Expert Tells Judge To Drop Charges Against NYC Mayor Eric Adams Without Letting Them Be Refiled

LOADING ERROR LOADING NEW YORK — A judge has no choice but to grant the Justice Department’s unusual and divisive request to dismiss New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case, a court-appointed lawyer said Friday. But he recommended that prosecutors be barred from ever reviving the charges so they don’t hang over Adams “like the proverbial Sword of Damocles.” Paul Clement, who represented the federal government before the Supreme Court as President George W. Bush’s solicitor general, delivered the recommendation to Manhattan federal Judge Dale E. Ho in papers filed two weeks after Ho appointed him to provide neutral advice on the case. In a written submission, Clement told Ho that there was “ample reason” to dismiss the prosecution without granting the Justice Department’s request to be able to refile them after this year’s mayoral election, which would leave “a prospect that hangs like the proverbial Sword of Damocles over the accused.” “The prospect of re-indictment could create the appearance, if not the reality, that the actions of a public official are being driven by concerns about staying in the good graces of the federal executive, rather than the best interests of his constituents,” Clement wrote. Adams spokesperson Fabien Levy said on the social platform X: “To quote @NYCMayor, ‘Yeah, duh.’” Ho appointed Clement after Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove defended the request at a hearing. Bove initially directed then-interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon to request dismissal, but she refused, telling Attorney General Pam Bondi in a Feb. 12 letter as she offered to resign that she could not “agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations.” She said the indictment was brought nine months before New York’s June Democratic mayoral primary, consistent with longstanding Justice Department policy regarding election-year sensitivities, and the threat of possibly refiling the charges amounted to “using the criminal process to control the behavior of a political figure.” Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press The next four years will change America forever.