The Trump DOJ’s decision to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams may not be the most serious act of prosecutorial corruption in decades but it’s almost certainly the most brazen. The stated reasons for dropping the charges were absurd on their face and, while everyone deserves their day in court, Adams appears to be guilty as sin. But there’s an aspect of this corrupt spectacle which, while certainly no secret, has been far too underplayed in most press accounts. As the words are normally understood, the government didn’t drop the charges (indeed, so far it’s not clear that the Trump DOJ has found anyone in the New York office to actually do the deed; there’s still no motion to drop the charges). It would be more accurate, as to common understanding, to say they suspended them — because the directive from DC was to drop the charges without prejudice. The letter from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove states explicitly that DOJ will review the matter again after the November mayoral election and decide whether to reinstate the charges.
So, think what this means. Adams isn’t off the hook. He’s essentially been given 10 months to perform for his freedom. Perform for Donald Trump. Indeed, Bove said explicitly that one of the reasons Adams shouldn’t have been charged is that being on trial takes Adams’ focus away from helping Donald Trump with mass deportations out of New York City. (Again, they’re refreshingly candid about why this is happening.) And news just broke that Adams will be meeting tomorrow with Trump border “czar” Tom Homan. Homan says he hopes to “reach an agreement where his officers will help my officers.”
I wonder if Adams will drive a hard bargain.
I don’t want to seem to be painting Adams as a sympathetic figure. He’s been a bad mayor and, by all available evidence, a deeply corrupt one. But what we’re seeing here amounts to blackmail. As I said, he’s being given 10 months to dance for his freedom. And it’s clear what Trump wants: free reign for ICE in New York City and probably a steady stream of Trump praise from Adams. This is not only a deeply corrupt arrangement with respect to Adams — it robs the citizens of New York of their right to an elected mayor. You might as well have Adams making budget decisions while a hostage taker is holed up in Gracie Mansion with a gun to the mayor’s head. It’s really that bad.
The victim here isn’t really Adams. After all, a solid chance at getting off the hook if you pass your performance review is way, way better than going to trial. It’s the citizens of New York who are the victims. But however you slice it, it’s prosecutorial corruption on a mammoth scale. And above and beyond that, it’s using Trump’s direct control over federal prosecutors to assume de facto control of the executive power in New York City.
