AOC Raises Alarms, Saying Dropping Eric Adams' Corruption Charges Could Later Be Used By Trump for Political 'Leverage'

New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez has expressed concern towards the Trump administration's decision to drop federal bribery and corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

AOC warned about how the Department of Justice's decision to drop charges against Adams could later be used as political "leverage" when speaking to Spectrum News on Tuesday.

"I look forward to there being a tremendous amount of transparency offered as to what went into that decision and how they came to that conclusion," she said of the DOJ decision. "I think there's a lot of questions that New Yorkers have around the kind of shrouded nature of this conclusion. And I think it's incredibly important that the Department of Justice, as well as everyone involved, come forward with the facts and evidence to back up their decision."

When asked about whether or not the charges against Adams would reappear, AOC expressed concerns about President Donald Trump's involvement.

"I think that prospect is very concerning given how President Trump operates, how he absolutely seems to be gutting at the Department of Justice, the FBI. He's going across all federal agencies installing political appointees," she said. "And if they are kind of wielding this prospect of charges coming back over a sitting mayor of the nation's largest city, I think that creates a very significant concern for everyday New Yorkers as to what how that could potentially be leveraged in a politicized context."

New York City mayoral elections are set to be held in November of this year. Despite his recent bad press, Adams is among the candidates running for the position.

The DOJ publicized a memo on Monday indicating that federal charges against Adams would no longer be pursued. The ruling was made "without prejudice", meaning charges could potentially be pursued in the future.

"The Justice Department has reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based," the letter reads.

"This has been the most difficult fifteen months of my life," Adams said during a broadcast Tuesday on social media.

"I never broke the law and I never would. I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor," Adams said. "I never asked anyone to break the law on my behalf or on behalf of my campaign. I absolutely never traded my power as an elected official for any personal benefit."