NY Trial Attorney David Schwartz @PIX11News Talking About NYC Mayor Adams Trial

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live from pix Plaza on 42nd Street it's
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the Pix 11 morning news New York city
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mayor Eric Adams future continues to be
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in limbo as a federal judge considers
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whether or not to dismiss charges
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against him so mayor Adams maintained
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his innocence when he appeared in court
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yesterday former prosecutor David schwar
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is joining us now to share his insight
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into yesterday's Court proceedings and
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to really take us into the next couple
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days and weeks David great to see you
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good to see you uh judge hoe pouring
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over the legal briefs he was measured
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his questions to both the prosecution
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and the defense yesterday now says he's
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he's not going to shoot from the hip he
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wants to take some time over this case
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he obviously didn't issue a ruling
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yesterday so what can we expect moving
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forward well you know judge ho wanted to
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do his due diligence in questioning
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questioning Eric Adams making sure that
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it was voluntary uh that he was in court
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and understood that that a uh dismissal
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without prejudice means that the
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prosecutors can bring a case again
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although very highly unlikely so what
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we're going to expect now is Judge ho is
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going to make a thoughtful written
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decision that's what that's what judge
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ho is going to do he wasn't going to
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just do it from the bench because of the
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unusual
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circumstances uh involved in the case
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but when you talk about making a very
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thoughtful decision does that mean he's
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literally going to pick apart everything
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look through every single file no no not
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at all but he's going to analyze the
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arguments that were made in court he's
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going to address all the briefs that
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were made uh and and and judge is
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ultimately going to dismiss this case
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but he's going to do it in a way where
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he's taking into account all the various
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briefs and the arguments by all the
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attorneys in court so not an overnight
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decision by any stretch of the
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imagination it's it's interesting how
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this all played out yesterday with Emil
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B right U the attorney for the justice
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department told the judge that the
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charges needed to be filed because it
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was hindering the mayor's ability to do
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his job and also to work with the Trump
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Administration on immigration issues how
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do you think that actually landed with
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the judge in terms consideration here
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you have to take those two arguments
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globally with everything that's going on
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first of all they they did analyze the
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strength of the case against Adams and
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and and bottom line is we're talking
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about upgrades on planes we're talking
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about uh a favor done for the Turkish uh
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Embassy or consulate when he was burough
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president so so the the prosecutors took
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into account the the strength of the
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case itself and then basically analyzed
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these decisions against a high-profile
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public figure like like mayor Adams
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they're made at Main justice anyway the
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the the charges were brought in the
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first place with the approval of main
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Justice and Main justice has power over
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the case and basically you're going to
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have a mayor that can't do his job
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properly based on these types of charges
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I think an evaluation was made to to
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drop those charges and so you have to
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take those arguments in context with the
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whole picture but the there wasn't just
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one prosecutor who resigned because of
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this a number of people resigned and
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that didn't come up at all yesterday
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about the resignation to not drop the
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charges a a handful of prosecutors
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resigned there's plenty of lawyers to
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take their jobs there a big deal is
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being made about all the prosecutors
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that resigned when a new Administration
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Tes uh goes into office prosecutors
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resigned this happens all the time when
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a new DA this Trump appointe excuse
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what's that this Danielle Sassoon was a
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was a trump appointee that that's okay
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and and Danielle Sassoon did what she
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felt was right in the case and and it
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should be honored what she did but
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bottom line is if main Justice doesn't
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want to go forward with charges and
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these charges were ridiculous charges
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they they were absolutely to to indict a
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mayor of the city of New York first time
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a mayor has ever been indicted there
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there wasn't gold bars in his
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refrigerator like the Menendez this said
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this was in any where near the Menendez
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case and to make a decision to indict
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him based on upgrades on flights and a
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favor for the Turkish Consulate where
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you can't even make out a quit proquo
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these were ridiculous charges in the
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first place and that was the evaluation
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and I don't know too many attorneys that
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think that these were legitimate charges
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but this whole thing is unprecedented so
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Judo obviously under a lot of pressure
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do you feel that he might uh appoint a
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special prosecutor in this case I I I
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don't think so the you know the the the
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the prosecutors the Department of
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Justice has discretion over whether to
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prosecute Eric Adams there's no reason
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to appoint a special prosecutor I don't
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think that's what the judge is going to
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do although the judge does have power to
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do that I believe the judge is going to
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make a thoughtful written decision
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taking into account all the various
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arguments but also giving difference to
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the justice department in their
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discretion as to whether or not to
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prosecut a couple things about the
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charge of the charges but what was
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interesting yesterday was that quid pro
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quo did come up and whether or not there
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was a quidd proquo and the prosecution
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didn't say there wasn't they just said
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even if there was you would still have
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to drop the case so they didn't deny
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that there was a quid pro quo Danielle
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Sasson in her letter said that that's
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the reason she didn't want to drop it
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was because of a quid proo what did you
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make of that exchange yesterday right so
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now we're talking about the quid pro quo
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between the Department of Justice the
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alleged quid pro proo that uh for them
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to drop the charges Eric Adams will have
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to listen to Donald Trump and his
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immigration
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that quid pro ased to the quid pro in
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the cas
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itself clearly the officers of the Court
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B is an officer of the court and they
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deny any type of quid pro quid pro quot
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uh this idea that Eric Adams you know
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that that he may be removed because
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somehow he's cooperating with the
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president of the United States in an
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immigration policy which is broken which
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which most people agree is completely
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broken is is ridiculous so so whether or
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not there was a quidd proquo we'll drop
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the charges if you do whatever Trump
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wants you to do that was not established
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in court yesterday all everybody that
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was at that meeting denied that
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happening and there are officers of the
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court and there must be discretion you
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can't allege a quidd pro quo based on
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hypothesis and speculation there has to
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be real evidence of that and and deals
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are made all the time with prosecutors
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anyway which is a whole another issue so
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based on what was presented yesterday
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and you said that this is be a
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thoughtful decision where do you think
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that this is going to go the case will
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be dismissed without prejudice and the
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justice department will not bring
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charges against Eric Adams again why not
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why not do it with prejudice that was
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question the meor the mayor was
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questioning that yesterday saying why
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not why not fight for this to be with
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prejudice meaning the charges can't come
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back right because I think the mayor
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from his point of view is making a
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calculation that there is a 99% chance
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that these charges will never come back
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so the idea that they're dismissing it
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without prejudice they're just dropping
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the case for right now so the mayor can
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do his job I think the mayor and his
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defense team made that type of
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calculation and it wasn't something that
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they wanted to fight for all right David
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Schwarz thanks so much for coming and
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appreciate your time this morning thank
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you