(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a federal judge on Monday to drop criminal corruption charges before a political deadline this week — trying to speed up a decision by the judge in the case.
The mayor wants the case dropped before petitions to get on the June primary ballot are due on April 3, according to his lawyer.
“Now, with the petition-filing deadline just days away, we respectfully urge the Court to issue its decision as soon as possible,” the mayor’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said in a letter to Judge Dale Ho.
The Justice Department has asked the judge to dismiss the charges without prejudice to free Adams to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. Without prejudice means the charges could resurface.
Ho accepted a legal brief urging him to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it could not be revived, eliminating an incentive for the mayor to bow to administration demands.
Adams pleaded not guilty in federal court last September to charges related to an alleged conspiracy with Turkish nationals that landed him lavish gifts in exchange for beneficial treatment.
Trump’s Justice Department asked in February to dismiss the charges, a move that caused several prosecutors to step down in protest, including the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, who alleged a quid pro quo.
“It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams’s opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment,” Sassoon wrote at the time. “Nor will a court likely find that such an improper exchange is consistent with the public interest.”
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