Alright, so like, New York City Mayor Eric Adams showed up at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors in Washington on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. The whole shebang was captured by AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.,File. The documents released on Friday spilled the beans on how federal agents were still on the prowl, seizing phones and going after search warrants just before Justice Department bigwigs said, “Nah, drop the corruption case.”
The court records, which had been kept under wraps, give us a peek into what was going down with the case. It turns out that while the feds in Washington were stepping back from the whole prosecution mess, the investigators in Manhattan were still on the grind. The docs also confirm what prosecutors had mentioned earlier: the investigation into whether Adams was playing dirty with campaign contributions kicked off back in August 2021 when he was still Brooklyn borough president but was pretty much a shoo-in for the mayor’s seat.
Adams has been loud and clear about how he thinks he got slapped with charges because he later called out former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies when he became mayor. The whole investigation came to light in November 2023 when FBI agents snagged Adams’ phones and iPad as he was leaving an event in Manhattan. Fast forward ten months later, and he was hit with charges of scoring free rides and taking shady campaign contributions from folks looking to buy his favor, including a Turkish diplomat.
But, hold the phone, on Feb. 10, right after President Donald Trump took over, the new heads at the Justice Department were like, “Drop it like it’s hot.” They told the prosecutors in New York to back off, saying the case was cramping the mayor’s style in helping out with the GOP’s immigration crackdown. The move caused a big old stir in federal prosecutor land, with several of them throwing in the towel, including the top dog in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon. A judge eventually had to dismiss the case as per the orders from the Justice Department honchos.
Before the case hit the brakes, prosecutors were still digging deep on Adams, and Sassoon spilled the tea that they were about to hit him with more charges for obstructing justice. Just a few days before the halt, a judge gave the thumbs up to search a phone that someone involved in the case had handed over. They also got a warrant to check out a home in Middletown, New York, as part of a probe into dodgy donations to Adams’ campaign in 2020. Simultaneously, they were asking for a warrant to get their hands on location data from a mobile phone in the mix. And on Dec. 4, a judge signed off on investigators raiding a home in Queens.
The court records were unsealed thanks to The New York Times and later, the New York Post. The Times argued that since there wouldn’t be a trial, the documents should be out in the open. Adams’ legal team and the prosecutors didn’t put up a fight.
The unsealed documents spill the beans on how the investigators pieced together their case by searching through electronics and locations all over the place. They also let slip that in May 2024, a judge gave the green light to search the condo in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where Adams’ long-time partner, Tracey Collins, lived. Collins, who used to work in the city’s Department of Education, was indirectly named in the warrant application. Agents wanted to check out five iPhones to see if someone linked to the Turkish consulate was trying to pull strings to get a kid into a top public school.
There was also an application for a warrant to search Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official digs in Manhattan. The FBI agent’s affidavit noted that Adams was crashing there on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, and sometimes on other days too.
When asked to comment on the new info, Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, wasn’t holding back. He called the whole prosecution mess a joke and said it never should’ve happened. Adams, on the other hand, saw the case getting axed as a win, denying any shady deals with Trump. The two even met up in Washington, with Trump saying Adams popped by to say thanks.
Adams’ camp put out a statement saying they chatted about infrastructure projects and social services, among other things. Even though the legal drama is behind him, Adams is still in for a bumpy ride politically. He recently decided to skip the Democratic primary and go indie in the November election.
Phew, that was a wild ride, huh? Not really sure why this matters, but hey, that’s the news for ya.
