Resignations Follow Order to Dismiss Adams Case in New York and Washington

Following the Justice Department's directive to drop charges against Mayor Eric Adams, the interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District and five officials from the federal public integrity unit resigned.

 
 

On Thursday, Manhattan’s U.S. attorney resigned in protest of a directive from a senior Justice Department official to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

 

Subsequently, when the Justice Department transferred the case to the public integrity section in Washington, which handles corruption prosecutions, the two leaders of that unit also stepped down, according to five sources familiar with the situation.

 

Hours later, three additional lawyers from the unit followed suit and resigned, as reported by insiders.

 

These consecutive resignations mark a significant and public challenge to President Trump's increasing influence over the Justice Department, serving as a striking rejection of the administration's efforts to dismiss the charges against Adams.

 

The resignations of U.S. attorney Danielle R. Sassoon, along with Public Integrity Section officials Kevin O. Driscoll and John Keller, occurred in quick succession on Thursday. Just days prior, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III had instructed Manhattan prosecutors to abandon the case against Mayor Adams.

 

The Justice Department's rationale for dropping the case was overtly political; Bove claimed that the investigation could hinder Adams' cooperation with Trump's immigration initiatives. He emphasized that officials in Washington had not assessed the strength of the evidence or the legal basis of the case.

 

In a notable letter addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sassoon stated that Bove's directive to dismiss the case was “inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.”

 

“I have always viewed it as my responsibility to seek justice impartially, treating the powerful and influential no differently than the less fortunate,” she expressed. “Consequently, I feel it is essential to bring the concerns outlined in this letter to your attention and request a meeting to discuss them further.”

 

In her letter, Ms. Sassoon, 38, made a shocking allegation. She claimed that the mayor's legal team had “consistently suggested a quid pro quo, implying that Adams would be able to support the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment was dropped.”

 

 
 
 

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Mayor Adams, stated, “The notion of a quid pro quo is completely false. We offered nothing, nor did the department request anything from us.”

He continued, “We were asked if the case had any implications for national security and immigration enforcement, and we truthfully responded that it did.”

In her letter, Ms. Sassoon noted that Mr. Bove reprimanded a member of her team for taking notes during a meeting and demanded that those notes be collected at the end.

Furthermore, Ms. Sassoon indicated that her office had suggested a superseding indictment against the mayor, which would have added a charge for conspiracy to obstruct justice. This charge, she explained, would have been “based on evidence that Adams destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the F.B.I.” It would also have included further allegations regarding his involvement in a “straw donor scheme.”

Mr. Spiro responded by asserting that if prosecutors “had any evidence at all that the mayor destroyed evidence, they would have pursued those charges — as they repeatedly threatened to do but ultimately did not, over many months.”

He added, “This latest false allegation is merely the final act of a misguided prosecution.”

Mr. Bove accepted Ms. Sassoon’s resignation in an eight-page letter on Thursday, in which he criticized her management of the case and her refusal to follow his directive.

He informed her that the prosecutors involved in the case against Mr. Adams would be placed on administrative leave for similarly defying his order. Additionally, he stated that both the attorney general and the Justice Department’s internal investigative unit would look into their actions, as well as her conduct.

However, the internal investigations initiated by Mr. Bove could pose risks for him, as officials are likely to scrutinize his actions as well, and the judge overseeing the case may seek explanations from Justice Department officials in Washington.

Matthew Podolsky, Ms. Sassoon’s former deputy, has now stepped in as the acting U.S. attorney, a spokesperson for the office confirmed on Thursday evening.

Mr. Bove’s letter shed light on an ongoing conflict between Justice Department officials in Washington and federal prosecutors in Manhattan, largely hidden from public view.

On Thursday afternoon, a pool report indicated that Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had not requested the case against Mr. Adams be dropped.

Nonetheless, Mr. Bove’s letter suggested that he believed Mr. Trump—who he previously represented as his criminal defense attorney—exercised significant influence over the Justice Department, which has traditionally operated independently from the White House.

“In no legitimate sense can you uphold the Constitution by disobeying direct orders that implement the policies of a duly elected President,” he wrote to Ms. Sassoon. “Anyone who romanticizes such behavior undermines the integrity of our work and the public’s perception of our efforts.”

He stated that he accepted Ms. Sassoon’s resignation “due to your decision to persist in a politically motivated prosecution despite clear instructions to dismiss the case. You have lost sight of the oath you took when you joined the Department of Justice.”

Until recently, Mr. Bove was one of Mr. Trump’s defense attorneys, representing him during his New York State criminal trial last year, which resulted in Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to a sex scandal that had threatened his 2016 campaign.

The Southern District of New York, which Ms. Sassoon led until Thursday, is widely regarded as the most prestigious U.S. attorney’s office in the country. It is known for its commitment to independence and resisting interference from Washington, earning the nickname “the Sovereign District.”

A Justice Department official in Washington declined to comment on the situation.

Ms. Sassoon informed her office of her resignation in a brief email shortly before 2 p.m. The office has not yet filed a motion to dismiss the case.

“Just moments ago, I submitted my resignation to the attorney general,” she wrote in the email, the contents of which were shared with The New York Times. “As I expressed to her, it has been my greatest honor to represent the United States and pursue justice as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York.”

She added, “It has been a privilege to work alongside you, and I will continue to watch with pride as you serve the United States.”

 

 

Last month, the Trump administration appointed Ms. Sassoon, a seasoned prosecutor, as interim head of the office while awaiting Senate confirmation for Mr. Trump’s nominee, Jay Clayton. She quickly became involved in discussions with Justice Department officials regarding the criminal case against Mr. Adams.

Jocelyn E. Strauber, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Investigation, whose staff contributed to the case against the mayor, stated that her agency “operated apolitically, guided solely by the facts and the law.” She emphasized that the Justice Department’s decision to dismiss the case was not based on the evidence.

Mr. Adams is campaigning for re-election, but Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has the authority to remove him from office for cause. While she had previously indicated she would not intervene, she expressed uncertainty in an MSNBC interview on Thursday night, stating that the allegations were troubling and that she needed time to determine “the right approach.”

Indicted last year on five counts, including bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations, the charges stemmed from an investigation that began in 2021. Mr. Adams has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in April.

On Monday, Mr. Bove instructed Ms. Sassoon to dismiss the case and cease all further investigative actions against Mr. Adams until a review could be conducted by the Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney, likely Mr. Clayton, after the mayoral election in November.

Ms. Sassoon joined the Southern District in 2016. A Harvard College and Yale Law School graduate, she clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court and is a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.

In 2023, Ms. Sassoon was appointed co-chief of the Southern District’s criminal appeals unit, the role she held when she was elevated to interim U.S. attorney last month.

In his memo on Monday, Mr. Bove stated that dismissing the charges was necessary because the indictment “unduly restricted Mayor Adams’s ability to focus his attention and resources” on Mr. Trump’s immigration policies and had “improperly interfered” with Mr. Adams’s re-election campaign.

 

Just hours after Ms. Sassoon's resignation on Thursday, Mr. Adams announced plans to issue an executive order permitting federal immigration authorities access to the Rikers Island jail complex, marking a significant change in the city’s sanctuary policies. This decision followed a meeting earlier that day between Mr. Adams and Thomas Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar.

Mr. Bove’s memo also criticized the timing of the charges and the “more recent public actions” of Damian Williams, the former U.S. attorney who initiated the case. He claimed these actions had “threatened the integrity” of the proceedings by generating prejudicial pretrial publicity that could influence potential witnesses and jurors.

It seemed Mr. Bove was alluding to an article written by Mr. Williams last month after leaving his position, in which he remarked that New York City was “being led with a broken ethical compass.”

The indictment against Mr. Adams was revealed in September by Mr. Williams, who led the office during the Biden administration. Mr. Adams, a Democrat, has asserted that he was targeted due to his criticisms of the administration regarding the migrant crisis—an assertion the Southern District has contested, pointing out that the investigation began well before he made those comments.

Mr. Adams has expressed support for certain aspects of Mr. Trump’s agenda, visited him near his Mar-a-Lago estate, and attended his inauguration shortly thereafter. While they did not discuss a pardon, Mr. Trump mentioned the concept of a “weaponized” Justice Department, according to The New York Times.

Mr. Trump has openly criticized Mr. Adams’s prosecution, stating that the mayor had been “treated pretty unfairly” and even suggested the possibility of a pardon.

On January 22, shortly after Ms. Sassoon was appointed to her position, the Southern District robustly defended its prosecution in a court filing made under her name. The filing cited “concrete evidence” that Mr. Adams had accepted illegal campaign contributions and described his claim of political motivation behind the prosecution as an effort to distract from “the evidence of his guilt.”

 

Related quiries

danielle sassoon
emil bove
eric adams
us attorney general danielle sassoon
eric adams case
danielle r. sassoon
eric adams us attorney
danielle sassoon attorney
saturday night massacre
eric adams indictment
connections sports edition 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 



      Auto Refresh and Link Loop