Adams and Homan
The abuse of power is obvious.
FNC spins the Adams-Homan meeting as follows: ‘Game changer’: Homan and Adams collaborate on NYC immigration enforcement. The entire video is at the link.
The Atlantic describes this as The Public Humiliation of Eric Adams.
This awkward scene was the culmination of what host Steve Doocy delicately described as a “very busy week” for Adams. On Monday, the Justice Department dropped charges against the mayor, who was indicted in September for a series of alleged bribery and campaign-finance offenses so elaborate that you’d have to go all the way across the Hudson River to New Jersey to find anything remotely comparable. (Adams pleaded not guilty to all charges.) As my colleague Jonathan Chait wrote, this was one of a series of Trump-administration actions that suggest that bribery is now effectively legal.
While Adams calls a quid pro quo “silly.”
Even the Fox & Friends gang understands that the charges can be re-filed.
Indeed,
[Acting U.S. deputy attorney general Emil] Bove made the Trump-Adams deal nearly explicit in his memo instructing Sassoon to suspend the charges: “The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”
Adams is getting charges dropped (and the blocking of other pending charges) and Trump is getting a puppet in the Mayor’s office who has the very real possibility of charges being filed again if he doesn’t cooperate.
Yet, Homan ended the interview with “If he doesn’t come through, 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?’” When directly asked if Trump was involved with the DoJ action, he did not answer the question directly.
But, you know, no quid pro quo!
Let me be as clear as possible so that there is no misunderstanding. This, quite clearly, is an abuse of power by the Justice Department. They are dismissing a case so that Adams will comply with what the administration wants. Cooperation is not being generated by negotiation between levels of government, nor through shared ideological or philosophical. Cooperation is being achieved through the use of the criminal justice system to coerce desired behavior.
Interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, knows it. From her resignation letter, “I attended a meeting on January 31, 2025, with Mr. Bove, Adams’s counsel, and members of my office. 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. Mr. Bove admonished a member of my team who took notes during
that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting’s conclusion.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten knows it. As per his resignation letter, “But any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way.”
And, above all else, Bove knows it. Again, I quote, “The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.” If the policy goals are sound, then deal with the next mayor. And if the only way the administration can get what it wants is via coercion, then they short-circuit the duly office of the Mayor of New York, a democratically elected position.*
This is a corrupt and authoritarian usage of power by the Trump administration to gain leverage over Eric Adams, plain and simple.**
Adams gets the charges dropped.
DoJ retains the right to re-file.
Trump gets a puppet by using the Department of Justice as a cudgel.
It’s all authoritarianism 101: use the power of the state to force people to do what you want. And, despite protestations to the contrary, this is the most blatant example of the weaponization of the DoJ that I can think of.*** It is all the more concerning because it is being done out in the light if day for all to see.
*To avoid a lengthy digression, I will briefly note that this approach, that the Mayor of NYC should essential bow to the president, is a violation of the core of federalism, if not the simple fact even in a unitary system (like the UK or France), the mayors of London and Paris are not direct agents of the PM/President. Indeed, one of the clearly democratic reforms in Colombia was the popular election of mayors in 1988, most especially that of Bogotá. Likewise, a major step in democratization in Mexico was the popular election of the Mayor of Mexico City. Prior to reforms the President was the mayor and had an appointee govern on his behalf.
I am old enough to remember when the GOP was the party of state’s rights and federalism. I am also educated enough to know how flexible that position can be.
**If someone can muster an evidence-based, non-whataboutism argument to the contrary, please feel free to provide it.
***I am not a fan of the term, but it is accurate. The irony is that Adams claims the previous charges were weaponization of Justice.
This is the most openly corrupt action taken by this Administration this week.
The mounting resignations are troubling and smack of obeying in advance. At this point, every dodgy action of this administration needs to be challenged. Rear guard action!
In Ecksish Doublespeak, “weaponization” means “they caught me red handed!”
BTW, this kind of thing can, and I predict will, get much, much worse.
Adams, at least, was legitimately prosecuted for actual illegal actions. Other recalcitrant elected officials, mayors, governors, etc., might be brought up on made up charges with phony evidence, and then get the same offer.
Incidentally, that would be weaponization of the legal system
Clear, open corruption. Yet, USAID is corrupt. The Department of Education must be dismantled.
All of this while a sitting Rep. is being threatened with deportation and accused of treason by one of her colleagues. (The accuser has to be trying to look as unlikeable as he does. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz is celebrating because he may no longer have the must punchable face in Congress.)
And another is being accused of obstruction by Homan–claiming she is helping migrants ‘evade’ ICE.
All because the two Reps. were attempting to educate migrants on their rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
What did the headlines from FNC and NYP say? They used Homan’s ‘evade’ language. The National Review headline:
Yet James got chastised by some rando the other day because he quoted NYT, the paper that “lied” to James. I have my own criticism of NYT, sure. But that rando lacks awareness of any kind.
Perhaps AOC and Omar should change their Twitter names to Big Ballz. Because they certainly have more of that energy than their Republican colleagues. And certainly more integrity than Adams. (No word on the size of the Mayor’s sack. An e-mail sent to his office prior to publication was left on read.)
Is Homan anything but a thug at this point?
@Kathy:
Ha! We posted at the same time. That appears to be already happening in the case of AOC. Whereas, Omar is just being attacked by the son-in-law of convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza.
It’s the best prosecution ever!
The bigliest!
Hochul should remove him yesterday.
@Rob1:
That is not how I interpret these kinds of resignations. Quite the opposite, in fact: it is the refusal to comply and doing so publically rather than obeying.
One of the reasons I want Hochul to remove Adams is because I am really curious to see whether the charges are refiled, or whether they just don’t bother.
@Rob1:
@Steven L. Taylor:
Public resignation with clearly documented justification is what “rearguard action” looks like when all the power rests with the executive. IMHO, this is quite different from FBI Director Wray quitting preemptively to wishfully spare the FBI from any the direct actions we are seeing at DOJ now.
Sassoon, Scotten, and even Sullivan (who, in order to spare his colleagues, signed and leaked the coercion) are doing the right thing and we need to heavily promote their public stands in order to encourage more rearguard action.
This is the replacement of the highest levels of government with a criminal gang.
Oh, just a sec: according to past commenters, we’re supposed to “wait and see.”
Hochul has the opportunity to, solidly, establish herself as the only one wearing pants in the Democratic Party.
IF she has the spine.
Earlier I saw her refuse extradition of a doctor, to Louisiana, who had provided abortion pills, online, to a resident of that state.
So maybe but, still, maybe not.
If Governor Hochul removes adama, will she just face nasty Xitts from the felon and his nazi boss, or will she be charged under some phony baloney federal statute made up on the spot?
Does New York not have any corruption laws of their own? Why not just try Eric Addams themselves?
@Scott F.: I concur that Wray’s resignation was a wholly different animal.
I do not, at the moment, have a dedicated view on whether or not Hochul should remove him. But I will note that the primary is in June. I cannot imagine he will be renominated and therefore will not be relected in Nov.
@Stormy Dragon: “Does New York not have any corruption laws of their own? Why not just try Eric Addams themselves?”
Believe me, that question has been asked a lot here in NYC. But these are apparently Federal crimes and our state attorneys don’t seem to have jurisdiction over them. (I’m sorry for being vague — it’s just what I gleaned from several articles in the NYT…)
@Steven L. Taylor: “But I will note that the primary is in June. I cannot imagine he will be renominated and therefore will not be relected in Nov.”
Although he has recently been sucking up to the NY Republicans. So far they seem unimpressed, throwing their weight behind hopeless loser Curtis Sliwa again. But if Trump were to lean hard on them, I suppose they might embrace him.
@Stormy Dragon:
That appears to be among the possible courses of action.
– The Manhattan DA could seek indictment on state charges.
– The NY AG could pursue a civil case against Adams.
– Judge Ho could also choose to call the federal prosecutors into court to explain their decision to drop the charges. That could be awkward for the prosecutors, considering all the evidence that the decision was made for reasons other than the law.
And the facts arising from any of these could give Hochul an even more compelling justification for removing him.
@wr: Would Homan have been selected for the job if he wasn’t a thug?
@wr:
Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels guy? With the dumb beret kit? He’s 70 and has four ex wives. Dumb as a rock. Hasn’t said a salient word about crime prevention ever.
Do you know how there is an alpha male problem on social media? Alphas, betas, sigmas? That shit came directly out of Sliwa’s bonkers misdirected concern about how alpha males in berets prevent crime by being peacocks.
Sliwa as R for governor? Why not? We seem to be in the mood to elect extraordinarily ill-suited folks to high government offices lately. Crikey!
There just introducing more and more incapable and incompetent fools as viable candidates as taunts. How does your mainstream media cope with risible idiots? Hmm? Soupcan Harry for governor? Why not?
It’s just nihilism and rage bait at this point.
Rage bait candidates is an operating technique. Willful.
@Kingdaddy: I’m a guy who could be characterized as saying “wait and see”. However, that is a serious misunderstanding of my position.
They had a confab on Fox and Friends. Has the motion been signed, and submitted to a judge? Has the judge signed off on it? I can’t tell from this post.
What I have been saying is that it is far, far better for Hochul to pull the trigger after the dismissal becomes effective. Or Monday morning. Or whenever it can get maximum media attention.
Make no mistake, my “wait and see” is not remotely a “this is all fine”. No. I just feel that there is a better timing that may be available to Hochul, and that in the meantime she’s going to sound irresolute, because how else could it be?
UPDATE:
I see now that Sullivan signed the order. So be it. I still want to see what the judge says. I would be ok if Hochul pulled the trigger now, and ok if she waits for the motion to be processed in court.
Lord the smell!
@Rob1:
You got the resignations 180 degrees wrong.
They were dying on their career swords to prevent it. You read that wrong.
It was an act of defiance. These people sequentially just defied the likely illegal order to drop charges. Refused to submit. Martyrs in a way.
Definitely not advance obedience. You read that wrong. These are heroes.
@Jay L Gischer:
Hoping that people won’t be willful idiots and upset the whole apple cart in ten days – that’s not your fault. Assuming normalcy is default.
That’s not being irresponsible. That’s assuming that people would behave within established norms after winning a very narrow victory. You did nothing wrong. Assumed nothing wrong. I’m with you. Believed as you did. People are essentially good. I was wrong in this instance.
That they worked this very narrow victory into authoritarian supremacist glory bullshit ain’t your fault. That’s their fault.
I, too, assumed that government agencies would be more resilient to DOGE tactics. We were so wrong.
Assuming the best in other people can turn out wrong short term. But, I’d prefer to be proven wrong. I’d rather be generous. Assume people aren’t assholes and idiots. Prove me wrong and I get salty. I’m now salty.
This, too, shall pass. Over-reach has consequences that’ll come due. They’re over-reaching very hard.
I have great hope for the future, just not for the next four years. We’re basically fucked for now.
I’m pegging my future on Trumpian over-reach and potential electoral future reaction to that. So far, I think my premise will work. I hope.
@Kingdaddy:
Other than wait and see, what do you propose as the alternative that isn’t already being done legally? Lawsuits and counter-rallies are already occurring.
Have you done anything?
@de stijl:
What’s the Rage Against The Machine song?
Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me
(repeat)