NEW YORK — A former prosecutor involved in the Watergate scandal has called on the federal judge overseeing the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams to appoint a special counsel to evaluate the Justice Department’s recent request to dismiss the charges against him.
Attorney Nathaniel Akerman submitted a letter to Judge Dale E. Ho in Manhattan federal court, expressing his concern that the public’s interests are not being represented following the Justice Department’s move on Friday to end the prosecution. He emphasized the need for judicial scrutiny regarding how the decision to dismiss the case was reached, suggesting that the judge could summon Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to explain the rationale behind his directive to halt proceedings.
Akerman, representing Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization advocating for election integrity, posited that appointing an independent special prosecutor could preserve the integrity of the investigation and grant access to crucial grand jury documents and evidence.
Adams has maintained his innocence against accusations from his time as Brooklyn borough president, wherein it is alleged he accepted more than $100,000 in illicit campaign funds and extravagant incentives from a Turkish official and various business figures looking to gain his influence.
This request for intervention arose amid a contentious public dispute between Bove and two leading federal prosecutors in New York: interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon and her assistant Hagan Scotten, who is spearheading the Adams case. Consequently, Sassoon resigned post-dispute, followed by Scotten’s resignation, which reflected Sassoon’s staunch opposition to the demand to suspend the charges, suggesting they might be reinitiated after the forthcoming election cycle.
In his communication, Akerman resonated with Sassoon’s urgent warning about the risks posed by the Justice Department’s actions—emphasizing that leveraging the dismissal of charges or threatening to reinstate them results in coercive influences on elected officials to align with governmental policy goals.
Indeed, amidst the backdrop of growing calls for his resignation from some members of the Democratic party, Adams acknowledged that four of his senior aides had also chosen to step down in light of the Justice Department’s attempts to terminate the corruption case against him, which seemed tied to pressing him to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
Akerman further underscored in his letter that there is substantial evidence within the Justice Department’s own records indicating that dismissing the charges against Adams is detrimental to public interest and part of a corrupt agreement with the Trump administration. He alluded to internal documents suggesting that Adams offered to facilitate improper assistance for immigration matters in exchange for the case’s dismissal.
Meanwhile, Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, refuted these claims, labeling the idea of a quid pro quo as a “total lie.” Bove’s earlier directive to put a halt to the charges stemmed from his assertion that New York City’s mayor was instrumental in aiding the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which could potentially allow Adams to efficiently campaign for reelection without the burden of legal accusations weighing on him.
