New York City Mayor Eric Adams can breathe a sigh of relief. His corruption charges, which had been brewing for a while, were just dismissed — albeit without prejudice — by the Trump administration.

A memo released by Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove directs the attorneys for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) to dismiss the case. It gives two reasons:

First, the timing of the charges and more recent public actions by the former U.S. Attorney responsible for initiating the case have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity that risks impacting potential witnesses and the jury pool. …

Second, the pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration. We are particularly concerned about the impact of the prosecution on Mayor Adams’ ability to support critical, ongoing federal efforts “to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement,” as described in Executive Order 14165.

The memo also mentions the suspicious timing of this investigation by the Biden administration. The investigation was made public at about the time Mayor Adams began to openly question the Biden administration’s immigration policy. Adams’s sanctuary city was being pummeled with illegals as a result of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis actively bussing border hoppers to NYC.

President Trump’s Department of Justice fears that these corruption charges were politically motivated attacks to keep Adams in line.

However, as National Review’s Andrew McCarthy — who used to be a prosecutor for the SDNY, which since he left has a … reputation when it comes to political corruption cases — notes, Adams’s case was being built about a year before he began vocally criticizing Biden. McCarthy also points out that the SDNY already had “concrete evidence” Adams had accepted illegal campaign contributions.

The most serious charge concerned Adams’s entanglement with the Turkish government. He purportedly received campaign money from the Middle Eastern enclave in order to fast-track a building project in Manhattan. Moreover, he allegedly received all sorts of air travel perks, also known as “straw contributions,” through Turkish Airlines. What had already been released looks pretty bad for Mayor Adams.

McCarthy asserts that Trump’s interference is overtly political and seems to be a case of quid pro quo. If Adams plays ball and lets Border Czar Tom Homan do what he needs to do to deport the illegal aliens in New York City, Adam’s case will remain in limbo. As McCarthy puts it: “Given that the DOJ is making a political call here, and that it expressly did so by stressing the need to have Adams cooperate with Trump’s enforcement agenda, the Democrats’ contention is going to get traction — and that’s not going to help Adams in the forthcoming mayoral election in the Big Blue Apple. (To be sure, getting tried and convicted wouldn’t have helped him, either.)” McCarthy is also concerned that this decision by Trump’s DOJ will reflect poorly on the SDNY and tarnish its storied reputation.

Bove, however, contends that a quid pro quo is not the case. He noted as much in a footnote in his letter: “The Government is not offering to exchange dismissal of a criminal case for Adams’s assistance on immigration enforcement.”

Ultimately, the final say on the dismissal will be up to Judge Dale Ho — though, as McCarthy points out, his role is mostly “ministerial” at this point.

For his part, Mayor Adams is taking the win. Whether or not it ultimately is a win for New York City remains to be seen.