Judge overseeing Eric Adams corruption case asks DOJ why it’s dropping charges

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• Geoff Bennett:

  The federal judge overseeing the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a hearing today about the Trump Justice Department's sudden decision to drop the case. That reversal prompted seven federal prosecutors to resign in protest last week, and has further plunged the mayor's administration into turmoil.

  Our William Brangham was in the courtroom today and joins us now.

  So, William, what was the judge trying to determine today?

• William Brangham:

  Geoff, it was this incredibly striking scene for a federal courthouse. On one side of the room, you had the prosecutors, in this case, the U.S. Department of Justice. And on the other side, at the defendant's table, was the mayor of New York City.

  And in this case, they both wanted the exact same thing, which is for this very serious corruption case against the mayor to simply go away. And the judge, in this case, Judge Dale Ho, wanted to know why. And so he peppered a series of questions to the deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, about why he drops the case.

  And Bove made the argument that he's made in the past, that this was not about the merits of the case. Instead, he argued that this case was brought for political reasons, because Adams once criticized President Biden, and that this case impinged on Adams' ability to do his job, specifically to enforce immigration laws.

  And it was that that argument that set off this revolt that you mentioned and all these resignations. In fact, one of those resigned prosecutors alleged that there was a quid pro quo here, that Adams had been told, we will drop this case if you get on board with Trump's immigration crackdown.

  So that's what happened today.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Did the judge get into the substance of that quid pro quo allegation?

• William Brangham:

  He did.

  He put the mayor under oath and asked him very specifically, did you, were you offered anything in exchange for this case going away? Did you — were you threatened at all? The mayor said he was not. What the judge does with that information is unclear. The judge was very clear that he only has a pretty narrow lane here.

  I mean, the prosecutors have said, we don't want this case to go forward. It seems hard to understand how the judge could force them to prosecute this case. So the judge said, look, he wasn't going to shoot from the hip. He did not issue a ruling on this today. He asked for some patience going forward.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So, even if this case goes away, William, there are still questions about Mayor Adams' political future. Isn't that right?

• William Brangham:

  That's exactly right.

  The governor of New York, Democrat Kathy Hochul, has said she has the power to remove him, and she's debating whether or not to do that. She had meetings all day yesterday with state and local officials, consulting with them about this.

  Four senior members of the mayor's staff and deputy mayors quit this week. Just it's hard to overstate how much turmoil there is in the mayor's office right now. Mayor Adams has said all along he's innocent, he's going to stay in this, and he's going to run for reelection, but now it's up to the governor to determine whether or not he can.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Certainly more to come.

  William Brangham in New York City for us tonight.

  William, thank you.

• William Brangham:

  You're welcome, Geoff.