing the charges. In asking last week for the case against Adams to be dropped, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the prosecution was restricting the Democratic mayor’s “ability to devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime.”
The unusual request prompted allegations that it was a quid pro quo in exchange for Adams agreeing to enforce Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — a claim denied by the mayor. “I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case,” he said. Adams, who pleaded not guilty in September to charges of fraud and bribery, has been under growing pressure to resign.
On Monday, the head of New York’s city council called on the mayor, who is facing reelection in November, to step down and four deputy mayors announced that they were resigning. Governor Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, was meeting with “key leaders” on Tuesday to discuss what she called a “path forward with the goal of ensuring stability for the City of New York.”
– ‘Fool’ or a ‘coward’ –
Danielle Sassoon, the acting US attorney in Manhattan, a Trump appointee, and assistant US attorney Hagan Scotten who brought the case against Adams, resigned last week along with several Justice Department officials in Washington to protest the order to dismiss the charges. Scotten, the lead prosecutor, in a blistering letter to Bove, said only a “fool” or a “coward” would comply with the Justice Department demand to drop the case.
In ordering Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Ho, citing previous rulings, noted that the government has “broad discretion” in deciding which cases to prosecute. But the court, in considering a request for dismissal, “must have sufficient factual information supporting the recommendation.”
The Justice Department, which Trump has accused of unjustly prosecuting him, has been the target of a sweeping shakeup since the Republican took office and a number of high-ranking officials have been fired, demoted, or reassigned. More than 800 former federal prosecutors released an open letter Monday condemning recent actions by Trump’s Justice Department that are not based on “the facts and the law” but appear intended “to serve solely political purposes.” Among those who signed the letter was Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought two now-abandoned criminal cases against Trump — for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and for mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.
– Andrea Bambino with Chris Lefkow in Washington
© 2024 AFP
