Seven federal prosecutors resigned after the Department of Justice ordered the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped. Residents and local

Brooklyn’s U.S. attorney said Weihong Hu and two men set out to “line their own pockets” at the height of the pandemic. Ms. Hu has helped raise funds for Mayor Eric Adams of New York.

Brooklyn Sen. Zellnor Myrie sent a letter to the judge presiding over Adams' case, asking him to reject the DOJ's directive to drop the charges, and instead assign a special prosecutor.

As Andrew Cuomo inches toward announcing a run for New York City mayor, Playbook can report a curious confidante he’s cultivated along the way: Frank Carone. Yes, the same Frank Carone who stood by Mayor Eric Adams from his days as a promising candidate in 2021, to his tenure as the leader of the city, to more recently, as an indicted man fighting federal charges in D.C. and Democratic opponents at home. Carone is his fundraiser, political adviser, one-time chief of staff and friend. Make no mistake, Carone says, he’s still in the mayor’s corner. They remain in constant contact and spent hours in Gracie Mansion together the night Adams was indicted. Carone helped set up and attended the pivotal meeting between Adams and President Donald Trump that led to Trump’s Justice Department dropping charges against Adams. But Carone — ever the pragmatic businessperson — has been in regular communication with Cuomo and his top adviser, Melissa DeRosa, for months. Four political insiders told Playbook about the relationship, each privately expressing varying degrees of shock and admonition that a man Adams has called his “brother” would so frequently talk shop with the soon-to-be strongest candidate in the race — the one threatening Adams’ support with Black Democrats. “I am all in supporting the reelection of Eric Adams and the Adams Administration and believe its record under the Mayor’s leadership of success from January 1 2022 through today speaks for itself,” Carone told Playbook in a statement. “NYC is simply better and on the right track. However, I consider Melissa a friend and enjoy communicating with her, as well as Governor Cuomo, who I have great respect for.” It stands to reason Carone would want to hedge his bets. Cuomo’s leading in the polls, Adams is politically and financially hobbled, and Carone — once the Brooklyn Democratic Party lawyer — runs a lobbying and consulting firm he’s looking to grow. People in his position thrive on access to powerful politicians. Like Cuomo and Adams, Carone shares a distaste for the politics of left-flank candidates like city Comptroller Brad Lander and likely sees Cuomo as the best non-Adams option to defeat them. Perhaps the most interesting part of this tale is that Adams, we’re told, is aware of Carone’s relationship with the Cuomo team and isn’t holding it against him, further proving the maxim that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. An Adams spokesperson declined to comment, and Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said, “We don’t comment on private conversations but I think everyone in this business should just assume that everyone talks to everybody all the time.” Case in point: a strategist for a candidate in the crowded Democratic primary recently told New York Magazine that campaign aides are “all on a text chain” in a story about the mayor’s woes. When asked whether Carone would play a role in his campaign — an operation that has yet to take shape within four months of Primary Day — Adams told Playbook last month Carone was deciding whether to join the team or do an independent PAC. He added, “Frank is my guy, before we even start I will find out exactly what he wants to do.” — Sally Goldenberg Insurance Hitting Uber Riders in the Wallet. New York State has some of the most onerous and expensive insurance laws for rideshare trips in the country and Uber riders are paying the cost. In December 2024, 25% of rider fares on average went toward government-mandated commercial insurance for Uber rideshare trips. Lawsuit abuse and the litigation environment in New York are driving up costs of everything even more, including insurance premiums. Learn More. COME AT THE KING: Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to bottle up President Donald Trump. The president has taken glee in exerting the federal government’s will over his native (and very blue) state — happily referring to himself as a “king” in the process. Trump has moved to rescind federal approval of the congestion pricing toll program. And his Justice Department is pushing to end Adams’ corruption case while simultaneously having the mayor carry out the White House’s immigration policies. So the governor, a Democrat who faces a potentially tough reelection battle next year, is on the ramparts. She cheered on a lawsuit to keep the toll cameras going Wednesday during a fiery news conference. A day later, she proposed a package of “guardrails” meant to boost oversight of Adams’ office — which Hochul framed as a way to counter Trump’s undue influence over City Hall. “There’s a clear line between cooperation and coercion,” Hochul told reporters Thursday in her Manhattan office. “Given how aggressive the Trump administration has been … we know they’ll stop at nothing to try and exercise control over New York.” Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Trump said New York has “treated people very badly” and the toll program he wants to end is “not a good situation.” “Suppose you work at a shoe shop, or you worked at a restaurant as a waiter, and you have to come into Manhattan and they’re taking many, many dollars out of your pocket,” he said of the $9 tolls. Hochul has said she doesn’t want to fight Trump on every issue and insists she’s willing to work with him when there’s a shared interest. But increasingly Trump is coming directly at her and New York, a state where he overperformed in November. For Hochul, doing battle with Trump could endear her to Democrats. But the largely powerless New York Republicans view Trump’s gains differently. To them, they’re a chance to recapture statewide offices next year for the first time in 20 years. — Nick Reisman POWERS PICK: First in Playbook, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council is backing Keith Powers for Manhattan borough president, the labor giant’s first endorsement of this year. HTC has a lot of members working in Manhattan and wants to see casinos — with union jobs — in the borough. The next BP could have a say in casino placement if a decision is delayed to 2026, and HTC would want a friend in the office. Powers’ leading opponent, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, has firmly opposed proposals in his district. A union spokesperson said the endorsement would also include members helping out with campaign activities. And the union has an affiliated super PAC that’s likely to boost Powers’ campaign. “From his consistent support for responsible development with good jobs, to helping reopen hotels and restart our tourism industry, Keith has always prioritized the interests of working families,” HTC President Rich Maroko said. — Jeff Coltin IT AIN’T EASY …: Devoting one percent of the city budget to the parks department is topping the New York League of Conservation Voters’ city legislative agenda. Green groups have been pushing Mayor Eric Adams for years to nearly double the parks budget from roughly $600 million to $1.1 billion. As a candidate, Adams pledged to get to 1 percent for parks, but the department’s share of funding has actually gone down in his tenure. Expect mayoral candidates to make the same pledge at a March 6 forum on the environment hosted by the NYLCV Education Fund, the Regional Plan Association and other green groups. Also on NYLCV’s agenda: following through on the law to reduce building emissions and enacting a recycling program for e-bike batteries. — Jeff Coltin — Democrats condemned the Trump administration canceling a $257,000 federal contract for research on 9/11-related diseases. (POLITICO) — The Republican Party organizations in all five boroughs have endorsed Curtis Sliwa for mayor, narrowing the path for Adams to run on the GOP line. (City & State) RECRUITMENT WOES: As unauthorized labor strikes at state prisons continue, Hochul on Thursday acknowledged there is “a severe shortage of people who want to be corrections officers in our state.” “These are tough, tough jobs,” she said. The ongoing strikes have led Hochul to deploy 3,500 members of the National Guard in order to provide support at some 30 prisons that have been impacted. But Hochul also once again condemned the death of Robert Brooks, an inmate at Marcy Correctional Facility who was beaten by corrections officers. Nine guards were charged Thursday in the beating of Brooks, whose death has been ruled a homicide. “It was sickening to hear the descriptions of the charges being brought against corrections officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility,” Hochul said. “It was shocking to know that this had gone on. If it wasn’t for some body cameras, who knows if we had known about it.” — Nick Reisman MEDIAWATCH: Patrick Reap is now the booker for Newsmax’s “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.” He most recently was a senior producer at Washington Post Live and is a CNN alum. … Regina de Heer is now an audio producer for WaPo’s “Impromptu” podcast. She previously was an audio producer at New York Public Radio. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — McKenzie Urry, legislative director for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Alex Urry, senior policy adviser for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and a Pelosi alum, welcomed Ava Monroe Urry on Friday. Their marriage is the first of two Pelosi staffers, and Ava is the first ever Team Pelosi baby. New York residents already shoulder some of the nation’s highest auto insurance costs, paying an average of $3,840 a year for full coverage. Similarly, the mandatory cost of rideshare insurance per trip in New York is among the highest in the country. One reason behind this is the $1.25 million in liability coverage when a passenger is in the vehicle, which is 25 times the liability requirement for personal vehicles. Insurance premiums continue to rise in part because of the litigation environment in New York. Lawsuit fraud and abuse drives up costs for everything, including insurance rates. Uber is pushing for commonsense legislative changes that keep all trips covered while bringing down the cost of trips.

Four New York City deputy mayors announced their resignations Monday as the controversy continued to grow over the allegation that Mayor Eric Adams agreed to a quid pro quo to get his criminal case dropped.

The lead federal prosecutor on the case against Mayor Eric Adams quit on Friday, the latest in a series of resignations over an order from a top Justice Department official to drop the corruption charges the mayor faces. Jonah E. Bromwich Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Alyce McFadden Mayor Eric Adams of New York faced increasingly loud calls to resign Friday, one day after a fuller picture of the arrangement that led to the U.S. Justice Department seeking to drop corruption charges against him began to emerge. The revelations came in part from the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Danielle R. Sassoon, who resigned rather than heed an order from Justice Department officials in Washington to drop the case. She accused Mr. Adams’s lawyers of negotiating for a dismissal in exchange for the mayor’s help with President Trump’s immigration crackdown. The lead prosecutor on the investigation, Hagan Scotten, announced his resignation as well in a scathing, undated letter to Mr. Bove. He wrote that any federal prosecutor “would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.” He added that he expected Mr. Bove would “eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.” After Ms. Sassoon’s resignation, at least five other Justice Department officials quit, rather than file the motion that would end the prosecution. A lawyer for Mr. Adams, Alex Spiro, called the accusation a “total lie” but said, “We were asked if the case had any bearing on national security and immigration enforcement and we truthfully answered it did.” And Mr. Adams himself appeared on “Fox and Friends” on Friday with President Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan, where he said that he was not “standing in the way” of deportation efforts, unlike many of his fellow Democrats. “I’m collaborating,” he said. Still, Mr. Homan did not seem satisfied. He attacked Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is facing growing pressure to use her power to remove Mr. Adams from office, as Mr. Adams sat by silently. And he seemed to threaten the mayor himself, saying he would face consequences if he did not cooperate closely enough. “If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City,” Mr. Homan said. “And we won’t be sitting on a couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying where the hell is the agreement we came to?” Some of Mr. Adams’s opponents have called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to use her power to remove Mr. Adams. She previously suggested that she would not oust the mayor, but did not rule it out on Thursday night. “The allegations are extremely concerning and serious,” she said in an interview on MSNBC. “But I cannot, as the governor of this state, have a kneejerk, politically motivated reaction.” Here’s what else there is to know: Calls for resignation: A growing number of public officials have called for Mr. Adams to resign or Ms. Hochul to remove him. Michael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader of the New York State Senate, has called for the mayor to step down. Antonio Delgado, the lieutenant governor, said he should resign, saying, “It is clear that he is compromised and no longer capable of making decisions in the best interests of New York City.” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a social media post that Mr. Adams was “putting the City of New York and its people at risk.” If he does not resign, she added, he “must be removed.” The indictment: Mr. Adams was indicted last year on five counts, including bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations, stemming from an investigation that began in 2021. Mr. Adams had pleaded not guilty and was scheduled for trial in April. History of the case: The indictment against Mr. Adams was announced in September by Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney who led the Manhattan office during the Biden administration. Mr. Adams, a Democrat, has claimed that he was targeted because of his criticism of the administration over the migrant crisis — an assertion prosecutors have rebutted, noting that the investigation began well before the mayor made those comments. Adams is currently running in a crowded Democratic primary in June. At least seven candidates are challenging him, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo could enter the race in the coming weeks. Here’s what you need to know about who is running for mayor. There are five ways that Adams could leave office: He could resign, Gov. Kathy Hochul could remove him, he could decide not to run for re-election, he could lose the election this year, or a five-member committee could be formed to remove him, though that process could be complicated. Here’s more information on each path. Tiffany Cabán, a councilwoman from Queens who represents Rikers Island, criticized Adams for saying he would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents back into the jail complex. A majority of people held there have yet to be convicted. Adams’s decision is in line with the Trump administration’s fear-mongering about “dangerous, violent, criminal” immigrants, she said. “What we’re going to see is the most vulnerable people, who have been charged with crimes borne of poverty, sent back to the places where they are most in danger,” Cabán said. New York Police Department officials said in a statement on Friday that their policies on immigration enforcement had not changed since Adams said he would issue an executive order permitting ICE agents in city jails. In accordance with New York City and State law, the NYPD does not engage in civil immigration enforcement, period. The NYPD does engage in criminal enforcement matters, as it always has, regardless of a person’s immigration status, including work on federal criminal task forces. — NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) February 14, 2025 “In accordance with New York City and State law, the NYPD does not engage in civil immigration enforcement, period,” the department said. It “does engage in criminal enforcement matters, as it always has, regardless of a person’s immigration status, including work on federal criminal task forces.” The Justice Department’s acting No. 2 official, Emil Bove III, previously served on Donald J. Trump’s criminal defense team. Credit...Pool photo by Angela Weiss The current crisis at the Justice Department over the corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York stems partly from the particulars of the law and a recent decree from Attorney General Pam Bondi. In recent days, the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove III, has demanded that career lawyers submit a court filing in New York requesting to dismiss the case against Mr. Adams. The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, a career prosecutor named Danielle R. Sassoon who had been recently elevated by the Trump administration, refused, saying she could not do something that was contrary to the facts and the law, and that was motivated by political reasons unrelated to the case. She resigned. Mr. Bove could have then made the same demand of other prosecutors in Ms. Sassoon’s office; instead, he redirected his efforts to career staff members at Justice Department headquarters. There, too, people stepped down rather than carry out what they viewed as a deeply improper order. By late Thursday, five prosecutors in Washington had resigned. As a Justice Department official, Mr. Bove could simply sign the document himself. While it would be highly unusual for someone at his level to take such a role in a criminal case, there is nothing that expressly bars him from doing so. There are several factors that may help explain why he has not signed the document so far. First, his boss, Ms. Bondi, issued a memo last week insisting that Justice Department lawyers should be signing legal filings, telling them that withholding their names from a legal filing they disagree with could lead to punishment or dismissal. For decades, department practice allowed lawyers, in rare instances, to withhold their names from filings if they strongly believed they could not make a good-faith argument. That area of legal ethics is not clear-cut — government lawyers have an obligation to carry out the work of the government whether they personally agree with a particular policy goal or not. But occasionally, a lawyer will find a particular course of action so unreasonable or likely to fail that they will back out of the case. Ms. Bondi’s memo said that would no longer be tolerated. “When Department of Justice attorneys, for example, refuse to advance good-faith arguments by declining to appear in court or sign briefs, it undermines the constitutional order and deprives the president of the benefit of his lawyers,” Ms. Bondi wrote. “It is therefore the policy of the Department of Justice that any attorney who because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law.” The memo serves as a reminder of the priorities Ms. Bondi is seeking to operate under, in which Justice Department lawyers do not question or challenge top-level directives. Mr. Bove may also be loath to sign the document himself because of the extra scrutiny it would entail. The judge overseeing the Adams case, Dale Ho of Federal District Court in Manhattan, may well demand answers of whomever submits such a document. Indeed, Ms. Sassoon’s refusal letter pointedly suggests the judge may hold a hearing to ask tough questions of the Justice Department if it seeks to withdraw the charges. Senior Justice Department officials like Mr. Bove generally try to avoid going to court to face a grilling from a judge. The longer this standoff between Mr. Bove and career employees at the department continues, the harder it may be for Mr. Bove to avoid such questioning from Judge Ho, particularly given the public airing of the dispute between Mr. Bove and Ms. Sassoon. Ultimately, it will be up to the judge to decide whether to dismiss the charges, but it is very difficult for a criminal case to proceed once the prosecuting office has abandoned it. Given the controversy, there is now far more at stake for the Justice Department and its leadership than just the outcome of the Adams case. Mr. Bove and others may find that even if they get the charges dismissed, they may face intense public scrutiny over their actions and motives. The acting No. 2 official at the Justice Department ordered prosecutors to drop the case against Adams on Monday. That we are now approaching noon on Friday and no federal prosecutor has yet complied is a sign of the remarkable upheaval raging within the department. The Justice Department’s attempt to drop corruption charges against New York’s mayor has set off a string of resignations.Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times Hagan Scotten, the lead prosecutor on the federal corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, resigned after Justice Department officials ordered the dismissal of charges he had helped bring, suggesting that only a “fool” or a “coward” would obey. In an undated, scathing resignation letter, Mr. Scotten wrote that any federal prosecutor “would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.” He added: “If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.” Mr. Scotten was responding to a Justice Department official’s directive this week to dismiss the bribery, fraud and other charges against Mr. Adams so the mayor could help with President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Hagan Scotten, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote to Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, refusing to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams. The official, Emil Bove III, who is the acting deputy attorney general, gave the order to Danielle R. Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. She resigned on Thursday rather than carry out the order to seek dismissal of the charges against Mr. Adams. Ms. Sassoon, 38, a veteran Southern District prosecutor, was elevated last month by the Trump administration to lead the office. At the time, she and Mr. Scotten were co-chiefs of the office’s criminal appeals unit. A Southern District spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Scotten’s resignation. Mr. Scotten served three combat tours in Iraq as a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer and earned two Bronze Stars. He graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court, and for Brett M. Kavanaugh before he, too, became an Supreme Court justice. Mr. Scotten has led the investigation into Mr. Adams since it began in the summer of 2021. It resulted in an indictment that was announced in September by a previous U.S. attorney, Damian Williams, an appointee of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. In a hearing in October, Mr. Scotten said in court that additional charges could be brought and additional defendants charged. Ms. Sassoon, in a letter on Thursday, noted that the Southern District was prepared to seek a new indictment that would add an obstruction count based on evidence the mayor destroyed and told others to destroy evidence and to lie to the F.B.I. She said such an indictment would also include new campaign finance accusations. A lawyer for Mr. Adams, Alex Spiro, responded to the threat of new accusations, saying that if federal prosecutors “had any proof whatsoever that the mayor destroyed evidence, they would have brought those charges — as they continually threatened to do, but didn’t, over months and months.” In his four-paragraph letter, Mr. Scotten expressed disdain for Mr. Bove’s rationale for dismissing the case. “The first justification for the motion — that Mr. Williams’s oversight in the case somehow tainted a valid indictment supported by ample evidence, and pursued under four different U.S. attorneys — is so weak as to be transparently pretextual.” The second justification, he wrote, was worse: “No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives.” On Friday morning, Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, stepped up his pressure campaign. Bove held a group discussion with the entire public integrity section, roughly two dozen lawyers after Thursday’s resignations, looking for someone to sign a court document seeking dismissal of the charges against Adams, according to people familiar with the matter. The prospect of immediate resignations or firings hangs over every conversation about the issue. Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller who is running for mayor against Eric Adams, called the mayor’s interview on Fox News a “hostage situation” and said on social media: “The president sees this mayor as a pawn…as an open-door opportunity to use New York City as the proving ground for mass deportations, for federal overreach, for a strategy that prioritizes headlines, cruelty, and chaos over public safety.” Brad Lander, the city comptroller who is running for mayor against Adams, said on social media on Friday that the mayor’s interview alongside Trump’s border czar on Fox News was “sad, embarrassing, and enraging. It’s time for this mayor to go.” While there are growing calls for Adams to resign, there are also calls for Gov. Kathy Hochul to use her power to remove him from office. Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, said the governor had a responsibility to protect the city because Adams had “relinquished his responsibilities” to New Yorkers. “In some ways this is not about Adams, it’s about how will we keep our people safe from the abuses of a tyrant,” Archila said. “Seeking the removal of the mayor might be the right thing to do.” The mayor’s appearance on “Fox and Friends,” President Trump’s favorite morning show, was more than symbolic. It came a day after Adams said he would issue an executive order to allow ICE into the Rikers Island jail complex, a priority of Mr. Trump’s border czar. Adams had not released the language of the executive order as of Friday morning. But the announcement quickly raised concerns among the Democratic leaders of the City Council, including Speaker Adrienne Adams, who framed the order as a possible favor for Trump and a potential subversion of the city’s sanctuary laws. If the federal case against Adams is dismissed, it would be an uphill battle for any state prosecutor to pursue similar charges. Attention could shift to the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who has indicted members of Adams’s circle and won a criminal conviction of President Trump last year. However, to build a case against Adams for the same crimes, it would likely take the cooperation of federal prosecutors in the Department of Justice, which would be unlikely at this juncture. Other avenues to prosecuting Adams would also be challenging. It is important to keep in mind how extraordinary these protest resignations are — of a sitting U.S. attorney, an assistant who has led the case against a high-profile elected official like the mayor, and of Justice Department lawyers in Washington who oversee corruption matters. Normally, the men and women who represent the government of the United States in federal court keep a low profile. They seldom draw attention to themselves. But this is a stunning clash between the Justice Department in Washington and the nation’s premier federal prosecutor’s office. Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn who is running for mayor against Adams, said of the mayor’s friendly interview on “Fox and Friends” with President Trump’s border czar: “I’d say we’ve become a national joke with how embarrassing this is, but unfortunately none of this is funny. The greatest city in the world is being humiliated daily because Adams is compromised.” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a longtime critic of Adams, called on him to resign or be removed in response to Danielle Sassoon’s letter: “This is explosive. Mayor Adams is putting the City of New York and its people at risk in exchange for escaping charges. As long as Trump wields this leverage over Adams, the city is endangered. We cannot be governed under coercion. If Adams won’t resign, he must be removed.” Hagan Scotten, a conservative Republican who led the investigation into Mayor Eric Adams since its inception in mid-2021 and headed the team that was preparing for the mayor’s April trial, alluded to his own political views in his resignation letter on Friday. “Some will view the mistake you are committing here in the light of their generally negative views of the new administration,” he wrote. “I do not share those views. I can even understand how a chief executive whose background is in business and politics might see the contemplated dismissal-with-leverage as a good, if distasteful, deal.” But any such arrangement would be contrary to the law, he wrote. Scotten served three combat tours in Iraq as a Special Forces officer, graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for Chief Justice John R. Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court. In his scathing resignation letter, he expresses disdain for the justifications Emil Bove III, a top Justice Department official, presented for dismissing the case, including some involving U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “In short, the first justification for the motion — that Damian Williams’s role in the case somehow tainted a valid indictment supported by ample evidence, and pursued under four different U.S. attorneys — is so weak as to be transparently pretextual,” the letter says. The second justification, Scotten writes, was worse. “No system of ordered liberty can allow the government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives.” The lead prosecutor on the Adams investigation has resigned from the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan rather than agree to file a motion seeking to dismiss the corruption case against the mayor. In his resignation letter, Hagan Scotten wrote that any federal prosecutor “would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.” He added: “If no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.” There have been no resignations at City Hall yet, but in recent hours, staff members there have expressed anger and disbelief at the state of the mayoralty. Not long after his appearance on “Fox and Friends” with the Trump administration’s border czar, Mayor Eric Adams sent out his weekly email to New York City residents with the subject line “time to move forward.” He quickly mentioned that “the U.S. Department of Justice directed that the case against me be dismissed” before trying to convey a sense of normalcy, laying out his administration’s efforts at addressing crime, affordable housing and early childhood education. Some have called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to use her power to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office. She has previously suggested that she would not oust him, but did not rule it out on Thursday night. “The allegations are extremely concerning and serious,” she said in an interview on MSNBC. “But I cannot, as the governor of this state, have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction.” The Rev Al Sharpton, a longstanding ally of the mayor who wields considerable influence among Adams’s political base, said in an interview on Friday morning: “I think the Trump people have compromised him. And I think that he’s put the city where we are hostage.” Asked to explain his call for Adams to resign, Antonio Delgado, the lieutenant governor, said that while the mayor was innocent until proven guilty, “it is clear that he is compromised and no longer capable of making decisions in the best interests of New York City.”

Mayor Eric Adams bizarrely invoked “Mein Kampf” at a Brooklyn church rally Monday afternoon as he defiantly blasted rivals calling for him to step down — as chaos swirled around the administration. Adams — who delivered the speech to a group of about 50 supporters at the Rehoboth Cathedral on MacDougal Street — also took a vicious dig at his potential successor,

Adams, facing corruption charges and possibly a gubernatorial ouster, planned a full day of standared mayoral actitives Thursday.

Divine intervention! New York’s top faith leaders who privately met with Gov. Kathy Hochul urged caution and thoughtful deliberation before determining whether to initiate a process to

A federal judge adjourned the corruption trial for Adams and appointed counsel to advise him on handling the Justice Department's request to drop charges.

NEW YORK − Embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams proclaimed his innocence Wednesday ... and before that as Brooklyn Borough President, to take bribes and solicit illegal campaign ...

Dozens of interviews suggested that New Yorkers believed that the mayor was compromised by his association with President Trump.