Senior officials in the Justice Department under President Donald Trump have engaged in discussions with federal prosecutors in Manhattan regarding the potential dismissal of the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, multiple sources told the New York Times.

The officials have also been in communication with Adams’s defense team since Trump took office, sources said. Leading Adams’s legal team is Alex Spiro, a prominent attorney who also represents billionaire Elon Musk, a close adviser to the president.

Adams, a Democrat, was indicted in September on charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions following an investigation that began in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty and has consistently maintained his innocence, asserting that the case against him is politically motivated due to his past criticisms of the Biden administration.

In recent weeks, Adams has appeared to align himself more closely with Trump, attending events at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, being present at the presidential inauguration, and pledging to voice any future criticisms of Trump privately. Trump, who has the authority to issue a presidential pardon, has publicly suggested that Adams has been treated unfairly by prosecutors. In December, he indicated that he was considering granting a pardon to the embattled mayor.

Sources close to Adams say the mayor and Trump have been in direct contact for several weeks, speaking over the phone on multiple occasions.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is overseeing the prosecution, declined to comment. The office is currently led on an interim basis by a respected prosecutor appointed by the administration. Additionally, a spokeswoman for Spiro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A senior Justice Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, clarified that Todd Blanche, Trump’s nominee for deputy attorney general, has not been involved in these discussions. Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney in multiple criminal cases and was formerly a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, has yet to undergo Senate confirmation.

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