Eric Adams thanks Justice Department for ordering dismissal of corruption charges

New York City Mayor Eric Adams thanked the Department of Justice for ordering the federal corruption charges filed against him be dropped, but admitted “many New Yorkers still question my character.”

“I thank the Justice Department for its honesty. Now we can put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of our city. It’s time to move forward,” Adams said at a briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop five criminal counts, including bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, from Adams’ case on Monday night.

“My fellow New Yorkers, as you may have heard, the Department of Justice has directed that the case against me be dismissed, finally, ending a months long saga that put me, my family and this city, through an unnecessary ordeal,” Adams said.

Adams has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, pleading not guilty to the charges in a September court hearing.

“As I said from the outset, I never broke the law, and I never would. I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor,” Adams said Tuesday.

Adams said that he is “no longer facing legal questions,” but the Justice Department order said the dismissal of his case would be without prejudice, meaning he could have those same charges refiled against him again in the future.

The mayor did add that he understands “many New Yorkers still question my character, and I know that I must continue to regain your trust.”

He told New Yorkers to look beneath “all the shocking headlines full of rumors and accusations, all the innuendos and insinuations,” and see that “the real news is that the women and men of my administration have delivered for the broken people of New York.”

Brooklyn state senator Zellnor Myrie, who is running against Adams in the upcoming mayoral election, told reporters Tuesday that the dismissal is “a dangerous degradation of the independence of our prosecutor’s office and of our courts.”

“Eric Adams no longer works for New Yorkers. He works for Donald Trump, period,” Myrie said, adding that he has sent a letter to the court asking it to reject any motion to dismiss the charges against the mayor.

“New Yorkers have no mayor right now, no leader right now, we have someone that is waking up every single day, not to fight for our teachers, not to fight to keep our hospitals open, not to fight for funding for our schools, but to fight for his own liberty, to save his own skin, we are compromised, and the court has the ability to recognize this,” Myrie said.

Speculation arose in January that Adams was seeking a pardon from the charges after he met with President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, ahead of the inauguration.

Following the meeting, Trump told reporters that he would consider pardoning the mayor, saying “Yeah, I would, I think that he was treated pretty unfairly.”

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said Tuesday afternoon that despite not believing Adams is guilty, he has “serious concerns” about the dismissal.

“Number one, I do think that Mayor Adams, you know, I believe him when he said he didn’t do anything wrong, but you can’t interfere with the justice system,” Meeks said in an interview on MSNBC.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an interview on MSNBC Tuesday morning that he didn’t think the charges against Adams were strong enough to warrant an indictment, arguing that it may actually be a positive that the DOJ is looking to drop the case.

“I actually think the charges were not strong enough,” de Blasio said. “They were affecting the democratic process in New York City. We have a Democrat primary for mayor in just over four months. This needed to be resolved.”

The former mayor added that Adams still has “some explaining to do,” but with the dismissal of the charges, “he has a chance to actually show people what he’s going to do for the city and make his case.”