February 11, 2025 • 8 mins
Jon Decker joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about the latest coming out of the White House. Jon discusses the charges against Eric Adams being dropped and what Donald Trump may get in return for helping out the NYC mayor.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's get to John Decker, White House correspondent and
Washington correspondent. John, thanks so much. I'm sure you've heard
the Mayor Adams story by now. Can you help us
through this? Be to put your attorney hat on for
a second. Can you help us through this? It was
just a memorandum to drop the case without prejudice, and
(00:21):
it didn't really talk about the evidence. It said that
it would hinder him from doing his job as mayor.
Have you ever seen something like that?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, that's essentially get out of jail free card for
Mayor Adams. Really sure he was celebrating upon hearing that
news last night. I think that it's pretty clear to
me that this case is not going forward against Mayor Adams.
He can now focus on reelection. I don't know if
he's going to be re elected. You know that better
(00:49):
than I do in terms of the political environment for him,
but more importantly for him in terms of his life.
The possibility of serving jail time related to the charges
that he faced are zero zero percent possibility of that.
The DOJ is dropping this case against him, And I
think that all of this effort, and it's remarkable what
(01:12):
he's done Larry. Over the course of the past month
and a half since Donald Trump was elected president, all
of this effort in terms of cozying up to Donald Trump,
lobbying Donald Trump, going down to mar A Lago, it's
all paid off for him. And it's remarkable that I
don't know what he gets in return. Maybe he says
New York City's not going to be a sanctuary city anymore.
(01:35):
In any case, regardless of what the quid pro quo,
if there was one, was, he's free and clear and
now he can concentrate on his reelection. Right.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
He spoke with city leaders and put out a memorandum
on Friday John where he was saying to them not
to criticize Donald Trump, and everybody thought that was odd,
and he got a lot of pushback on that, especially
from his political opponents. And he also said that we
need the help ice more. And I guess people were
confused by that, but they're not confused anymore because now
(02:06):
it seems like, yeah, he had to pay the piper.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
This was the stars aligning perfectly for Mayor Adams, with
the election to a second term of Donald Trump, adoj
and an attorney general named essentially to run the Department
of Justice, and the fact that Mayor Adams had the
(02:31):
ear of Donald Trump to essentially make his case as
to why the charges against him should not go forward.
And the President has actually spoken publicly about the charges
against him and he didn't think they were a big deal.
So it doesn't surprise me in any way. I think
that the President put his thumb on the scale and
(02:52):
helped out Mayor Adams tremendously in having this case against
him dropped.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
We heard from retired FBI agent Richard Frankel earlier and
he said these charges could still be brought against him
because it's not a full pardon, These charges could come back.
It seems to me like that's a way of holding
this over Mayor Adam's head in case he misbehaves. What
(03:17):
do you think, Well, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It doesn't sound to me like there's a pardon. That's
not what's involved here. It sounds to me like the
DOJ is simply dropping the case against him. And so
there's a difference in that if they drop the case
against him with prejudice that that is favorable for Mayor Adams.
And so you know, look, could the charges potentially be
(03:42):
brought against him in the future by a different administration potentially,
but I don't think that's happening. I think that they
have bigger fish to fry than worrying about Mayor Adams
four years from now. It's a Democrat, it takes over
the White House in terms of winning election in twenty
twenty eight, and a new Attorney general name to leave
the Department of Justice who's a Democrat takes over. I
(04:04):
think that this news that has been reported over the
course of the past twenty four hours is the best
news for Mayor Adams that he could have ever received.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, I agree with you, and just to walk me
through this now, So the federal prosecutors locally the New
York Office has to agree to drop the charges. You
think that's the THETA company. Then do they have to
go to court with this and tell the judge? Does
the judge have any discretion in this?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Well, the judge can question the federal prosecutors about their decision,
but essentially it is the decision of federal prosecutors as
to who they wish to pursue and devote resources to
and who they don't wish to devote those valuable resources to.
So to me, yes, First of all, they need to
(04:55):
inform the judge they're dropping the case. The judge can
question them as to why. You know, regardless of the
reasons that are provided by federal prosecutors, this case Larry
is not going forward. And for Mayor Adams, you know, look,
I think it's wonderful news for him and for his family.
For those prosecutors that devoted the resources to actually bring
(05:18):
this case in the first place, obviously they are very disappointed.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, I appreciate your expertise so much on this. I
know you came on to talk about other things, but
let me just ask one more question about this. Can
there be state or local charges that are still filed
against him?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I'm not familiar with all of the charges that are
filed against Mayor Adams. Is that a possible? Is the
case the Manhattan DA bring the same type of charges
against Mayor Adams? Again, I'm not familiar with all of
the charges and what the state charges would be against him.
(05:57):
To me, again, that's something that the Manhattan has to
figure out. Are those resources worth it in terms of
pursuing this case. Now that the federal government is not
pursuing a case at the federal level against Mayor.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Adam Right, Alvin Bragg would have to make that decision,
and also the Attorney General of New York, Letitia James,
would have to make that decision. And we should point
out that they're both Democrats. So I would think you're right.
I think that's it. I think this case goes away.
I just wanted to make Look, I wanted to make
sure we went through every angle. Now let's talk about sure,
the President meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah today. I'm sure
(06:36):
the alleged real estate transaction as he's calling it, to
take over Gaza will come up.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Oh, that's that's topic number one. It's going to come
up because it impacts Jordan. The President would be asking
Jordan to take in a significant number of Palestinians who
would be moved out of Gaza. And you know, look,
Jordan can only so many citizens right now, and you know,
to take in additional Palestinians. He's already put out statements
(07:09):
indicating this is not a deal, that he's in favor of.
Similar statements being put out by the Foreign Ministry of
Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian government, those of the three countries
that the President is looking to in particular in terms
of taking in Palestinians moved out of Gaza. So yeah,
that is topic number one, Larry. There will be no
opportunity to question King Abdullah today, no opportunity to question
(07:33):
Donald Trump today in regards to their meeting. Everything is
closed press. That doesn't surprise me. Typically when the President
does meet with King Abdullah, whether it's a Democrat or Republican,
King of Dulla, just doesn't like to take questions from
the press corps. So you're not going to see a
joint press conference like we saw last week twice with
(07:53):
two of President Trump's counterparts.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
So unusual for this administration. But I'm sure you can
get information from Donald try up later because he seems
to be accessible all the time. Thank you so much, John.
That year information was tremendous and we needed your expertise
on Mayor Adams. I appreciated you taking questions on that,
even though you didn't come on for that, you were great.
Thank you,
Now let's get to John Decker, White House correspondent and
Washington correspondent. John, thanks so much. I'm sure you've heard
the Mayor Adams story by now. Can you help us
through this? Be to put your attorney hat on for
a second. Can you help us through this? It was
just a memorandum to drop the case without prejudice, and
(00:21):
it didn't really talk about the evidence. It said that
it would hinder him from doing his job as mayor.
Have you ever seen something like that?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, that's essentially get out of jail free card for
Mayor Adams. Really sure he was celebrating upon hearing that
news last night. I think that it's pretty clear to
me that this case is not going forward against Mayor Adams.
He can now focus on reelection. I don't know if
he's going to be re elected. You know that better
(00:49):
than I do in terms of the political environment for him,
but more importantly for him in terms of his life.
The possibility of serving jail time related to the charges
that he faced are zero zero percent possibility of that.
The DOJ is dropping this case against him, And I
think that all of this effort, and it's remarkable what
(01:12):
he's done Larry. Over the course of the past month
and a half since Donald Trump was elected president, all
of this effort in terms of cozying up to Donald Trump,
lobbying Donald Trump, going down to mar A Lago, it's
all paid off for him. And it's remarkable that I
don't know what he gets in return. Maybe he says
New York City's not going to be a sanctuary city anymore.
(01:35):
In any case, regardless of what the quid pro quo,
if there was one, was, he's free and clear and
now he can concentrate on his reelection. Right.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
He spoke with city leaders and put out a memorandum
on Friday John where he was saying to them not
to criticize Donald Trump, and everybody thought that was odd,
and he got a lot of pushback on that, especially
from his political opponents. And he also said that we
need the help ice more. And I guess people were
confused by that, but they're not confused anymore because now
(02:06):
it seems like, yeah, he had to pay the piper.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
This was the stars aligning perfectly for Mayor Adams, with
the election to a second term of Donald Trump, adoj
and an attorney general named essentially to run the Department
of Justice, and the fact that Mayor Adams had the
(02:31):
ear of Donald Trump to essentially make his case as
to why the charges against him should not go forward.
And the President has actually spoken publicly about the charges
against him and he didn't think they were a big deal.
So it doesn't surprise me in any way. I think
that the President put his thumb on the scale and
(02:52):
helped out Mayor Adams tremendously in having this case against
him dropped.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
We heard from retired FBI agent Richard Frankel earlier and
he said these charges could still be brought against him
because it's not a full pardon, These charges could come back.
It seems to me like that's a way of holding
this over Mayor Adam's head in case he misbehaves. What
(03:17):
do you think, Well, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It doesn't sound to me like there's a pardon. That's
not what's involved here. It sounds to me like the
DOJ is simply dropping the case against him. And so
there's a difference in that if they drop the case
against him with prejudice that that is favorable for Mayor Adams.
And so you know, look, could the charges potentially be
(03:42):
brought against him in the future by a different administration potentially,
but I don't think that's happening. I think that they
have bigger fish to fry than worrying about Mayor Adams
four years from now. It's a Democrat, it takes over
the White House in terms of winning election in twenty
twenty eight, and a new Attorney general name to leave
the Department of Justice who's a Democrat takes over. I
(04:04):
think that this news that has been reported over the
course of the past twenty four hours is the best
news for Mayor Adams that he could have ever received.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, I agree with you, and just to walk me
through this now, So the federal prosecutors locally the New
York Office has to agree to drop the charges. You
think that's the THETA company. Then do they have to
go to court with this and tell the judge? Does
the judge have any discretion in this?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Well, the judge can question the federal prosecutors about their decision,
but essentially it is the decision of federal prosecutors as
to who they wish to pursue and devote resources to
and who they don't wish to devote those valuable resources to.
So to me, yes, First of all, they need to
(04:55):
inform the judge they're dropping the case. The judge can
question them as to why. You know, regardless of the
reasons that are provided by federal prosecutors, this case Larry
is not going forward. And for Mayor Adams, you know, look,
I think it's wonderful news for him and for his family.
For those prosecutors that devoted the resources to actually bring
(05:18):
this case in the first place, obviously they are very disappointed.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, I appreciate your expertise so much on this. I
know you came on to talk about other things, but
let me just ask one more question about this. Can
there be state or local charges that are still filed
against him?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I'm not familiar with all of the charges that are
filed against Mayor Adams. Is that a possible? Is the
case the Manhattan DA bring the same type of charges
against Mayor Adams? Again, I'm not familiar with all of
the charges and what the state charges would be against him.
(05:57):
To me, again, that's something that the Manhattan has to
figure out. Are those resources worth it in terms of
pursuing this case. Now that the federal government is not
pursuing a case at the federal level against Mayor.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Adam Right, Alvin Bragg would have to make that decision,
and also the Attorney General of New York, Letitia James,
would have to make that decision. And we should point
out that they're both Democrats. So I would think you're right.
I think that's it. I think this case goes away.
I just wanted to make Look, I wanted to make
sure we went through every angle. Now let's talk about sure,
the President meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah today. I'm sure
(06:36):
the alleged real estate transaction as he's calling it, to
take over Gaza will come up.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Oh, that's that's topic number one. It's going to come
up because it impacts Jordan. The President would be asking
Jordan to take in a significant number of Palestinians who
would be moved out of Gaza. And you know, look,
Jordan can only so many citizens right now, and you know,
to take in additional Palestinians. He's already put out statements
(07:09):
indicating this is not a deal, that he's in favor of.
Similar statements being put out by the Foreign Ministry of
Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian government, those of the three countries
that the President is looking to in particular in terms
of taking in Palestinians moved out of Gaza. So yeah,
that is topic number one, Larry. There will be no
opportunity to question King Abdullah today, no opportunity to question
(07:33):
Donald Trump today in regards to their meeting. Everything is
closed press. That doesn't surprise me. Typically when the President
does meet with King Abdullah, whether it's a Democrat or Republican,
King of Dulla, just doesn't like to take questions from
the press corps. So you're not going to see a
joint press conference like we saw last week twice with
(07:53):
two of President Trump's counterparts.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
So unusual for this administration. But I'm sure you can
get information from Donald try up later because he seems
to be accessible all the time. Thank you so much, John.
That year information was tremendous and we needed your expertise
on Mayor Adams. I appreciated you taking questions on that,
even though you didn't come on for that, you were great.
Thank you,
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