New York City Mayor Eric Adams has denied claims that he asked the Trump administration to drop a corruption case against him in exchange for enforcing the president’s immigration agenda.
Speaking on Fox News alongside Trump’s border tsar Tom Homan, Adams rejected the idea that a quid pro quo had occurred, calling it “silly”.
His remarks come a day after the top US prosecutor in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, resigned from her post, claiming the justice department was pressuring her to drop criminal charges against Adams.
Adams was indicted last year for allegedly accepting gifts totalling more than $100,000 (£75,000) from Turkish citizens in exchange for favours. He denies the charges.
In a blistering letter, Sassoon, a conservative lawyer recently promoted by President Donald Trump, said the mayor’s lawyers had met justice department officials and “repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed”.
Adams told Fox News on Friday that Sassoon was accusing him of “a crime”.
“It took her three weeks to report… a criminal action? Come on, this is silly,” he said.
His lawyer, Alex Spiro, also denied the arrangement to reporters on Thursday.
The mayor announced this week that he plans to sign an executive order allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to operate inside Rikers Island, granting one of the administration’s biggest immigration requests.
On Monday, Trump’s Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered Sassoon and New York prosecutors to drop the case, saying it “restricted” the mayor’s ability to address “illegal immigration and violent crime”.
In her letter to Bove on Thursday, Sassoon said dismissing the case against Adams would set a “breathtaking and dangerous precedent”.
“Because the law does not support a dismissal, and because I am confident that Adams has committed the crimes with which he is charged, I cannot agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations,” she wrote.
Sassoon’s resignation on Thursday was followed by the departure of five other Justice Department officials who worked in the corruption department.
One of the prosecutors was Hagan Scotten, an assistant US attorney, who said in his resignation letter that he was “entirely in agreement” with Sassoon’s decision not to dismiss the Adams case.
Scotten said US laws and traditions do not allow for “using prosecutorial power” to influence elected officials like Adams.
“If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me,” Scotten wrote.
The drama took place as Adams was meeting Trump’s border tsar to talk about the administration’s immigration priorities.
In a letter accepting Sassoon’s resignation, Bove said his office would be investigating the attorney, claiming she had “lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the Department of Justice”.
It marks the latest signs of disquiet over sweeping changes the new administration is making in federal law enforcement.
Adams has expressed a willingness to work with Trump since he won the White House. He flew to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida days before the Republican president took office.
Trump has denied that he had any involvement in asking prosecutors to dismiss the case against Adams.
But Bove’s letter described his instructions to drop the case as “direct orders implementing the policy of a duly elected President”.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told MSNBC on Thursday night that the quid pro quo allegations were “extremely serious and concerning”.
Asked whether she would seek to remove Adams from his post leading the city, she said she was “consulting with other leaders in government at this time”.
