Mayor Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, voiced confidence Wednesday that the mayor’s public corruption case “is over,” even as President Trump’s Department of Justice has left open the possibility of refiling his indictment as early as this fall.
“This case will never be brought back. It wasn’t a real case in the first place,” Spiro told reporters at his Manhattan office in his first public remarks since Trump’s DOJ ordered that Adams’ indictment be dismissed — with some unusual caveats.
Those caveats were spelled out in a memo Emil Bove, Trump’s ex-personal defense attorney and now-No. 2 at the Justice Department, sent to the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office Monday night.
Bove directed the office to dismiss Adams’ indictment charging him with taking bribes and illegal campaign cash from Turkish government operatives in exchange for political favors.
But Bove also wrote the Justice Department is taking no stance on the “strength” of the case against Adams and ordered that the next Senate-confirmed Manhattan U.S. attorney, likely to be Trump nominee Jay Clayton, launch a “review” after November’s mayoral election to determine whether to re-prosecute Adams.
In calling for the dismissal, Bove said Adams’ indictment has “unduly restricted” him from helping Trump with immigration matters, as the Republican president looks to target undocumented individuals in New York and elsewhere for “mass deportations.”
Bove also argued ex-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams — who filed the indictment against Adams and then resigned before Trump’s inauguration — attracted “prejudicial” publicity to his case, an assertion Spiro echoed Wednesday as he questioned whether Williams was motivated by “greed” or “fame” in bringing it.
As of Wednesday evening, interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon had yet to act on Bove’s dismissal request.
The reference to immigration enforcement in Bove’s letter has prompted legal experts and others to argue Trump is dangling the possibility of a future re-prosecution over Adams as a threat if he doesn’t help the president enough with going after undocumented immigrants. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime friend to Adams who holds significant political influence in the city’s Democratic Party circles, on Tuesday compared the situation to Trump holding the mayor “hostage.”
In his press conference, Spiro confirmed he has in recent weeks spoken privately with leaders in Trump’s Justice Department about the possibility of dropping the mayor’s case. He also revealed that as part of those conversations they talked about Adams’ “ability” to deal with immigration enforcement and other issues.
“The equities of all of this, including all the functioning of the government, and the mayor’s ability to enforce national security issues, terrorism threats, immigration and everything else, his functioning, of course, came up,” Spiro said.
But Spiro vehemently denied making any commitments about specific immigration actions Adams would take in exchange for a dismissal, calling that notion “absurd.”
“This isn’t hanging over anybody’s head,” he said. “This case is over. I think everybody knows this case is over.”
Later Wednesday, Adams appeared in public for the first time since the DOJ’s bombshell order and was asked by reporters if he could assure New Yorkers he’s not beholden to Trump.
“Look at the record,” Adams said on his way into a town hall event in Queens. “Look at what I have done, how I have recovered this city, how we have fought for the safety of everyone in our care. There’s nothing going to change with that.”
Since he was first indicted on bribery, fraud and soliciting foreign donation charges in September, Adams has repeatedly maintained that his ability to do his job hasn’t been impacted. The mayor often points to drops in some crime categories as an indication that he has continued to be able to do his job well even while under indictment.
But Spiro told reporters Wednesday Adams’ professional abilities were “obviously” impacted by his legal woes.
“Obviously if you indict the sitting mayor of New York City, who has lots of responsibilities for public safety, that has an impact on his ability to function,” he said.
Kayla Mamelak, Adams’ City Hall spokeswoman, didn’t return a request for comment on whether the mayor agrees with his lawyer about that matter.
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