The Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in New York and two senior federal prosecutors in Washington have resigned after refusing to follow a DoJ order to drop the corruption charges against NYC mayor Eric Adams. Via NBC News:
The resignations amount to a stunning public rebuke of the Trump administration’s new Justice Department leadership in one of the country’s most high-profile criminal cases.
The departures come after Emil Bove, the acting U.S. deputy attorney general, issued a memo Monday ordering federal prosecutors in New York to drop the case against Adams arguing, in part, that it hampered his ability to tackle “illegal immigration and violent crime.”
Danielle R. Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced her resignation in a brief statement to colleagues on Thursday, the senior official said.
Now, to those of you who remember Nixon and the Saturday Night Massacre, it will start to sound very familiar:
The day before, Sassoon appealed to Attorney General Pam Bondi and expressed her alarm at being ordered to drop the case, according to a letter obtained by NBC News. Sassoon wrote to Bondi that she had attended a meeting on Jan. 31, 2025, with Bove, Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, and members of her office.
“Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote. “Mr. Bove admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting’s conclusion.”
Sassoon also said in the letter that her office was preparing to file additional charges against the mayor “based on evidence that Adams destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the FBI.”
Wow. Bove and Bondi just assume everyone is as corrupt as they are. Wonder if this will start a trend?
