*A former White House lawyer for President Donald Trump told CNN that the Justice Department possibly dropping charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams suggests “something’s up.”
Adams, who faces federal corruption charges, recently visited Mar-a-Lago and has been growing closer to Trump, raising speculation about the situation, Raw Story reports. After the meeting, Adams told critics that they “did not discuss my legal case.”
In a statement, he added, “And those who suggest the mayor of the largest city in the nation shouldn’t meet with the incoming president to discuss our city’s priorities because of inaccurate speculation or because we’re from different parties clearly care more about politics than people.”
Fabien Levy, spokesman for Adams, previously said, “Mayor Adams has made quite clear his willingness to work with President-elect Trump and his incoming administration on behalf of New Yorkers — and that partnership with the federal government is critical to New York City’s success.”
We reported earlier via CNN that Adams was indicted in September on five federal charges related to bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. The indictment alleges illegal actions stretching back to 2014, from when he was Brooklyn Borough President.
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“For nearly a decade, Adams sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him,” the indictment reads.
Specifically, he received luxury travel and other benefits from a Turkish official and later pressured the NYC Fire Department to open a Turkish consular building without a fire inspection in exchange, the indictment says.
The New York Times reports that top Justice Department officials have been in talks with Manhattan federal prosecutors about potentially dismissing the corruption case.
“I think it’s really hard to ignore the likelihood that that plays into it,” said Ty Cobb, a White House attorney to Trump during his first term, on CNN’s “OutFront” with anchor Erin Burnett on Wednesday, referring to the meeting between Trump and Adams. “Trump announced over a month ago he was considering a pardon for Adams or he might pardon Adams based on Adams’ attempt to pretend that he was somehow singled out for political reasons.”
Cobb continued, “The combination of Adams’ recent signs of featly to Trump, the frequent conversations they’ve had, the fact that the Justice Department conversations that were reported today apparently went through Emil Bove’s office — Emil Bove who, until a week ago was Trump’s personal lawyer is now the acting deputy attorney general — I think it’s very hard to ignore the likelihood that something’s up.”
Watch the clip below.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Trump Weighs Pardon for NYC Mayor Eric Adams
