A U.S. judge has decided to adjourn the trial New York City Mayor Eric Adams until further notice, stopping short of either dismissing the corruption charges or declining to dismiss them.
The decision comes just days after U.S. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove asked prosecutors to drop all corruption charges against the mayor.
In the motion to dismiss, Bove said the legal proceedings against Adams were detracting from other Justice Department priorities, such as illegal immigration and violent crime.
The “pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior administration,” Bove said in the filing.
The charges against Adams will remain intact until the presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, agrees to dismiss them.
Ho has appointed attorney Paul Clement argue against the motion to dismiss and to help in the courtroom in its decision making. He has instructed legal briefs to be filed on March 7 and, if necessary, said there would be a hearing on March 14.
Adams is not required to appear at future hearings.
In a somewhat unusual move, Ho on Wednesday declined to immediately rule from the bench on the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss, citing the need to further consider the facts surrounding the case and what he characterized as an “unusual situation.”
“This is a very complicated situation, at least from where I sit,” Ho said after the roughly 90-minute hearing.
“I’m not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench,” he said at the end of the hearing.
Not dropping the charges against Adams is highly unusual, and no U.S. appellate court has ever sided with a federal judge who declined to grant an unopposed motion to dismiss.
Adams was indicted in September on five federal corruption and bribery charges, related to the alleged solicitation of illegal campaign contributions and the alleged receiving of luxury travel perks on behalf of Turkish foreign nationals, according to the Justice Department.
Adams pleaded not guilty to all charges last fall, and has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
“I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never,” Adams said in a statement Friday.
Even without court action, the allegations themselves could threaten Adams’ 2025 reelection bid. Already, Adams is facing calls to resign as mayor, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters this week that she is weighing the possibility of using her position to remove Adams as mayor.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
