A somber Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday it’s time for New York City to “move forward” with his criminal case in retreat – but his opponents and supporters charged he’s now a hostage to President Trump.

Adams, in a terse address from City Hall, sought to reassure New Yorkers that he could still lead the nation’s largest city after the US Department of Justice ordered his criminal case be dropped.

“It’s time to move forward,” he said. “But despite the fact that I am no longer facing legal questions, I also understand that many New Yorkers are still questioning my character. And I know that I must continue to regain your trust.”

Adams, in a speech that lasted less than six minutes, aimed to put a capstone on the 15-month legal saga that imperiled his personal and political future, in addition to threatening the stability of the Big Apple’s government amid national tumult.

But as the mayor asserted he was now able to “put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of New York City,” signs remained that the case and its Trump-driven reprieve could continue to dog – and perhaps define – him.

Despite his claim that he no longer faces legal scrutiny, Adams very well could come back under the microscope in the future.

The Monday letter from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordering Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop the case stated it should be dismissed without prejudice, leaving the door open for its resurrection. Bove also argued it could be revisited after the November mayoral election.

Prosecutors with the Southern District of New York had yet to file a motion to dismiss the case Tuesday.

The unusual not-quite-dismissal sparked alarm from the Rev. Al Sharpton, an ally of Adams who nonetheless has been worried about the mayor becoming beholden to Trump should the president help with his legal troubles.

He likened Adams’ situation to “political blackmail.”

“It is unheard of in a criminal justice proceeding to suggest you not deal with the criminal allegations for political or policy reasons,” Sharpton said in a statement. “So if the Mayor were to disagree with the President, does that mean they have the right to call a trial on him at any time?

“It certainly sounds like President Trump is holding the Mayor hostage.”

Sharpton said he soon will convene the city’s black elected leaders and clergy – whose backing was critical for Adams’ mayoral win in 2021 – to decide where they’ll throw their support in the Democratic primary.

He also blasted Adams for suggesting that former Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams, who prosecuted both Democrats and Republicans, would allow his office to be weaponized – an accusation that Bove cited in his order to dismiss the case.

“As much as I am a friend and supporter of Eric Adams, I do not believe in disparaging another Black man who rose up in the ranks in this case,” Sharpton said.

Adams, the city’s second mayor of African American descent, rode a wave of black voter support to electoral victory during the 2021 victory.

But recent polls have shown that support has eroded ahead of the June primary, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo – who hasn’t yet declared his candidacy – siphoning it off.

A source close to Cuomo told The Post that Adams’ reprieve by Trump’s DOJ has only strengthened the still-formidable former governor’s resolve, especially after he received an “avalanche” of phone calls in the day after the dismissal letter.

“The political calculus that (Adams) can somehow get out of this is misplaced,” the source said. “(Cuomo) doesn’t want the city to fall to the far-left nuts and there’s no path for (Adams). 

“Being a puppet of the right, he can’t win. It’s not just a winnable, electable strategy. When you are doing the bidding of Trump in a Democratic primary, that’s not a recipe to win.”

Cuomo’s successor Gov. Kathy Hochul, for her part, dodged weighing in on Adams’ temporary turn of fortune in his criminal case. 

“I’ve got a job to do,” Hochul said Tuesday, when asked about the revelation. “I’ve got to worry about people catching bird flu, OK? I’m more anxious about steel and aluminum tariffs cutting down factories in the state of New York and 1,000 jobs.

“My objective is not who’s sitting in that office and what’s going on there,” she added. “It’s about what’s happening on the streets. Are people being served? And that is always going to be my primary motivation.”

The potential dismissal of charges against Adams did receive the support of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, famously no friend of Cuomo’s.

De Blasio, in an MSNBC interview, called the case against his successor “flimsy” and argued they were wrongly affecting the upcoming primary.

“I don’t think they even should have been brought,” he said.

But de Blasio said he was uncomfortable with how Trump has subverted the DOJ. 

“I’m not comfortable with what Donald Trump is doing to our institutions and how he’s undermining our democracy,” he said. “I think, for Eric Adams now, the challenge is, OK, now you have a chance to focus on being mayor. You have a chance to talk to the people in New York City about what we need to do, including how we need to deal with the Trump administration, and show us that you’re striking that balance.”

Hizzoner had contended since the stunning, 57-page indictment against him dropped in September that his legal woes wouldn’t affect his ability to govern.

Adams, in his address, reiterated that he did nothing wrong, and seemed to imply that the DOJ’s move vindicated him.

“As I said from the outset, I never broke the law. And I never would,” he said Tuesday. “I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor.

“No witness ever came forward publicly to make claims against me, none of the baseless threats from prosecutors of new charges and new evidence never materialized.”

Bove, however, pointedly noted in his letter that the decision was made “without assessing the strength of the evidence.”

Bove instead argued the potential that the charges were political retribution for Adams speaking out against the Biden administration amid the border crisis created an appearance of impropriety.

They also improperly interfered with Adams’ 2025 mayoral campaign and ability to help with Trump’s immigration crackdown, Bove wrote.

The order to dismiss Adams’ case could also spark a showdown between the famously-independent Southern District and the DOJ.

Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, told The Post that the Southern District would eviscerate its “centuries-old” rep for keeping politics out of its cases if its prosecutors cave to the DOJ’s demand.

“If you sign onto that from Main Justice, it means that you are no longer the district that prosecutes free of fear or favor,” he told The Post. “It would destroy the centuries-old legacy that this district has for prosecuting independent of politics.”

He added about the Bove memo: “Ironically, they are injecting politics into a process, in the name of combating politicism.”

Adams has drawn criticism for cozying up to Trump and accusations that he allowed his quest to get either a presidential pardon or a dismissal of the unprecedented criminal case against him affect the way he governed.

The mayor shifted his position on deporting migrant criminals toward a Trump-friendly hardline stance and said he’d take action to roll back certain sanctuary city policies. 

Adams’ not-so-secret quest to appease the president continued early Monday, when he convened his top city commissioners to warn them against criticizing Trump and interfering with immigration enforcement, The City first reported and The Post confirmed.

He warned officials that angering Trump could jeopardize $2 billion in federal grants that New York City depends on, a city source told The Post.

City Hall also did not call out Elon Musk when the Trump ally incorrectly claimed the Big Apple had received  a $59 million FEMA grant last week to house illegal migrants in luxury hotels.

Officials instead quietly pointed out only $19 million would go toward housing migrants in hotels, luxury or otherwise. Neither Adams nor City Hall reps decried Musk’s move to claw back the money either, despite the mayor’s repeated past laments that the federal government help pay for a migrant crisis caused by the Biden administration’s policies.

– Additional reporting by Ben Kochman