NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams thanked President Trump’s Department of Justice on Tuesday for moving to dismiss his public corruption indictment, saying the unusual step puts an end to “the most difficult” period in his life.

“I thank the Justice Department for its honesty,” Adams said at City Hall in his first public remarks since the DOJ ordered the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office to drop his criminal case late Monday night.

“This case,” Adams also said, “will no longer continue.”

The Justice Department’s move, however, left open the possibility of Adams’ case returning.

Emil Bove, Trump’s former personal defense attorney and now-No. 2 at the Department of Justice, wrote in a Monday night memo to the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office that the case against Adams should be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning it could be brought back at a later time.

Bove also directed the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office to after November’s mayoral election launch a “review” into whether Adams’ case should be revived for a new prosecution.

In the interim, Bove wrote the Justice Department is taking no stance on the “strength” of the case. Bove also wrote the DOJ’s in part seeking to put the prosecution on ice because the president’s team believes it has “unduly restricted” Adams from helping Trump’s administration target undocumented immigrants in New York for deportations, raising the question of what the president expects from Adams.

The acting Manhattan U.S. attorney, Danielle Sassoon, had yet to say as of Tuesday afternoon whether she will file a motion for dismissal in response to Bove’s request. If Sassoon does file for dismissal, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Dale Ho, who presides over Adams’ case, must approve it.

Crtiics pushed back against Adams’ representation that the case was behind him.

“This is not in fact over, it’s just being held over his head,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive Democrat and frequent Adams critic. “He refuses to even address the conduct that led to the indictment in the first place, or how he could hope to govern while under Donald Trump’s thumb.”

Still, Adams said in his live-streamed six-minute speech he’s looking to put his legal woes in the rearview.

“It’s time to move forward,” he said.

“But despite the fact that I am no longer facing legal questions, I also understand that many New Yorkers will still question my character, and I know that I must continue to regain your trust. I have learned a lot over the last year and this experience has been humbling.”

Adams delivered the speech virtually from the City Hall Blue Room without reporters present to ask questions. He gave the remarks in place of his usual weekly press conference.

Some on the Democratic Party’s left renewed calls for Gov. Kathy Hochul to use her unique power to remove the mayor from office. In a press conference in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning, Hochul poured cold water on that idea, telling reporters “that does not feel like something that’s very democratic.”

“That’s why I’m not going to go there,” she said. She added she’ll be “monitoring” Adams in coming weeks, though, to make sure he puts New Yorkers “first above all.”

Before Bove’s bombshell Monday memo, Adams was supposed to stand trial in Manhattan Federal Court in April on charges alleging he took bribes and illegal campaign cash from Turkish government operatives in exchange for doling out political favors, like securing them building permits. Adams pleaded not guilty in September and has insisted his case was political revenge over his criticism of President Biden’s handling of the national migrant crisis.

Trump has echoed Adams’ political prosecution claims.

Seeking to make good on his 2024 campaign promises to launch “mass deportations” across the country, Trump has also since taking office last month dispatched federal agents to perform coordinated immigration raids in major cities, including New York and Chicago, with so-called “sanctuary laws” on the books.

The laws limit the ways in which local officials can cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

After coming under indictment last year, Adams started lamenting the city’s sanctuary laws, arguing they prevent local officials from helping the feds go after immigrants accused of serious crimes. He has said he’s considering using executive order to roll back some of the sanctuary laws, though he has yet to take any such actions.

_____

©2025 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.