I presume Eric Adams innocent of all charges against him, as he’s not yet been convicted of any offense. But that by no means suggests that the evidence against him isn’t strong. The United States Attorneys office for the Southern District of New York has long been recognized as two things. First, it’s a chickenshit club, one that doesn’t bring cases it isn’t essentially certain it can win. Second, it’s been the paradigm of prosecutorial independence, existing apart from the political influences of Main Justice.

Trump’s former defense lawyer, Emil Bove III, has put the latter to the test by ordering Danielle Sassoon, the United States Attorney, to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Mr. Bove justified the decision to ask for the dismissal by saying that the mayor’s indictment had limited Mr. Adams’s ability to cooperate in President Trump’s immigration crackdown. He also suggested that the indictment, which was handed up in September, threatened to interfere with the June 2025 mayoral primary, despite the nine-month interval between the two events.

There is no issue of executive immunity involved here. Unlike Trump, Adams can be prosecuted before, during or after his term of office. Nor is there any issue of this being a “witch hunt,” the go-to defense that somehow makes criminal conduct magically disappear by its mere utterance.

Mr. Bove explicitly said that the Justice Department had made its decision without assessing the strength of the evidence against Mr. Adams or the legal theories undergirding the case. Instead, his letter criticized the U.S. attorney who brought it and former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. He offered expressly political arguments for dropping the charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions from foreign nationals and bribery, asserting the urgency of Mr. Trump’s immigration objectives.

In other words, it will be good for Trump to have Adams remain as mayor, at least for the time being, and prosecuting Adams could get in Trump’s way, as good a reason to let a putative criminal remain in office as Bove can fathom. Although elected as a Democrat, Adams has cozied up to Trump since his election and expressed his willingness to acquiesce to Trump’s will. The next mayor may not be as compliant, and it certainly offers useful optics for a Democratic mayor to cooperate.

But that puts the ball in Sassoon’s court.

It will now fall to the acting head of the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, Danielle R. Sassoon, whether to heed Mr. Bove’s order to dismiss the charges “as soon as is practicable” by filing a motion with the judge. A spokesman for Ms. Sassoon’s office declined to comment.

Will Sassoon do as Bove commands? If so, two things happen. The first is that the once-vaunted independence of the SDNY office is forever compromised, rendering it no less a weapon to be wielded by the politicians than any other office. The history of exercising prosecutorial discretion in the interests of justice rather than politics will be exactly that, history. The difference is that cries of lawfare, of the weaponization of the criminal legal system, will give way to the open and notorious reality. Sure, it’s dismissal in this instance rather than prosecution, but the fact that Bove’s order is flagrantly political removes any doubt that the office’s sole motivation is to do justice under law.

The second is that New York City’s mayor will be bought and owned by Trump.

The letter was a remarkable intervention in a high-profile public corruption prosecution, one that cast the independence of federal prosecutors into doubt given the way Mr. Adams has curried favor with Mr. Trump. Mr. Bove directed that the charges against Mr. Adams be dismissed without prejudice, suggesting that the case could be revived if merited — or if it pleased the president.

By dismissal without prejudice, the prosecution can be revived in the future. When Adams is no longer useful, or should he not drop to his knees upon command, Bove need only send another letter to Sassoon and Adams will be right back in the dock. At least it cost Musk a boatload of money to buy Trump. Adams didn’t cost a dime.

As news broke about his case Monday evening, Mayor Adams, a Democrat, was dining with John Catsimatidis, a Republican billionaire with ties to Mr. Trump, at Gallaghers Steakhouse on West 52nd Street. Mr. Adams had no substantive comment, but his lawyer, Alex Spiro, provided a statement.

“As I said from the outset, the mayor is innocent — and he would prevail,” Mr. Spiro said. “Today he has. The Department of Justice has re-evaluated this case and determined it should not go forward.” He did not note the Justice Department’s acknowledgment that it refrained from evaluating the evidence.

It’s odd that they were eating at Gallaghers as the steaks are quite mediocre, but Adams was smart not to mouth off. His defense lawyer, on the other hand, couldn’t resist, even if the gist of his statement was to emphasize that Bove made no determination as to the merit of the prosecution, couldn’t be bothered with such trivialities as evidence, and instead made clear that Adams could walk only so long as he did as he was told.

If Danielle Sassoon refuses to comply with Emil Bove’s command, there is a strong probability that she will be vilified and fired. The independence of the Department of Justice, in general, and the Southern District of New York, in particular, is only a fond memory now. Will Sassoon be a good soldier and do as she’s told or will she go out in a blaze of honor? As for Adams, his presumption of innocence won’t do anything to help his honor.

Update: Sassoon has made her decision. She has resigned, as have two others at Main Justice who were tasked to do what Sassoon refused to do.

The departures of the U.S. attorney, Danielle R. Sassoon, and the officials who oversaw the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, Kevin O. Driscoll and John Keller, came in rapid succession on Thursday. Days earlier, the acting No. 2 official at the Justice Department, Emil Bove III, had ordered Manhattan prosecutors to drop the case against Mr. Adams.

I’ve rarely had cause to say this, but this is what prosecutorial integrity looks like. Bravo.