DOJ's Order To Drop Eric Adams Case Prompts Resignations

LOADING ERROR LOADING The Justice Department’s recent instruction to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams has prompted a wave of resignations from key federal prosecutors on Thursday, including one attorney who said the order “amounted to a quid pro quo.” That sentiment was expressed in a lengthy resignation letter from Manhattan U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday after a tense few days at the Department of Justice. Bove, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, wanted Adams’ charges dropped because he believed if the mayor had to face them, it would distract him from devoting his “full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration,” according to a memo obtained by the outlet. In her letter to Bondi, Sassoon said when she attended a meeting on Jan. 31 with Bove and Adams’ lawyers, the mayor’s “attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.” Bove, who once served as Trump’s personal lawyer in his criminal hush money case in New York, then “admonished” a member of Sassoon’s team who was taking notes and ordered that they be collected when the meeting was over. In a letter accepting her resignation on Thursday, Bove slammed Sassoon, accusing her of basing her decision to resign on “your choice to continue pursuing a politically motivated prosecution despite an express instruction to dismiss the case.” “You lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the Department of Justice by suggesting that you retain discretion to interpret the Constitution in a manner inconsistent with the policies of a democratically elected President and a Senate-confirmed Attorney General,” Bove wrote.