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Gotham
In The News
At Gotham Government Relations, we take pride in staying ahead of the curve when it comes to policy developments and current events that impact our esteemed clientele and team members. "Gotham In The News" is your go-to page for comprehensive coverage of news articles and videos that directly pertain to our areas of expertise.
![Youtube transcript
0:00[Music] 0:07 welcome back to the freedom file I'm 0:08 joined once again by civil and criminal 0:11 defense attorney David Schwarz and 0:12 former Federal prosecutor Doug Burns 0:15 both longtime colleagues and friends of 0:17 mine I want to get into the uh legal 0:20 maneuvering in the mayor Adams bribery 0:22 case David to you first in an 0:25 unusual U clause in the New York state 0:29 constitution the governor of New York 0:32 can remove the mayor if she believes he 0:34 can no longer exercise his duties the 0:36 city Charter provides for the same thing 0:40 if the May if the governor believes that 0:43 the mayor is no longer free to exercise 0:46 his judgment but is only exercising in 0:49 in a way that he wants that he thinks 0:51 the feds want him to so they don't 0:53 regenerate the prosecution should she 0:56 remove him if she comes down to that uh 1:00 conclusion which I think is a faulty 1:02 conclusion in the first place she would 1:04 have every right to remove him but 1:05 removing him doesn't mean just pressing 1:07
a button judge and removing removing 1:10 there's due process so she could make 1:12 that decision and then the mayor would 1:15 have 30 days uh uh to defend that his 1:19 position and they would have an a 1:20
hearing on that and then 30 days she 1:22 would decide whether or not it's 1:24 permanent removal or not I think that 1:27 would be a ridiculous move on the 1:28 governor's part you know uh Doug 1:30 the there's due process and there's due 1:32 process this is a weird weird system 1:34 here in this hearing that David just so 1:37 nicely described the governor would be 1:40 both the judge and the prosecutor this 1:43 is ridiculous it's happened once before 1:46 with Franklin delanor Roosevelt and 1:48 Jimmy Walker that never even got to the 1:50 hearing uh to the hearing stage but if 1:53 she believes that his judgment is not is 1:57 is not impaired but is regulated by fear 2:00 of the feds shouldn't she do something 2:02 about it yeah but I think this one I 2:05 don't I predict confidently she won't do 2:08 that um because I don't think it rises 2:10 to the level of the Jimmy Walker 2:12 situation you know I watched you the 2:13 other day explaining it was a great
2:15 history lesson about the Jimmy Walker 2:17 and then he resigned mayor Walker but 2:19 the conduct was far far more serious 2:21 this thing again it's a mixed bag uh 2:24 real quick which is that it sounds like 2:26 you know they're hanging it over his 2:28 head but the converse argument is 2:30 they're just asking him to do that which 2:31 he's supposed to do anyway so it's 2:33 really the classic R Shack test okay 2:36 left is going to see it their way 2:38 right's going to see it their way and 2:39 that's very unfortunate in a criminal
2:41 case that should not be the case I wish 2:43 we could keep politics out of a criminal 2:46 case as I as I mentioned and I think you 2:47 both agree with me you're both 2:49 experienced criminal prosecutors and
2:51 defense lawyers when when when politics 2:54 enters the case it it often produces a 2:57 political result which is not not NE 2:59 necessarily consistent with right or 3:01 wrong uh or guilt uh and and innocence 3:05 back to uh judge hoe who's the 3:08 relatively new Biden appointed federal 3:11 judge in lower Manhattan uh who for 3:13 better for worse has this uh on his desk 3:16 should he have put should he have
3:18 brought all the lawyers in the courtroom 3:21 if it were me I would have had Danielle 3:23 Sassoon there and say why did you resign 3:25 what is wrong what did they want you to 3:26 do that you think was wrong how strong 3:28 is this case he didn't do that David no 3:31 no he didn't do that I I don't think you 3:33 know for the first hearing on this that 3:35 that should have been done certainly the 3:37 judge can do that at a later hearing if 3:39 the judge wants to inquire more into it 3:41 but like Doug laid out earlier the the 3:44
judge the prosecution has has wide 3:47 discretion to dismiss any case that they 3:50 want and ultimately this case will be 3:53 dismissed and even if though it's 3:55 dismissed without prejudice there is a 3:57 99.999 3:59 percent chance this case will never see 4:01 the light of day ever again let me uh 4:05 suggest the 4:06 unthinkable judge hoe appoints a retired 4:10 federal judge or retired prosecutor as a 4:13 special SL private attorney general to 4:16 prosecute the case douge what happens 4:19 yeah no that could happen but I think 4:20 the odds are very very low on that no an 4:23 independent counsel by analogy in a 4:25 state you know in that situation in 4:27 federal court and then they do the case 4:29 but I don't think it happen back to 4:31 David's point he's so right 39 years 4:33 just quick Point I've never seen a case 4:35 dismissed without prejudice come back 4:36 not once David have you ever seen a 4:38 private attorney general appointed by 4:40 the court because the feds or even the 4:43 local da didn't want to prosecute the 4:45
case but the court thought it should 4:46 have been prosecuted I've never seen it 4:48 maybe Doug has seen it but I've I've 4:51 never seen it in my career judge yeah I 4:53 I I saw it in another courtroom when I 4:56 was on the bench I didn't do it uh 4:59 myself this situation never confronted 5:01 me uh I think that the second circuit 5:04 would uh reverse judge hoe If he did 5:06 that douge what do you think no I agree 5:08 I don't think it's warranted I think it 5:09 would be reversed judge ho you know one 5:12 last thing it's interesting rule 48 of 5:14 the rules was changed and you needed 5:16 leave of court to dismiss so in a 5:18
political case the judge doesn't want 5:20 any part of having to be the one who 5:23 dismissed it you see what I mean but 5:26 doesn't the judge not want his court 5:29 room to be used for a political purpose 5:33
saving the meraly of this wounded Eric 5:37 Adams David yeah like Doug said before 5:40 politics should play no role a court 5:42 should be a laboratory where it's only 5:44 the evidence before the court that rules
5:46 the day gentlemen it's a pleasure thank 5:48 you very much I have thoroughly enjoyed 5:50 this conversation we'll have you back 5:52 again soon that is my show this week 5:55 special thanks to Doug Burns and David 5:57 Schwarz thank you for watching the 5:59 freedom file we will see you next week 6:01
have a great weekend 6:03 [Music] 6:14 [Applause] 6:14 [Music] 6:21 [Applause] 6:22 [Music]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1b6091_dfdfe84df310476899b5ac42c66e0b0b~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_276,h_201,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
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