Ex-Watergate Prosecutor Asks Judge to Reject Bid to Drop Charges Against New York Mayor

New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during State of the City address in New York on Jan. 9, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

In a new court filing, a former member of the Watergate prosecution team urged a federal judge not to grant the Trump administration’s request to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Former prosecutor Nick Akerman told U.S. District Judge Dale Ho that the charges should not be dismissed because of evidence that indicates the request stems from “a corrupt quid pro quo scheme.”

He pointed to Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon’s stepping down after receiving a directive from a top U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official to dismiss the charges. She said that in a recent meeting with the official and lawyers for Adams, Adams’s attorneys “repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.”

The alleged arrangement means tossing the charges “is not in the public interest,” Akerman said. He said that dismissing the charges without prejudice would give the Trump administration “potent leverage over Mr. Adams to ensure he follows the administration’s directives or else the indictment will be reinstated.”

Adams said recently, “I never offered—nor did anyone offer on my behalf—any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case.”

Akerman, who worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 1976 to 1983, also said that acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who directed Sassoon to drop the charges, has made inconsistent statements about the case, raising additional concerns about acceding to the request.

Federal rules allow the government “with leave of court” to dismiss charges against a defendant. That gives the court “a sound legal basis to deny DOJ’s motion on the ground that its dismissal motion is central to this corrupt bargain between DOJ and Mr. Adams,” Akerman wrote.

The filing is a motion for the nonprofit Common Cause, a frequent Trump administration critic, to appear as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, in the case because it asserts that no party currently involved in the case represents the public interest.

The filing also asks Ho to appoint a special counsel to advise the court, allowing discovery to analyze the DOJ’s decision-making, directing Bove to appear in court to explain his position, and sanctioning the DOJ and/or Bove for “making improper and unethical demands on prosecutors in New York and Washington.”

Ho has not yet ruled on the DOJ’s motion to dismiss, which was lodged on Feb. 14.

Sassoon and several other prosecutors stepped down in the wake of Bove’s request, with at least two confirming it was due to the request.

Hagan Scotten, one of the New York-based prosecutors who worked on the case, said in a resignation letter that dropping the charges would be a mistake.

Scotten and three other DOJ officials filed notice with the court on Friday of their withdrawal from the case.

The DOJ did not return a request for comment on Akerman’s filing or the withdrawals.

Bove and other officials said in their motion that dismissal of the charges is necessary “because of appearances of impropriety and risks of interference with the 2025 elections in New York City.” They also said that continuing the prosecution would interfere with Adams’s ability to govern the city, “which poses unacceptable threats to public safety, national security, and related federal immigration initiatives and policies.”

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.