I hate to say I told you so, but…
Earlier this year, the DOJ dropped its charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, clearly because Adams said he was willing to work with Trump on immigration, but the move has just backfired.
It was not long after Trump took office that it became clear Trump wanted to let Mayor Eric Adams off the hook on his corruption charges.
The charges were very similar in nature to those on which former Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) was just convicted.
The administration pretended it was so that Adams could concentrate on the election and his job as mayor, but in reality, this was a quid pro quo for Adams saying he would be willing to work with Trump on immigration (a stance he only took after it became clear he would be indicted after having previously blamed Republicans for the immigration problems in New York City).
In April, the court agreed to drop the charges, although they were dropped with prejudice, which means they could not be filed again in the future. When I wrote that initial report, I stated I believed the DOJ wanted the charges dropped without prejudice to have leverage over Adams.
I was far from the only person upset over the charges being dropped, as several prosecutors resigned over this.
In announcing their resignation, the prosecutors wrote, “It is now clear that one of the preconditions you have placed on our returning to the office is that we must express regret and admit some wrongdoing.
“We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none.”
I think it was shameful that the DOJ was looking to place blame on prosecutors when the case against Adams appeared to be an open-and-shut case. My opinion is that he is as corrupt as the day is long, and this was a monumental mistake by Trump.
The whole idea behind letting Adams off the hook was that he could help with immigration, but I had stated at the time that he is a meaningless cog in that machine.
To that point, a judge just blocked Adams from cooperating with ICE. Judge Mary Rosado stated that city cannot take “any steps toward negotiating, signing, or implementing any Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government" prior to an April 25 hearing on the matter.
The suit was filed against Adams by the New York City Council, which Democrats currently control.
The suit makes the obvious claim that Adams has engaged in an act of quid pro quo with the Trump administration in exchange for his charges being dropped. I suspect Adams will lose this suit and Trump dropping his charges will all have been for naught.
