What a glorious time to be an ethically challenged politician. President Donald Trump began yesterday by pardoning Illinois’s eminently corrupt former Governor Rod R. Blagojevich, who’d tried to auction off a U.S. Senate seat. Last night, Trump extended his mercies to the indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams. The message is twofold and rather elemental: Prosecutors are not to be trusted. And bowing to Trump will yield rewards even for newly minted loyalists.

The Justice Department acted as the mayor’s agent of deliverance, directing the local U.S. attorney to drop the corruption case against him. Adams faced daunting and highly credible federal accusations that he’d accepted more than $100,000 in flight upgrades and airline tickets and collected contributions from wealthy foreigners who are not legally allowed to contribute to campaigns.

Adams’s reign has been plagued by many other scandals. Many in his inner circle at City Hall have come under federal, state, and city investigation and resigned in the past year. In December, his chief adviser was indicted on charges of bribe taking.

Adams has denied breaking the law. Quite remarkably, the memo from the Justice Department’s acting No. 2 official, Emil Bove III, says the agency reached its decision without even assessing the strength of the evidence against the mayor or the legal theories used in the indictment.

The motives proffered by Bove are baldly political. The federal indictment under which Adams labored had “unduly restricted” the mayor’s ability to devote his energies to the president’s policy agenda. While in private practice, Bove represented Trump in three criminal cases. Presumably, he is well practiced at keeping a straight face while advancing preposterous arguments.

[Read: The low comedy of Eric Adams’s indictment]

In fact, Bove is extending a quid pro quo that was neither hidden nor subtle. He noted that the Justice Department reserves the right to reinstate charges against Adams at some future date, the suggestion being that the mayor’s behavior could determine his fate. Remain shoulder to shoulder with Trump on immigration, warn New York school principals and homeless-shelter managers against ill-considered displays of conscience such as demanding that ICE produce search warrants, and the mayor can expect to remain out of the legal dock.

Adams expressed no qualms about this deal, as he so rarely displays any hint of embarrassment at his self-serving behavior. Adams’s defenders argue that this was just penny-ante grubbing about for small-time benefits and merited a slap on the wrist rather than an indictment. That ignores the fact that his alleged corruption of the campaign-finance system helped him obtain fraudulent millions of dollars in matching funds. Safety may have been at stake: Prosecutors said that Adams obtained some of his upgrades and hotel rooms in exchange for pressuring the fire department to stifle concerns about building violations and speed approval of a new office building for a Turkish consulate.

Adams pursued the dropping of charges with single-minded energy. He traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump and worked to snare an invitation to his inauguration. He appeared on an online show hosted by Tucker Carlson, the Trump ally and former Fox News personality who is sailing ever faster toward the kookier ports of the far right. When asked of late to criticize the president, Adams has kept silent. “If I do disagree,” the mayor told the press, “I will communicate with him directly.”

[Read: Eric Adams’s totally predictable MAGA turn]

His knee remains artfully bent now. He recently told the city’s law office to instruct city employees to cooperate wherever possible with federal immigration officials.

Adams learned of the dropping of charges while enjoying a meal with the Republican billionaire John Catsimatidis at Gallaghers, a high-priced steakhouse. The billionaire is said to have proved helpful in this matter. Did he pick up the mayor’s tab? A shrug is perhaps the best response. Because at this point, who would bother to investigate?