NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a federal judge to toss out the corruption case against him Wednesday, alleging prosecutorial misconduct, even as the Justice Department seeks dismissal of the charges on the Democrat’s behalf.
In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, his lawyers alleged that the misconduct occurred when the government publicly leaked a letter then-U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi explaining why charges should not be dropped.
She wrote the letter, offering to resign as she refused to follow acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove’s directive to drop the charges against the embattled mayor two weeks ago. Bove accepted the resignation.
Bove had written a letter to Sassoon, saying the mayor was needed to assist President Donald Trump’s law-and-order priorities, particularly the fight against illegal immigration and violent crime. He also said the charges were interfering with this year’s New York City mayoral race.
In their court papers Wednesday, Adams’ lawyers wrote that the public release of Sassoon’s “unhinged resignation letter” to Bondi was “part of an extraordinary flurry of leaked internal Justice Department correspondence” that occurred after Bove issued his directive to Sassoon in writing.
The lawyers said Sassoon notified Bondi that prosecutors were planning to add an obstruction charge against Adams in a superseding indictment and made the “wildly inflammatory and false accusation” that Adams and his lawyers had offered to help the Trump administration in return for the dismissal of charges.
Adams was indicted in September on charges alleging he accepted over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and travel perks from a Turkish official and others seeking to buy influence while he was Brooklyn borough president. He faces multiple challengers in June’s Democratic primary. He has pleaded not guilty and insisted he is innocent.
The lawyers said the public exposure of the unusual Justice Department internal fight had violated Adams’s constitutional rights and interfered with his ability to receive a fair trial.
They said the leaks also violated statutory and court rules, including the Justice Department’s longstanding policies designed to prevent prosecutorial misconduct.
A request for comment was made to the Justice Department in Washington. Bove and two Justice Department lawyers are currently trying to get a Manhattan judge to dismiss the charges.
The judge, who has canceled an April trial, has appointed outside counsel to advise him as he decides what to do over the next few weeks.
Bove’s request to dismiss charges had included the possibility that charges could be reinstated after the mayoral election, but lawyers for Adams said that possibility should be eliminated.
“Mayor Adams was prosecuted in the media long before there was ever an indictment. The Court should take a moment to consider this inescapable reality. This case, which was once just a farce, has now become a cancer, and its pendency continues to cause real and irrevocable harm each and every day,” they said.