‘This Is What Happens in Authoritarian Countries’: Former Federal Prosecutor Rips ‘Bizarre’ Decision To Drop Charges Against Eric Adams
Former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin blasted President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice after it ordered the charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams dropped.
Adams was indicted last year on corruption charges. The DOJ said at the time that the mayor “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.”
In a memo issued on Monday, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove alleged Adams was indicted under President Joe Biden because he criticized the administration over its immigration policies.
Appearing on Monday’s AC360 on CNN, Toobin panned the decision to drop the case.
“This is one of the most bizarre situations I have ever seen,” he said. “[Bove] makes complaints that [Adams] was politically targeted.”
“He says because he complained about immigration under the Biden administration,” Anderson Cooper said.
“Which there is absolutely no evidence of,” Toobin responded. “And the Justice Department, now under the new Trump administration, dismisses the case against him, but says, well, we don’t know whether he’s guilty or not, but we want him to fight crime. I mean, this is what happens in authoritarian countries.”
Toobin reiterated his remark about authoritarian countries, adding, “The rule of law is not applied equally. It’s only applied to how the leader wants it applied. And Eric Adams has ingratiated himself with the Trump administration. And now he gets his case dismissed… And that’s not how the legal system is supposed to work.”
Adams visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month as it was being reported the mayor was seeking a pardon.
Watch above via CNN.
