Eric Adams pushes judge to dismiss charges before ballot deadline
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(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a federal judge on Monday to drop criminal corruption charges before a political deadline this week — trying to speed up a decision by the judge in the case.
The mayor wants the case dropped before petitions to get on the June primary ballot are due on April 3, according to his lawyer.
“Now, with the petition-filing deadline just days away, we respectfully urge the Court to issue its decision as soon as possible,” the mayor’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said in a letter to Judge Dale Ho.
The Justice Department has asked the judge to dismiss the charges without prejudice to free Adams to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. Without prejudice means the charges could resurface.
Ho accepted a legal brief urging him to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it could not be revived, eliminating an incentive for the mayor to bow to administration demands.
Adams pleaded not guilty in federal court last September to charges related to an alleged conspiracy with Turkish nationals that landed him lavish gifts in exchange for beneficial treatment.
Trump’s Justice Department asked in February to dismiss the charges, a move that caused several prosecutors to step down in protest, including the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, who alleged a quid pro quo.
“It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams’s opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment,” Sassoon wrote at the time. “Nor will a court likely find that such an improper exchange is consistent with the public interest.”
(WASHINGTON) — In a new letter, Democratic lawmakers are asking federal regulators to look into legal and ethical questions around the meme cryptocurrency coins launched by President Donald Trump and the first lady.
The letter formally raises concerns about the risk of foreign countries trying to curry influence by buying the coins — and the ethics of Trump making “extraordinary profits off his presidency.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and an advocate for crypto regulation, co-wrote the letter with Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., who sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Warren and Auchincloss point to the foreign emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states “[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
“Anyone, including the leaders of hostile nations, can covertly buy these coins, raising the specter of uninhibited and untraceable foreign influence over the President of the United States, all while President Trump’s supporters are left to shoulder the risk of investing in $TRUMP and $MELANIA,” Warren and Auchincloss wrote to the Office of Government Ethics, the Treasury Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The meme coins also pose a conflict of interest, they write, because Trump’s family members are expected to directly profit off an industry he is charged with regulating. The president nominates the Chairs of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Securities and Exchange Commission, the Directors of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Secretary of the Treasury.
“This creates an unavoidable conflict of interest, as he will be in a position to both benefit directly from the sale of the tokens while also setting the policy on how these markets are regulated. He will be in a position to seek commitments from agency heads, to not only decide how the market is valued, but to implement lax policies to crack down on crypto scams like pump-and-dump schemes that are regularly conducted through meme coins,” the letter says.
ABC News reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump launched the $TRUMP coin Friday night, just days before he took office. Its estimated value is now $7 billion, according to CoinGecko. The $MELANIA coin is worth around $400 million. A big share of the profits from these coins go toward Trump and his businesses, according to financial disclosures. (If Trump divests of his interests in these companies like he did with most of his assets during his first term, his family could still profit off them.)
Meme coins are a highly volatile type of cryptocurrency that allow people to bet on a popular personality or trend.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order seeking to support the expansion of cryptocurrencies.
El Salvador Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — An attorney representing a migrant sent to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act says her client was deported due to a soccer logo tattoo, according to court declarations submitted Wednesday night.
Linette Tobin is representing Jerce Reyes Barrios, a professional soccer player from Venezuela who protested the Maduro regime in February and March 2024 and was detained and tortured after one of the demonstrations.
Barrios came to the U.S.-Mexico border legally through the CBP One app in September 2024 but has been accused of being a Tren de Aragua, or TdA, member and was detained at a facility under maximum security, Tobin said.
The Biden administration expanded the use of the CBP One phone application to allow migrants to submit some background information and schedule appointments with immigration officials at ports of entry. Officials would then determine if the person could be allowed into the country, some in order to submit an asylum claim. President Donald Trump eliminated that feature during his first days in office.
The Department of Homeland Security has accused Barrios of having a gang-affiliated tattoo and claimed a photo of him showed him displaying gang signs. ABC News has reached out to DHS.
The tattoo in question showed a crown sitting on top of a soccer ball with a rosary and the word “Dios” (God), according to Tobin. A declaration from the tattoo artist confirmed that Barrios chose it because it was similar to the Real Madrid soccer team logo, the attorney said. According to Tobin, those alleged gang signs were the hand symbol for rock and roll and “I love you” in sign language.
Tobin also said she submitted records from Venezuela that indicated Barrios had no criminal record in his home country and was employed as a professional soccer player and children’s soccer coach.
Barrios was transferred out of maximum security after submitting this evidence and had a hearing set for April 17, according to his attorney.
Around March 10 or 11, Tobin said her client was transferred to Texas without notice and was promptly deported to El Salvador on March 15.
“Counsel and family have lost all contact with him and have no information” about his whereabouts, Tobin wrote in the court documents.
Trump announced on Saturday he had signed a proclamation declaring that the Tren de Aragua gang was “conducting irregular warfare” against the United States and therefore would deport its members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Saturday blocked the Trump administration from deporting noncitizens under the Alien Enemies Act and ordered that they turn around two flights the administration said were deporting alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador.
After officials failed to turn the flights around, Judge Boasberg demanded they provide more information about the flights, under seal, but Justice Department attorneys refused, citing national security concerns. According to a court filing Wednesday morning, DOJ attorneys said they are considering invoking the state secrets privilege to deny the judge that information.
(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, faces a confirmation hearing Friday before the Senate Finance Committee.
Oz, a doctor and former television host whose nomination to lead CMS has put him in the political spotlight for the first time since his unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat three years ago, is expected to have to deal with tough questions from Democrats on the 27-member committee, which will vote whether to move his nomination to a floor vote in front of the entire Senate.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in particular, has been increasingly vocal ahead of the hearing about Oz’s financial ties to health care companies that he will now oversee in his role at CMS and his past comments about privatizing Medicare, one of the programs he’ll manage.
She also criticized what she calls his “hostile record” on abortion rights, referring to Oz’s comments on the campaign trail that a woman’s decision to get an abortion should be made by her, her doctor and “local political leaders.”
“The implication that elected officials should be involved in a woman’s personal health treatment decision is terrifying and antithetical to patient health,” Warren wrote to Oz on Thursday.
Warren asked him if he would use his position to issue guidance that could defund Planned Parenthood, or withdraw Medicaid funds from states that protect abortion rights in various ways.
Oz is also likely to be questioned about a report from Democrats who inspected his tax returns and said that he underpaid on Social Security and Medicare taxes by using a limited liability loophole.
“Dr. Oz’s position is counter to the position of the Department of Treasury and results in him not paying into Social Security and Medicare, the very healthcare program he hopes to manage,” Democratic Senate Finance committee staff wrote in the memo, circulated around the committee.
“He avoided hundreds of thousands of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes in the years reviewed,” the staff wrote. They reviewed Oz’s taxes from 2021 to 2023.
The committee staff reviewed Oz’s tax returns and met with the nominee, his accountant and his lawyers earlier in March. Oz and his team maintained that he was not liable for the taxes the Democrats said he owed, according to the memo.
Oz in the past has expressed support for Medicare Advantage, a Medicare-approved plan run by private insurance companies. The plan must follow rules set by Medicare, such as limiting out-of-pocket expenses and covering all services covered by traditional Medicare.
“Medicare Advantage has definitely become a much more important part of the Medicare program. It’s now the most popular coverage option within the program,” Joe Albanese, a senior policy analyst at the right-leaning think tank Paragon Health Institute, told ABC News.
“It’s grown very rapidly in popularity over the past decade,” he continued. “And that’s going change the way that the government interacts with Medicare and Medicare beneficiaries.”
In an op-ed co-written for Forbes in June 2020, Oz said Medicare Advantage offers better care due to there being competing plans. He said Medicare Advantage could also be expanded to all Americans who are not on Medicaid, which would be funded by a 20% payroll tax. He has also promoted Medicare Advantage on his show, “The Dr. Oz Show.”
Oz rose to prominance after frequent guest appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in the early 2000s.
