Former DoD Lawyer Identifies Trump’s ‘Quid Pro Quo’ With Eric Adams During Mayor’s Fox News Appearance

 

President Donald Trump and New York Mayor Eric Adams are engaged in a quid pro quo that involves federal charges being dropped against the mayor, Ryan Goodman told CNN.

On Friday, the Department of Justice moved to drop the charges against Adams, who was indicted last year on several counts of corruption-related offenses.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York alleged Adams “abused his position as this City’s highest elected official, and before that as Brooklyn Borough President, to take bribes and solicit illegal campaign contributions. By allegedly taking improper and illegal benefits from foreign nationals—including to allow a Manhattan skyscraper to open without a fire inspection—Adams put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents.”

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered several prosecutors to drop the charges, but was rebuffed repeatedly. On Friday, Bove and two other prosecutors formally asked a judge to dismiss the charges. In all, seven lawyers refused to seek to have the case dropped.

Goodman, a former special counsel at the Department of Defense, seized on an appearance Adams made earlier on Friday’s Fox & Friends with Trump border czar Tom Homan. Adams has said he is working with the Trump administration to enforce its immigration policies in New York.

“I wanted to play what Tom Homan said today with his appearance on Mayor Adams on Fox,” OutFront host Erin Burnett told Goodman.

“If [the mayor] doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City,” Homan said. “And we won’t be sitting on a couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying where the hell is the agreement we came to?”

Burnett asked Goodman, “What is he saying there?”

Goodman replied:

This is the quid pro quo. It seems like this is the implicit threat. “If you don’t come through on your part of the agreement, I’m coming back to claim what we have, which is, that we have submitted to the court that the case is still strong, and we’re asking the court to dismiss it, but not to throw it completely away. It’s still hanging out there…”

So, the concern is that it’s not just weaponization to drop the case, it’s actually weaponization to keep the case hovering above the mayor’s head.

Burnett replied by saying it is an “incredible moment we’re in.”

Watch above via CNN.

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Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.