Justice Department official urges quick dismissal of criminal case against New York City mayor

NEW YORK (AP) — In an extraordinary courtroom showdown, a federal judge pressed the Justice Department on Wednesday on its demand to throw out New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case, grilling a top official and putting the Democratic mayor under oath to answer concerns that the Trump administration’s lifeline came with strings attached.

“Not at all,” Adams responded stoically, his liberty and political future at stake.

Manhattan federal Judge Dale E. Ho declined to rule immediately, leaving in place for now charges that Adams accepted lavish travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests seeking to buy his influence. Adams has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.

The Justice Department’s push to end the case has caused a rift between its leadership in Washington, who see him as an ally in pursuing President Donald Trump’s immigration goals, and the federal prosecutors’ office in Manhattan, which brought the charges and rebuffed commands to drop them. Seven prosecutors resigned in protest.

“I’m not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench,” Ho said, sighing heavily as he closed the 80-minute proceeding.

The judge said he wanted to carefully review the “unusual situation." Acknowledging political and legal implications, which include Adams’ reelection campaign and April 21 trial date, Ho indicated that he would rule soon, saying, “it is not in anyone’s interest for this to drag on.”

No one objecting to the Justice Department’s request spoke Wednesday, though some have written to the court, Ho said. He also touched on letters in which now-former prosecutors urged Justice Department officials last week to keep the case alive.

Ho called the hearing after Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove and two other lawyers from Justice Department headquarters filed paperwork last Friday seeking a dismissal. Bove stepped in after Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor quit rather than drop the case.

Closely watching how things play out is Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has said she is considering removing Adams from office amid concerns that his reliance on the Trump administration to end his criminal case has left him politically compromised.

Adams appeared in high spirits as he came and went from court, a shift from past appearances. Strolling slowly into the courtroom, he embraced Black clergy members sitting in the front row.

Bove, sitting alone at the prosecution table, told Ho that the Justice Department was simply exercising “prosecutorial discretion” based on a Trump executive order outlining his criminal justice priorities and that granting the request was the only option. Bove said the decision to seek dismissal was reached without assessing the strength of the evidence.

The request is “virtually unreviewable in this courtroom," he argued.

Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, said no appeals court has ever sided with a judge who rejected an unopposed motion to dismiss a criminal case. Pressed by Ho, Bove conceded that he was not aware of another case where the Justice Department went to bat to dismiss an indictment or cease a prosecution for a public official like this.

Reiterating arguments from the dismissal motion and a Feb. 10 memorandum that set off a firestorm about the future of the case, Bove said the charges were impeding Adams’ ability to govern, hampering his campaign for a second term and impeding his cooperation with the administration’s immigration crackdown.

“Frankly I think the fact that Mayor Adams is sitting to my left right now is part of the problem,” Bove said. “He’s not able to be out running the city and campaigning. I think that is actual interference with the election.”

Bove urged Ho to ignore outside voices and reject suggestions that the Justice Department’s interest in Adams was part of a quid pro quo.

Adams testified that there was no “other agreement” between himself and the government.

“You have a record, undisputed, that there is no quid pro quo,” Bove argued. “I don’t concede — and I don’t think it’s correct — that even if there was a quid pro quo, there would be any issue with this motion.”

Ho also questioned the mayor about a provision in the dismissal motion that would allow the Justice Department to revive the case at a later date.

“I understand that, judge,” Adams said. “I have not committed a crime, and I don’t see them bringing it back.”

Adams was indicted in September and accused of accepting more than $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and travel perks from a Turkish official and business leaders seeking to buy influence while he was Brooklyn borough president. He faces multiple challengers in June’s Democratic primary.

Bove ordered then-interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon to ditch the case last week after meeting with Adams’ lawyers last month in Washington.

Sassoon, who attended the meeting, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to reconsider. In a Feb. 12 letter, Sassoon wrote that dismissing the charges in return for Adams' assistance on immigration would betray Bondi's own words that she “will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct.”

“Dismissal of the indictment for no other reason than to influence Adams’s mayoral decision-making would be all three,” said Sassoon, a Republican. She said it amounted to a quid pro quo and disclosed that her office had been about to charge Adams with additional crimes.

Another prosecutor, Hagan Scotten, told Bove in a resignation letter that it would take a “fool” or a “coward” to meet Bove's demand, “but it was never going to be me.”

Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, defended the department’s dismissal request in a social media blitz before Wednesday's hearing, writing on X: “The case against Mayor Adams was just one in a long history of past DOJ actions that represent grave errors of judgement."

Sassoon and her colleagues have found support for their stand from a small army of former prosecutors.

Nathaniel Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, filed papers telling the judge to reject the government's request, to consider assigning a special counsel to explore the legal issues and ultimately to consider appointing an independent special prosecutor to try the case.

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams leaves court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives to court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives to court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives to court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives to court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives to court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives to court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City mayor Eric Adams arrives to a news conference in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York City mayor Eric Adams attends a news conference regarding a police officer that was shot in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Pretty much every basketball fan has heard of Duke's Cooper Flagg. Nowhere near as many have heard of Houston's Joseph Tugler.

If the Cougars are going to spring an upset over the Blue Devils in the all-1-seed Final Four on Saturday, it will almost surely be because one of the country's best defenders, Tugler, played a big role in holding down the country's best overall player, Flagg.

“Take away his right hand, don't let him get into his spin move, make him earn his shot,” Tugler said, in ticking off Houston's version of a scouting report that is similar to what has been tried by Duke's 38 previous opponents, with minimal success.

And this: “I can guard anybody if I put my mind to it.”

Coach Kelvin Sampson has a gritty team full of players like that.

A team built around stifling defense might not put a ton of clips on the weekly highlight packages, the way Flagg and the Blue Devils (35-3) do.

But a better illustration of what makes Houston (34-4) click might come from a viral video that shows a loose-ball drill the team runs, usually early in the season or, as the coach said, whenever someone needs it.

It starts with a ball being pushed onto the court — or with a bricked free throw — and devolves into chaos, with players diving on the floor, jumping on each other trying to gain possession. Tackling, it appears from the video, is allowed.

Tugler suggested that the losing “team” has to run. Sampson was less concrete on the rules of the drill as its purpose.

“Everything is a competition,” the coach explained. “But like our kids say, it’s not for everybody. But it is for the ones that are here.”

Asked to analyze Flagg's game, Sampson — in his 36th year coaching and at his third Final Four and second with Houston — started mentioning players his teams have faced over the years: Carmelo Anthony, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce.

“This guy is right there with them,” the coach said. “It's hard to say what he's not good at.”

Flagg, the 18-year-old freshman who is averaging 18.9 points and 7.5 rebounds, picked up the AP player of the year award on Friday, along with the Oscar Robinson Award to add to his quickly filling trophy case.

He is virtually certain to be the top pick in the NBA draft later this spring.

Last weekend, Flagg played arguably the best game of his short college career — a 30-point, six-rebound, seven-assist masterpiece in a Sweet 16 win over Arizona. Two nights later, he was off target but still ended up with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists in a 20-point win over Alabama.

Tugler's honors: Big 12 defensive player of the year and winner of the Lefty Driesell Award given by College Insider Inc. to the nation's best defensive player. Since joining the starting lineup in December, he's averaged 1.9 blocks a game.

Some other Houston stats say a lot. The Cougars are rated first in the KenPom defensive efficiency category. On offense, they are ranked 360th out of 364 teams in possessions per 40 minutes, a figure that plays into the defense because the long possessions shorten games and cause teams to expend energy defending them.

The Cougars lead the nation in field goal percentage allowed (38.2%) and points allowed (58.3).

Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who has seen Houston in a scrimmage two years ago and in a 54-51 Sweet 16 win last season — before Flagg arrived — says the numbers don't fully do it justice.

“They have good individual defenders,” Scheyer said. “But I think, by far, the best thing they do is how they have five guys always moving together.”

Tugler described it that way, too. Always helping. Always moving together. Great defenders might not get as much love as the guys jacking up 3s, but Tugler doesn't mind. He says Houston's version of the “3” comes when it stops a team on three straight possessions.

“We call that the ‘kill stop,’” Tugler said. “After we get that third one, we always feel like, ‘Let’s take this over.'"

Sampson reminisced about his first head-coaching job at Montana Tech. He left Jud Heathcoate's staff at Michigan State and went 7-20 without winning a conference game in his first season.

“Jud calls up and said, ‘Hey, Kel, I just want to congratulate you. You’re the only coach ... that possibly could have taken Montana Tech from obscurity to oblivion,'” Sampson said.

Scheyer was surprised to learn that Flagg's mom, Kelly, has entered a pact with other team moms to get tattoos to commemorate a Duke national title if there is one. Will the coach participate?

“I’m making my wife get a tattoo with them if that’s what’s going to happen," Scheyer said. “I would even consider getting one if we win.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Duke forward Cooper Flagg watches during practice at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, April 4, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Duke forward Cooper Flagg shoots during practice at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, April 4, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Houston forward Joseph Tugler shoots during practice at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, April 4, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson )

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson speaks during media day at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson )

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer watches during practice at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, April 4, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Duke forward Cooper Flagg shoots during practice at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, April 4, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)