(11 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New York – 2 November 2021
1. Various of New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams greeting supporters at election night party
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Adams, (D) New York Mayor-elect:
"All of you have the power to fuel us. We are so divided right now. And we are missing the beauty of our diversity. We have to end all of this division of who we are, where we go to worship, what do we wear. No, today we take off the intra-mural jersey and we put on one jersey – team New York."
3. Wide of Adams on stage
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New York – 27 September 2024
4. Cutaway of Adams walking out of court with his lawyer Alex Spiro
5. Cutaway of Adams getting into SUV and being driven away
++CLIENTS NOTE THIS VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANITY++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New York – 2 October 2024
6. Tracking shot of Adams arriving at court, enters building
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New York – 1 November 2024
7. Adams departing court after hearing
STORYLINE:
A top official at the U.S. Department of Justice has ordered federal prosecutors to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has cultivated a warm relationship with President Donald Trump.
In a two-page memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the decision to dismiss the charges was reached without an assessment of the strength of the prosecution and was not meant to call into question the attorneys who filed the case.
But, Bove said, that the timing of the charges and “more recent actions” by the former U.S. attorney who led the office, Damian Williams, “have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity that risks impacting potential witnesses and the jury pool.”
Bove also wrote that the pending prosecution has “unduly restricted” Adams’ ability to “devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”
The Justice Department’s order directs that the case be dismissed without prejudice, which conceivably means that it could be refiled later.
The memo is a radical departure from longstanding Justice Department norms, both in terms of the directive to dismiss an already-charged case that prosecutors had already deemed meritorious and because of its stated rationale that a powerful defendant could be too occupied with official duties to face accountability for alleged crimes.
Public officials at the highest level of government are routinely investigated by the Justice Department, including Trump while he was president, without prosecutors advancing a claim that they should be let off the hook to attend to government service.
Williams did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.
A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York prosecutors who had been ordered to drop the charges, Nicholas Biase, declined to comment.
The development comes after months of speculation that Trump’s Justice Department would take steps to end the criminal case against Adams, who was accused of accepting bribes of free or discounted travel and illegal campaign contributions.
Trump had hinted at the possibility of a pardon in December, telling reporters that the mayor had been “treated pretty unfairly.”
He had also claimed, without offering evidence, that Adams was being persecuted for criticizing former President Joe Biden’s policies on immigration.
Adams flew to Florida to meet with Trump on Jan. 17.
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