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The top federal prosecutor in NY & 2 senior #DOJ officials have resigned after a demand by the #Trump admin to drop #corruption charges against NY Mayor #EricAdams, people familiar w/the resignations said.

#DanielleSassoon, the acting US attorney in #SDNY, resigned after refusing to comply w/the controversial order…. Her resignation was confirmed by Nick Biase, a spox for the Southern District, but he did not address the reason.

Kevin Driscoll, a dpty asst AG in the #DOJ’s #criminal division, also resigned…. A longtime career ofcl, Driscoll’s portfolio included the #PublicIntegrity Section, which is responsible for investigations related to elected ofcls. John D. Keller—acting chief of the public integrity section—resigned as well….

#EricAdams was charged w/ #WireFraud, #bribery & seeking illegal campaign #donations.

Acting dpty AG #EmilBove ordered #DanielleSassoon’s office to drop the charges on Mon, saying a potential trial would come too close to when #EricAdams is seeking reelection & the case could hinder his ability to focus on *fighting* [doing] #crime & illegal #immigration.

But prosecutors so far have not asked the trial judge to dismiss the case. If NY prosecutors refused to do so, it’s possible that #DOJ ofcls would send prosecutors from the #PublicIntegrity section to make the request instead.

The 3 resignations are a rebuke to the #Trump admin, which has removed or transferred multiple senior #DOJ ofcls & fired dozens of prosecutors since Trump took office, while attempting to install #loyalists in key #law enforcement posts.

Last week, on her first day leading the department, AG #PamBondi demanded “zealous advocacy” of Trump’s agenda from the DOJ’s 10k lawyers, threatening #termination if they declined to sign a brief or appear in court because of their personal beliefs.

#DanielleSassoon, in a remarkable letter addressed to AG #PamBondi, said #EmilBove’s order to dismiss the case was “inconsistent with my ability & duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor & to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.”

“I have always considered it my obligation to pursue justice impartially, without favor to the wealthy or those who occupy important public office, or harsher treatment for the less powerful,” she said.

letter via NYT:
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/24535586a908999e/3801d435-full.pdf

“I therefore deem it necessary to the faithful discharge of my duties to raise the concerns expressed in this letter with you & to request an opportunity to meet to discuss them further,” #DanielleSassoon wrote.

Sassoon, 38, said in her letter that the mayor’s attys“repeatedly urged what amounted to a #QuidProQuo, indicating that #EricAdams would be in a position to assist w/the #DOJ’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.”

#law #EmilBove #Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/nyregion/danielle-sassoon-quit-eric-adams.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

#DanielleSassoon also said #EmilBove had scolded a member of her team for taking notes during the meeting & ordered that the notes be collected at the meeting’s end.

Bove accepted Sassoon’s resignation in his own 8pg letter Thurs, in which he blasted her handling of the case & decision to disobey his order.
He told her the prosecutors who had worked on the case against #EricAdams were being placed on leave because they, too, were unwilling to obey his order.

#law #Trump
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/7c71f04757006735/05b1f604-full.pdf

…#EmilBove made explicit that he believed #Trump holds sway over the #DOJ, which for decades has operated at a remove from the WH.

“In no valid sense do you uphold the Constitution by disobeying direct orders implementing the policy of a duly elected President,” he wrote, “and anyone romanticizing that behavior does a disservice to the nature of this work & the public’s perception of our efforts.”

Until recently, #EmilBove was one of #Trump’s #defense lawyers, representing him in his NY criminal trial last year. The trial led to Trump’s #conviction on 34 #felony counts for falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that had threatened to derail his 2016 campaign.

#SDNY has long been viewed as the nation’s most prestigious US atty’s office, & has a reputation for guarding its independence & fending off interference from DC, winning it the nickname “the Sovereign District.”
#law

NYC Mayor #EricAdams announced Thurs that he would issue an #ExecutiveOrder to allow federal #immigration authorities into #RikersIsland jail, a shift in the city’s #sanctuary policies.

Adams said that he would move to allow #ICE into the jail to assist in criminal investigations, “in particular those focused on violent criminals & gangs.”

The move followed a meeting Thurs between Adams & #Trump’s border czar, #ThomasHoman, in Manhattan.

#law #QuidProQuo #EmilBove
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/nyregion/adams-ice-rikers-homan.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The meeting was seen as an early test of the mayor’s relationship w/the #Trump admin, & of the degree to which #EricAdams might owe some fealty after Trump’s #DOJ ordered federal prosecutors to drop the #corruption charges against the mayor.

#EmilBove, the acting dpty AG who requested the dismissal, claimed on Mon that dropping the charges was necessary to free Adams to cooperate w/ Trump’s #immigration crackdown.

NEW: At least three MORE #DOJ #PublicIntegrity division senior ofcls have resigned after a meeting w/ #Trump’s acting dpty AG #EmilBove about the dismissal of #EricAdams #corruption case.

That’s a total of 6 officials who resigned, triple the number that happened during the Nixon #SaturdayNightMassacre.

More details emerge via NYT:

The conflagration originated in the back-&-forth between #EricAdams’s lawyers, Alex Spiro & William A. Burck, & #DOJ ofcl #EmilBove, exchanges not previously reported.

The series of events—in which the acting No. 2 ofcl at #Trump’s #Justice Dept seemed to *guide* #criminal defense lawyers toward a rationale for dropping charges against a high-profile client—represents an extraordinary shattering of norms for an agency charged w/enforcing the laws of the US.

It also sends a message that, under the #Trump admin, the #DOJ will make prosecutorial decisions based not on the merits of a case but on purely political concerns….

Prompted by #EmilBove the mayor’s lawyers refined their approach until they landed on a highly unorthodox argument…—one that was ultimately reflected in Bove’s memo to prosecutors Mon. That memo stated that the #criminal case had “unduly restricted Mayor Adams’s ability” to address illegal immigration & violent crime.

It also pointedly said that the decision had nothing to do with the evidence or the #law.

This account of what led to #EmilBove’s memo & the internal resistance with which it was met is based on interviews with 5 people w/direct knowledge of the matter, as well as documents related to the case against #EricAdams.

There remain several unanswered questions about the lead-up to the extraordinary decision, including how many times Spiro & Bove interacted.

But the sudden push to dismiss the case against #EricAdams came even as Manhattan prosecutors were preparing to move forward with more charges against him.

Just weeks before the order to drop the case, prosecutors had said in a court filing submitted on Jan. 6, during the presidential transition, that they had uncovered unspecified “additional #criminal conduct by Adams.”

#law #Trump #DOJ #EmilBove
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/nyregion/adams-lawyers-justice-department-dismissal.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

In a letter to AG #PamBondi on Wed, #DanielleSassoon said that prosecutors in her office had been prepared to seek a new indictment of the mayor, “based on evidence that Adams destroyed & instructed others to destroy evidence & provide false information to the FBI, & that would add further factual allegations regarding his participation in a fraudulent straw donor scheme.”

Spiro shot back in a public stmnt, saying that if the #SDNY prosecutors “had any proof whatsoever that the mayor destroyed evidence, they would have brought those charges—as they continually threatened to do, but didn’t, over months & months.”

But in private, far from a courtroom, the picture was different. Amid rumblings of potential new charges, Spiro, Burck & #EmilBove appear to have structured what the defense lawyers likely hoped would be the end of the corruption case against #EricAdams.

On Wed, the day that the acting US atty was privately saying she would not comply w/ #DOJ’s directive, Spiro…called the charges politically motivated, saying DOJ’s dismissal order was the only legitimate conclusion….

The directive from #EmilBove was like a neon sign signaling a connection within #Trump’s orbit matters as much as the facts [more].…Bove was a #criminal defense lawyer for Trump. Spiro also represents #ElonMusk…. And Burck recently became the outside *ethics* adviser to Trump’s co.

“Some will view the mistake you are committing here in the light of their generally negative views of the new administration. I do not share those views. I can even understand how a chief executive whose background is in business & politics might see the contemplated dismissal-with-leverage as a good, if distasteful, deal.” But any such arrangement would be contrary to the #law, #HaganScotten wrote.

#HaganScotten served 3 combat tours in Iraq as a Special Forces officer, graduated from Harvard Law School & clerked for #SCOTUS Chief Justice #JohnRoberts. In his scathing #resignation letter, he expresses disdain for the justifications #EmilBove III, a top #DOJ official, presented for dismissing the case, including some involving US Atty Damian Williams.

“In short, the first justification for the motion—that Damian Williams’s role in the case somehow tainted a valid indictment supported by ample evidence, & pursued under four different US attys—is so weak as to be transparently pretextual….”

The 2nd justification, #HaganScotten writes, was worse. “No system of ordered liberty can allow the govt to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected ofcl to support its policy objectives.”

In his #resignation letter, #HaganScotten wrote that any federal prosecutor “would know that our laws & traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.” He added: “If no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”

#law #DOJ #Trump #EmilBove #EricAdams

Fri morning, #EmilBove, acting dpty AG, stepped up pressure. After Thur’s #resignations, Bove held a meeting w/the entire #PublicIntegrity section, ~24 lawyers, looking for anyone to sign a court doc seeking dismissal of the #EricAdams charges. Resignations &/or firings hang over every conversation.

Bove ordered the case be dropped on Mon. The fact that it’s now Friday afternoon & no federal prosecutor has yet complied is a sign of remarkable upheaval at the #DOJ.

#NYPD said in a statement on Friday that their policies on #immigration enforcement had not changed since #EricAdams said he would issue an executive order permitting #ICE agents in city jails.

“In accordance with New York City and State law, the NYPD does not engage in civil immigration enforcement, period,” the department said. It “does engage in criminal enforcement matters, as it always has, regardless of a person’s immigration status, including work on federal criminal task forces.”