Trump official’s attempt to bar ‘targeting’ of mayor also spurred departure of New York prosecutor Danielle Sassoon
Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor and five high-ranking justice department officials have resigned amid a scandal over orders from above to drop corruption charges against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, in exchange for his cooperating with Donald Trump’s administration over immigration crackdowns.
The senior prosecutor, interim US attorney for the southern district of New York Danielle Sassoon, and the acting US deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, formerly a personal lawyer to Trump, then exchanged stinging letters over the order from Bove to drop the federal criminal case against Adams.
The events unfolding late on Thursday were a stunning escalation in a days-long standoff over the Trump administration prioritizing political aims over criminal culpability and also coincided with Adams talking to the so-called “border czar”, Tom Homan, about allowing federal immigration agents to set up an office at a city jail in violation of sanctuary city laws.
Sassoon, a Republican with conservative credentials, resigned on Thursday accusing the Department of Justice of acceding to a “quid pro quo” – dropping the case to ensure Adams’s help with Trump’s immigration agenda. She stood up for the federal criminal indictment that came down against Adams last year as his mayoralty spiraled into crisis with allegations that he accepted illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks worth more than $100,000 while serving in his previous job as Brooklyn borough president. He has pleaded not guilty. Trump has said he would consider a pardon for Adams.Sassoon said in her resignation letter that she was “confident” Adams committed the crimes he is charged with – and had committed even more offenses. Before the showdown, Sassoon said, prosecutors had been preparing to charge Adams with destroying evidence and instructing others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the FBI.
“I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached,” Sassoon wrote to Trump’s new attorney general, Pam Bondi, on Wednesday. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter.
Bove then told Sassoon in a letter accepting her resignation that she was “incapable of fairly and impartially” reviewing the circumstances of the case. Bove placed case prosecutors on administrative leave and said they and Sassoon would be subject to internal investigations.
In Bove’s letter, also obtained by the AP, he said the justice department would file a motion to drop Adams’s charges and bar “further targeting” of the mayor. As of Thursday evening, Adams’s case was still active and no new paperwork had been filed.
The department’s public integrity section, which had been asked to take over the case, was also roiled by resignations.
The acting chief, three deputy chiefs and a deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division who oversaw the section resigned, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
The departures amounted to a stunning condemnation of the actions of the department’s leadership and just three weeks into Trump’s second term the department has been rocked by firings, transfers and resignations.
Sassoon further wrote: “It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams’s opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment.”
Adams’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said Thursday the “quid pro quo” claim was a “total lie”.
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