Senior officials within the Department of Justice have engaged in discussions with federal prosecutors in Manhattan regarding the possibility of dropping a corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to a new report.
These officials have also been in contact with Adams’s legal team since Trump took office. The mayor is being represented by Alex Spiro, a high-profile attorney who also serves as personal counsel to billionaire Elon Musk, one of Trump’s closest allies, writes The New York Times.
The officials have also spoken to Mr. Adams’s defense team since Mr. Trump took office, the people said. The defense team is led by Alex Spiro, who is also the personal lawyer for Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and one of the president’s closest advisers.
Mr. Trump has the power to pardon Mr. Adams, who as New York City’s mayor could aid his plans for mass deportations. In December, Mr. Trump said that the mayor had been treated “pretty unfairly” by prosecutors and suggested he was considering issuing a pardon.
But if prosecutors were to dismiss the case entirely, it could allow Mr. Adams to insist on his innocence to voters as he seeks another term as mayor, while allowing Mr. Trump to avoid the appearance of a pardon that many might view as unwarranted.
In pushing for the case to be dropped, two of the people with knowledge said, Mr. Spiro has observed to department officials that Mr. Trump has criticized it. The two people said that the defense lawyer has also suggested that the mayor would not be inclined to cooperate with the president’s immigration crackdown if he remained under indictment.
In a statement, Mr. Spiro strongly denied that he had made any such suggestion: “That is a complete lie.”
The charges came against Adams following his heavy criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of immigration.
The legal case against Adams originates from his indictment in September on charges of bribery, fraud, and illegal campaign contributions following a federal investigation that began in 2021. Adams has consistently denied any wrongdoing, arguing that he is being unfairly targeted due to his criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant crisis in New York. Prosecutors have rejected this claim.
CBS News reported that “the news broke the same day as New York City’s Democratic primary mayoral forum, an event Adams was invited to but didn’t attend.
During the forum, former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake was asked to name two things he has in common with the other candidates at the event.
‘None of us canceled MLK events to go to a Trump inauguration, and none of us are trying to get a pardon,’ he said.
This year’s crop of mayoral candidates made it clear that indictment or no indictment, they will demand answers from Adams during the campaign.”
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