According to two people briefed on the situation who spoke to NBC News, a lawyer for New York City Mayor Eric Adams has reached out to the leadership of the Justice Department with a petition to dismiss the prosecution against him. Officials in Washington have also reviewed the proposal with prosecutors in New York.
Adams’ attorney’s outreach is typical for a well-known defendant like Adams who wants the Justice Department of a new administration to take a second look at the case. However, according to a person familiar with the situation, there is currently no sign that federal prosecutors in Manhattan in the Southern District of New York will abandon the case.
According to a Justice Department official who spoke to NBC News, the office of acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove is participating in the talks with the Southern District of New York and Adams team over the ongoing case against the mayor.
A U.S. Attorney’s Office representative declined to comment.
Discussions on the dismissal of the case against Adams were originally covered by the New York Times.
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After being charged with federal corruption and bribery in September, Adams entered a not guilty plea.
In a multi-year corruption plot that started after Adams was elected Brooklyn borough president in 2014, prosecutors claim that Adams accepted plane tickets and opulent hotel stays totaling over $100,000 from affluent Turkish citizens and at least one government official. He was accused with five crimes, including soliciting a foreign national’s contribution, conspiring to commit wire fraud, and bribery.
In a filing this month, federal prosecutors admitted that they have previously suggested that more charges would be brought against Adams and that they have discovered “additional criminal conduct” by him and others. Following the new filing, Adams insisted that he had “done nothing wrong” and condemned the probe.
April is the date of his trial.
Days before the president’s inauguration, Adams visited with Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, and claimed that while they had talked about a variety of subjects, they “did not discuss my legal case.” Later on, he went to Trump’s inauguration.
Considering that “he was treated pretty unfairly, and that he would need to see the case, because I don’t know the facts,” Trump said on December 16 that he may think about pardoning Adams.