Bennett Capers, associate dean for research at Fordham Law, spoke to The New York Times about whether President-elect Donald Trump would come to the aid of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is currently indicted on federal corruption charges.
Are there protections in place to prevent the U.S. attorney’s office from becoming politicized?
Even if Mr. Trump wanted to derail the prosecution of Mr. Adams, it would not be easily accomplished.
To withdraw the charges, prosecutors would have to file a motion explaining their reasons for doing so, which a judge would then rule on. Typically, charges are withdrawn when evidence in a case no longer holds up, a defendant dies or a witness decides not to testify.
“The idea that the investigation would go away seems hard to imagine,” said Bennett Capers, a former prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and a professor at the Fordham University School of Law, who noted that Mr. Adams had already been indicted by a federal grand jury. “There’s a difference between just an investigation and an indicted case, especially one that has seen lots of publicity nationwide, the investigation and evidence seem solid and one that the public agrees merits prosecution,” he said.
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Why would Trump help Adams anyway?
Some political and legal analysts have said that Mr. Trump might seek to use Mr. Adams as an inroad into New York City, a liberal stronghold that he has long felt shut out from.
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But others found it hard to believe that, once in office, Mr. Trump would go out of his way to interfere in the prosecution of a New York City mayor.
“A mayor that is deeply, deeply unpopular, and I think that includes in the Black community — it is hard to imagine having Adams in his pocket helps him,” Mr. Capers said. “Now since Trump has won, sort of decisively, the popular vote and the electoral vote, what does he need Eric for?”
Read “What a Trump Presidency Might Mean for Mayor Adams’s Criminal Case” in The New York Times.