A federal judge has dismissed New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case. Judge Dale E. Ho on Wednesday granted the Justice Department’s extraordinary request to set aside criminal charges so the mayor could aid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge dismissed New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case on Wednesday, acquiescing to the Justice Department’s extraordinary request to set aside criminal charges so the Democrat could help with President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The judge said he wasn’t opining on the merits of the case, but that courts can’t force prosecutors to move forward. Still, he expressed qualms about the government’s move, saying “there are many reasons to be troubled” by its reasoning.
While this is the shittiest of victories, it’s still a victory. By dismissing the case with prejudice, the judge took away Trump’s leverage over Adams. The prosecutor had originally asked that the charges be dismissed without prejudice, so they could continue to threaten Adams with prosecution if he didn’t do what Trump wanted. That’s how they could hold this over him. This ruling was basically as far as the judge could go within the bounds of the law. It’s not ideal, but it’s definitely better than the alternative.
I’m also confident there’s still a closet full of skeletons somewhere, so it’s not like this means Adams is now magically squeaky clean or anything.