New York City Mayor Eric Adams has adamantly insisted he never made any quid pro quo arrangement with Justice Department officials in the Donald Trump administration on immigration policy in exchange for the public corruption case against him being dismissed. But a newly revealed letter from Adams' lawyers to the DOJ sharply undercuts this assertion.
The letter, flagged by Politico's Kyle Cheney, was sent out on February 3, but was only today filed on the federal court docket — and it appears to directly argue to the DOJ that Adams' indictment is an obstacle to arresting and deporting unauthorized immigrants in New York City.
And it states the indictment was standing in the way of him being an "important partner" to Trump.
"With respect to day-to-day leadership, Mayor Adams's political muscle is weakened by an indictment," said the letter. "Leaders of various city agencies such as the NYPD and the Office of the Corporation Counsel serve at the Mayor's pleasure and are subject to removal by him."
With Adams under indictment, the letter continued, officials at those agencies "may become emboldened to seek alliances with the City Council or the Public Advocate, both of whom are staunchly opposed to Mayor Adams's longtime desire to roll back certain pieces of New York's sanctuary city policies."
"Sanctuary city" is an umbrella term for a host of policies that generally restrict or prohibit city officials from assisting federal agents in locating or arresting immigrants without a court-issued warrant compelling them to do so.
The letter went on to say that "there is a reason that the Justice Department does not prosecute sitting presidents, and while a mayor is not a president, Mayor Adams is nonetheless the leader of the country's largest city and needs to be an important partner to the President and his administration."
Adams was indicted last year on fraud and bribery charges, with federal prosecutors alleging he accepted over $100,000 in unlawful luxury travel and other gifts from officials connected to the Turkish government, at the same time as he was pressuring the New York Fire Department to ignore safety codes to expedite construction of a new Turkish consulate building in the city.
This month, Trump's DOJ moved to dismiss the charges, arguing they were politically motivated and an obstacle to Adams' cooperation on immigration enforcement, which triggered a wave of resignations from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and widespread allegations that Adams was effectively trading policy cooperation with Trump for dismissal of charges.
For his part, Adams has denied all public corruption allegations, and compared the calls on him to resign with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's manifesto, "Mein Kampf," which has sparked further outrage and condemnation by Jewish officials in New York.
U.S. District Judge Dale Ho has set a hearing for Wednesday, where he will listen to prosecutors' arguments for why the Adams case should be dismissed — a procedure that is usually a formality but that will be watched with intense scrutiny as the judge does have the power to reject the motion.
