A new legal filing by a flurry of law and governmental ethics experts urges the judge in New York City mayor Eric Adams' corruption case to consider whether Justice Department acting deputy Attorney General Emil Bove acted unethically in his efforts to have the sprawling case dismissed.
But one telling premise put forward to U.S. District Judge Dale Ho by the group was identified Tuesday as the strongest of the arguments showing how the former Trump defense attorney's actions violated professional ethics as he tried to stop Adams’ prosecution, according to national security expert Marcy Wheeler.
“The most compelling theory substantiating abuse was the way Bove serially threatened attorneys with investigation and firing if they did not sign onto his motion to dismiss the case, along with the investigations he initiated against those who refused,” wrote Wheeler, a longtime writer who runs the security analysis blog EmptyWheel.
The filing came as Ho weighs whether to move forward with the Justice Department's request to throw out the case under Bove’s theory that Adams was targeted by what he called the political weaponization of the department.
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Wheeler told readers she believes it is unlikely the amicus motion – a legal “friend of the court” brief – would ultimately affect the judge’s upcoming decision. She was also “skeptical” that the request would lead “to a fulsome evidentiary hearing about Bove’s conduct.”
But there is one legal upside, according to Wheeler.
“By putting all this on the record, including the threats to prosecutors, it might provide Ho a tool to do something else he laid the basis to do,” she said.
Wheeler concluded that “the most likely outcome” to emerge from the judge’s decision is that he “dismisses the case against Adams with prejudice, depriving DOJ of any leverage over the Mayor.”
