A top Trump appointee guided Mr. Adams’s legal team as they crafted an argument for dismissing corruption charges against the mayor of America’s largest city.

Adams, who claimed that the prosecution was the political consequence of his brave disagreement with Joe Biden over funding for migrants and asylees, took a victory lap, declaring that he would “never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor.” That was, to put it lightly, not very convincing.

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