New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ (D) legal team is looking to dismiss his corruption case, alleging in a new motion to a federal judge that there has been “prosecutorial misconduct” after ex-U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon’s resignation letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi was leaked.
“The disclosure of this letter to the press was part of an extraordinary flurry of leaked internal Justice Department correspondence that included memoranda from the Acting Deputy Attorney General to the Southern District and an unhinged resignation letter by one of the former line prosecutors on this case,” Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro wrote on Wednesday, according to court records.
After the DOJ directed New York prosecutors earlier this month to dismiss corruption charges against Adams, Sassoon resigned, saying the charges, which acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove argued interfered with the mayor’s 2025 reelection campaign, should not be dropped.
Sassoon wrote in the letter that dismissing the case “will amplify, rather than abate, concerns about weaponization of the Department. Despite Mr. Bove’s observation that the directive to dismiss the case has been reached without assessing the strength of the evidence against Adams, Adams has already seized on the memo to publicly assert that he is innocent and that the accusations against him were unsupported by the evidence and based only on ‘fanfare and sensational claims.’”
The DOJ later formally asked the court to drop charges, which include accepting bribes going back to 2014 from various businessmen hoping to influence the politician, against Adams.
In Wednesday’s motion, Spiro argued the series of leaks, including internal correspondence at the Department of Justice (DOJ), violated Adams’ “fundamental constitutional rights and ability to receive a fair trial.”
He added the leaks “violated numerous statutory and court rules, including the Justice Department’s own longstanding policies aimed at curbing prosecutorial misconduct.”
Adams was indicted in September last year in a five-count corruption charges that also includes allegations of wire fraud. He has denied wrongdoing, claiming he is innocent.
DOJ attorneys are attempting to get U.S. District Judge Dale Hoin Manhattan to drop the charges against the New York City mayor. Adams is up for reelection in 2025 and is likely to face many challengers in a June primary.
The judge canceled the trial slated for April but has tapped conservative lawyer Paul Clement to provide “adversarial” arguments as now both the defense and prosecution are aligned on shutting down the case.
“The Court should act swiftly and dismiss this case with prejudice to prevent further irrevocable harm to Mayor Adams,” Spiro said.
