In response to increased public pressure on Gov. Hochul to remove Mayor Adams from office, the governor announced she would not do so at this time but instead proposed specific guardrails on his mayoral powers.
The problem with Hochul’s proposed limitations on Adams is that they fail to address the heart of the corrupt benefit Adams agreed to provide to the Trump administration. In return for the temporary dismissal of his indictment for bribery and fraud, Adams’ promised to assist the Trump administration in arresting migrants in New York City.
Political pressure on Hochul rose to a fever pitch after the resignation of former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon. She had refused to follow the direction of Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to dismiss the Adams indictment. Sassoon’s resignation was followed by additional resignations and firings of other Justice Department lawyers who also refused to assist in dismissing the indictment. All this turmoil was laid bare for the public in internal Justice Department correspondence.
In a Fox News appearance with Adams and Trump border czar Tom Homan, Homan stated: “If he [Adams] doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on the couch — I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?’ ”
The agreement is a corrupt quid pro quo — dismissal of Adams’ indictment in exchange for Adams following Homan’s directions on questionable migrant policies in New York City.
Hochul’s proposals to address Adams’ corrupt deal included limited structural changes to Adams’ mayoral powers designed to protect the city from President Trump’s improper influence over Adams by 1) creating a new state deputy inspector general to oversee New York City’s operations, 2) establishing a litigation fund for the city comptroller, public advocate and City Council speaker to sue the federal government if the mayor is unwilling to do so, 3) providing additional funding to the state’s comptroller to oversee city finances, and 4) changing the law to prohibit the mayor from firing the head of the city’s Department of Investigation without the approval of the state inspector general.
These proposals, however well-intentioned, fail to remedy the heart of the corrupt deal between Adams and the Trump administration. They still leave Adams free to cooperate with Homan giving him carte blanche in Trump’s all-out crusade to arrest migrants whether on Rikers Island, churches, or schools or ignoring New York’s sanctuary city laws that prohibit providing certain information to federal immigration authorities.
Donald Trump was not elected mayor of New York City with the authority to oversee its migrant policies. Adams was. A central mechanism in this corrupt scheme is not only to dismiss Adams’ indictment but to dismiss it “without prejudice.” That limited dismissal means the Trump DOJ has the ability to re-file the indictment if Adams does not play ball with Trump.
Ironically, last week Adams filed a motion to permanently dismiss his indictment “with prejudice” based on “prosecutorial misconduct” due to the dissemination of the internal Justice Department communications surrounding Bove’s direction to Sassoon to file the motion to dismiss Adams’ indictment and her refusal reply. Adams alleges in his motion that “someone within the government leaked” those documents.
The issue of this corrupt bargain is currently before the Southern District federal court in the context of the government’s motion to temporarily dismiss. Because Trump’s Justice Department and Adams “are aligned in their positions” on this motion, Judge Dale Ho appointed Washington lawyer Paul Clement to take the adversarial position. It is likely Ho will also ask Clement to take a position on Adams’ recently filed motion.
Neither motion, however, will remedy the corruption infecting the office of the mayor whereby Adams agreed to make himself a tool of the Trump administration on migrant issues in exchange for a get out of jail free card.
The only way for Hochul and the state Legislature to remove the Trump administration’s ability to call the shots on the enforcement of migrant policies in New York City is to shift all responsibilities or final approvals on migrants away from Adams. Another elected city official such as the City Council speaker should at least have the power to pre-approve any actions or decisions Adams makes relating to migrants.
Hochul’s proposals should be amended to directly remove the Trump administration’s ability to run New York City’s migrant policies.
Akerman was formerly an assistant special Watergate prosecutor and an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
