President Donald Trump’s Justice Department told the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan to dismiss the criminal bribery case against Eric Adams, New York City’s mayor. But while it’s a mutually beneficial move for both political sides — a legally endangered Democrat (Adams) and a Republican administration seeking local help with immigration enforcement — the Trump side still wields significant power over Adams.
Dismissing a case “with prejudice” means it’s gone for good, while doing so “without prejudice” means it can come back.
That’s apparent from a memorandum by Trump DOJ lawyer (and former Trump criminal defense lawyer) Emil Bove, which instructs the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York to seek dismissal “without prejudice.” This phrasing is important, because dismissing a case “with prejudice” means it’s gone for good, while doing so “without prejudice” means it can come back. This aspect of the memo is not an idle concern but rather is mentioned multiple times — indeed, the memo is titled, “Dismissal Without Prejudice of Prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams.”
Bove’s memo says that the case has “improperly interfered” with Adams’ 2025 mayoral campaign and that he was charged after criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Bove wrote that the Trump administration is “particularly concerned about the impact of the prosecution on Mayor Adams’ ability to support critical, ongoing federal efforts ‘to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement,’ as described in Executive Order 14165.”
As if to answer the question raised by how all this looks, Bove wrote in a footnote that the government “is not offering to exchange dismissal of a criminal case for Adams’s assistance on immigration enforcement.”
But if the government wanted to offer such a quid pro quo while formally maintaining otherwise, what would it do differently?
Bove’s memo says the Trump DOJ’s dismissal bid isn’t based on the strength of the evidence or the legal theory of the case. It says the matter “shall be reviewed by the confirmed U.S. Attorney” in the Southern District after November’s mayoral election. Technically, that leaves the Trump DOJ the option of resurrecting the case based on factors that don’t involve the degree to which Adams cooperates with the feds on immigration enforcement. But the reality is that his best criminal defense is to stay politically aligned with Trump.
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