On the same day the Justice Department was hit with a wave of resignations over an order to drop corruption charges against Eric Adams, the New York City mayor met with President Donald Trump’s border czar in a closed-door meeting.
The mayor, who is under intense pressure from the Trump administration as his criminal case hangs in the balance, agreed in the meeting Thursday to allow federal immigration officials to operate at the city’s Rikers Island jail.
“I came to New York City and I wasn’t going to leave with nothing,” Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said Friday morning in a joint interview with Adams on “Fox and Friends.”
Adams sat side by side with Homan, the man Trump installed to crack down on migrants, during the Fox interview after the Justice Department was thrown into turmoil with the sudden departure of six top federal prosecutors and officials — including the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle R. Sassoon.
The resignations came after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who was Trump’s criminal defense attorney, ordered Sassoon to dismiss the charges, arguing in part that they were interfering in Adams’ ability to help the administration tackle illegal immigration.
Sassoon said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that she couldn’t in good conscience ask a judge to drop the case given the strength of the evidence, and that she was extremely troubled by what was discussed at a Jan. 31 meeting with Adams’ lawyers.
“Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” wrote Sassoon, a conservative who clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Sassoon added: “Rather than be rewarded, Adams’s advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case.”
Adams’ lawyers have said the claim that a quid pro quo was brought up is a “total lie.”
The order to drop the charges against Adams was a highly unusual move that legal experts said would make the mayor beholden to the Trump administration.
Adams, a former New York police captain elected mayor in 2021, was indicted last year. He is accused of taking $100,000 worth of free plane tickets and luxury hotel stays from wealthy Turkish nationals in an almost decadelong corruption scheme.
Adams has pleaded not guilty. He has insisted that he is innocent and argued that the charges are politically motivated.
Calls for him to resign intensified after news of the Justice Department resignations broke Thursday, with New York’s lieutenant governor saying he believed it was time for the mayor to go.
“New York City deserves a Mayor accountable to the people, not beholden to the President,” Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado said in a brief statement on social media. “Mayor Adams should step down.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from his post, said in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that she was still weighing the decision.
“The allegations are extremely concerning and serious, but I cannot as the governor of this state have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction like a lot of other people are saying right now,” Hochul said.
In the Friday morning interview on “Fox and Friends,” Adams sounded a defiant tone, saying he was going to stay in his job and run for re-election.
Near the end of the interview, Homan used colorful language to describe what he would do if Adams failed to follow through on his promise to let immigration agents operate at Rikers Island.
“If he doesn’t come through,” Homan said, “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?'”
Chloe Atkins and Fallon Gallagher contributed.
