DOJ moves to dismiss federal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

FIRST ON FOX: The Justice Department is moving to dismiss federal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Fox News has learned. 

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a letter to the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on Monday instructing SDNY to drop the federal case against Adams and dismiss it without prejudice. 

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs federal court following his arraignment in Lower Manhattan, Sept. 27, 2024. Adams faces five federal charges, including alleged conspiracy, wire fraud, two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and bribery. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

Adams was indicted in September on charges including bribery, soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, wire fraud and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Fox News obtained the memo Bove penned to the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York titled: “Dismissal Without Prejudice of Prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams.” 

The memo cites President Donald Trump’s executive orders regarding combating the weaponization of law enforcement and federal immigration policy. 

“You are directed, as authorized by the Attorney General, to dismiss the pending charges in United States v. Adams…as soon as is practicable, subject to the following conditions: the defendant must agree in writing to dismissal without prejudice; the defendant must agree in writing that he is not a prevailing party under the Hyde Amendment…and the matter shall be reviewed by the confirmed U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, following the November 2025 mayoral election, based on consideration of all relevant factors,” Bove wrote in a memo. 

“The Justice Department has reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based, which are issues on which we defer to the U.S. Attorney’s Office at this time,” Bove continued. “Moreover, as I said during our recent meetings, this directive in no way calls into question the integrity and efforts of the line prosecutors responsible for the case, or your efforts in leading those prosecutors in connection with a matter you inherited.” 

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Bove added: “However, the Justice Department has determined that dismissal subject to the above-described conditions is necessary for two independent reasons.” 

Bove also said that the “timing of the charges and more recent public actions by the former U.S. Attorney responsible for initiating the case have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity that risks impacting potential witnesses and the jury pool.” 

“It cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticized the prior Administration’s immigration policies before the charges were filed, and the former U.S. Attorney’s public actions created appearances of impropriety that implicate the concerns raised in the Attorney General’s February 5, 2025 memorandum regarding ‘Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice, as well as in Executive Order 14147, entitled ‘Ending the Weaponization of the federal government,’” Bove wrote. 

The DOJ move to dismiss the charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi last week established the “Weaponization Working Group.” (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images.)

“These actions and the underlying case have also improperly interfered with Mayor Adams’ campaign in the 2025 mayoral election,” he added. 

Bove also said the pending prosecution has “unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior administration.” 

“We are particularly concerned about the impact of the prosecution on Mayor Adams’ ability to support critical, ongoing federal efforts to ‘protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement,’” Bove wrote, pointing to an executive order signed by the president. 

“Accomplishing the immigration objectives established by President Trump and the Attorney General is every bit as important—if not more so—as the objectives that the prior Administration pursued by releasing violent criminals such as Viktor Bout, the ‘Merchant of Death,’” Bove continued. “Accordingly, based on these additional concerns that are distinct from the weaponization problems, dismissal without prejudice is also necessary at this time.” 

President Trump and Mayor Adams. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images / Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

Bove’s memo comes after he and top DOJ officials recently met with lawyers representing Adams at the Justice Department. 

Adams also met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago before his inauguration last month. 

Adams suggested in December that he was charged after speaking out against the Biden administration’s immigration policies. 

During a sit-down interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on “The Story” in December, Adams said: “I did not break the law.” 

“I did nothing wrong — that is how I live my life,” Adams said. “And that is how I’m going to continue to live my life.” 

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The move to dismiss the charges also comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi last week established the “Weaponization Working Group,” which will review the activities of all law enforcement agencies over the past four years to identify instances of “politicized justice.”