NEW YORK (AP) — A court-appointed lawyer advised a federal judge Friday to let the Justice Department drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams but prevent prosecutors from ever reviving the case so it doesn’t hang over him “like the proverbial Sword of Damocles.”
Paul Clement, who was solicitor general under President George W. Bush, delivered the recommendation to Judge Dale E. Ho in papers filed two weeks after Ho appointed him to provide neutral advice on the case.
In a written submission, Clement told Ho that there was “ample reason” to dismiss the prosecution without granting the Justice Department's request to be able to refile them after this year's mayoral election, which would leave “a prospect that hangs like the proverbial Sword of Damocles over the accused.”
He added: “Such an ongoing prospect of re-indictment is particularly problematic when it comes to the sensitive task of prosecuting public officials. There is an inherent risk that once an indictment has been procured, the prospect of re-indictment could create the appearance, if not the reality, that the actions of a public official are being driven by concerns about staying in the good graces of the federal executive, rather than the best interests of his constituents.”
He said disallowing the refiling of the charges would eliminate “the distinct appearance problems inherent in a public official serving his constituents with the ever-looming prospect of re-indictment by the executive on charges already laid bare in a public indictment.”
Ho appointed Clement after Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove defended the request at a hearing, saying they came too close to Adams’ reelection campaign and would distract the mayor from assisting the Trump administration’s law-and-order priorities.
Bove had suggested the charges could be reinstated after the election if the new permanent U.S. attorney decided it was appropriate.
Lawyers for Adams subsequently asked for the charges to be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning they could not be refiled. The judge has not yet ruled on that request.
Adams was indicted in September and accused of accepting over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and travel perks from a Turkish official and others seeking to buy influence while he was Brooklyn borough president. He has pleaded not guilty and insisted he is innocent.
Ho said he wanted all parties and Clement to address the legal standard for dismissing charges, whether a court may consider materials beyond the motion itself and under what circumstances additional procedural steps and further inquiry was necessary.
He also said he wants to know when dismissal without the ability to reinstate charges is appropriate. After setting a Friday deadline to submit written arguments, Ho said oral arguments, if necessary, could take place a week later.
Bove initially directed then-interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon to request dismissal, but she refused, telling Attorney General Pam Bondi in a Feb. 12 letter as she offered to resign that she could not “agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations.”
She said the indictment was brought nine months before New York's June Democratic mayoral primary, consistent with longstanding Justice Department policy regarding election-year sensitivities, and the threat of possibly refiling the charges amounted to “using the criminal process to control the behavior of a political figure.”
Besides Sassoon, whose resignation was accepted by Bove the day after her letter, six prosecutors, including five high-ranking ones at the Justice Department, resigned before Bove made the dismissal request himself, along with two other Washington prosecutors.
In his recommendation to Ho, Clement observed that the Justice Department’s move to end the case “precipitated a series of resignations and unusual public disclosures concerning internal deliberations about the case and the decision to seek dismissal.”
“Suffice it to say that those materials raised material questions concerning both the initial decision to pursue the indictment and the subsequent decision to seek dismissal,” he wrote.
Larry Neumeister And Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press