Several prosecutors - including the top US attorney in Manhattan - have resigned after the Justice Department directed the New York office to drop a corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

It was first announced on Thursday that Danielle Sassoon, a conservative lawyer recently promoted by President Donald Trump, had resigned after refusing to dismiss the case, a move she said would set a "breathtaking and dangerous precedent".

Her departure was followed by the resignations of at least five other top justice department officials.

The U.S. Department of Justice ordered federal prosecutors this week to dismiss the criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D).

The DOJ sent a memo to the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York directing them to “dismiss the pending charges in United States v. Adams, No. 24 Cr. 556 (SDNY) as soon as is practicable.”

A top Department of Justice (DOJ) official ordered federal prosecutors to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), who had cozied up with President Trump in recent months as his bribery trial set for April neared.  

In a short memo, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the DOJ reached the decision to dismiss the counts without assessing the strength of the case and indicated that the attorneys who filed the charges did nothing wrong.

The Department of Justice is moving to drop the federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to a memo obtained by CNN.

The memo, which was sent by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who is a former prosecutor in New York himself, instructed the acting United States attorney for the Southern District, Danielle Sassoon, to dismiss the charges “as soon as is practicable”— subject to several conditions, including a review by the Southern District after the November 2025 mayoral election.

The Justice Department is reportedly considering dropping its corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Senior officials under President Donald Trump have reportedly held discussions with federal prosecutors about the possibility and have spoken to Adams’s defense team.

Adams was indicted in September on charges that included bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions. He has pleaded not guilty and said he is being prosecuted because he criticized the Biden administration.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board has warned Mayor Eric Adams that he could be found to have collected public matching funds in violation of the rules.

Mayor Eric Adams was denied public matching funds for his re-election campaign on Monday as he faces federal corruption charges focused on his fund-raising practices, dealing a major setback to his bid for a second term.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board ruled that Mr. Adams was not eligible to participate in a program that awards an eight-for-one match of small-dollar donations, preventing him from receiving as much as $4.3 million.

Eric Adams was denied millions of dollars in public funds for his re-election bid because of his historic indictment – a massive blow to the embattled mayor’s campaign against a line-up of hungry challengers.

New York City Campaign Finance Board members ruled Monday that Hizzoner’s 2025 mayoral campaign would not be eligible, at least temporarily, for more than $4 million in public matching funds.