Celebrating dropped charges, Mayor Adams promotes Trump FBI director Kash Patel’s book

Mayor Eric Adams celebrated a federal judge’s permanent dismissal of his corruption case on Wednesday by endorsing a book written by a far-right loyalist of President Donald Trump now serving as FBI director.

“God bless you, New York City. And God bless what we have accomplished,” Adams said in a public address. “When all that came at me, Jesus stepped in. And he uses who he uses, and New Yorkers stopped me all the time in trying to find the rationale behind this, and I found it in this book. I’m going to encourage every New Yorker to read it.”

The mayor held up a copy of “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” a 2023 book by FBI director Kash Patel. An unwavering Trump ally, Patel is a former federal prosecutor who became a prominent right-wing media personality and a financial backer of lawsuits against the New York Times, Politico and CNN challenging their coverage of the president.

"A sinister cabal of corrupt law enforcement personnel, intelligence agents and military officials at the highest levels of government plotted to overthrow a president. Even after they failed, they continue to secretly pull the levers of power without any accountability to the American people," reads the synopsis of "Government Gangsters."

Adams had said his indictment was retaliation for his criticism of President Joe Biden's immigrations policies. During the campaign, Trump sympathized with Adams, saying both of them had been wrongly targeted by the justice department.

In legal filings, a top justice department prosecutor wrote that the charges against Adams should be dropped so the mayor could cooperate with immigration enforcement.

"As I have repeatedly said, I have always been solely beholden to the people of this city. No special interests. No political opponents, but just everyday New Yorkers," Adams said at the press conference.

In his decision to drop Adams’ charges, Judge Dale Ho pointed to the appearance that the mayor cut an improper deal with the Trump administration.

“Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,” Ho wrote.