Mayor Eric Adams standing with Metropolis Council Speaker and mayoral main rival Adrienne Adams at a Nationwide Motion Community occasion on April 2, 2025.
Lev Radin/ZUMA Press Wire
A number of candidates operating to oust Mayor Eric Adams on this 12 months’s Democratic main argued {that a} federal decide’s choice to dismiss his corruption fees on Wednesday doesn’t restore the incumbent’s broken credibility or the looks that he’s beholden to President Trump.
Metropolis Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Adrienne Adams, who isn’t associated to the mayor, mentioned the choice by Federal District Courtroom Choose Dale Ho “does not absolve” him of his actions.
“It also does not end the chaos and shame this has brought on our city with other ongoing criminal cases and investigations of the mayor’s office,” the speaker mentioned in a press release, referring to the bevy of unrelated federal and state legal probes into former Adams administration officers.
Ho dominated that Adams’ fees must be dropped “with prejudice” — which means that Trump’s Justice Division can’t resurrect his case. Trump’s DOJ had pushed for dismissing the case “without prejudice,” which might have allowed it to carry the fees again at any time.
He mentioned that was essential to keep away from the notion that the DOJ is utilizing the specter of reintroducing the fees to compel Adams to do the Trump administration’s bidding.
Mayor Eric Adams.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
“As Judge Ho stated in his ruling, ‘Everything here smacks of a bargain: Dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,’” the speaker mentioned. “Our city’s mayor should never be in the position of bargaining away New Yorkers and their rights.”
Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander, who can also be operating to unseat Adams, counseled Choose Ho for dismissing the case with, relatively than with out, prejudice.
“The ruling does not change the facts: Eric Adams works for Donald Trump, not New Yorkers,” Lander mentioned in a press release.
A spokesperson for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner within the race, didn’t reply to requests for touch upon Ho’s ruling.
Neither former Gov. Andrew Cuomo nor his mayoral marketing campaign issued public statements Wednesday in regards to the federal corruption case in opposition to Mayor Eric Adams being dismissed.REUTERS/Adam Grey
For his half, Mayor Adams has lengthy maintained that there was no quid-pro-quo between his authorized staff and the Trump administration and that he solely acts in the most effective pursuits of New Yorkers. Throughout a Wednesday afternoon deal with following Ho’s choice, Adams insisted the case was “baseless” and that he’s “solely beholden” to New Yorkers.
One other Adams challenger, Queens Meeting Member Zohran Mamdani, echoed the speaker’s sentiment that Adams remains to be in Trump’s thrall even when he not has the fees hanging over his head.
‘Even the decide within the case agrees: this slimy deal reeks of a quid professional quo with the Trump administration,” Mamdani mentioned in a press release.
“In exchange for his freedom, Adams has looked the other way while the federal government detains and disappears New Yorkers, steals money from our city, and wages war on working people. Adams should resign in disgrace,” he added, referring to the mayor declining to talk out in opposition to the Trump administration’s detention of immigrants with out fees and transfer to claw again $80 million in migrant disaster help from town.
Assemblymember and candidate for New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a mayoral candidates discussion board for local weather justice.Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
Adams’ administration did carry a lawsuit in opposition to the federal authorities to recoup the migrant funding.
The mayor additionally pledged to signal an govt order that may enable Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to function on Rikers Island as soon as once more following the DOJ’s transfer to dismiss his case, although he has but to subject the directive.
Though Adams is out of authorized jeapordy, the injury his indictment did to his political care could also be irreperable.
Since getting charged in September, Adams has confronted widespread calls to resign, been deserted by a few of his closest political allies, and seen his job approval score drop to historic lows. The case has additionally considerably damage his re-election marketing campaign, permitting Cuomo to hijack a lot of his political and monetary supporters.
But Adams declared on Wednesday, “I’m running for re-election, and you know what? I’m going to win.”
