Justice Department hasn’t filed Eric Adams docs, despite court order
NEW YORK — The Justice Department failed to publicly disclose documents in the now-dismissed corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams by a Friday deadline, in apparent defiance of a court order.
The documents in question could shed light on the evidence and legal arguments prosecutors presented to a judge in order to obtain a search warrant in the investigation of the mayor, who is running for reelection. That material may be particularly revelatory because the public likely won’t see any other evidence related to the case, now that it has been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Dale Ho had ordered the department to file copies of material related to the search warrants in the case on the public docket by May 2. Ho’s order instructed prosecutors to redact the names of law enforcement personnel and any unindicted subjects of the investigation.
By Saturday afternoon, the Justice Department hadn’t filed any documents on the public docket in response to Ho’s order, nor had prosecutors filed any motions or responses to the order. A spokesperson for the Justice Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Adams was first elected as a Democrat in 2021, but he’s running for reelection as an independent this year after much of the party in the city turned against him during his tenure.
Prosecutors’ apparent failure to comply with Ho’s order to disclose the documents is the latest twist in the high-profile case after the Justice Department’s February directive to Manhattan prosecutors to drop the charges.
That command sparked a revolt, causing then-acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, as well as several other prosecutors in both New York and Washington, to resign in protest. Sassoon accused Justice Department officials of engaging in a quid pro quo with Adams to drop the case in exchange for his enforcement of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s headquarters took over the case after Manhattan prosecutors refused to comply with the order to seek its dismissal. Ho ultimately agreed to permanently drop the case, rather than allowing prosecutors the option to reinstate the charges at some point in the future.
The documents in question are potentially valuable to media outlets, which sought their unsealing, and to voters. And they are also in demand by the New York City Campaign Finance Board, which also asked Ho to make them public.
That board is seeking to determine whether Adams’ campaigns broke the law when he was running for office in 2021 and this year.
